Thank you

This post is a very special thank you to everyone who took the time to complete my recent survey. I had a marvellous response, received some great feedback, and hopefully this blog and my fabrication shop will improve as a result of it. And, congratulations to Sarah P who won the prize draw and now has some lovely new fabric!

I just wanted to comment on a few things that came up ...

Firstly, I support kiwi-made and use a NZ company to host my fabrication shop, called Smallfish. They offer a great service for a relatively low price, which means I didn't have to spend thousands (literally) getting myself online. But, because the website is run off a template format it does have it's limitations, like you can't save your order, and the pics on the front page don't act as links, and setting a variable postage rate becomes a bit tricky, hence the standard $5 postage charge (personally I think this is pretty reasonable - no matter how much you buy I wrap your fabric so it's like getting a present, I courier your precious package, and my prices are low to compensate for the need to pay for the postage [which is probably still less than you'd spend running about town in your car]). I feel your frustration on these things though, so thanks for telling me - it's very helpful feedback and I will certainly pass it on to the team at Smallfish. Like me, they are continually trying to improve their offering so I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear your thoughts.

But, there are a few things which you commented on which can be done ... for example, you can enlarge pictures of the fabrics simply by clicking on them. This will also allow you to see the other pictures of the same fabric so you can click through those as well.  And, if you want to see the picture and the info at the same time right from the start, simply click on the "more info" button just below the picture. Also, I now sell all orders of 1 unit (or 0.25m) as a fat quarter, unless specially requested otherwise. And, if you want a fat quarter bundle but can't handle the thought of it being completely my choice as to what you get, you can indicate your preference for the type of colours/patterns you want by giving me some instructions at the checkout. While you can't pick exactly what fabrics you'd like, this is kind of the point - it's a lucky dip and everyone knows they're great fun!

Finally, I know that buying fabric online is a bit tricky sometimes. I do my best to capture the colours as accurately as possible, but I know there's nothing like touching and feeling what you're about to buy. I love the idea someone had of being able to move the pics around so you could compare fabrics - unfortunately I don't think the team at smallfish can run to this modification, but remember that I am always more than happy to send you out samples if you need to see before you buy, or you can always email me with questions on what fabrics coordinate well together. In general I'd say the fabrics look better in real life than they do online, and there is nothing like receiving a parcel in the mail, so go on, be brave, and make the purchase. If you're really not happy with what you've bought then just let me know and I'll see what I can do, but I'm pretty sure you won't regret it! And, even after all that, if you're still not brave enough, the good news is that I'm back at Stash reHash in April and on the 21st of March I'll be at the St Patrick's school fair (check out this post for more details). And, since the response to having an open day was so overwhelmingly positive I'll be organising one of these too. Watch this space for details...

So, thanks again for taking the time to help me out. It's been great to hear from you all!
A x