Off to a great start...

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a great New Year's celebration. We enjoyed dinner at a Japanese steakhouse with the girls, then I spent a quiet evening at home accompanied by a good movie, a great beer, a delicious bowl of popcorn and an amazing guy. What else could I ask for?

New Years Day was a fun and relaxing one. I rolled out of bed at noon, took a long hot shower then visited a local quilt shop that was featuring my fabrics and patterns during their annual Football Widows' sale (that title cracks me up every time). Then we went to the movie theater with the kids and friends and ended up spending a couple of hours (and more money than I wished to) at Barnes & Noble. It was a great start to the year.

But after all that goofing off, it was time to get back to business. I cracked the whip this weekend and had Jon and Val working overtime proofing patterns for me while I edited, printed proofs and edited some more. My testers' pattern notes were strewn all over the studio floor while Jon and I mulled over nit-picky things like comma placements, unnecessary quote marks and appropriate registration marks until my eyeballs bled!



All that hard work paid off because late last night I printed the final production proofs and all 6 patterns went off to get printed this morning! PHEW! What a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt like a mom letting her first-born go off to Kindergarten... a mixture of excitement and trepidation, of wanting to hold on one minute longer but also to let go once and for all.

So, now that I find myself with some time on my hands I thought I'd address some Frequently Asked Questions we've received over the past few weeks via email, blog comments or Twitter regarding our new set of patterns.

When will the new patterns be available? We expect to take delivery of the new patterns on January 18th at which time we will begin packing and shipping wholesale pre-orders in the order that they were received. Check with your favorite local or online retailer to see if they will be carrying our new patterns.

What is the finished size of your Hummingbird Quilt? And is this project considered for beginner, intermediate or advanced sewists? The Hummingbird Quilt has a finished size of 42"w x 60"h. I think it is perfect as a wall hanging but would also look super cute on a crib or toddler bed or even draped over a comfy sofa. I consider this a beginner project because there is no piecing involved... it's all raw-edge applique. Plus, as with all my other patterns, I give detailed step-by-step instructions in addition to loads of photos and diagrams to help you along.

A million thanks to my quilt pattern testers Lori Porten and Paula Shasteen for the test quilts below. Lori made the Mustard colorway quilt (left) and Paula made the Stone colorway quilt (right).



What type of dolls do your doll patterns fit? Our Mini-Modkid patterns were designed to fit the standard 18" doll, like American Girl Dolls, Our Generation Dolls and My Disney Girl Doll (seen below on the American Girl Dolls)



Do they fit the Bitty Babies and Bitty Twins too? The tops and dresses are a perfect fit for the 15" dolls, like Bitty Twins. However, the pants are too long for their little chubby legs. Check out the photo below showing Mini-Ava, Mini-Kyoko and Mini-Frida on the Bitty Twin Dolls. Middle photo (Mini-Kyoko) courtesy of our pattern tester, Jen Smith Moore.



Do the mini outfits fit Build-A-Bears? Just like with the Bitty dolls above, the tops, skirts and dresses fit the bears but the pants do not. Check out the Mini-Ava 2-pc. set on Sophie's BABW bear (left).

Are you planning on making some for Blythe dolls too?? We haven't discussed this yet, but never say never, right? ;)

By chance would they be available to fit a My Twinn doll? (23" tall) I do not have that type of doll at home to try these outfits on but my guess is the clothes would be too small for them.

The following are Q&A's I've posted here before but are worth re-posting for new visitors:

Will you allow sale of items produced with your sewing patterns?
Having come from the children's boutique community myself, I am a great supporter of the "indie" or "cottage" industry. All of my sewing patterns come with a legal line that reads: "Modkid LLC allows the right to use this pattern to create items sewn by the purchaser and only the purchaser for personal use or sale. Please direct inquiries for any other commercial use to info@modkidboutique.com. Any printed or electronic reproduction of this pattern in part or whole is strictly prohibited." This pretty much means that YES, you can sell these items if you are an independent sewist (home sewer), but if you intend to mass-produce these items, you need to contact us to work out a licensing agreement.

Can we use your photos for the sale and promotion of your fabrics and patterns on our website?
Absolutely! That's what they're there for! All retailers are welcome to use the product images I have uploaded to my Flickr account. I even have them organized in sets for you: MODKID Patterns Set, Flora & Fauna set, Mezzanine Set, and Andalucia Set.

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These are all the FAQs I have for now, but if I've left anything out or if any of you have any questions you're dying to ask, by all means leave them below in the comments section or feel free to email me at info@modkidboutique.com

RETAILERS: You can pre-order the 6 new patterns now in the WHOLESALE section of our website.

I want to thank each & every one of you for your amazing support in 2009! I am woozy with the anticipation of what 2010 may bring for us. :)