Mellow Joe Baby Carriers

Sometime last year or so (or was it in 2007??) I started a baby accessories business called Mellow Joe. I started out making cloth diapers, primarily for Kwabena, but I had actually sold one. HA! One! But I soon realized that making diapers wasn't something I wanted to focus on. I actually enjoyed making mei tai baby carriers.

It wasn't a design that I created; a mei tai baby carrier is a traditional, Asian-inspired baby carrier. You can find everyone and their mother making these carriers. Regardless, I began to make some here and there...again, primarily for Kwabena. I got many compliments from strangers on the carrier. One stranger even went so far as to contact me months and months after he had seen my carrier, requesting one to be made for he and his wife and their baby, who was due soon after.

I made the carrier, hoping for a good outcome. And yes, the carrier looked awesome (see above). But....I believe the straps were too long. I tried to solicit feedback from this customer, even recently, and no response. Either he didn't like the carrier and is afraid to say so, or it's going into his Junk folder automatically. Hmmm.....

When you go into business for yourself, particularly handcrafting a product, it's a bit unnerving. You question whether your customers will like your product...if the pricing is right...if you're as creative as others trying to do the same thing as you...And often times, these are the things that would stop me from continuing. That is the reason my sewing has taken intermittent breaks.

But 2009 is a different story! When a customer recently contacted me out of the blue (i.e. found me on Yahoo! Business pages; imagine that....) and wanted to order a carrier, it was just the motivation that I needed to get my butt into action and start sewing (consistently) again.

Lately I've been spending late nights awake at my computer, working on my website, uploading pictures that I painstakingly edited with Photoshop to make them look professional, etc. I'm operating on 4 hours of sleep, on average. I am so tired in the mornings that my contacts burn my eyes when I put them. Crazy, huh? But you don't care when you are doing something that you love.

That is how you know you love what you are doing: when you're willing to make those sacrifices and you could go all night, without a care in the world (except for the fact that you know your body is going to be crying out when you wake up). I'm so motivated, though!

So yesterday I mailed off to my recent customer the carrier that I completed for her this weekend:

...and today she responded by email, "OMGOSH!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!" and now her friend wants to order one, too! I'm very excited about this! There's nothing better than putting your time and love and attention to detail into a project and having a customer tell me that they love it. Now, I just need to make sure that the straps are the perfect length for her.

I'm going to keep going...keep sewing...keep striving to make a name for Mellow Joe.

Sewing is my passion, and I cannot be dissuaded by the negativity or lack of excitement of others. I am meant to sew. I am meant to learn and to grow with my sewing, and to experiment with different styles, fabrics, and products.

This is only the beginning :)