Reflections on the Year

2010 was a big year! Annie's Clothesline had our best year ever. We began 2010 by developing our logo and identity with a graphic designer. As a result we have a cool new logo and great colors to go with it. Work with him is leading us toward even more professional looking products by adding logo designs for our collections, new tags and labels.

Next, we tackled the website. We hired a designer from etsy to create a splash page for our site. Then we began implementation of a web redesign to go with it. The redesign is a never ending process for which I have to thank my webmaster, my father, for working so hard. Our site now includes pictures of our products on the left. When you click on the product you can see additional images of that product in the center of your screen. Our obstacle is that the large images take time to load so he is working on that now. Nonetheless you can still see more of what we have to offer in all of our collections.

We're still awaiting final sales from O'Child but we already know that we have increased our sales by over 600%! We have sales in stores to thank for that. O'Child Boutique in Bloomington has been our top seller. We have had a presence in the store for a little over a year now. Second in sales in Ballerinas and Bruisers in Zionsville. The patrons of that store love our coats. Speaking of which. My mother and co-owner made these beautiful coats for my daughters. Every where we go people are noticing them. Someone said, "What are those coats?" I had to say, "They are Annie's Clothesline!" Yes, we're heading for name recognition. The woman continued to say, "You don't see that in Bloomington. They look like they are from Paris." I said, "Well, now you do. And they're on sale at O'Child Boutique on the square."

The third store that sells our clothing, Ragpickers in Jasper has also had success in selling our products. It's the cutest store in downtown Jasper and is a great destination for gift shopping.

A dress at Ragpickers

We also did a decent bit of selling to friends and acquaintances as well as attendance at the Plainfield Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas craft show. We enjoyed the show and hope to attend again next year. We learned a lot from attending the show and it will help us in achieving our goal of attending the Country Living Craft Show in Columbus, Ohio in a few years.

Booth at Gingerbread Christmas

Thanks to everyone who supports us. We love our business and we hope you do too. Expect to see more growth and visibility of Annie's Clothesline in the future! Happy New Year!

Sale!

We had a great experience at the Gingerbread Christmas craft show. We hope to attend again next year!

New news-we have lowered prices on some of our Washboard Girls and Kate and Izzy dresses. We're offering over 1/2 off on the dresses posted on our Etsy store. Take a look. You might find something for your favorite little girl! http://www.etsy.com/shop/anniesclothesline

Come Shop Annie's Clothesline Saturday, December 4th

They say we're going to get our first major snowfall this Saturday. There's noting better to gear us up for the holidays than snow and shopping! It's a perfect combination so come visit our booth at the Plainfield Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas craft fair on Saturday, December 4th from 9am-3pm. We'll have discounted items and new ones to share!

Shown on Fox 59 News in the morning!

Our dresses and coats were pictured on Fox 59 news last Friday morning. View our products when Sherman talks about O'Child Boutique! http://www.fox59.com/videobeta/?watchId=d6495d42-4fef-4e3f-a63b-41d3df57f55c

Making the Sale!

We are overjoyed that people out there like our product! We have been selling well in all three stores this month. Ragpickers in Jasper sold 3 Halloween Treat bags and a Kate and Izzy dress in 2 weeks! Now we know where the bags will sell. We'll have some for Easter that are very cute.

Easter Bag

Our fleece swing coats are selling great at O'Child in Bloomington and at Ballerinas and Bruisers in Zionsville. We like making these coats and can make them in sizes 12 months to 6 in any color, as long as we can find the fabric. We have made them in pink, fuchsia, navy blue, black, and cranberry this fall. The berets are now available in O'Child and are made in fabrics to match the coats. Ragpickers will also have coats in a week or two. We are making a brown and a red coat for them in 12 month sizes. They are both adorable!

Princess Swing Coat in navy with pink flowers

We are now starting to gear up for our next endeavor, the Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas in Plainfield, Indiana on December 4th. We are busy making new items for the show and will bring some of our past items for sale.

Finally, to my followers, if there is a children's store or boutique near you that you think our stuff will sell in please let us know. We are hoping to expand into another store in spring 2011. We are considering an out-of-state store, possibly in Michigan, Illinois, or Ohio. I know we don't have many followers yet but I'd love to hear any suggestions.

New Items Added to Etsy

We have been so busy getting our fall/winter collection out to the stores that we had neglected our Etsy site. As of this afternoon we now have 11 items posted at http://www.etsy.com/shop/anniesclothesline. Some of these I have already shared with you on a previous blog post. The one we are still working on is the hat. It's way too cute when paired with the coats!

Annie's Clothesline Custom

We made 4 custom pieces over the past few weeks, 2 Princess coats (one purple in size 18-24 months and one pink in size 3T) and 2 Washboard Girls dresses. It's such a pleasure to make items for a specific little person. We can put a little extra heart into it.

Made for Grace A.

Fall/Winter 2010 Preview

Here are some of the things you will see in the stores for Annie's Clothesline. We still have more dresses, skirts, coats and hats we are working on but they should be complete in the next couple of weeks.

Rue Bee 
Princess Coats
Fleece coats with Velcro closures.

These will come in navy, cranberry, and a few in fuchsia (for the Zionsville store) this season. We made them in pink, blue, yellow and purple for Spring 2010.

Patchwork Skirts
Made with reproduction vintage fabrics.

The fabrics will be familiar to most of you. They will be made of the Little Goldenbook art work.

The above two photos are examples of the design that you will see at O'Child Boutique in Bloomington, Indiana (when the skirts are ready for stores).

Kate and Izzy
A-line Scoop Neck Barkcloth Dresses
Made with barkcloth on the skirts and reproduction coordinating fabrics on the bodice. Barkcloth is a thick, textured fabric historically used in home decorating in the 1940s-1960s. The fabric used here once had a life in someones home as a set of curtains. Select sizes of these dresses can be purchased at any of the stores that carry Annie's Clothesline.

Vintage Suiting Apron Dress
These dresses are made with vintage fabrics that were once used to make women's suits. Both styles of these dresses are available at O'Child Boutique in sizes 12 months to 5 years.

Cornflower reproduction fabric with a tan suit fabric on the skirt.

Black and gold.

Washboard Girls
T-shirt dresses with reproduction vintage fabrics.

This style is available at Ballerina's and Bruisers in Zionsville, Indiana in sizes 12 months-5 years.

These feature turtlenecks. Sizes 12 months and 18-24 months have snap closures at the neck. O'Child Boutique currently has these in the store. They have black Scottie dogs on the skirt and white polka dots on the hem.

Girls and ducks in a soft blue are on the skirts for sizes 12 months to 3T. 4T and 5T dresses are reversed, with the girls and ducks on the hem and the red and blue diamonds on the skirt. All sizes are turtleneck tops. Featured at O'Child.

Lastly, we have a pink and brown floral skirt combined with a dark corduroy hem. The tops are crew necks. These dresses are at Ballerinas and Bruisers in sizes 12 months to 5 years.

Annie's Clothesline Collections

We are very anxious to share our Fall/Winter 2010 designs with you! Annie's Clothesline products can or will be soon available for purchase in Indiana at O'Child Boutique in Bloomington, Ballerinas and Bruisers in Zionsville, and Ragpickers in Jasper. Some offerings will be available on the internet at our Etsy store, www.anniesclothesline.etsy.com. Lastly, we will be attending the Plainfield Tri Kappa Gingerbread Christmas arts and craft fair on December 4th, 2010. Although, if you see something you like and you can't find it at one of the previously listed locations please contact us. We may be able to make it for you.

We have 4 collections at Annie's Clothesline. Our premier and first created collection is Kate & Izzy. The name of the collection was derived from the middle names of Annie's 2 daughters (Alexandra Isabelle and Harper Kathleen). The collection for girls is currently the only one that utilizes vintage materials like vintage tea towels, draperies, fabric suiting, and tablecloths from no earlier than the early 1960s.

Our second collection is Washboard Girls. The Washboard Girls collection is simpler in it's designs. We use t-shirts and reproduction vintage fabrics to make the cutest little play dresses. All feature a skirt and hem of different fabric styles for girls ages 12 months to 5 years.

Created in the spring of 2010 is the Rue Bee collection. Named in honor of Great Grandmother Ruby Jette Melick who did beautiful needle work, the Rue Bee collection is for girls ages 6 months to 6 years. The patterns are heavily inspired by designs of children's clothing from the 1920s to the 1960s and use new materials and reproduction fabric with modern characteristics.

Our most recent addition to Annie's Clothesline is R.J. Clark. This collection is our boy's collection. To date it is our least developed collection, however we offered bubble suits this past summer for little boys ages 6 months to 2 years. We anticipate adding more to this collection next year.

Introductions

We have started to blog so we can supplement information about our business. We're working on a web redesign, have a Facebook page and have a store through Etsy but felt a huge loss in communicating with customers in a more detailed way so now we're going to try blogging. We hope to give you updates on our progress and maybe tempt you with our products. We do special orders so if you see some thing you like let us know and we might be able to make it just for you.

Our Business
We create custom clothing for girls and boys ages 1 to 5 using vintage materials and vintage inspired patterns. We work at a pace we determine for ourselves and when I say "we" I mean Annie and Dede. A mother-daughter team, working unknowingly for years on our business idea. We were inspired in 2008 by 2 daughters/granddaughters, a love of fabric, and a mutual enjoyment to create unique clothing that reflects styles of the past. Offerings in local stores did not seem age appropriate nor did they offer a variety in color (too much pink and purple).

Annie's Clothesline Debut

Welcome! This is our first blog and we are excited to share our business philosophy and products with you. We love what we do and we hope you will too.