On the plus side, orders have calmed down a bit, but on the minus side, there's still a bit of a backlog which is slowly being cleared.

The problem is getting supplies.  My wholesaler opened their website on Tuesday at 9am, saying that they would take orders till 5pm (bear in mind they had already been closed for 10 days).  I quickly filled my basket with tapes, eyelets, bindings etc., and at 10.59 reach to get my payment details.  By the time I looked back at the screen, the website was closed!  The wholesaler had got 10 days worth of sales in just 2 hours!!! I wrote to ask when they would be open again, and very VERY kindly because I've been with them for so long, they opened up for 5 mins that evening so that I could get my order in.  BUT - that wont be packed for at least a week.  In the meantime, I'm low on boning tapes and eyelets.  Not quite critical, but low enough to still not have kits live until i've assessed things a bit more - which I haven't had time to do because, packing/admin etc.,

Orders are going out regularly though and another thing  I have been doing is keeping more active on Instagram including doing the odd "Live" where I answer your questions on corset making.  These are the questions I answered this week.

I usually do lives at the start of the week while i'm cutting mountains of fabric.  It's a job where I can chat as I go as I don't need to concentrate too much on it!  So, if you're on Instagram and you have a burning corset making question, look me up @sewcurvysupplies, and send the question!

In the meantime, I'm sorry again for the slowness of getting things out - a mixture of overwhelm and supply chain shortage but things do seem to be easing up now as we reach a sort of 'normality' in this strange situation we are all finding ourselves in the middle of!  Stay safe and happy weekend!

Cor! what a busy week it's been!  I think I have sent out more corset kits in the last two weeks than I have in the last 10 years! 

Unfortunately that's taken it's toll on my supplies - not least because of the aforementioned supply chain 'problems' (namely - it's slowing down).  So I've had to take the Kits off the website while I catch up and re-evaluate my stock situation.  I want to make sure there are enough supplies for everyone and the kits.  If you've had your eye on Instagram you'll know that my pile of 'roll ends' and remenents is as high as the empire state building so I expect some special kits will be coming from there!

The supply chain situation means that unfortunately I will have to juggle some stock items (no more whole rolls available) and restrict some others - there's no point ordering 50m of something just because the whole rolls aren't available.

Bulk orders are not out of the question but it may be some time before I can get the supplies.  For instance, i'll be trying to get hold of the 2000m of tailors tape that someone has ordered, but with Covid and Easter combined, it could be 3 weeks till I'm able to fulfill that particular order!

In the meantime, I've been keeping everyone entertained via Instagram Live by giving daily updates and answering your corset making questions.  So if you'd like to join in, hop over to @sewcurvysupplies on Instagram and see what we're up to!

Orders received up to last night will be posted today but they may not make the postal deadline of 1pm.  You may therefore not receive your goods until after Easter unfortunately - this is because obviously the postal service has also slowed down considerably - because of workers isolating while the postal burden has increased with mail order shopping.

I'll be packing again after Easter, and hope that you all have a wonderful break!

Post and Communications

Well the postal service is really slowing down now.  Special Delivery can no longer be next day guarnateed and the rest of the mail is now down to 2-4 days + instead of 1-2 days.

The Royal Mail have made an update announcment about their postal services HERE.

Instead of my postal deadline being 4pm at the post office, it's now 1pm, so orders may be delayed leaving the post office as it can sometimes take a whole day to do the packing!

Our own supply chain has slowed down too.  Wheras my UK suppliers were always next day delivery, now it's 'delivery within the week if we can' ... frustrating for everyone involved but not much we can do at this stage.  I'm sure things will improve soon.

However, my suppliers are still operational so things are getting through, very slowly.  If your order is delayed, it's because we're waiting for stock.  Obviously for the last three weeks orders at Sew Curvy have been through the roof as people prepare their lock-down projects! (I've never sent out so many kits!).

With that in mind, please understand that as a one woman operation I can only be in one place at one time - either in the stock room packing orders, or in front of the computer doing admin.  Obviously the order packing is my top priority so if you have a question, then please either look on the website because the answer WILL be there somewhere, or please be patient.  Stock enquiries i'm afraid will be ignored - the stock on the website is up to date and I simply do not have time to answer those type of questions routinely on top of other types of question.  If by any chance you order something which is out of stock, I will let you know.

Similarly, if you've received a despatch note, please could you wait a week before asking for the tracking number if you have paid for tracking.  This is because literally everyone is requesting tracked parcels right now and everyone wants their number as soon as i've posted!  I therefore have to prioritise that sort of communication to people who's orders may genuinely have been delayed or gone astray.  Again if you don't receive a reply, please be patient.

Anyway everyone, I'm going to try and update Instagram a bit more now that things have calmed down here a bit.  Follow us at @sewcurvysupplies and tag your posts #lockdownlaceup so we can see what you've been up to in your confinement!

So the postal service has slowed right down.  It's still operational but instead of the last collection being at 4pm, it is now at 1pm.  This means that although I will still be packing and posting at the same rate as usual, the packages will be slower to get going because if I drop off my parcels at the post office after 1pm (likely), then those parcels wont go till the next day. 

In practice this means that if you have a deadline, you really will have to order about 2 weeks in advance JUST IN CASE. 

It's not just collection times that have changed, it's the speed and efficiency of the postal services.

As ever I am self isolated, the post mistress is still dressed as Cleopatra (en bandages), and everything is being wiped and cleaned as if a murder has taken place!

Stay safe everyone!