Apologies for the extended radio silence from Sew Curvy Towers!  Who knew this pandamoneum - i mean pandemic - would last for so long !!  Well whilst things have calmed down a BIT, it's still been busy so first of all I'd like to send out my huge and limitless thanks to all of you who have kept this little business going through what's been a very difficult year for everyone! Thank you so much for all your support!  Judging by the fact that I have sent out more corset kits over this summer than I have in the last 10 years I think we have added a few nice new corset making addicts to the world in the process - sorrynotsorry ...

The good news is that I now have help on a Monday which is the busiest day, so we are able to get more sent out faster.  There are still a few blips in the supply chain for haberdashery, cotton fabrics and cotton tapes, but on the whole, things have settled down in that area.

On a personal note, my house move continues to be 'interesting' - I've moved from the west of Oxfordshire to the south of Oxfordshire.  The studio is still in West Oxon which for me, means longer commuting times and this does impact on the working day somewhat - I used to live only 5 mins away from the studio,  in a perfect house that didn't need decorating/sorting/mending etc., so I could quite happily work till 6.30pm and still have tea on the table at a reasonable time,  but that has all changed now so along with all the lockdown type stuff, I'm having to adapt a bit on the home front.  It's all good, though a few things have changed, or will be changing over the next few weeks:

Changes at SCC for the month of November and beyond as follows:

The first thing is Fridays.  I'm no longer sending out orders on a Friday. This will give me more time to focus on blog writing, tutorials, admin, and social media!

The 'big bad B' - BREXIT

So on 31 December as things stand now, we're going to be out of the EU without a deal.  This is going to add new meanings to words like 'chaos', 'panick' and 'pandemoneim' and it's going to be a whole world of pain financially for many people, not least small traders like Sew Curvy who will have to negotiate a whole new raft of rules and regulations as far as customs and duties are concerned. I'm expecting a drastic change to the way we import and export, so what I'm trying to do is get enough stock together to ride past that particular storm (if that will indeed be possible!) and keep all of you corset makers in stock too!  That means i'm concentrating on our core corset making components - busks, spiral steels, flat steel boning and good quality european corsetry coutil.  So, 'preparing for brexit' will be high on my agenda over the next few weeks and that means lots of studying of new procedures, new VAT rules, and stock related admin. I'm tired just thinking about it.

In summary:

• Post no longer going out on Fridays
• Shopping basket will be closed for a period over Christmas so I can work out all the Brexity stuff.

I hope you all have a safe and productive lock-down, and lets keep everything crossed that November's 'pain' will be December's gain.

I'm getting an unusually large number of orders from Canada this week and am presuming it's because supplies there are scarce due to the postal problems. I'd just like to mention that there are problems with the Canadian Postal service currently, and post to Canada is taking a long time. Please bear this in mind when ordering your goods.  Here's a screen shot from my Royal Mail Click and Drop message box.

It feels like ages since I've written a general update on the 'situation' as regards Covid, Sew Curvy Service and other stuff...

Well the Covid situation seems to have settled a bit which is good.  Haberdashery and Fabric supplies are getting through - still slower, but a bit quicker than last time I wrote! 

Demand is still high, but not as high as when we were in full lockdown - that of course changed when people started going back to work.

Corsetry Coutil deliveries are back to normal at last!

Between all of those things, and the new postal system which has literally changed my life, you the gorgeous Customer, shouldn't notice too much amiss.

Where i'm still struggling is with admin - I have a pathological need to get my orders out on time - it's always been the case - and by the end of the day there's only so much time (and energy it must be said) to catch up with Admin.  Admin is basically stock records, ordering in, customer correspondence etc.,  I'll sometimes do a bit of this of an evening from home, but right now - there's no internet for me at home (read on).

So other news which i've mostly kept to myself, is that for the entire period of lockdown there has been a bit of extra stress for me on the personal front!  Literally the day before - on 23 March - my husband and I bought a new home!  Then there was lockdown.  Which meant that the whole house buying/moving process slowed down and on top of the usual stress of that, the lockdown stress was on top! Argh! I never do things by half!! The first time we moved home, we did it on our wedding day - 23 years ago!  Well done us! 

doesn't everyone have skulls to pack on moving day?

Anyway, that move took place (finally!) just over a week ago and ofcourse, the things you never notice when you view a new home, surfaced, and there is much to sort - with us it was basically that we had to dunk the entire place in bleach, hire a skip for all the rubbish left in there, and clean till our hands were raw.  Anyway ... all done now, so normal service in the shop should resume from today!

In sumarry where we are now:

• Orders are being packed asap every day,  and post is collected daily.
• The new postage system means that post is collected by the postman every day - it's been a godsend and means time saved on many fronts - no driving to the PO by lunchtime (and therefore limiting number of orders packed), no waiting in queue's at the PO, no danger of infections from other PO customers (though that was minimal it must be said), no looking up tracking numbers and doing separate emails per customer, etc., etc., 
• Supplies are getting better at coming through
• Stock levels should be back to normal soon

Again, THANK YOU so much for your amazing patience through this difficult time, and your support of Sew Curvy! It's been a pleasure getting your corsetry supplies out through these times and knowing that some of you are trying new things whilst possibly forming a new corset making addiction - sorrynotsorry.

My studio neighbour, The Cuckoo's Nest Gallery, has been creating an oasis of calm outside Sew Curvy Towers!

I'm so excited I could burst!  I have updated the postage options available at Sew Curvy for UK customers!  From now on all orders over £10.00* (under review) will be sent by the fully automated Royal Mail Service for businesses which is Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 - they do exactly what they say on the tin - Both services are fully tracked, you will get automatic emails with your tracking numbers, and you will be able to track progress. *Orders under £10.00 will be sent via first or second class recorded mail (not tracked for the whole journey).

In addition, post will be collected from right here - Sew Curvy Towers - EVERY DAY !!!  This is going to save all of us an incredible amount of time!

The new service starts from MONDAY 8 JUNE - orders taken from this moment (Friday 5 June 17:19) will go into the new Tracked service.  Pending orders will either go into the tracked service or will be sent as normal (if you've paid second class tracked that will go as normal).

Overseas orders will remain the same but obviously the 'every day collections' will ensure you get your orders a littel sooner too!

Unfortunately there is a tiny bit of bad news for customers in the USA.  Because the USPS has put prices up for our partnership services by 100% (!!!) this will have a necessary impact on prices from UK to USA.  The Royal Mail has now had to create a whole new "zone" and that will be implemented from 1 July.  Read more about it HERE.

Next week i'll re-vamp all the postage rate tables with this info and put them on the website on the Delivery Info page.

Don't forget that UK orders over £110.00 will attract free postage under the Tracked 48 postage system.