Happy Birthday Jenny Stitches 🎈

Today marks 4 years since the very humble beginnings of Jenny Stitches, on a single stall in Barrow Market Hall.

A lot has happened in those 4 years, so much of which I couldn't have ever foreseen when I pulled the curtains back in April 2019. I had no idea where this journey would take me and to say that it has been life changing would be an understatement.

Aside from the obvious success of growing and building a business from scratch, Jenny Stitches has given me so much more than just a "business" success. The experiences, self discovery and most importantly the people and relationships it has brought into my life have been a true privilege.

So, in celebration, let's take a little trip down memory lane!

Stall 17

March 2019, where it all began! This was stall 17 when I took it over, around a month before opening. it was a bit of a scruffy mess, but it had a great position in a busy part of the market with good footfall. I spent several weeks renovating, we had plastic cladding fitted to the walls to brighten it up, a bright white vinyl floor (fitted by my Mum no less!) and signs hung with my logo. I hit IKEA for some furniture and got my first stock orders - I was ready to see how it would go!

Opening day came around and I made my first sale! I remember it clearly, a lady bought a spool of Coats Moon overlocking thread and I had some real money in my till - I was on my way.

At the beginning I really didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure how many people local to me were into dress making, let alone what they would think of my taste in fabrics and independent pattern designers.

I genuinely thought that I could be the only one who sewed my own clothes and I remember thinking that if I could just sell a few metres of fabric a week I'd be able to cover my rent and not lose money.



A week later the Mayor came to officially open the stall - a nice little touch by the market hall. 

Over the next 12 months I re-invested every penny that I made back into the stall. I kept increasing my ranges and adding new products that my customers were asking for. Many of my customers asked for pattern books, so I began stocking the New Look & Simplicity ranges and added new furniture and storage on the outside of the stall, to squeeze in as much stock as I possibly could.

Despite my initial reservations, I had a pleasant surprise when it turned out there were many people in the town who also loved to sew. My customers ranged in age, gender and background, a fact that still amazes me to this day, how sewing transcends all walks of life. Many customers were excited to have a dedicated dressmaking stall and were so encouraging, I heard "we've needed this for a long time" a few times over and I was so pleased to be sharing my passion with other people.

Stall 18

In January 2020, the neighbouring stall became free. I decided to take the plunge and take it on, it seemed like such a risk at the time to double my rent but I needed that extra space.

At the same time, I took the plunge and had a website built. Although I started out with no intention of trading online, I had a lot of friends asking if I would post fabrics out so I figured that it would be a good way to supplement my income and cover that additional rent. The website launched in February 2020 and I remember my first order so clearly, that lovely customer still orders from me today and it always makes me smile to see her name pop up!

Renovations progressed well on Stall 18 and it was a true team effort. I removed the adjoining wall myself with a crow bar (it attracted a crowd of watching men) and we had the matching plastic cladding fit to the walls. My husband James fit a fresh laminate floor across both stalls to tie it all together and we had new signs hung.

I remember on this day we were all being light hearted about this new "Coronavirus" the news was mentioning. Looking back it is quite shocking how we had absolutely no idea what was just around the corner.

At the start of March 2020 Stall 17/18 opened and we had a wonderful opening day, my regular customers came out in force to support me and there was such a feeling of celebration - everything felt so optimistic!



I'm sure you know what happened next... one week later we went into lockdown.

In that moment I had no idea what the future held for my business, how long would it go on? Could I afford to pay my bills? Would I still be allowed to trade from my website? I cried a river the evening the lockdown was announced, I'd worked so hard and couldn't imagine it all being taken away overnight.

As it happened, lockdown was a turning point for my business. All of a sudden I was inundated with requests for fabric as people dusted off their sewing machines to keep busy at home. The entire sewing industry saw a huge surge, coupled with a new series of the Sewing Bee there were suddenly lots of new beginners and returners who all wanted fabric and supplies.

I was allowed to trade online so I was busy suddenly packing and posting lots of orders, I offered a delivery service for my local customers and drove around every day delivering parcels contact free. I even had to take all of my fabric home as we weren't sure if we could access the market building.

It was the biggest co-incidence that I'd invested in building my website, I can't imagine what would have happened if I didn't have it, I'm not sure the business would look like it does today.

When were were finally allowed to re-open, the two stalls were once again bulging at the seams. I'd been so busy with my online orders I was working almost every day (not just market days) and quickly realised that I would need more space and flexibility over my opening times if I wanted to continue to grow.

Around this time I also started a YouTube channel and using social media to promote my business more, I needed a space I could work from to film and create content too.

82 Dalton Road

I was fortunate enough to have built good links with the manager and chair of our local Business Improvement District (BID). They mentioned to me that a local developer was refurbishing an old property on the Main Street which would be perfect for me. I met with the owner and the shop wasn't even built but I knew it's position would be ideal and I would have a key to the front door so I could come and go as I pleased.

The only catch was I would have to wait for the building works to be completed. It took almost a year until I got the keys and the wait was agonising but it gave me time to keep building the business towards the new goal of running a shop.

Again I kept re-investing all of my takings into the stock and fittings for the shop. I was fortunate enough to receive the small business Covid grants from the government which I used to buy stock and equipment to fit out my much bigger space.

Finally, in June 2021 I got the keys to the new unit (even though there was a little exterior work to be finished) and we got to work getting moved in and set up. It took around 6 weeks in total and involved a lot of late nights and was a true team effort by myself, my Mum and husband James again.

An opening date was set and we were all so excited to welcome our lovely regular customers in to the new space. A day before we were due to open Mum was complaining of back ache and feeling generally unwell. She went to see her doctor and ended up being admitted into hospital in the middle of the night for emergency surgery, I had to finish the preparations myself (James arrived with a meal and a large glass of wine that last evening!) and we added the finishing touches.

Opening day arrived and I was rushed off my feet! It was an amazing and upbeat day, everyone was so excited to see the new shop and the new fabrics I'd bought to fill it up with. I was worried about Mum, and she was devastated to miss the opening day but she recovered from her operation well.

Today

That brings us up to today, almost two years on from opening and the business has gone from strength to strength. 

I have a wonderful core of loyal and supportive regular customers, both in the local area and online too. The true privilege of this job has been the relationships it has allowed me to build with my customers, without them I wouldn't have a business and they enrich my days personally and professionally.

The shop has evolved over time, lines have been added, furniture upgraded and window displays are forever evolving. The website has been revamped to reflect where the business is now and now hosts this wonderful blog and it's incredible team of writers whom I have so much to thank for their solid loyalty and effort creating content.

There have been up days and down days. I think many people think that running a sewing shop must be a heavenly experience of standing around stroking fabrics. the reality is often quite different, there have been days where I feel like my products completely miss the mark, where cash is tight and the never ending onslaught of bills and cost increases threaten to overwhelm me.

But! The good days are amazing, when a customer comes in to show me their latest make, I see a beginner at the start of their sewing journey, someone makes a special trip to visit the shop or tells me that they love the YouTube channel, it pushes me on to keep sharing that love of all things fabric.

If you made to the end of this, well done to you! I didn't expect to have quite so much to say but it turned out to be rather cathartic.

Here's to the next 4 years, and hopefully many more 🥂

Jenny & Team Stitches xxx

PS - It wouldn't be a birthday without presents! Use code HAPPYBIRTHDAY for 10% off site wide - offer is valid from Saturday 29th April at 5pm until Monday 1st May at midnight.