Happy 3rd birthday to Bornella Fabrics
Normally with these type of blog posts, there's a lot of back slapping and saying how wonderful the year has been. But I've got to be honest, it really has been a standout year. For all sorts of reasons. I've pushed myself to take more risk (and need to continue to shoulder more), I've met loads more sewists in person and pushed myself out of my comfort zone. All great things.
So the biggest thing this year, by a garden mile, has been having a stand at the Stitch Festival. When I started my business 3 years ago I went to the Stitch Festival as a punter and someone on Instagram saw that I was going and asked if I had a stand. I'm not joking when I tell you I genuinely thought "what a ridiculous idea, I can't do that". Fast forward a couple of years and I had the pinch-me moment of looking at my stand, with my logo, my products and I realised just how far I'd come. I couldn't have done it without the support of my brilliant helpers Sue, Lena and Sarah and my wonderful indie biz friends support network including Lawratu from SeamMeSew Supplies and Louise from Ethel & Joan, the Indie Biz Village team plus many more.
Hands down it was an utterly terrifying, exhilarating and exhausting 5 days, and I LOVED IT.
Alongside Stitch Festival I also managed to show at Threads Festival in Farnham, Surrey which was a simply wonderful day. And also The Greenwich Millenium Village summer fair, which was as about as disastrous as you can get - I will NEVER do an outdoors event again but we all need to learn the hard way!!
My second huge highlight of the year was launching my first fabric range. Never in a million years did I think I'd have the guts to do it, and I had more than a few sleepless nights. I've been so delighted with the response that it's made all those worries worth it.
Other amazing highlights this year have included being recorded for the Check Your Thread podcast not once but twice by the brilliant Zoe Edwards, attending the brilliant London Destash Fabric Swap hosted by Sarah from Olive Road London and Yvette from Stash Hub, being interviewed by Yvette for StashChats.
However much as it has been positive for Bornella Fabrics, it's been tough to see other small businesses close their doors this year. Many of them I've followed for a long time since my first days of Instagram and got to know their owners, so it's been very sad. A big shout out to Sarah at Olive Road, Oyin at Lush Cloth and Marilla Walker to name but a few that have closed their doors. I hope they bounce back to new ventures soon.
So what have I got coming up in year 4?? Well there's a question!
I've got many ambitions - more fabric production, more in-person shows, discovering more suppliers. And my big ambition is that I would LOVE to get my own studio space. At the minute Bornella Fabrics is a run-of-the-spare-room business but I have my name on a waiting list at my local studios so we will see...
I'm buzzing with ideas for the year ahead and looking forward to bringing you lots more sustainable sewing ideas, fabric, haberdashery and patterns in the next year.
Happy third birthday to us and thank you for all your support!!
Tanya xx