Clutch-Me.Com

Learn. Make. Sell. All about clutches.

“Go” – Updated Clutch PDF is up.

Ok, guys.  It’s up and running.  As per my last post, the updated PDF is up.  Again, this is FREE to those of you who’ve bought the clutch PDF tutorial before.  Please note that this is NOT free for those who bought different PDFs like the Reversible Patchwork bag or the Snappy Wallet Clutch(TM) as those are entirely different tutorials.

Click here to get to the post.  Enter your password and start your download.

Get to the latest PDF version through here! Enter your password.

With this new major update of the main tutorial, you will learn how to make a clutch with a seam (my preferred way that will show your great craftsmanship and will work with any fabric) and without a bottom seam (great for quick easy work or for non-directional fabrics).  It also incorporates a short-cut, an entirely different way to finish the clutch so that it will reduce the wrinkling and is a bit quicker to do when you are making a lot of clutches.  I also have pictures on how to glue it into the frame.

I spent over a hundred hours re-doing this.  This is all free to you as long as you have your password.

What if you don’t have your password?  (eg. computer crashed, laptop stolen, forgot to print out the email that was sent to you, emptied the email in your trash…) Please buy the $5 password resend listing at my shop and give me your original purchase date of the PDF and Paypal buyer account so that I know you had bought it back in 2009, 2010, 2011 or earlier this year in 2012.  If you cannot retrieve this, then you will need to buy it again.

Please consider this as fair since I’ve explicitly told you to keep your password.  I value my customers so much and spend so much time on this $8 tutorial without getting additional pay each time, so please don’t email me and say that it’s unfair that you have to pay $5 to retrieve your password especially when my email’s subject line is “PLEASE KEEP/PRINT! $5 charge to resend it in the future “. I do all this while my kids are at school and after I put them to bed at 8pm. Also, please consider the following:

*All other tutorials show you how to make 1 size clutch – I offer how to make ANY size clutch with 2 distinct tutorials for the same price.
*They only offer 1 pattern and I offer 6 patterns.
*They are priced $8+ and mine is also at $8.
*Other tutorials and kits prohibit you from setting up a shop on Etsy or go into business. Mine do not. In fact, I actively promote and try to find buyers for my clutch makers.

*I could’ve made separate listings and charges for every new template.  All other PDFs show you how to make 1 clutch in 1 size only.

*I could’ve made a completely new listing and charge for a new tutorial “Now learn how to make a clutch without a bottom seam” for $8 like other sellers have right now.

Every time I add new templates/updates, over 500 of you get on and download.  So there is value to what I provide to you far beyond the initial $8 that you paid for.

I still get customers who bought this $8 tutorial in 2009 when there were 3 templates. They got another 3 templates for free. Could I have charged them by making an entirely new listings for each one? Sure.  But I didn’t. They also contacted me with “What’s my password”?  I have sold hundreds of these. How do I know who bought and who didn’t? Sometimes, the person contacted me used their spouse’s Paypal account and I have to search for that. Before Etsy co-mingled the accounts, you would have multiple usernames and it was bought under a “purchase” account which was different from their “seller” account. Multiply this by 100+ people. Every time.

This is what I think my value is: it takes time for me to retrieve their records and then email the password. So it’s $5. It’s also a deterrent from all the emails that come because when people know it’s going to cost them $5, they’ll print out a hard copy and keep it. I’ve had people whose computers crashed, laptops stolen, email lost in the the junk mail, accidental deletions, you name it.

So, sorry that I’m on my soapbox.  I’m officially off.  🙂  Thank goodness:  it gets dizzying from the lack of oxygen standing up high on soapboxes!

I want to encourage you to try the tips and the “Shortcut” option that is in this new tutorial.  This is after years of making clutches…  Try it with just 1 clutch and see what you think.  Ever since I’ve done it this way, my clutches are not wrinkly and the bulkiness from the interface doesn’t affect how I insert it into the frame.  It goes in easily.  I love it.

I’m working on a template for the 12×3.5 frame that will print out – without scaling- on regular desktop 8.5×11 paper. This will also be free as long as you have your password. This will take a week or so. Why? I make the design, sew it, refine it, make new adjustments, sew that, refine that, and so on … and then rework the template to fit your 8.5×11 papers.  Who wants in?  🙂
Cheers and happy sewing!

~Winn

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February 22, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coming this week: PDF revision for the clutch tutorial – free update with your password

I like to think I’m ahead of the guys over at Rovio who make Angry Birds.  Do you know how they give you free updates such as “Ham ‘O Ween” as long as you purchased the original Angry Birds?  Except when it’s completely new and different, like Angry Birds Rio, then you have to buy that new game.

So where am I going with this, other than you all now know that I play Angry Birds?  Well, I just updated the clutch tutorial and wanted to let you all know first!  I’ll be back with a post when it’s updated on this blog, but it’s coming out this week.  PLEASE wait until I say “go” to download.  It’s not up yet so I don’t want you to waste your time.  🙂

The hard copies will not be available for another week.  We have to send it to our guy, a professional printer.  He uses 70# ultra-white paper.  His ink is incredible.  The booklet is so thick that we have to use a commercial stapler to staple it together!  Yes, every booklet is cut and assembled by hand.  As always, the tutorial and templates are formatted to be printed on regular 8.5×11 without any need for you to rescale.  You just click on the links, download and print.

I have been working really hard to incorporate some of the hints that I have blogged about here.  I have rewritten almost 80% of the entire tutorial and I have 95% new pictures that are bigger and more detailed.   What I’ve written in the new updated tutorial are basically the shortcuts and time-saving tips that I employ in making clutches myself.  I think they will help you.

What you will get with this update:

*Tips to improve your craftsmanship and productivity.

*2 options on how to make a clutch:  with a bottom seam (my favorite way), and without a bottom seam (makes for quick work and good for smaller clutches)

*A shortcut that will minimize the wrinkling of the fabric and allows for easier insertion into the frame

*Pictures on how to insert the frame

*Tips on what interface to use

Take a peek:

More pics, more tips, and learn how to make a clutch in 2 ways!

The new updated tutorial has also been formatted as a booklet as was before.  This was designed so that it will allow you to flip each page per step and not take up a lot of space at your sewing table.

How do you get this update?  If you bought the PDF tutorial, you were sent the password with your order.  It’s a really detailed (some say long-winded) email saying “Keep your password” as all updates to this tutorial and templates are free as long as you have your password and if you don’t have your password for any reason, it will cost you $5 to resend it.  So I hope you heeded it.

If your laptop was stolen (yes, that happened to a customer last week), it crashed and you didn’t back it up (PCs all the time…), you lost it or for any other reason, then order this listing shown here:

This is only for previous buyers who need their password.

These updates, revisions, and new templates are always free to you as long as you keep your password!  I am working on a template for the 12×3.5 size frame.  It’ll be a big bag – perfect for winter and overnights – and I’m trying to make sure the template can be printed out without any scaling on regular desktop 8.5×11 printer paper.  Quite the task since the 10×3 required splitting it into 2!  🙂

So be on the lookout and I’ll be back to give you all the “go”.

Warmly-

Winn

February 20, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Putting Women in Business – another avenue for some

Hey y’all!  (That’s my Oklahoma in me coming at ‘cha!)

Hope you are doing well.  While I’m trying to live stream my annual free concert, aka The Annual Grammy Awards, I thought I’d do a quick post on a news article I just read.

As you know, my motto is “Putting Women in Business” and that’s what I’ve aimed to do these past years.  I know how few and far between the jobs are for part-time workers.  This is especially true for stay-at-home moms who want to work while the kids are napping, in school, or at nights.  I also have many nurses, teachers, retirees, and college students as customers trying to exercise their creative freedom while making some side income during evenings and weekends as well.

So for those who are English teachers, in this article posted in USA Today Tech section, the tech writer has vetted 3 online companies that will allow you to make some income.  Give it a read and find out if this is something that you would be interested in doing.  I know, this has nothing to do with making clutches but it will benefit some of you.  This industry is rapidly growing.  And after having traveled recently to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, and Japan, I can attest to how many people know some English on this side of the globe.  Do you how in the US a lot of our kids in public school learn Spanish as an elective? Well, the Vietnamese kids here all start learning English beginning in the 3rd grade.  I am AMAZED at the number of people who speak 2 (or more) languages in the places that I have traveled.  The American culture (good and bad) is imported to all corners of the world.  One of these days, I’ll snap a pic of those American cultural snippets that I see during my travels.

Have a great week!

~Winn

February 12, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Empowering Women: Why it should matter to you!

International Women’s Day – March 8th.  As someone whose company’s motto is “Putting Women in Business!”, this day of recognition of women on a world-wide level is one I wanted to take time to express my thoughts about.

I have found that by supporting women (from stay-at-home moms, work-at-home moms, unemployed women, college students, part-time graduates, retired grandmas, fully employed women with an corporate job/career, military wives, single moms, and many other women in all kinds as aspects in their personal and professional lives…) I have gained much more in return.  You will never lose by supporting another woman.

I have long advocated and tried to foster this camaraderie.  Instead of seeing other clutch makers as your competition, I have shown you scientific proof that by banding together and taking advantage of consumer behavior of “taste uncertainty”, you will increase your chances of making a sale.  It has been to my heart’s fulfillment that the Facebook fan page for WhileBabyNaps.Etsy.com has been filled with you leaving positive and congratulatory comments about each other’s work.

Here are a few recent ones:

So other than it positively affecting your pocketbook, why else should you support other women?  Because when we help women succeed, all of humanity succeeds.

Some things that bear this out:

1) Educating a girl one year beyond the national average boosts her earning power between 10 and 20 percent.

2) Countries with higher levels of female secondary-school enrollment have lower infant mortality, lower rates of HIV and AIDS infection, and better child nutrition.

3) According to the WEF, the US could boost its GDP by as much as 9 percent by putting more women in leadership positions in business and government and working harder to correct pay inequities.

4) Women still earn 33 cents less per dollar than men.

5) When women earn their own money, they spend on their families at more than twice the rate of men.

6) Worldwide, companies perform better and produce better ides when their highest ranks have gender diversity.

*Source: Newsweek, March 14, 2011. The Gender Metric.

Speaking of women, check out the issue of Newsweek on your newsstand featuring Hillary Clinton on the cover – politics aside – a trailblazer.  It was edited by who else?  Tina Brown!  Go Tina!  I like where Newsweek is headed under your direction.

I want to go back to point #5 above:  When women earn their own money, they spend on their families at more than twice the rate of men.

When women earn their own money …

When women earn their own money …

When women earn their own money …

This is where they can get their power and have control in their lives.

But I know that it takes money to make money.

It takes money to make money.

It takes money to make money.

You cannot start your own business unless you have cash (either a microloan, bank loan, angel investors, family loans or you happen to have a load a cash under your mattress) to buy your materials.  You can have all the bright ideas in the world and not get anything off the ground.

I have helped several women through my Etsy shop by donating frames and greatly discounting slightly marred frames so that they can make clutches for a church sale.    I have not promoted this because I simply cannot do it on a great scale.

Until now …

In the next two weeks, you will be hearing from me about a new launch helping all women.  Over a year of thought has gone into this new arena, tugging at my heartstrings, and I have come up with something that will:

*Give you another product to add to your line of clutches.

*Lower part of your materials cost.

*Lower start-up cost overall.

*Upcycles my slightly marred frames thereby reducing waste and energy by re-melting and re-making them.

*Allows women to start a business at their local school fair, weekend craft shows, church fundraisers and other community initiatives for a much lower cost.

*Easier to make and requires a lower level of skill than my classic clutches.

I am extremely excited about this new venture.  I hope you will be too!  I’ve got a lot to do still before it’s launched, but stay tuned!

Peace and Joy to all you wonderful women ~ Winn and Y.

March 12, 2011 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

   

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