Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Talk to Me Tuesdays! - Miss Betty's Attic

Being the child of educators, my heart always goes out to those who choose that as a profession.  Today's interview is no different.  A retired school teacher, Miss Betty is a wonderful person who makes some beautiful items.

Stitch Silly: Tell me a little about yourself.

Miss Betty’s Attic: I live in the wonderful state if Iowa. I am a country girl at heart, prefer old, and loved over new. I love vintage clothing and vintage sewing patterns. Instead of the mall, I hit the thrift and antique stores to see what I can find. My hobbies are thrift shopping, wool applique, traditional colonial rug hooking, stained glass, and reading. I am married with four grown children and four brittanys.

I hold a master’s degree in Education and recently quit teaching after 16 years. I now run an in-home daycare, my Etsy store, and teach stained glass workshops on weekends.

I love vintage patterns. When I open them to count to see if all pieces are there, I wonder whom the item was made for and how they liked it. I wonder what that person's life was like and what was going on in the world when they made it. I feel like I am somewhat of a voyeur into another person's life.



SS: How did you get started with Etsy?

MBA: I have always been a lurker on Etsy, and then one day I had the chance to buy a large group of vintage patterns. Not being able to use all of them, I decided to take a chance and sell them on Etsy. I was amazing how fast sales started and continued to grow and chose to quit my day job to have more time to work on my Etsy store.

SS: What is your favorite part of being your own boss?

MBA:I was and educator for 16 years. I enjoy not having people who know nothing about what I do make decisions about my job. 

SS: What are your 2 favorite products in your shop?

MBA: I am very fond of the glamorous styles of Hollywood during the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Doris Day seemed to look marvelous no matter what she was doing.  Picking 2 favorites was difficult, but here they are:

SS: What is your greatest success since joining Etsy?

MBA:I think making it to 1000 sales in a short time was my greatest success. I have worked really hard to make it what it is and it paid off.

SS: What do you most want to improve?

MBA: I want to get into blogging and post patterns more frequently.  There just do not seem to be enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. 

SS: What is your ultimate goal for your Etsy shop?

MBA: I took a $15,000 pay cut by quitting my job as a teacher.  Doing in home daycare is so much fun and far less stressful.  My Etsy shop will help make up for the income I gave up.  I want to keep my store going strong and continue to build relationships with the people that I meet through Etsy.  Working on my Etsy store really does not feel like work and thrift shopping and antiquing are obsessions of mine, so I will be on Etsy as long as Etsy is around.

SS: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

MBA:I love tootsie pops, so just 2 licks and I eat it to get to the center.

So you want to see more of Miss Betty’s Attic?  Check her out with the links below:
Email: missbettysattic@gmail.com

1 comment:

  1. I love browsing (and buying) vintage patterns on Miss Betty's Attic---she has an INCREDIBLE selection!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...