Deborah Keats ... Art and Inspiration : Miss Elany .. seller of beautiful Liberty fabrics on Etsy ... my featured seller ...

One of my favourite shops to pop into on Etsy is Miss Elany's ... I used to 'chat' with Margaret {store owner} WAY back when Etsy had the 'online chatting feature', so I feel like I've known her forever !

Her store is always full of lovely little pieces of gorgeous Liberty fabric which I've purchased a number of over the years to put into my creations! I'm very pleased to be featuring her tonight on my blog ... enjoy!

I am so excited to be invited to write a piece for my etsy friend Deborah. It’s the first time I have been asked to do something about me and my etsy shop MissElany, so after taking a deep breath here goes dear reader ...

My mum was a great crafter back in the 1950’s war torn Great Britain where shortages were the norm. I was born in the late 1940’s and 'pretty' girls' clothes were non existent, so

mum set to work and made me some beauties. I suppose this is where I get my great love of fabrics and sewing from - mum taught me when I was very young to sew. After marriage, family and work commitments I decided to start again and bought a simple Singer machine but woe was me looking around - I could not find any fabrics worth a second look, so onto the internet I went looking. This is the start of my fabric supply business, as I thought ... well, if I can't get any, most others are probably finding it difficult too.

I started MissElany eight years ago now and at that time there was not a lot around other than Ebay then I stumbled upon Etsy and have never looked back. I don’t want to sound complacent, as getting anything started on the internet is a struggle and a lot of hard work but well worth all of the efforts involved, so if you are thinking of having a go I would certainly have a go.

My most favourite tip to anyone starting out is try and get to know your target market.

To my mind this is the most important factor to being successful. Imagine what this person is searching for and make sure you supply it, like me, I could not find fabric so I found my own but if I had I found a supplier back then, perhaps I would not be writing this now.

Besides sewing and running MissElany, my greatest love is sailing. We own a little cabin cruiser and are often found sailing around the waterways of the East Midlands where I live. We have been here along time now over 40 years and it’s a most beautiful part of the UK, with lots of connections to Robin Hood.