One thing I really enjoy about running Sew Lovely is helping my customers get a good deal and making them happy! For example, I recently had a customer email me who was interested in a bunch of roman shades for her home. I gave her a quote and she was very happy with the price, but did not place the order because she was having a really hard time finding a fabric that she wanted to settle on and the ones that she liked were over $100 per yard. I then asked her if she wanted to send me a photo or link to some designs that she liked so I could help her search for something, letting her know that you can find a much less expensive fabric that is really nice in quality. She sent me an email saying she finally found one that she loved at a furniture store and showed me a photo of it. Since I have seen a ton of fabric from customers in the past few years of making over 600 shades, I recognized the pattern and style of the fabric right away. I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but most places change the name of the fabric so that the customer cannot easily find the fabric online by searching the name of it, and mark the price up a great deal. This particular fabric (the exact fabric) was only $15/yard online, compared to $45/yard at the furniture shop she saw it at. Her store was calling it, "Plazza Slate" and it's really called, "Covington Slate," made by Covington Fabrics.

It's always a good idea to search around for a fabric to see if you can get a better price. This fabric was a medallion/damask design, beige and blue. So if you Google, "beige and blue paisley medallion damask decor fabric," you might have some luck finding it at a few shops, so you can compare prices. If a customer ever wants some help in finding a fabric that better suits their budget, I am always here to help :) This customer was really pleased when I told her not to buy it from the expensive furniture shop and sent her the link to the $15/yard one online. She needs 15 yards of fabric for the shades I'm making her, so I saved her $450 in fabric. This is one reason why I really enjoy my job!