Happy 1st Birthday to us!

Bornella Fabrics is turning one! Happy birthday to us!

It's been a rollercoaster year and a massive learning curve for me personally. I've worked in and around retail for much of my working life but I've never owned a business before. So with the ignorance of someone who thinks they know it all, I decided to set up Bornella Fabrics in May last year. 

It took me a month or two to get things up and running but I eventually launched on the 31st July 2021. Words cannot describe how proud I was to see my website go live and know that people were actually visiting it... someone that wasn't my mum!

I literally do the little dance every time I see an order pop up on my phone. It will NEVER get boring and I will NEVER get tired of it.

I won't lie, I cried when I saw the first garment that someone had made with fabric I'd sold. They posted it on Instagram and I shed a tear. 

Perhaps what's surprised me most about running an online business is getting to know my customers. Because I'm online I didn't think I'd get to have the same connection as, let's say running a physical shop. But it's surprised me how much I get to chat to customers, bloggers, vloggers, fellow sewists and also meet some face-to-face. It's been an utter joy getting to know you!

I'd be lying if I said the last year had been plain sailing - it's not the easiest economic time to be starting a business, and people have less cash to spend on important stuff... like fabric! But if running a business was easy then we'd all be doing it.

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 first birthday to us!!

Tanya xx

(And those eagle-eyed among you will notice I'm celebrating a week late... I didn't really think this through when I booked our summer holiday!)