AboutUs

Our Business.....Our Family!  

 About My sewing background:  I taught myself to sew twenty years ago when I purchased part of a home interior/fabric store.  I made cushions for importers/exporters and custom curtains for the public. My sewing business came to an end a few years later when my first son was born.    

I started sewing again about five years ago.  I sold children's clothing and gifts that I had sewn using vintage fabric and trims.  I started collecting vintage patterns and clothing and sold them in an Antique Mall and later in my younger sisters' vintage store.

 In the summer of 2008, I attended a sale where they were de-cluttering a Fine Arts Theater.  They were selling vintage fabric but also vintage patterns!  I purchased a few patterns, that I couldn't live without, and asked the manager if I could purchase the remainder of the patterns that didn't sell  Later in the day, I went back to the theater and boxed up, what turned out to be, 525 patterns! What was I going to do with that many patterns?  I could never sew that may patterns in my whole life? Where would I store all these patterns? 

 About our family and business: I have been a Christian for the past 30 years and had been praying for quite some time that God would provide our family with a home-based business.  Three years ago my husband and I decided to take our three boys,ages:15, 10 and 9, out of private school, and teach them at home.  I quit my full-time job, that I had been doing for the past eighteen years, in sales, service and management, to become a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher!  My income was greatly missed and my husband was working a second job to allow us to be able to stay at home and learn! 

 I felt that God had blessed me with an opportunity to blend my knowledge and love of sewing with my passion for collecting vintage patterns and clothing. Our family business was born!  

We started selling on Etsy.com.  We sold our first pattern online at Etsy - http://www.sassybydesign.etsy.com- on August 3, 2008  and later on Ebay -http://myworld.ebay.com/sassybydesign -and have never looked back!  We have sold a few hundred patterns to date, and have a "100% Positive Feedback Score" from our customers, both at Etsy and Ebay.  We thoroughly investigated the pros and cons of having an online business, talked to vintage pattern sellers (thank you to everyone for all the help and information!) and prayed for wisdom.  We decided that we were ready to start selling on our own website in March 2009 !

Our family works together, to purchase, inspect, photograph and list our ever growing collection of vintage patterns! (over 1,500 still to list & over 300 in our Etsy store! and a large inventory of vintage clothing to list) Our children not only get a chance to learn about small business, first hand, but they also get a Geography lesson as well!   I decided to start mapping where our customers live. ( I also list some of these on my blog along with great photos of their cities!) We have a large map of the USA and The World.  Once a week we locate and mark, on our maps, where our customers live.  We have sold patterns all over the world including: USA, The UK, Australia, France, Turkey, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and more!!  We have had so much fun learning about new places and seeing where our vintage patterns will end up! 

 Our goal is to give the best customer service, purchase the most diverse line of vintage patterns available and offer them to you at an affordable price!  We hope that you will see a difference in our selection and our service and will want to make a purchase here at Sassy By Design!  

Thanks for stopping in....God Bless you all !  

The Battles Family

Danny, Melissa, Ben, Harrison & Spencer