The Great Dog Scarf Enterprise

As spring turned to summer that first year, the flower beds filled in and I filled about every container I had of any kind to bring posies near our doorway, I became more serious about setting out to form some kind of business crafting with fabric.

My first project was boutique dog scarves. I had done no marketing research, had no marketing plan or even a marketing notion. I just loved dogs and sewing and thought it would be a good idea.

I collected marvelous cotton fabrics...toiles, designs of Provence, florals, an out of print line of quilting fabric designed by Susan Sargent, and began making reversible dog scarves/bandanas. My own dogs, Maggie the elderly cocker spaniel and Toby the terrier were happy models. The dogs of neighbors and family provided models of different sizes. They were great, colorful and fun but I found myself hesitating whenever anyone asked me what I was up to these days to say "Oh, I'm making dog scarves".

A few problems began to emerge. The first, and most serious, was that as the scarves were cut out I realized the designs caused a lot of fabric wasteage, too much was falling "on the cutting room floor". The second, my own fault, as that as I went to adjust patterns when I determined one needed to be resized, or have longer ties for tying, is that I tended to save both the old pattern and the new without properly labeling them, so I often ended up confused as to which I should be working with. Finally I consulted with a dog groomer on sizing and found her recommending more scarves for toy sized dogs and some for giant breeds. The tiny scarves ended up being too challenging for my somewhat arthritic hands, and the scarves for giant breeds were so enormous that I knew that there was no way to sell them at the price required to make a profit. So, at a point about 12 dozen bandanas into the process, the enterprise lost its appeal.

While I often feel like I don't care if I never see another of these dog scarves again, and never marketed them to pet shops or grooming parlors, they have ended up being something of a success. Whether at farmer's markets or craft shows I always manage to sell a few. Sometimes people buy them for their dogs, sometimes as kerchiefs, to tie on packages or suitcases or gifts, even as baby bibs. But their greatest benefit to me has been as a marketing tool for the kind of fabrics I use. People love to pour through the bandanas and say "Oh, I love this fabric", "Could you make me placemats out of these fabrics", etc. etc. So the dreaded dog scarf enterprise has been a succcess, in its own way, after all.