Thursday 30 June 2011

What's in a name?

keyka lou bucket bag 1 by sewquine
keyka lou bucket bag 1, a photo by sewquine on Flickr.

Can I pick your brains for a minute, pretty please? Recently I've been getting lots of lovely comments about the things I've made for myself and as gifts. All these very nice people have said 'you should make these to sell I'd love to buy one'. Now this is something I've pondered on a lot and always think oh one day that's what I'd love to do. So considering our serious lack of money and the size of my fabric stash I think now is the time to make this happen.

The Keyka Lou Bucket Bag has had loads of fans

Ok I was going to load pictures of the Mobile Phone Carrier and the Echino Cushions but Blogger won't let me grrrrr! These projects have also gone down well with friends and family.

So the thing is should I continue with the name Sew Quine Stitches? I had always meant to explain the word 'quine' as it is a Doric word meaning 'girl' which harps back to my Aberdonian roots A couple of friends have suggested that my other thought of a shop name The Ochil Tree is a better option. This is a name that myself and friend Karen (she makes gorgeous knitty and felty things) came up with so we could both sell under the same shop name and not be restricted to sewing related items.What do you think? Both names contain Scots words which I like but they say to choose a catchy easy to remember shop name and I wonder if either of these fall into that bracket or are they difficult to pronounce thus difficult to remember? I'd love to have some feedback on this as I want to get this right before, making a shop banner and labels etc.

So 'Sew Quine Stitches'' or 'The Ochil Tree' as a Folksy shop name, any thoughts, selling tips or general crafty sales thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Back later with another completed bag to show you.

Bye for now

Nikki

P.S. I had to post this through Flickr as Blogger has now decided not to save my post double grrrr!

Via Flickr:
my new favourite, blogged sewquine.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-favourite-handbag.html

15 comments:

Mara Acoma said...

I like 'The Ochil Tree'.  It gives you more scope to branch out if you wish.  When I started dyeing yarn I went for Fantasia Yarns and now I'm thinking about doing other things I wish I'd not been so specific.

sewquine said...

Thanks Mara. Yeah it does allow for more wiggle room for things other than sewing, would I then need to change the blog name do you think?

magic and drudgery said...

I like your blog name but I think its a nice idea to be selling with your friend and your blog name would probably be a bit restrictive.  Your bag is cool.  Hmmm... I think I'd go for Ochil Tree, can I ask why Ochil Tree?  Sometimes the story behind the name makes the name perfect.  

pingsandneedles said...

I love Ochil Tree - I don't think you'd have to change your blog name, keep Ochil for the selling stuff and keep Sew Quine for your blog ... you can always sign yourself as SewQuine @ Ochil Tree ... that way you have all bases covered.

You know how much I love this bag ... drool ... 

sewquine said...

Oh thank you :) Ah well the story behind The Ochil Tree is that it's the name of the street that runs between my house and Karen's house so it was a nice way of having a name that connected us both. There doesn't seem to be an actual Ochil Tree but the local range of hills to us are called The Ochils so the street name must have come from them I guess. Plus it seemed like a nice name that would lend itself to images for banner and logos etc.

sewquine said...

Oh Sarah you're a star sewquine @  ochiltree - perfect! I think that's it decided then, Yay! I'll keep Sew Quine Stitches and the shop will be The Ochil Tree.
I just need to nail down what to make now plus labels and a logo. I'm really excited about this, of course the beginning of the school holidays is the worst possible time to be trying to do this, never mind .. onward :)

Lynz said...

I love "the Ochil Tree" but I am partial to those hills being a local quine myself (and it's in my Flickr name, too!) can I ask where about you are? I'm in Alloa. And I think you's get away without changing your blog name, especially if the business name is a shared one.

susan said...

Yup - I am with The Ochil Tree too. It just rolls off the tongue so well. Keep Sew Quine as your blog and use Ochil Tree for your shop. It sounds rather unique and posh as well - if I am allowed to say that!

magic and drudgery said...

ahhh - see, it is a perfect name - Ochil Tree.  And what a good idea to have sewquine @ ochiltree.  Perfect.   

pingsandneedles said...

It's what I did with my username on flickr ...

... once my blog started to get visitors popping by I changed my flickr name
to Sarah @PingsAndNeedles, so it kept both my crafty and non crafty personas
intact!

I wish you lots of luck - you make beautiful things so I know it will work!

I love that bucket bag so much I feel like I know what it feels like to
stroke it ... !! LOL! ... but really. I mean it.

x S

Rachael said...

Oh, I thought your blogger name was a play on the word 'sequin'! D'uh.  And although I knew already what a 'quine' was, i never twigged! 

So on that note....I prefer The Ochil Tree.....  :)

www.sewrayme.co.uk

sewquine said...

Oh sequin, I wish I'd thought of that, just goes to show how things strike
people differently.

sewquine said...

Ah yes good point about flickr, great to keep things connected like that.

I'm starting to think you like the Bucket Bag a wee bit, I could have got it
all wrong but it's just a vibe I'm getting from you ;)

Thanks very much for the encouragement, I love blogger pals they're sooo
supportive of each other.

sewquine said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Susan B said...

I had a similar problem with my Rav username, which up until very recently was CouthyQuine. I changed it to something less regional so that if (when!) i go into business in crafts it will be memorable to everyone - and they'll be able to spell it! I like The Ochil Tree - but again, the "ch" sound can be hard for non-Scots to pronounce, you might end up as the (Oh, chill) tree.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...