A Brilliant Marketing Strategy

It’s not mine, unfortunately, but I’m admiring it just the same.

A year or two ago, Simplicity, one of the “Big 4” pattern companies, launched a line of merchandise featuring the artwork from some of its vintage patterns. This line included coffee mugs, which I’ve been collecting here and there because they are a great size and shape and we never seem to have enough coffee mugs. That test line of merchandise must have done really well because Simplicity has been adding to it. Now it takes up at least half an aisle in every Joanns store I’ve been to in the past month.

Of course, some of the stuff they’ve included in the expanded line is just frippery—an excuse for them to slap vintage pattern artwork on cheap Chinese goods and sell them. However, some of the merchandise is actually useful, like the pattern weights and, of course, the mugs. In addition, Simplicity also has been bringing back many of its vintage patterns from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. They started with apron patterns but have since added other items. (I suspect some of that is driven by the TV shows The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Mad Men, both of which had killer costuming.)

Joanns has several different lines of cotton fabric. There are the “novelty prints” featuring kittens, puppies, food, etc.; the Quilter’s Showcase lower-end quilting fabric; the Keepsake Quilting line; and the Premium Cotton line. The Premium Cotton was on sale yesterday, so I wandered through to see if anything caught my eye. Lo and behold—Simplicity has also released a line of cottons featuring vintage artwork. These must be new. They also seem to be fairly popular, as most of the bolts—which start out at 10 yards—were down to only a yard or two. I have some birthday money to spend, so I bought one-yard cuts of half a dozen of the prints. (I didn’t count, but I think there were about a dozen different prints altogether.)

Clearly, this has been a successful marketing endeavor for Simplicity. I’m sure they will run out of cheap Chinese merchandise ideas eventually, but I hope they continue to release the vintage patterns.

I also made a stop at the quilting store south of town. I don’t get there often because I don’t usually travel that way. There, I picked up this cute little needle case pattern:

The designer is a local woman and she’s teaching a class on this pattern at the store at the end of January. The class is over four days, though, and I am not sure I’ll be able to shoehorn that into the schedule. I’ve been wanting a needle case to keep my embroidery needles more organized than they are when I just shove them into a pincushion.

[I have been lax in working on my embroidery in the evenings and I need to get back into that habit.]

Yesterday was filled with errand-running; I had to meet the piano tuner at the church so he could tune the piano there. I have the privilege of playing on a Bosendorfer baby grand that is over 100 years old. The piano belonged to my friend Susan’s mother, and when her mother died, Susan inherited it. She doesn’t have space for it at her house, so it is on loan to the church. I think we’ve had the piano for five or six years now. Pianos are very much living things, each with its own personality, and it took a year or two for this piano to become acclimated to Montana and for us to become friends. It’s a delight to play every Sunday, though.

The piano tuner is coming here on Saturday morning to tune my baby grand. Mine is a Yamaha and is not nearly as old or stately. I chose mine mostly for the fact that it had a lovely, bright sound and a polished mahogany finish. I did not want a sad, sonorous baby grand. Mine has a tendency to get screechy every fall, though, and the tuning has gotten steadily worse over the past month. It’s time to have it serviced.