Monday, February 9, 2009

Ally's Bazaar...Ribbons!

Allyson Paquette and her husband Douglas create the most beautiful jaquard ribbon for their women's accessories business. They make flip flops, belts, and keyrings all with their fresh looking and colorful ribbon. They also have adorable Pet Fashions too, with collars and harnesses that fit all sizes of dogs.

With each new season they retire their old ribbon designs, and some of the ribbon has gone unused. Until now!
Ally has set up a web based business where you can purchase this ribbon at hugely discounted prices. She calls it Ally's Bazaar.

After I perused her website, I knew I just had to have some of this ribbon.
One of the directions I want to take my crazy quilting work is towards a more contemporary aesthetic....fresher colors, younger designs, just a more "of the moment" feel. These ribbons are exactly the element I need for this, and I am so excited to have some!

It comes in four widths.

This is the 13mm, or 1/2" width ribbon. Do click on the pictures to see the detail! The ribbon is tightly woven, yet is easy to stitch through.
This width can be ordered for $1.20/yard. Yes, you read that correctly. What a deal!

The next size up is 20mm, or about 3/4". These go for $1.60/yard.
See what I mean about the fresh designs?

The 28 mm size, which equals about 1 1/8" in width, is my favorite. For $1.90/yard, you get so much beautiful design for your money.

The 38 mm width is about 1 1/2", and sells for $2.20/yard.

I plan on writing about updating the CQ "look" in the next issue of CQMagOnline. These ribbons will certainly be the inspiration for that!

The other reason I am so gung ho on this ribbon is that I absolutely love the idea of supporting small businesses created by a husband and wife team. In this economic climate, it is a win win to shop with them....very good prices and helping to keep these intrepid designer/entrepreneurs afloat.
And their customer service is excellent.

I hope you will check them out to see all of their designs!

12 comments :

Vicki W said...

That was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY!

Judy S. said...

Interesting link, Allie. Welcome home, BTW, and did you wake up to snow also? Have you seen the Spoonflower site where you can create your own fabric design...

Vicki W said...

Just to clarify my earlier comment for other readers - I meant that in a completely humorous light because I immediately went to the site and spent $40!

So much for my pledge to cut my hobby spending!

Esther Gregory said...

nice, and it's great that the unused ribbon is still finding a home rather than a trashcan.

heehee, they have one with skulls wearing eye patches

Anonymous said...

Hi -- just recently discovered your blog and I love your stuff! And these ribbons are quite lovely, indeed.

I wonder, however, did you notice the "non-commercial" clause on the storefront page? It says, in part, "Commercial use of these ribbons is prohibited with out written consent from Douglas Paquette Inc. Commercial use includes reselling any item with the ribbon as part of its design."

I'm curious as to your position on this kind of thing, where a business sells art supplies but wants to control how they're used. I can understand they don't want competition with their existing line of products based around these ribbons, but wouldn't a crazy quilt for sale using them be legally considered "Fair Use" rather than infringement?

More on my Making Stuff blog, if you're interested. ;-)

allie aller said...

Hi Jess....you raise a great question. Thanks.
In my case, I have never sold a crazy quilt except for one commission so this issue doesn't come up for me.
I don't see this as any different than using printed commercially fabrics in works of art for sale, however.
But if someone is going into production using these ribbons, say for an Etsy shop, that feels wrong to me based on what they have said on their website.

Debra Dixon said...

Am I to understand that these pictures are "your stash"???

I am laughing with Vicki! She really doesn't need any encouragement.

These are very fresh and I am really interested in your new approach. It sounds like what I have been thinking about too. CQ can get so involved so quickly.

Barbara C said...

What pretty ribbons, the colors are so fresh.

Susan Elliott said...

Thanks for the link...I could have used some of these on my pants for the girls!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link, Ally. That's an amazing haul of ribbons. I had to get some blueberries ribbon. Just called my name, even though I don't like blueberries!

Possibilities, Etc. said...

OOOOOH thank you for this. You know what I'll do with it - I need to buy a bunch of it. I haven't been able to find any good looking ribbon to work with until this.

allie aller said...

Ally just emailed me about the reselling issue. I'll quote her here:

About the reselling, we are actually planning on removing that from the site. It was really sort of to prevent people from making collars and selling them where we sell our collars. The thing is, there is only so much of each ribbon and once it is gone, we are not remaking it. No one would be able to start a whole dog collar business just on our ribbon. I know for a fact that a lot of my customers are making dog collars, they told me and sent me pictures, but it is only on a small scale. I hope this makes people feel a bit better!