COVID-19/Shop Updates
Hey guess what. I’m still working.
I felt like it was time to give an update about where I’m at with orders/what’s going on. So here we go. Sorry it’s so long.
Let me take you back:
At the end of March/early April I held a reservation for my newest print, Melanistic Menagerie. I floundered about even releasing it, due to this new pandemic thing and people losing their jobs. I felt like putting this out would be super inappropriate and not at all what people needed. But like, I’d had this print in the works for over a year, and I didn’t know how long the pandemic would last, so I waited a few weeks, and then just went ahead and released it anyways. And, well. I was wrong - people really liked it, and surprisingly the print did really well despite the circumstances.
So about a month later, once all my fabric and materials were in, I finally start fulfilling these orders. And I’m working away, and then one night, random orders just start coming in, one after the other. I was pleasantly surprised. But then, like… my phone kept blowing up and orders just kept pouring in over the weekend. I had no idea wtf was going on, and why I was being flooded with so much love. Well turns out, my brand had been going around on posts to support black-owned businesses ♥. And I have to admit, it felt really nice at first to have lots of orders coming through. But then my anxiety started kicking in, and I just felt scared - it was just too much. (To be frank, the amount of orders I get in like a year, I got in this 2-week period.) I had to do something I’ve never done before - I had to close the shop. And that’s how my summer started.
I’d like to take this space to be transparent about why your order hasn’t shipped yet:
I was already working with a full plate of Melanistic orders (of which I’ve suspended working on, and you guys are the best and omg thanks for not hating me for having to wait for so longIdieeverytimeIwalkintomystudioandseetheMelanisticfabricughhhh) before June and BLM and masks and everything.
So to tackle this new mountain of orders, I decided to pivot and try and get out all the ‘small orders’ first (orders that I deemed small were just bloomers or accessories), of which there were a lot, but I could get several done and shipped a day, which felt amazing. And right now in this moment, I’ve got 99% of those done. I have like 1.5 more to go. And I feel great, except for… the 2 other stacks of orders I now need to get through - Melanistic of course, and orders that have actual garments in them, orders that take actual time, sometimes multiple days to get one done. And I have a lot of those too. These will take longer, and I’ll do my best, but a dress alone can take me about 1-2 days to sew, and some orders have multiple garments, and if you do the math… yeah, it’s going to be several more weeks to get through everything, so please bear with me.
(Oh, and somewhere in the midst of all that, I took a few weeks here and there to make a few hundred face masks, which pushed other orders back, and left me exhausted.)
So, I’m continuing to work, and to chip away at all these orders. In case you’re new here, it’s just me. I don’t have a sewing team or factory or anyone else helping, just me and my machine in my studio. I’m doing my best, and I’m actually proud of the amount of work I’ve gotten done, but somehow it’s never enough. I’ve started to have panic attacks again, which is cool.
If you’d like to cancel your order, we can still do that - I’ll give you a full refund, no hurt feelings, no questions asked. I get that you’ve been waiting, and I understand if you can’t wait anymore.
Thanks for your support and continued patience - sorry to sound like a broken record, but I really do mean it. Creating clothes and sewing and making things is my passion, and I’m beyond lucky that I get to do that everyday and that people actually like what I make. You all make me feel like the magical girl I strive to be. So thanks for your support, for reading this far, and for sticking with me. ♥ ♥ ♥
To all the my Melanistic orders: Thank you. Your patience has been invaluable, and I really appreciate not getting angry emails from you, since you’ve been waiting since like April for your orders. You’re the best ♥
PS Btw, Halloween is cancelled. At least over here at Elegy. It’s my absolute favorite time of the year, but I just don’t have the time to do any special releases like I’d originally planned. Not only would it be irresponsible of me to take on even more orders, but it’d be unfair to make everyone else wait even longer, to try and then get those orders out before Halloween. So yeah, Halloween will have to be in like January or something, because if I were to actually do a special release, I’d have to be working on it right now, and there’s just no way that can happen.
Posted August 25
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Just a heads up: I am no longer shipping worldwide at this time - as far as I’ve been able to tell, international shipping is still a shit show and totally backed up. I’d rather not deal with that/have to make you wait for months on end, so I’ve disabled it completely for now.
ALSO mask restock (including some new designs) will be taking place on Monday evening (EST).
Shop is still closed at this time.
I’ve unintentionally started a waitlist, so if you’re interested in something in particular, send me an email! I will get in touch with you about placing an order before I open the shop back up in the future.
Thank you for your continued support + patience ♥
Posted 7/18
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Due to the recent overwhelming support and love, I have chosen to put the shop on a bit of a hiatus to give me a chance to catch up on orders. Temporarily, nothing is available for purchase except for masks (and a few ‘ready-to-ship’ items). Your patience and understanding is super appreciated, and I’ll try and be back to normal in the next month or so.
Thanks so much ♥
(Also, I’ll be making some masks available again once they go out of stock, so check back every so often if that’s what you’re looking for.)
posted 6/22