Meet Our Advertisers #1 : Jen of MOMSPatterns

Here is the first in the series of "Meet Our Advertisers": Jen from MOMSPatterns!

How long have you been in business?
I've been in business on eBay since 1998, and owned my own vintage sewing pattern website since September, 2006!

What motivated you to go into the vintage pattern business?
I used to sell costume patterns, until a dear friend of my mother's found a box of 1940s patterns in her aunt's attic. She asked if I'd be interested in selling them, and I originally, very snobbily said, "Oh, I'll TRY but I can't see that there's a market for USED OLD PATTERNS." Imagine my surprise and delight when they sold for more money than my NEW patterns! I adore the styles and fashions from the past, so started focusing on the vintage styles and couldn't be happier having a job dealing with what I LOVE.

What did you do before this?
I used to foreclose houses for a large, well-known bank!

Where are you based?
I'm in a town called Orange Park, which is right outside of Jacksonville in Florida. Hot, humid & sunny ... all the time.

More fun questions:
What's the weirdest/best/most unusual/most beautiful thing you've ever
found?
Dabbling in vintage clothing, I found nearly ninety (yes, 90!) vintage new old stock DeWeese bathing suits from the 1970s. My pals Michelle from Dollhouse Bettie and Ang from Dorothea's Closet Vintage are selling them on consignment for me and we are reveling in the whole Charlie's Angels feel of them!

What do you have in stock that you can't believe hasn't sold?
Most of the 1930s and 1940s FABULOUS DuBarry patterns I recently added ... They're just fantastic ... really!

What do you dream about finding?
A box of 100 or more uncut 1920s McCall's vintage sewing patterns ... An original Fortuny Delphos evening gown ... and good homes for any of my beloved patterns for sale!

What do you enjoy most about working with vintage clothes and vintage sewing patterns?
I love the quality of vintage clothing. The attention to details ... the shirring, the draping and the utter GLAMOUR of the days gone by.

What do you wish someone would ask you about your site?
May I Link To You / Blog About You / Advertise For You?

It's a good day at work when ...
I wake up to emails from people telling me that they just found the MOMSPatterns site and they had SO much fun looking at styles that their mother or grandmother had made for them ... when I can connect someone with a pattern they used to love SO much but lost ... and when there's a nice stack of orders to get filled & shipped!

If I ran the internet for a day I'd ...
Make sure I was number one on Google for ALL vintage sewing search keywords & combinations so I could make sure I was reaching anyone who was interested in vintage, sewing, and vintage sewing!

The blogs I read (other than ADAD) are ...
Random Acts of Vintage (My friend Lisa's blog)

You'd laugh if you knew this about me ...
I CANNOT SEW!!

Jen has also offered to run a month long sale for you! Coupon code 'nowiknowjen' 15% off. From today until the end of the month!

More coupon details ... you can use the code over & over & over again all month long, so as you see more patterns added throughout the month, you can STILL use that code! Free s&h to USA & Canada with the purchase of 5 or more patterns, discounted shipping rates available for international orders.

Happy Anniversary, Jen!

Isn't this pattern adorable? It's so pretty ... I wish it were a bit bigger, but it's such an old-fashioned, teen-at-first-boy/girl party kind of dress. I would have worn this to DEATH when I was fourteen. I would have been like a preschooler with a favorite pink shirt, demanding to wear it every day (thus making you wash it every night).

Anyway, this pattern is at MOMSPatterns, and it's Jen's (and MOMSPatterns) one-year anniversary today! And she's offering us a 20% discount to celebrate!

Jen says: "Use coupon code oneyear20 in your shopping cart when placing an order and your savings will be reflected when you check out. Sale starts NOW and will end at midnight, EST on Sunday, September 16. You'll be able to use that coupon again and again throughout the sale, so check back daily for new inventory to snag!"

There's also a new search on her site called Memory Lane which allows you to find patterns by copyright date! I love this ...

So happy anniversary, Jen, and thanks!