Introducing the Bias Tape Appreciation Society – our new Specky Subscription Box
Introducing the Bias Tape Appreciation Society – the monthly subscription box from The Specky Seamstress!
We launched this subscription box in September 2023 and it’s a firm favourite. But we know there are lots of questions, so we thought it would be great to pop up an FAQ to explain a bit more for all our Bias Tape lovers to explain a little more.
Bias Tape Appreciation Society – Gift Subscription – The Specky Seamstress
Bias Tape Appreciation Society – rolling subscriptions – The Specky Seamstress
How will it work?
The Bias Tape Appreciation Society is a £6 a month (UK) ‘cheap and cheerful’ – little sewing gift to yourself!
You’ll get one 2m pack of 12mm single fold bias, in a brand new design, that is not yet available in the shop. Postage is included – all you’ve got to do is sign up, and we do the rest.
There are two different options, rolling and one-off:
- Rolling – Monthly, 6 Monthly and Annual
- 3 month upfront (great for gifts!)
Our Rolling options auto renew for each billing period, either once a month, once every six months, or once a year, depending on the option you choose. And you can pause or cancel your renewal any time from your account.
Our up-front options are just that – a one-off payment for 3 months of boxes! And we’ll drop you an email at the end to see if you want to sign up again 🙂
In each case, you need to have signed up by the last day of the preceding month to participate – i.e. if you sign up on 1, 15, or 31 December, your first box will ship in the first week of January. If you sign up on 1 January, your first box will ship in February. For rolling memberships, you’ll then be charged on the 20th of the month, from the month AFTER you sign up, for every month, 6 months, or year that you remain a member.
(Need a different renewal date? Drop us an email!)
In your very first box you’ll receive a welcome gift, and sometimes we like to throw in an extra gift other months too!
In future, we might look to add different boxes, with options of ‘doubling up’ on the bias design, additional haberdashery goodies or store credit – but right now we are keeping things simple!
What are those other bonuses for being a member?
Members will have a free postage code that can be used for the online shop for orders that will be shipped along with your club box for the month – you can use it all year round, but orders placed using the code will be combined with your next club box. If you want your orders sooner, just place them in the regular way.
What sort of designs will there be? Can I choose?
To start with, there will just be one box and the designs will be a mix – expect all of the Specky signatures – bright colours, positive words and fun pictures. In the future, we’d love to offer people a choice between these types of designs, so bear with us and do let us know if this is something you’d like so we can gauge interest. In order to do this we’d need to be ordering, designing and manufacturing a lot more – so it’s a bit of a commitment from our side!
If I don’t sign up, will I miss out on the new designs?
Firstly, and definitively, we want to say that this subscription box will not lock exclusive designs behind an annual subscription paywall. It will act a bit like an ‘early access pass’ in the sense that each design sent will be available in the shop 3 months after the boxes are sent.
We want everyone to be able to enjoy our designs and other than possibly the very odd member gift, this will remain a core part of the was The Specky Seamstress runs. It categorically is not the end of our normal online shop – and in fact the opposite – it means we have time and space to design more fun bias tapes that will populate the shop with new stuff on a regular basis. This monthly drumbeat of the business will help us manage the business alongside our two busy ‘mum and full time day job’ lives. It also doesn’t exclude ‘big launches’ in the shop – it just takes the pressure away from us needing to hype up big launches!
I don’t live in the UK – can I still be part of the club?!
Yes! As with our online shop, we ship worldwide – worldwide boxes are priced a little higher to address postage costs, but will be the same designs and ship at the same time. Make sure you choose the right location for your subscription when you order.
Please note: we are not currently able to ship to the EU or Northern Ireland due to GPSR changes; we are working to change this as fast as possible.
Can I buy a subscription as a gift?
Yes, absolutely! You are absolutely be able to buy this for someone else, as long as you have their shipping address! You can chose between a rolling membership or a one-off gift to suit your budget and gift preference.
Please double check that you put the correct shipping address in and if you want to be super-duper certain, you can always drop us an email just to make sure.
Gift Cards for the website can be used towards the Society too!
Why a subscription box? Why now?
There’s two answers for the first question – one from a customer perspective and one from a business one. So firstly from a customer side….. it felt like there was a bit of a lack of subscription boxes on the lower end of the pricing scale in the sewing world. In the yarny world, stitch marker clubs are really common and super popular – £5 a month style subscriptions for a bit of a pick me up treat. We think our boxes will be perfect for that, without breaking the bank. And as for us, subscription boxes offer a lot of benefits for a small business – some ‘semi guaranteed’ income is very helpful for our planning and being able to make the most of quantity discounts from our suppliers (and keep our costs low). As we have evaluated the business and our capacity to grow it this year, we are bringing on external help for the first time – and this costs money! So being able to financially plan a bit better will help us in our ambition to grow, while still maintaining a semblance of sanity and capability in our other commitments.