Here is the second in our continuing series of "Meet Our Advertisers": Janet from Lanetz Living!
How long have you been in business?
Started on Ebay in 1999.
What motivated you to go into the vintage pattern business?
I dealt mostly in Ephemera (old paper) and would buy from estate liquidators. I often purchased 50# at a time and these lots often included vintage "Paper" sewing patterns. I was fascinated with the illustrations and they sold extremely well. I began searching them out and pretty soon I started getting lots of emails wanting me to buy estate lots of patterns and so it began …
What did you do before this?
Stayed at home and tried to spend every dime my husband made. (He told me to make my own "dimes"!) He was quite happy and really thought I would only sell enough to keep my grandchildren in toys and clothes and visits from "Nani". He was shocked by the way the website took off in 2006. I now work 40-60 hours a week with full time help. I am having a ball!!!
Where are you based?
20 miles west of Wichita Kansas in a small farming town.
More fun questions:
What do you have in stock that you can't believe hasn't sold?
A better question for me is "What I had that DID sell!!" Some pretty wild patterns go out of here on a daily basis. Ha!
What do you dream about finding?
Vogue Designer patterns … from a store that went out of business 50 years ago and have been secretly tucked away in a dry climate free from bugs waiting for me to find them!! Come home to Mamma!!!
What do you enjoy most about working with vintage clothes and vintage sewing patterns?
The customers from around the world. I love to hear their stories of why they are purchasing them. I often post them on the website.
It's a good day at work when …
We get all the orders filled and out the door and a new gallery is listed and I still have time to make dinner for hubby.
You'd laugh if you knew this about me …
I don't sew.
Janet is having a sale: Take 15% off. Enter the code "15" in the discount box on the shipping page when you check out. Expires Sunday night June 22nd at 11pm CST. (Send her well-wishes for her grandson Chandler's speedy recovery from surgery while you're at it …)
A Dress A Day 
Though a bit surprising, it actually makes sense that none of the pattern sellers seem to sew. They’d never be able to let go of their stock!
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haha Me & Janet.. agreed, an unlikely pair of non-sewers!I have to offer MANY thanks to Janet for being so helpful to me in persuading me to get my own site set up. I LOVE that pattern sellers can be friendly and non-competitive, since although we deal in the same items, there’s always different sizes and different conditions of of anything we might each have.Chandler’s in my thoughts! Luv you, Janet!
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It surprises me that these two sellers don’t sew; I only got into selling patterns BECAUSE I sew. And it seems like being surrounded by all those wonderful patterns would inspire them to learn! đŸ™‚
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Of course, I tend to hoard all of the patterns I get that catch my attention at all, because I know that I might want to sew them someday. So having that emotional distance must be nice.
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Thanks, Patterns People, that’s been interesting. I’m not too surprised that you don’t sew, either. Diff’rent strokes.
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Hi Janet!!!Wow, both of my favourite pattern sellers don’t sew. Go figure.Hope your grandson is still doing well.
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did Janet sell vintage fabric on eBay in the late 90s? I think I have a receipt from her from that time for some really cool 1930s dress fabric…..
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Janet uses pretty packaging…you get a little, laminated business-card-sized calendar (or something, I never looked at it too closely) and a piece of note paper in my favorite shade of pale green, to mark down notion and yardage needs for when you go to the fabric store. Both are embossed with her ornate logo. Since I love the artwork on the patterns, I like having these artsy little touches arrive with it, too. Very cute. (And I must confess, my pic is lifted from a Lanetz Living pattern that was in the Jackie O. category. I changed the background to cover my tracks. Shhhh.)
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Cool profile, especially given that I’ve bought one of my favorite patterns from her!
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I love that these two awesome sellers don’t sew! I have lots of new patterns and my vintage pattern collection is slowly but surely growing. I can see myself at 80 still saying, “I can’t get rid that one, I love it! See this detail? I’m going to make something out of this one for sure!” I’d make a bad pattern seller.I have the same problem with shoes. And some clothes.Janet, I hope that Chandler recovers quickly from surgery! My thoughts are with him.
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The dress on the right there is awesome, by the way. My pre-frontal cortex is zinging just looking at it. Think what the effect would be of actually WEARING it! It might have to be re-classified as an illegal drug…
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I really enjoyed hearing about you. May your Vogue designer pattern lot come true (fun for everyone). I bought a pattern recently from you and liked your personal touch.
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I’ll say some prayers for Chandler. God Bless you in all that you do and much continued success! If I had a pattern company like yours, I probably would want to sew rather than sell them all! It’s probably a good thing you DON”T sew! God Bless!
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What lovely comments! Thank you for the well wishes for my grandson. He is doing better and I hope to be home Monday afternoon. I have lots of great patterns to list and hoping to get a huge estate in out of New York from a professional seamstress who sewed in the 50s & 60s and had an “eye for high fashion” (says her daughter).I should clarify that I did sew in High School (My Home Ec teacher may of argued that point)……. and I did sew halloween costumes for my children in the 70s. I can thread a machine and sew a straight line but that is about it. I have not touched a machine in years.I do keep certain patterns that bring back memories, My grandmother was an avid sewer and every time I look at that patterbn I can still hear her mumbling through the pins in her mouth to “stand still!” while she pinned the hem in my 1973 Boho Halter prom dress from Simplicity. I do enjoy the illustrations and have many customers who buy for the envelope only and frame them. I have found that people buy for multitudes of reasons. Lots of Theatre Costume buyers, those who like to collect certain eras ( I compare this to men who collect baseball cards), designers who like a bodice from one, skirt from one and sleeves from yet another and then there are my fav “cross dressers” who I adore and are much fun to work with. They snag those plus sizes up as quick as I can list them. I just love all my fun unique csutomers and hearing the pesonal reasons why I certain pattern speaks to them. ( I have many patterns that can do that! ha!)Thanks Erin for this wonderful blog and giving me my moment in the “spotlight”.Wishing you all much success in all that you put your hearts to!!Hugs,Janet
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