My Cottage Industry

As some of my friends and most of my family know, through my years as an Ob-Gyn Nurse Practitioner, I’ve made stirrup covers for the exam tables in my offices. For those who have never had to experience the indignity of a pelvic exam, the embellishment of exam table stirrups may seem inconsequential, but I’ve found that the diversion is well worth the time and effort of maintaining entertaining stirrup covers.

Nearly every woman, as she scoots her hips down to the edge of the exam table in preparation for her yearly pap smear, complains, “I hate these exams.” Not only does she have to position her posterior off the edge of the table, but she also has to place her feet in metal stirrups that only too closely resemble the stirrups on a saddle, and swing out her knees to enable the examiner to see pertinent parts of her anatomy. If her feet are bare, as are many women’s because they had to remove their pantyhose for said exam, and if the examiner hasn’t made provision for her comfort, the cold metal stirrup is uncomfortable at best. Not as uncomfortable as is a cold metal speculum, mind you, but nevertheless, cold and uncomfortable.

There are, of course, lots of other strategies for helping women feel comfortable during exams, but it helps to have a little diversionary conversation about the current choice of the stirrup covers as one assumes The Position. Hence my interest in creating interesting stirrup covers.

The idea to create holiday themed covers evolved while I’ve been in my current job. I started out making a set for myself and then branched out to make sets for the doc with whom I work and selected ones for co-workers. The advantage to having rotating covers is that no pair becomes too ragged and each pair is washed regularly when it goes out of season. A set is comprised of a basic fabric such as floral, plus special themed patterns for each major holiday: Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

More than 10 years ago, I did some preliminary testing of the market and for various reasons, didn’t proceed with serious business plans. During that time, my friend, S, came up with the name of Footsies for my creations. A year or so ago, I half-jokingly said that when I retired I hoped to make Footsies to help pay the groceries after I retire. My son interpreted my remark to mean that I didn’t have enough retirement funds to cover the food on the table. Thankfully, he clarified what I meant by gently inquiring if my retirement was in jeopardy. As I explained to him, the idea of retirement is more appealing to me if I can think of ways to still make a little money, instead of spend, spend, spend.

So, now that the retirement date is set and I have a sewing machine, a serger, a dedicated sewing room, and, most importantly, a partner who has PR, IT and accounting skills, the time is ripe to fully explore the possibilities of a Footsies business. If you’re interested in seeing what I mean, go to my website. If you’re so inclined, please give me feedback on what you think of the site and if there’s any missing or confusing information.

If you know of someone who might have an interest in purchasing footsies, please forward the website to them.