Any craft sellers out there?

[disneysteve]

My wife is in the early stages of starting up a new business. She has taken up quilting and in just a few weeks, has already made several very nice bags, a couple of iPad covers, a wine bottle holder, a change purse, and a couple of other things. For whatever reason, the whole process just totally clicked for her. She finds it very easy and enjoyable to do and with not much practice is already pretty good at it.

The big news is that on Tuesday, she made her very first sale! A couple of weeks ago, she brought one bag she had made to work to show people and a coworker asked her to make one for her. It's a little hard to figure the exact profit because of the nature of sewing (how much thread was used, how much material, etc.) but we estimate she earned about $12-15 on that bag on a $40 sale price. And as she gets up and running more seriously, she'll be able to buy some supplies in bulk to reduce her costs. Just yesterday, she found a deal on thread and bought 800M spools for less than the regular price of 200M spools. And we ordered zippers on ebay for a tenth of what they cost in local stores.

So anyway, I'm wondering if anyone here makes and sells any craft items. If so, do you have any wisdom to share? Where do you sell your items? We are thinking she could start doing local craft shows, church bazaars - especially before the holidays in December, even flea markets and such. And of course there is Etsy. We have bought stuff on there but never sold anything.

So if any crafters out there have any advice for someone just starting up, please share. Thanks.

[breathemusic]

What about purse parties? I've been to ones where you can look at a collection of samples and order the items that you like, and I've also been to one where the lady hosted the event in her home and you got to pick out your fabrics based on her inventory and pick the style bag based on her samples of what she could make, and then you had your own custom purse. She could then even make little tweaks to the design if you wanted longer handle straps or an extra pocket or whatever.

[disneysteve]

What about purse parties? I've been to ones where you can look at a collection of samples and order the items that you like, and I've also been to one where the lady hosted the event in her home and you got to pick out your fabrics based on her inventory and pick the style bag based on her samples of what she could make, and then you had your own custom purse. She could then even make little tweaks to the design if you wanted longer handle straps or an extra pocket or whatever.

Thanks. I actually thought about her doing something like that. Since every item is handmade, it is simple to customize color, fabric, strap length, etc. I suggested that she make some items with licensed patterns like local sports teams, cartoon characters, etc. Most of the items will appeal to women but a football team logo iPad case could certainly attract male customers.

[BMEPhDinCO]

Farmer's market season is right around the corner - she could look into a booth share with someone. Or even see if they will let her set up on the "fringes" for free/reduced price.

I also suggest making fliers and handing them out at the library, coffee shops, etc. If you have any "local boutiques" in town, they might set up something for a display there. Fairs, festivals, summer events, etc are all good places. Craigslist is a good place to post and of course you mentioned Etsy.

Hope this works out for her, good luck!

[disneysteve]

If you have any "local boutiques" in town, they might set up something for a display there.

Yes, we thought about that, too. As long as they don't want too big a cut of the sales that could work. There are a lot of mom and pop kind of stores around that might be willing to do something like that.

Any idea what a typical deal would be in that situation? Is it usually a % of each sale made?

[moneybags]

Have her make some in your daughter's school colors, then have her tote them around at school. She can print some business cards (you can do some print at homes) to hand out to those who compliment her.

[disneysteve]

Have her make some in your daughter's school colors, then have her tote them around at school. She can print some business cards (you can do some print at homes) to hand out to those who compliment her.

Good idea. School colors are purple and white. She could do a bag in those colors and maybe get a "W" patch (school is West) to sew on. Or she could get number patches for class years.

[Gailete]

I suggested that she make some items with licensed patterns like local sports teams, cartoon characters, etc. Most of the items will appeal to women but a football team logo iPad case could certainly attract male customers.

That is a big NO-NO Steve unless she has permission to make items with the logo's on them. That is what licensed is all about. I see people try to sell officially licensed items on ecrater and ecrater shuts them down fast as the big wigs life the NFL, Disney, etc. don't give out permissions to just anyone to use their likenesses. It is called pirating goods. The only exception (usually) is if you are making an item for yourself or as a gift, but you can't make them to sell.

That being said, good for her with the quilting! It is a fun activity. Don't let her sell herself short though as she also needs to charge for her time. So there are suplies to account for, wear and tear on her sewing machine (some machine companies won't cover warranty work on a machine that has been used for business purposes), overhead and her time plus some for profit. One of the things that has always kept me from making and selling crafts is the whole time thing. People are so used to imports from the far East that are so cheap, they aren't going to want to pay for something that took 4 hours to make at a decent wage. I think currently Minimum wage is around $8-9/hour so is something takes her 4 hours She has to charge at least $32-36 for her time plus the $12 for materials, and so at the cost of $40 she literally hasn't made any money. Not saying this to discourage you and her but to bring to the forefront something whe would discover eventually on her own. When she is sewing 12 hours a day and only has 3-4 purses finished and once the material and overhead is taken out, what she 'earned' isn't enough to make her want to continue that much sewing that fast.

If she wants to do this on a very casual basis, that is another thing, but she still needs to charge appropriately for her time and work. I've seen crafters trying to sell their work for less than the supplies that go into them. Their excuse is they like making them. Okay fine but they are also teaching people to discount 'homemade' goods and that they aren't worth much.

One thing she might want to consider and it will still get and keep her sewing is developing her own ideas, writing up the patterns for them and then selling the pattern. She gets the fun of making the item (for the photo shoot) in different looks/styles and the pattern can be sold for years without her having to make the same thing over and over. Something like patterns for sewing you can sell on ecrater with only a very minimum possible charge. I believe Etsy charges you to list and if you sell.

If you have any questions, holler. I'm happy to help.