I’m not one to wait to be chosen. I’ve told you about how I asked my husband out on our first date. If you wait to be plucked from the crowd very few interesting things are likely to happen to you. Be an active player in your own success. This means dreaming up ideas and…
Why It Shouldn’t Bother You When Someone Admires Your Work and Says They Can Make It Themselves
You spend countless hours developing a unique product, refining it, tweaking the pattern, sourcing the perfect materials, taking beautiful product shots, writing winning marketing copy for the listings, and cultivating a community around your work. And then, one afternoon you’re sifting through Pinterest and there’s your image of your beautiful handmade product, the basis of…
Softies at Quilt Market: An Interview with Ellen Lumpkin Brown of The Doll Loft
Should you go to Quilt Market? If you have a creative sewing business my bet is this is one of your burning questions. Quilt Market is the most prominent trade show for fabric-based businesses. The show takes place twice a year, once in Houston and once in another city in the United States. It's open…
Book Review: I Just Like To Make Things by Lilla Rogers
Two weeks ago I was at a coffee shop with my two younger daughters. I glanced at my Twitter stream and saw that Lilla Rogers has a book out. Lilla Rogers. Photo by Sharon Jacobs. I knew about Lilla Rogers because she’s the illustration agent for two long-time bloggers whose careers I’ve followed from way…
Outtakes
When I set up a photo shoot for the cover image on a new pattern I take lots and lots of photos, sometimes close to 100. There are so many variables in a shoot like this: the child has to have their eyes open and look happily engaged, the toy has to be facing forward,…
Automating Your Etsy Shop: An Interview with Chris Marinic, Founder and CEO of CraftHub
Oh wow! One of my patterns just sold from my Etsy shop! Hooray! Except I’m at the playground with three kids and no laptop and after this we’re going to piano lessons and then a playdate. We won’t be home for at least three hours and when we do get home I have to cook…
Podcast Special Episode: Social E-Commerce for Small Businesses with Jon Crawford, CEO of Storenvy
What’s the best way to sell your handmade goods online? Open your own storefront and you’re on an island. If you can’t bring in the traffic yourself you aren’t likely to make enough sales for it to pay off. Open a store on Etsy and you’ll get lots of traffic, but you’ll also literally…
The Economics of Selling Sewing Patterns
How much is a sewing pattern for a stuffed animal worth? When I sell a single sewing pattern to a big company, such as a book or magazine publisher, or to one of the big pattern companies like Simplicity, I can generally expect to get $250 for that pattern. Then, six months or a year…
How to Become an Expert: Be Persistant
I’m in the car shuttling kids from one place to another when I’m suddenly struck with an idea for a brilliant design. I can see it so clearly in my mind’s eye and I become totally consumed with developing it and making it come to life. Duck prototype on my desk today. The rest of…
Pattern Design Week: Topic #5 Putting Your Pattern Up For Sale: Pricing, Marketing, and Customer Support
This week I'm talking about how to turn your craft projects into pattern instructions that you can package, market, and sell online. Whether you sew softies or do another type of craft, creating patterns is a great way to add an income stream to your handmade business. Pattern sales produce small bits of income that…
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