Trying My Hand At Selling What I Sew

Well I did it. I listed one of my tote bags for sale today! I really don't know whether I hope it sells or hope it doesn't! I made it for myself, but I am so curious to know if there is a market for them. I could have a little side business...

Listing

New Sewing Blog

I have started another blog. Yeah, I know. I'm a blogaholic. But this one will actually get a lot of use. Like this one. It's a showcase for the stuff I sew. And I sew nearly every day. It's my salvation. =)

If you're interested, you can check it out here. New Sewing Blog

Thanks.

I'm Sewing For the Shop Again

I go through phases with my Etsy shop. I'm hearing the blue jays calling in the fall, and I can feel the chill in the air. It makes me want to create warm things, and at the moment it's hatshatshats!!

Infinity/Convertible Dress - Sewing Tutorial

I found a free online tutorial for a dress. Now, I am not a dress wearer. It is truly a rare occasion. I do enjoy wearing skirts when I"m in the mood, but even that is not frequently. But after reading this tutorial, I couldn't keep myself from making one. I don't know why. It just pulled at me for some reason. So before I could talk myself out of it, I ordered a whole bunch of fabric online. Now I was committed!

First things first, let me give credit where credit is due. Here is the link to the tutorial I followed: Infinity Dress Tutorial

I then found a blog which also covers this tutorial, with some additional helpful information thrown in: Blog of Tutorial

Here is a picture of the dress I made in ONE hour!

And here's how you do it!

Find yourself some nice, stretchy fabric. At least 40% stretch is recommended.

You will need four pieces to make this dress. A circle for the skirt, two loooooong pieces for the straps, and a strip for the waist band.

Circle: Measure your waist and divide this number by 6.28. (Read about it in the original tute) Now determine the length you want the skirt part to be. Add the two numbers. Now create a pattern piece for your skirt. You will probably need to create a half circle pattern piece, then either fold your fabric double to create a circle, or cut two half-circles (if you are tall or have fabric that is not wide enough) and sew them together. So.... make one of these:

The small cut out is the waist of your skirt. Take the first measurement number you came up with, your waist measurement divided by 6.28. Using a string the same length as that number and a pen(cil), draw an arc. Then measure another string the length of your skirt PLUS the number you came up with for the waist. Measure from the same starting point on the material (which, by the way, can be interfacing, poster board, cardboard, whatever you can come up with!) and draw another arc. Cut on both lines, and you will have created the pattern piece for your skirt. 

(Questions?)

Straps: You will want the pieces to be 1 1/2 times your height (yeah, really!) The width will be the measurement from the middle of your rib cage to beneath your under arm. Yep, these are LONG pieces.

Waistband: The waistband should be about 2" long by the measurement of your waist. You'll want to measure it so that the stretchiest direction of the fabric goes around your waist. Know what I mean?

Ok. Now lay the skirt piece with the WRONG side UP. You'll be stitching on the inside. You will lay your two strap pieces with RIGHT sides UP. Overlap the strap pieces on one end by about 3-4". The raw edges of the straps will go right up against the raw edge of the waist. 

Now, take the waist band piece and fold it in half lengthwise. This part has confused a lot of people, so please take note. The waist band will not be seen when the dress is completed. It is stitched to the INSIDE of the waist, mostly for structural integrity. This part might seem odd, but it works. Have faith! Starting where the two straps overlap, place the raw edges of the waistband piece along with the raw edges of the waist and strap edges. You will have five layers of fabric at the starting point. Stitch the waist band all the way around the waist, overlap just a little bit when you get back to your starting point, and finish. 

Flip your dress right side out...

...and try it on! There are a few ways to wrap the straps. Go to the two links above for ideas. 

And now...take a bow!

Advertise My Stuff through HMN? (sewing)

Crazy Daisy is thinking again. Uh-oh. I am a member of the Holistic Moms Network, a nation-wide group of, well, holistic minded moms. Every year, this group has a big conference in NJ. I have never been to it, but am very hopeful to be able to attend this fall. I have been receiving emails about it recently. One such email listed ways for people who sell items that might appeal to the holistically minded to advertise their businesses. There are a few ways, but one particular one got my brain moving. A person can pay ($75.00) to have certain items placed in the "goody" bags that each participant at the conference will receive. Now because these folks are environmentally minded, no paper (including business cards) is accepted. (How cool is that?) But people can put logo items in, such as pens, magnets, and so forth. And that got me thinking that I could do something like that with my shop's email address on them. And of course that would mean that I would have to stock the shop with something that such minded folks would be interested in. And THAT got me thinking about ideas such as........ a Go-Paperless Kit. I would, I figure, have to stock the shop with kits that cost something. I'm not going to be able to repay myself for the up-front costs if I'm selling individual items at a low cost. That would take a lot of sales. But if I put together kits that maybe cost $50.00 each, or a variety of kits, ranging from $25.00-$50.00 or more, perhaps I could make it work. Hm. Am I nuts? There is something to lose here. For one thing, money. I could lost the cost of having the items placed in the bags. I would have to order them, of course, and mail them, too. Then if I had any sales, it would take a few to break even, then start to earn. And so forth. So it's a bit of a risk. However, I also have the regular Etsy shoppers to market to. And I have ways of promoting my shop around too. I dunno. It's also a lot of time commitment, and history has definitely shown that I lose interest in making the same item over and over again. However, that is what I had planned to do with fleece hats for a fall craft show anyhow. So. Hm. Maybe the thing to do is to take a month or two, make up a couple of kits, and see how easy it would be to make a bunch up before October. Or maybe I'm overdoing it. Maybe I should make a kit or two and see how they fare in the shop, before I invest a bunch of money in advertising something that won't sell. That feels like the place to start. I've got time. If they do well, I can proceed from there.

It keeps me moving.

Craft Show Goal

There is increased talk between hubby and me about how and when I will return to the work force. While it is still a while off, with DS home at least until a year from this September, I am thinking about what I will do.

Sometimes I muse about the idea of trying to earn an income doing what I enjoy - sewing. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I could do it from home, and my schedule would work around my other duties, which would be ideal. On the other hand, I really don't want to make my fun my work, as I don't want sewing to become a drag. It's fun for me, and it's my escape from my reality when I need it.

I have an online shop, but lost interest in putting in the work needed to make the shop really work. To turn an Etsy shop into a business, you really need to list items as often as possible. Every day if you can do it. And I just don't want to spend all of my sewing/free time making stuff to sell. It's more fun and far more rewarding to make stuff for my family and myself. But I still have the bug to see if the stuff I make could sell. So I've decided to compromise with myself.

I am planning to try selling my fleece hats at a craft fair in the fall. I don't know where, and I don't know when, but I will figure that out as time goes on. If I aim for August (or thereabouts) I figure I can create hats here and there, and not feel pressured to be constantly working on them. I figure with about five months to get my inventory together, I ought to have time to come up with enough interesting stuff to sell, and still have plenty of time to sew for us. I also figured that rather than have the hats just collect in the house, I could list them in my shop. No, it's not really fleece hat buying time as we head into Spring, but it doesn't cost much to list them, and perhaps they'll get a little attention along the line. It's also incentive for me to keep creating them, and to make them better and better. I took some time today to see what other fleece hats are offered on Etsy, and that also keeps me motivated to create better and better stuff.

I'm writing about this mostly to motivate myself. Having you read it keeps me honest, so to speak. I will share the hats as I create them, and will try to make them interesting. Perhaps you could give me some advice or suggestions. I'd appreciate it. And who knows. If I meet this goal and get a bunch of hats together, and follow through with finding and joining a craft show (something I've always wanted to try but haven't had the guts to follow through with) perhaps I will sell something. And perhaps I could make a little extra money. Will it put my kids through private school? Not a chance. But it would make me feel good. And it could help a little. And it's something I can work on now, even with my little guy at home.

Here's my first: not too creative yet, but a start. It's one color, with bells on top. My kids love these hats.

Hearts Sweatshirt For DD - Sewing

My latest. DD was under-enthused. She said she thought she was getting a crafty something. She said she wanted to put it with our newly forming collection of dress-up clothes. =( She did say she'd wear it to school tomorrow, though. (Anyone have a girl in a size 4 who loves hearts?!)

Pajamas For Baby Boy - Sewing

I made these following the t-shirt and pants patterns in the Kwiksew book Sewing For Toddlers. I love this knit. It's not too thin (I really don't like sewing with jersey and super thin knits, they drive me nuts!) and I really like the main color. He wore the shirt a few days ago, which I had finished first, and it turns out that David wears the same pjs in the book Oops! by David Shannon. Fun! Double click to enlarge if you want to see the pattern close-up. Firetrucks and dalmations. =)

Fleece Hat - Green Plaid w/Pom-Pom (sewing)

I bought two fleece blankets for $5. I've already got my $'s worth by making hubby a hat. Here's one for the shop. =)

Another fleece hat! (sewing)

I have gotten really into making these silly hats! That's the way I am when it comes to sewing. I get really into making a certain thing, then I'm done and move on. But this week, I'm enjoying the heck out of making these fleece hats! I have found a number of patterns for them, so of course I have to try all of them. =) My sweet DD has told me that she wants to keep them all. I told her that whatever ones she doesn't like will get listed in my shop. She said she doesn't want me to do that, she wants to keep them all! =+) They sure would make easy and fun Christmas presents for this year.

Another fleece hat =) (sewing)

The first hat I made for DD for her school hat day got rejected. I think it's size intimidated her! She kept going back and forth between "I love it! It's fine!" to "It's too big for me." She wanted to love it because I made it for her, the sweet thing, but the fact is, she didn't. So I made this one. She likes this one fine. =) I like it, too. It's got bells on the end of the tassel, just for fun. 

Hat Day (sewing)

My daughter's school encourages the kids to work together to form committees. The committees come up with ideas for the entire student body to participate in. The first was movie day. The kids each brought in his/her favorite movie. The kids took a vote, and two movies were played during the lunch/recess period. Dear daughter just brought home a form from the "hat committee" saying that Jan 22nd will be hat day at school. Each kid is to make or buy a hat. All of the students will vote on all of the hats. There will be a number of categories to vote on. I immediately knew that making a hat was in my immediate future. I google searched a fleece hat tutorial . DD chose the fabric. Here is the hat! I dunno, I'm thinking my shop might need a couple of these!

Sewing

I have gotten really in to sewing. It's my peace after a long day. I belong to a fabulous online group called Sewing Mamas (sewingmamas.com) and someone(s) there suggested having a monthly Christmas sewing project to help everyone complete all they want to throughout the year, instead of waiting until the last minute. I love the idea of a monthly assignment, so... here's my first completed project, made completely from stuff in my stash. (Another new year's plan, to use what I have on hand whenever possible.)

All-purpose reusable gift bags