Earlier this week I said that if I'd had no sales by Sunday I'd call it quits. It's Sunday night and I haven't sold anything. Most of the 12 nappies I uploaded don't even have a single view, so it seems that this isn't working. I have a pretty big problem though. After floundering around at the start trying to make things with very little money, I decided to see if I could get a credit card. Even though I don't have a proper job or income, one of the banks gave me a credit card. So I bought a bunch of PUL, flannel for some new cloth pads and other bits and bobs. All the time I was ordering this I was calculating how much profit I could make etc and everything seemed like it would work out fine. But if no one is going to buy anything I've made, how am I going to pay the money back to my credit card? At this point, even though I've made loads of items, I don't think I've made enough of them to cover the credit card bill, even if people were buying things. Really I need to make even more items and then hope to sell them, which isn't exactly working out very well right now.
I was on Etsy Rank earlier and discovered that even with my small amount of sales (I've sold 20 items altogether), I've been more successful than 59% of shops on Etsy. That was nice to read. I guess many shops never really make it off the ground. But anyway, I need to figure out what to do now. I can't say I regret trying this. It's been something I always wanted to do, so I'm glad I actually did it rather than just thinking about it forever. So it didn't work out, but at least I gave it a try. I learned that I am a terrible businesswoman!
Before starting this business, I hadn't sewn in years. Probably since 2011. Doing this reminded me of how much I actually like sewing. I've been buying a few patterns since the start of the year and there are quite a few things I want to make. Just one small problem... I have no money now to buy fabric to make anything. Sigh! Well, I haven't used all my small amount of credit up, so there's always the credit card. A terrible idea, I know, because it'll end up taking me years to pay it all off. Maybe I can wrangle some money out of our clothing budget.
I bought this from ithinksew.com and I want to make all of them! I planned to make the Madison Hunting Bag for M to take to work. He has a lot of gear he needs to carry around with him. I thought I might make him a matching lunch bag too. He has a tiny one he squishes everything into right now. E is starting college, tomorrow actually, and might appreciate a lunch bag. I thought the Megan Pouch would be good for storing cloth pads (if you have a normal sized stash of them of course). I vaguely thought about making some for my shop for that purpose, but I'll only do that if I have the materials on hand. It only uses a FQ for the outer and the lining, which I have, but I don't know about the zip etc.
I recently got this pattern in a sale from Peek-a-boo Patterns. It's a shirt with a hood. I'm a shirt wearer and I love hoodies, so it seems perfect! I also love flannel (you may have noticed), especially check/tartan flannel. I thought about making one for me and E, which would be nice since it's starting to get colder.
I wanted to make hoodies for the boys too. I have the New Horizons Elevation hoodie pattern. I can't seem to find a pic of the front of the pattern though. It's a pullover hoodie. One of my boys doesn't like pullover hoodies, so I won't make one for him. I'd be really annoyed to put all the effort into making one and then have him not wear it! I bought this Toby K. pattern instead. It's a zip up, so he should be happy with that. It has a lot of nice features too, like thumb hole cuffs and different types of pockets.
They also have a joggers pattern which I like the look of. Again it has lots of interesting features. I'm so happy to find sewing patterns for boys! Especially for things they'd actually wear. The pattern has a plain straight cut version which I thought could make some flannel pyjama trousers if I happened to buy a ton of flannel for the shirts I planned to make. I could also use sweatshirt fleece left over from making the hoodies to make the joggers. I haven't bought the pattern yet, but if I magically have money appear from nowhere it's something I'd like to buy.
I bought the Toby K. pattern from a site called Thread Theory. They have their own patterns for men, all of them very nice. I did download this free pattern from them though. I recently bought W some vests (confusing terminology I know, the tank is what we call a vest here, and what other people call a vest we call a waistcoat. Still, it doesn't have the potential for anyone to make an embarrassing mistake like pants/trousers!). I bought the vests for him because he complained that his cadet uniform shirt was rubbing on him. Unfortunately the neckline is quite high on the ones I bought, so you can see it under the shirt, which apparently you get in trouble for. I think this one might work because the neckline is much lower. It could also be used as a top to go with my hypothetical pyjama trousers, although Thread Theory actually have a very nice Henley t-shirt that would be nicer with them (and warmer). It also has a basic t-shirt in it so it's probably worth buying, again if money magically just fell out of the sky.
So yeah, all of these projects are just existing inside my head. If I have the right kind of zip then I could possibly make one of the Megan pouches, and I do have some very lightweight denim that could work for the shirt pattern. I suppose that might look nice with a jersey hood?
Shopwise, I'll just have to keep on going and make as much as I can with what I've got and hope that it sells. I have sold 20 items and I have very nice feedback from people, so there's no reason to think that I'll never sell another thing ever again. It's just that it's not very consistent and it's not something I can rely on to make money. I have some work to do on my shop and things to upload still. More photos to edit... Maybe by the time I get everything I've made this month uploaded then I'll have enough potential earnings to cover what's on my credit card. Then I'll be back to zero and can call it quits.
I could possibly sell on some of the fabric I bought but most of it is chopped into pieces now. I bought a lot of snaps too but I've used random amounts from all the sets so I can't really sell odd part sets.
So I think I'm trapped. I have no choice but to carry on and just hope that people start buying things.
My first credit card bill was £25. I only have £20 a month personal spending money so all I need to do is make £5 extra a month and I should be able to pay back what I owe. Eventually! Pretty sucky really. I was hoping to actually contribute some money to the household, or at least cover my own hobbies. I promised two of my kids I'd buy them cadet uniforms with my profits but that doesn't look like it will happen.
I was on Etsy Rank earlier and discovered that even with my small amount of sales (I've sold 20 items altogether), I've been more successful than 59% of shops on Etsy. That was nice to read. I guess many shops never really make it off the ground. But anyway, I need to figure out what to do now. I can't say I regret trying this. It's been something I always wanted to do, so I'm glad I actually did it rather than just thinking about it forever. So it didn't work out, but at least I gave it a try. I learned that I am a terrible businesswoman!
Before starting this business, I hadn't sewn in years. Probably since 2011. Doing this reminded me of how much I actually like sewing. I've been buying a few patterns since the start of the year and there are quite a few things I want to make. Just one small problem... I have no money now to buy fabric to make anything. Sigh! Well, I haven't used all my small amount of credit up, so there's always the credit card. A terrible idea, I know, because it'll end up taking me years to pay it all off. Maybe I can wrangle some money out of our clothing budget.
I bought this from ithinksew.com and I want to make all of them! I planned to make the Madison Hunting Bag for M to take to work. He has a lot of gear he needs to carry around with him. I thought I might make him a matching lunch bag too. He has a tiny one he squishes everything into right now. E is starting college, tomorrow actually, and might appreciate a lunch bag. I thought the Megan Pouch would be good for storing cloth pads (if you have a normal sized stash of them of course). I vaguely thought about making some for my shop for that purpose, but I'll only do that if I have the materials on hand. It only uses a FQ for the outer and the lining, which I have, but I don't know about the zip etc.
The Madison bag definitely looks manly enough when you use plain fabrics like this. I have an 'Alt Ctrl Delete' embroidery that I thought I might put on the front somewhere. The front pocket or the flap maybe. I haven't really made many bags before because I'm not much of a bag person.
Because I'm not much of a bag person I was attracted to this pattern from ithinksew. It's a tiny phone carrier. I want to make one for myself, and I was going to make one for E, since she'll be travelling on the train into Edinburgh a lot now. It looks like it'll be a good way to safely transport your phone and money, especially if you tighten the strap and wear it under your jacket. I also had another vague idea about making them for my shop. I envisioned it being useful for people who use baby slings. Bags can be kind of tricky when you're wearing a baby on your back or front. I thought maybe this would work worn under a sling. With the clip you can unclip it and unthread it from under your sling if you want to take it off. I'd need to test that out though. Yes, I still have baby slings, even though it's been years since I last used them.
I recently got this pattern in a sale from Peek-a-boo Patterns. It's a shirt with a hood. I'm a shirt wearer and I love hoodies, so it seems perfect! I also love flannel (you may have noticed), especially check/tartan flannel. I thought about making one for me and E, which would be nice since it's starting to get colder.
I wanted to make hoodies for the boys too. I have the New Horizons Elevation hoodie pattern. I can't seem to find a pic of the front of the pattern though. It's a pullover hoodie. One of my boys doesn't like pullover hoodies, so I won't make one for him. I'd be really annoyed to put all the effort into making one and then have him not wear it! I bought this Toby K. pattern instead. It's a zip up, so he should be happy with that. It has a lot of nice features too, like thumb hole cuffs and different types of pockets.
They also have a joggers pattern which I like the look of. Again it has lots of interesting features. I'm so happy to find sewing patterns for boys! Especially for things they'd actually wear. The pattern has a plain straight cut version which I thought could make some flannel pyjama trousers if I happened to buy a ton of flannel for the shirts I planned to make. I could also use sweatshirt fleece left over from making the hoodies to make the joggers. I haven't bought the pattern yet, but if I magically have money appear from nowhere it's something I'd like to buy.
So yeah, all of these projects are just existing inside my head. If I have the right kind of zip then I could possibly make one of the Megan pouches, and I do have some very lightweight denim that could work for the shirt pattern. I suppose that might look nice with a jersey hood?
Shopwise, I'll just have to keep on going and make as much as I can with what I've got and hope that it sells. I have sold 20 items and I have very nice feedback from people, so there's no reason to think that I'll never sell another thing ever again. It's just that it's not very consistent and it's not something I can rely on to make money. I have some work to do on my shop and things to upload still. More photos to edit... Maybe by the time I get everything I've made this month uploaded then I'll have enough potential earnings to cover what's on my credit card. Then I'll be back to zero and can call it quits.
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