My Sewing Blog

I was talking to my mum earlier last week, she's just started making and selling baby hats, so we were talking about how business was going. My shop hadn't had a sale since the beginning of June. I think my mum has sold two of her baby hats. I said that I didn't expect to sell anything at the weekend as the weather was supposed to be nice (yes, we've actually been having summer here in Scotland!). I thought everyone would be outside enjoying the weather. I think I jinxed myself, in a nice way! On Friday two of my favourite nappies sold, then during the weekend I had two sales of the cloth pads I uploaded. I sold ten items altogether and now there's almost nothing left in my shop! I haven't been doing much shop related stuff lately, but actually selling stuff gave me a boost. I spent yesterday embroidering some nappies. I embroidered an owl which could have been amazing, but just didn't work out. For some reason the bobbin thread kept showing, especially on...

When I was looking around at patterns and links for all things cloth pad related, I couldn't seem to find anything about the costings for making your own. Since I plan to sell them for profit, knowing how much they cost to make is important. I'm not sure I've got it quite figured out yet, but here's what I have so far, in case it helps someone. The base has two layers of flannel (or flannelette as it's sometimes called, or winceyette or brushed cotton!). There's also a layer that backs the topper piece. I was able to cut enough pieces (top, bottom and base of topper) from one metre to make 9 pads. That was 9 assorted size pads, so I can't say how many regulars or XLs etc you could make from a metre. The flannel I bought was £3.60 per metre, making each pad cost £0.40. If you picked a fancy quilters flannel or designer/organic flannel then it would be more like £12 per metre. That would almost triple the cost per pad. For the topper I used a printed flann...

I think I've had my shop open for about a week now. I've not had any sales. I'd read that a lot of people go several months before making their first sale, so I wasn't really expecting to sell anything. My shop has 49 views and 16 visits so far. I think half of those visits were from family though! A few of my nappies have been viewed 5 times now. Someone also marked my shop as a favourite which was really exciting! It's all quite nerve wracking really. I keep checking the stats and worrying I'll never sell anything, and at the same time I'm hoping that I don't sell anything in case people don't like my stuff and leave bad feedback. I found a site called Etsy Rank, which analyses your keywords etc. Apparently there is a low demand for pocket nappies. I kind of figured that. It says the competition is medium, although it includes the whole of Etsy, and I know there aren't as many UK sellers as American ones. I joined the dreaded f-word. That...

This is the pattern that I've used to make the nappies I'm selling in my shop. It's a one size pattern, with a snap down rise. When I was making nappies for my own babies I don't think I ever made one with a snap down rise. I did use the Kayla's Cloth Kits one-size pattern a lot, but my baby was big enough when I made them that I never needed to use it on the smaller settings. This is really quite a trim fitting pattern, so think it might be quite difficult to stuff. I love the idea of having a different colour fabric on the wings though. It really jazzes the nappy up and if you cut the pattern without the wings you can get more cuts out of your fabric. The wings can be made from scraps. Prints with an accenting solid, or solids with a print on the wings look good too. The pattern has a welt pocket for putting the inserts in, and I absolutely hated making it! I felt like it looked kind of messy when it was finished too, so I changed the way I did that. I made m...

Well hello! It's been, um... seven years?? since I last posted here. It was fun for me to look back through old entries. Who is this darling baby I kept talking about?! I have a bunch of teenagers and a boy who will be 11 this year. I haven't been sewing much at all over the last seven years, just a bit here and there. I did finish that quilt in the last post though! I have mainly been focused on writing. I thought maybe I'd try to get some of my work published and make money that way. We moved house again in 2016. We actually own our own house now! Recently I got round to unpacking my sewing things and re-organising them. I found that I had a LOT of fabric. Much of it was nappy making supplies. I had always bought more than I needed with the intention of selling things, but when you never get a full nights sleep and can't even manage to get to the toilet alone, starting a business is pretty low on your list of priorities. I know some people manage it, but I'm n...