Sewing Business Blog

Projects for Kids to Help Make

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I’m always on the lookout for things the grandchildren can “help” make – they LOVE to help, and I figure it also stimulates their little creative brains, and who knows what they might come up with later on that we can work on.

The first little project is for a snake bookmark — now EVERY child needs a snake bookmark in his / her books.


The instructions are simple – enlarge the squares to equal 1″ squares, and follow the diagram for drawing the snake.  Cut two of the snake pattern, one yellow and the other green.  Sew, or glue, gold rickrack to the green piece, which will be the top of the snake.  Glue the two pattern pieces together, leaving the head free.  Sew two small red beads to the head for eyes and a small red felt piece for the tongue.  Stuff the head with cotton and whip-stitch the heads together.

The next little project is one that an older child can help make for a baby brother or sister – a washcloth bib.

To make the bib you’ll need a solid color washcloth, some embroidery cotton and seam binding.

Fold the washcloth in half, as shown in the small diagram, then turn down each corner for ears, as shown in the second small diagram.  Stitch the ears in place.  Embroider eyes, nose and mouth on the bib.  Sew matching seam binding on for the ties.

These even make cute little gifts for someone who is expecting a baby or as part of a baby shower gift.

For other “gift idea” patterns check out the craft patterns at SewWithSarah.com.  Ready made gifts are available in the Gift Shop.  Check your list and see what all we have that might be the perfect gift for them!

Adding Profit To Your Sewing And Crafts

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Many times it is difficult to determine the actual costs involved in making craft or sewing items.  For example, if you’re using your scraps to make aprons, beach bags, purses or toys, how would you figure the cost of the item, and therefore how much to charge for the completed item.

An easy way to “estimate” the cost of fabric used would be to determine how much total fabric is used for the project.  If you’re using left over print fabric, scraps of solid colors of fabric, and add larger pieces of muslin or interfacing material, a general rule would be to perhaps figure you’ve used a total of 1/2 a yard or 1 yard combined of all the pieces – whatever you figure you have used.  Then for a cost of the fabrics I’d use an average of what most of the fabrics would have cost me at the fabric store — perhaps $4.75 per yard, give or take, depending on what types of fabric you’re using.  You can get a good estimate of costs per project, but don’t forget your time that’s been spent because that is also part of the total cost.

Some good hints that I’ve seen on insuring that your sewing items or craft projects will be the type that people will want to buy are as follows:

** Use good materials.  Never use those “end pieces” that perhaps have little snags or holes in them and try to hide the imperfections in the seams.

** Wash your hands frequently to keep your products fresh and clean.

** Learn to make your products easily, quickly AND skillfully.  If you can get skillful enough to make an item in half an hour instead of taking an hour that it previously took, you can readily see that you can double your production and therefore double up on the profits.

** Your products must be practical as well as attractive.

** Your product must bear the stamp of your personality to be distinctive.  Don’t depend on someone else’s ideas – use your own initiative.

** Be professional — on the phone, at the craft shows and in your own home if customers come into your home for service and purchases.

If you have additional ways that you use to figure your cost of sewing or craft items, please pass them along to us and we’ll get them posted for our readers.    How to price sewing and craft items is always one of the biggest questions we hear, so anything you can pass along to help our readers would be appreciated.

If you’re wanting to find additional craft items to make, check out the many craft patterns at SewWithSarah.com.

4 Reasons to Sell Your Crafts on Etsy

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Craft fairs are a wonderful way to both market and sell your crafts—but some people simply do not have the time or the money to put up a booth at such fairs. More and more entrepreneurs are beginning to sell their items online. One website very popular among small businesses and hobbyists is Etsy.com.

Here are some reasons why, like other crafters, you too might want to sell your items on Etsy:

1) Etsy is a marketplace for all things handmade.

Unlike other online marketplaces, you won’t find mobile phones, DVDs or various retail items for sale on this website. Etsy.com is a website specifically for both buyers and sellers of handmade items, vintage items, and all sorts of craft supplies.

2) You are catering to your target market.

There’s no guarantee that you’ll make a sale on Etsy—but you can at least be assured that people who browse Etsy love crafts and all things handmade and vintage just as much as you do.

3) Buying and selling on Etsy is easy.

It only takes a few minutes to set up your Etsy shop. You can even choose to customize your online store with your profile and a banner image. Uploading your product descriptions and images are easy and will not take up a lot of time.

4) You are joining a community.

By choosing to sell your items on Etsy, you are not creating just another account, but are joining a community, as well. You can ask for feedback or suggestions from other knowledgeable sellers on the Etsy forums, or even collaborate with other people on Etsy whose style or products complement your style or items.

Similarly, purchasing items on Etsy is also easy. Prices of items appear in the buyer’s local currency, making shopping convenient, fun and quick. Thousands of people shop on Etsy on a daily basis because it is the go-to online marketplace for all things handmade. If you want to start selling your crafts on the Internet, Etsy is truly the best place to start.

The above information is an excerpt from our book “How To Sell Your Handmade Items” – this book is full of information on HOW and WHERE to sell your handmade items!  We have some wonderful places to sell your products that I’ll bet you’ve NEVER heard of — and they are some great places to sell!

Quick And Easy Gift Ideas

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There aren’t too many days left before Christmas, so I’m thinking that whatever gifts we still have time to make need to be some nice, but quick and easy gifts to make.

The first idea that comes to mind are washcloth slippers – you’ve probably seen them on our PatternsThatFitYou site, as well as our Patterns2Go site.

Free Washcloth Slippers Pattern

Either place you want to visit, the pattern instructions are FREE, easy to follow and very quick to make.  The washcloth slippers are a super gift to give to those in nursing homes, in hospitals as well as anybody else on your gift list.

The second idea for a cute gift is the “anything goes” quilt.  This pattern is also free and available from Patterns2Go.

Super Easy Anything Goes Quilt Pattern

The idea here is to use a length of fabric according to the quilt size you want to make – the fabric should have some designs on it, as shown above, but not be “too busy” with designs.  You will sew the fabric to a backing, put quilt batting on the inside, then do your quilt stitching either around the designs, if they are large enough, or do hand quilting stitches around all or part of the designs to complete the quilt.   This type of quilt is great for children’s quilts or for little girls for doll quilts.  If you have the right type of decorative fabric, this also works very well as a wall hanging to make as a gift.

For additional gift ideas you can check out the patterns at SewWithSarah.com.

Do any of you have any other ideas for quick and easy gift ideas????  I’m thinking that a lot of us who really like to make Christmas gifts are getting to where “quick and easy” would sound really good!