Sewing Business Blog

Have You Made Crinkle Toys Lately?

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Crinkle toys, crinkle teething blankets, etc are so much fun to make, and twice as much fun watching the little ones play with them.  Their little faces just light up with joy when they squeeze and crinkle the toys and listen to the noice the crinkly fabric makes.

For years I’ve made small and large crinkle toys for our grandchildren and for relatives / friends’ children.  These crinkle toys can be made in the colors of the nursery for the lucky child, or just made of scraps.  The end result is the same — FABULOUS gifts!  Here’s a picture of a few that I made using nursery colors:

The big ears on the elephant are so crinkly and easy for the little ones to grab hold of and play with or chew on!   (The crinkle material / toys ARE washable and dryable using a short cool cycle, such as for lingerie.)  You can see the information about the crinkle toys patterns at SewWithSarah.com 
You can also get the full size patterns WITH enough crinkle material to make each of the items at my Etsy Store.

For those of you into crafting or wanting to use up some of those sewing room scraps, you could add some extra income by making and selling crinkle toys!  Think about it – every dollar you can make from various sewing avenues, will certainly help to Raise The Bottom Line in your business.

How To Organize Your Sewing Time

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If you’re like us, there really needs to be at least 48 hours a day in order to get some stuff done!

However, since we only have 24 hours, part of which we really do need to sleep a little, do housework, cook, take care of kids’ activities, our own activities and errands, etc, we decided long ago that we simply have to have some kind of “organized” sewing and craft time.

Recently we had a note from a customer saying she has such a big fabric stash, unfinished projects laying around and ideas for new projects —– “it’s all so overwhelming, I don’t know where to start”!

We DO have a solution to the “being overwhelmed” problem.  As we can all attest to, when there is stuff laying around totally unorganized, there is really no motivation to dig in and start “somewhere” — it’s just easier to close the door and put it off until another day.

Here is our solution — AND it works very well for us, so we believe it is worth passing along.

1.  Go out and buy yourself a small spiral notebook – mine is 5″ x 7″ and has 100 sheets in it.

2.  Divide the notebook into sections — the sections may vary according to what you’re into (sewing, crafting, creating original patterns, etc), but my notebook has the following sections:
* To Do
* Patterns (that I’m working on or wanting to create)
* Projects to finish
* Articles to write
* Classes to construct

The TO DO section includes the bigger things I want to get done, such as “clean out and re-size the grandkids dresser” (take out all the stuff that’s too small and see what we have left) “Finish tax paperwork and take to tax man”, “Add helpful links to one of my websites” – stuff other than the ordinary cook, clean and wash clothes.

The PATTERNS section has 18 original sewing and craft patterns so far that I’m either working on or have ideas to make, along with a sketch under it so I don’t forget what I want to do with it.

The PROJECTS TO FINISH section includes some carry-over projects from last year that need to be finished before I start new ones, such as making and finishing certain little outfits for the grandkids (yours will vary according to what projects you may have laying around that are started and need to be finished).

The ARTICLES TO WRITE are ideas for sewing, crafting  and business articles that I have in mind to write, along with a couple of notes and thoughts about what I want the article to say (these are types of things that come to me in the middle of the night or while driving down the road, so if I don’t write them down, I will never remember them).

The CLASSES TO CONSTRUCT are simply classes that people have been requesting information about, such as a “western wear” class to be added to PatternsThatFitYou.com –and other ideas for classes.

Now for the GOOD part — you’ll need to ADD ideas and things to do to each of the categories that you’ve made as you come up with new things.   THEN, as you finish something, mark that item off with a red pen!  Keep the notebook going all year — keep it with you wherever you are, just in case a great idea flashes across the brain and you can immediately write it down.

As you finish something in the “to do” section, mark it off;  when you’ve completed one of those projects that are laying around, mark it off.   Make up your mind to do SOMETHING every day – whether you spend 15 minutes on a project or an hour cleaning out that kids’ dresser, you will be able to mark something else off the list.  This is GREAT MOTIVATION to do something just so you can see those red marks indicating that you’ve finished something.

You will be surprised, at the end of the year, how many things you’ve not only added to the notebook, but tons of things that have gotten marked off, done, completed!!  We start a new notebook each January — transferring the undone items from the sections to the new notebook, then begin once again to add items to each section – mark off things as we get them done, etc.

We have found ourselves so much more productive since we started the notebooks — at a glance we can see what needs to be done next and get to work on it.   Try this method and let us know how it works for you.

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.

Child’s Apron Tutorial

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Children need aprons for all kinds of things — for painting, working with glue and for helping in the kitchen!  I’ve found a couple very cute aprons and how to make them at Adventures From the Sewing Studio.  Here’s a picture of the finished product and a link to the tutorial.

child's craft apron side one

The pattern is actually reversible, so please follow the link to see the solid color back sides of these cute and very useable aprons.

And while you’re in the mood for sewing aprons, don’t forget to check out SewWithSarah for some other cute apron patterns for mommy, such as the ones pictured here.  There are four pages of craft patterns, including the “Country Apron Twins”, “Vintage Wrap Apron” and the “Patchwork Apron” patterns that are featured below.

Country Twins Apron Pattern

Vintage Wrap Collar Apron

Patchwork Apron Pattern

The patchwork apron gets my vote of approval because I’ve made so many of them with left over scraps from the scrapbox, and they turn out beautifully!