Don't Do This to Make Extra Money

There are a lot of ways to make some extra income in your spare time. Tons. Answering surveys online, tutoring, babysitting, selling things on eBay, offering services on Fiverr or TakeLessons, heck people even make money blogging!

But I have one piece of advice on something you should NOT do to make extra money. Brace yourselves for this.

Don’t make crafts and sell them on Etsy.

Now, this is a popular addition to blog posts and articles about making extra money, because you can make money from making things and selling them on Etsy. However, a major reason I tell people to not do this is because you don’t do it right.

As someone who does sell on Etsy, and elsewhere, it is very difficult to actually make money from it. Why? Because of folks out there who think to themselves, “Hey, I like to make _______, I should make a bunch and sell them!”

But, I can hear you saying, you just said that you sell on Etsy and elsewhere. Aren’t you one of those people who makes stuff and tries to sell it?

Yes, yes I am. But I treat it like a business. What do I mean by that? Well let me start off by saying why I don’t like the fly by night crafters who are just trying to make a quick buck.

•      They use the cheapest material they can.
•      They don’t time themselves and charge a living hourly wage based on skill level, cost of materials, and overhead (gas, postage, packaging, etc.)
•       They are amateurs- meaning they haven’t worked professionally in the field, or they don’t take classes to learn or improve skills, and they just kind of do it when they want to.
•      They price to sell, not to live

All of these things undermine those of us who are trying to actually ‘ do it right’. I can’t compete with a lady using $2 WalMart yarn to make hats, that take her four hours to make each,  and sell them for $5 a pop.  It’s just not possible.

Not only that, but that becomes the expectation on sites like Etsy and at craft markets and fairs. Customers can no longer identify quality over price.

As an example, if I were to make a hat using yarn that I would buy and use for myself, the yarn alone would cost $20. If I’m careful with it I might get two hats out of it. So, $10 in materials only. Then there’s the whole 4 hours to actually make the hat. Charging a fair wage based on my experience (10 years of knitting, professional seamstress for three years, and university educated in costume design, and continually attending workshops and classes to learn new skills and improve my current skill set) and performing what would be considered “Skilled Labor” (think what you pay your mechanic or doctor), I would expect about $15 an hour. You also need to factor in the time it took to go to the store, buy the yarn, the mileage to and from the store and post office, plus the time it took to package and mail your hat to you. Don’t forget postage. I’m in to one hat almost $100.

People look at your $5 acrylic Walmart hat, and my $100 handmade wool hat and only see the dollar signs.

There are people out there who rely on platforms like Etsy and craft fairs as their sole income. If they can’t sell because there are amateurs to compete with on price, then their families starve.  They lose their house because they can’t make the mortgage payment.

All because you think you can make a quick buck by producing a craft product cheaply and selling it.

So, if that is your plan I ask you to PLEASE DON’T DO IT. 

Pinterest Adventures: Fleece Blanket

Here's another Pinterest Adventure for you all! I found this pin that led to a blog post by Pieces by Polly.

I was super excited to see a finished edge on a fleece blanket that wasn't just knots, and didn't require double layers. I checked it out and there were some great tips on there! However, I added some of my own (not many) when I decided to embark on this adventure. 

First off, I found some great fleece in the remnant bin at JoAnns. I needed it. I was feeling a bit guilty about not showing my 'pride'. 

First off, Polly tells you to fold your fleece in half before you start. My thoughts: BRILLIANT. It means half as much cutting. After I did one side, I unfolded it, and refolded the other sides together. That way you work with one long end the entire time, and it helps later in the process so you don't end up with weird sizes in the middle of the blanket. 

Next Polly said to cut out 2x2 inch squares from each corner. I ignored this. As you go through the process these squares magically appear. 

Her next stroke of GENIUS was to measure two inches from the edge, and put a tape line there. 

This is so you know how far in to cut your strips. She says to cut strips one inch wide, but seems to just kind of estimate? She does use a rotary cutter on a mat so maybe she used the mat. . .  I however, used scissors because I like my scissors. To help me go faster, I measured on the tape and made marks every inch. 

Then you cut a fringe. Yep, cut the fringe like you would if you were going to knot the blanket. I then carefully removed the tape, refolded the fleece so the uncut edges were flat (they were folded before) and the fringe edges are folded. (Hamburger to hotdog if you are that type of folding person). Then I remeasured and REUSED the tape. This saved me the trouble of remarking tape. 

So far so good. Then I realized that to make it work, I would have to cut a tiny hole in each piece of fringe. I checked Polly's blog again to see if she had any tricks to make this go faster, and alas, she didn't. This was, for me, the most time consuming part of the process. Snip a little hole at the top of each piece of fringe. 

 I paid special attention to the size of the fringe. If there was a piece that was fatter... I mean, wider, than the rest, I took note of it. When you start 'braiding' it you need to cut one piece of fringe in half to be the last one... Keep reading this should make sense. 

At this point Polly loses all of her fancy rotary cutters and mats. She pulls out a paper clip. Yep a paper clip. As I read, I realized Polly must not do any knitting or crocheting, because a crochet hook would work better and faster than the paper clip. 

What I did was I used the crochet hook to basically chain stitch the pieces of fringe together. Put the hook through the slit on the piece of fringe next to your fat, last fringe piece. Working away from the designated end piece, hook the next piece of fringe through it's little hole, and pull it through the first pieces hole. You've looped the first piece onto the second. 

Now just keep going all the way around the blanket. You will loop all the pieces together and it will be awesome. But then how do you get the last (the fat one) piece to connect to the first one? Well, cut the fat one in half so you have two skinnier pieces, then wrap one through the first piece of fringe that you need to connect to  and tie the two skinny pieces together. Then tuck the knot under where it won't be seen. (You'll have to finagle with this to find a way that looks good to you.)

And Voila! You have your very own fleece blanket! 

I have done this several times now, and can say that from start to finish it takes me approximately 2 hours total. I've also made two at a time by layer the blankets beneath each other when cutting (you cut through 4 layers instead of two), which speeds up the process too. Of course, I don't have small children or pets who demand my attention. And my husband is gone when I do this.... 

Happy Fleecing! 

December Means PHD's!

Being in grad school doesn't leave much time for myself these days. So when December rolls around and my classes are done, I find myself with 4 whole weeks of nothing. This is a time I look forward to all year long.

This year I am spending this time working on all my PHD's and stashbusting. PHD? Aren't I supposed to be on break? Yes, yes I am. In the crafting world PHD means "Project Half Done". And the stashbusting, well. I need to pay for school before I can pay for new yarn and fabric for myself.

On my List this Year:
Christmas Stockings for my new husband and myself
A new Pair of Gloves for myself using the sKNITches yarn, "New Tradtions" dyed to match UT's colors
Finishing up the Noro Blanket

Then systematically working my way through the remaining yarn in my stash until I either run out of ideas or I run out of yarn.

I have several 'quilts' that are partially done as well, that will hopefully be finished up too. And the fabric stashbusting, well... I have some things I've been meaning to make for myself (some skirts, a new dress shirt) and the rest can just become what it tells me it wants to become.

Keep an eye out here, our Facebook page, and on the Etsy shop for updates. (Previews and maybe even a Super-Awesome-Mega Giveaway)

Quilts or no?

 For those of you who know me, you know that over the past few years I've gone back and forth on running my own business.
I love crafty junk like sewing and knitting, but it can get expensive. And if you don't have people to give this stuff to, it starts to pile up.

Now, I've recently picked up and permanently moved across the country from my parents, so I no longer have the room to store things because I no longer have a Sewing Lair.

I did ship some things to myself however, and now am trying to get some more income generated in my life. Because I'm now a 'starving graduate school student'.
Almost literally.

So here's my question for you all. I have here a quilt front, it's only one of a couple that I have, and I quite enjoyed making it.
But will I be able to sell it if it's not a 'finished' quilt? Or would people buy it as just the quilt front?

Please give me your feedback so I can move forward on getting this business up and running again!