Whether you like it or not you are going to have to have a well designed website to advertise your sewing business. Let's face it, when you are shopping for something the first thing to catch your eye is the layout and functionality of a website. The second thing is either the price or design of the item you are looking for.

While looking information about storing antique quilts and how there are special companies that do that sort of thing, I came across an Art Storage Company that has one of the best website designs I have seen in a long time. They have art frames that glide in front of the viewer when you click on the various site navigation menus. It encouraged me as a visitor to look at more of their website.

As a website owner you want to have your visitors stay as long as possible on your website. Interaction with your site is a vital key in making that happen. Whether it is to help your visitor decide on the right color or browse though a slide show it helps you make a sale.

You know how costly software can be for embroidery machines. Digitizing software can be the costliest. Here is a link to free software downloads for your embroidery machines. Some are for fonts, some for digitizing and other for managing embroidery files.

Free software for embroidery machines.

Inspiration or lack of ideas is sometimes my greatest stumbling block to new projects. Here is a place where everyday crafters like you and me have posted their works and tell a little bit about them. Today I have spotlighted "covers". The page has photos of tea kettle covers, bottle cover, mailbox covers (I didn't know about that one), tissue box covers, seat covers and even a bird cage cover.

"Covers" craft page

Of course you already are aware of craft shows and sales but what other places or events can give you some business? If you are involved with another hobby or sport then you are already aware of those events. Any type of club gathering that has an organized event where the public is invited can be a great opportunity for you to sell. You just need to ask permission from the events organizers.

Years ago I was involved with showing my dogs. I went to many sanctioned and fun events. Many of those events had vendors from local businesses selling from booths everything from food to clothing. If you have a passion for dogs, cats, horses and even fish, those animal fanciers have many shows involving those pets each year. Items made with those pet lovers in mind will sell well at those events. You can find listings of up coming events for dogs at the AKC website, for horses at most local feed stores. Do a search for your local county fair grounds as they usually host those events and have contact numbers for the organizers on their websites.

Did you know it is national cupcake day today? I guess as a nation we have to celebrate something everyday. So when is national sewing day? I was on September 27, 2008 along with national sewing month September 2008. So is it the same day every year? Apparently not.

Not all people can spend $100+ on a really nice custom designed and made quilt or other labor intensive item that you have made. We all know that sewing a really nice item takes time and expertise. Often we put more love and labor into an item then we can ever recoup - or can we? If you are unable to sell a really nice one of a kind item but you get lots of "I like it but can't afford it" remarks then consider raffling off the item instead.

If you know of a worthy local charity then you can offer a portion of the raffle sales to them for helping promote your item and selling the raffle tickets for you. With the coming Christmas season fast approaching then it might be a great time for you to start promoting your business with the help of local charities. It can be a win, win situation if you explain what they (the charity) will be getting in return for raffling off your expensive items.

Kay's K9's has got to be one of my favorite blogs that just shines full of artistic talent. Kay Stahler lives in Canada and makes realistic looking dogs and cats from felt. She makes replicas of your pet from photos. If you had talent like she does then I would say that her items are priced just about right or slightly on the low side since it takes time to craft the little pets like she does. Her latest creation is a black and white cat. I have just started a favorite blog list on the left hand side of this blog and her blog is the first one to be added.

Keep up the great work Kay!

Shopping around for a company to host your website or even buy your domain name through, can be frustrating to say the least. I found one website that claims to have reviews of various website hosting companies. When I checked out the site (just click on the link) it had a page that stated "The Top 10 list", but only listed 6 companies. Since I know there are literally hundreds of website hosting companies out there from my own frustrating experience I wonder if that site only lists web hosting companies that offer a kick back to them. Heck at least you can compare 6 web hosting companies at a glance. They do have an interesting directory and articles section that might be of help to you in your search for a good and reliable hosting company.

I for one would like to see a more complete list to compare companies from, including international hosting companies. Who knows, maybe the website is new and needs some time to grow and gather more info.

There is an up side to the downturn in the economy, prices of expensive sewing equipment may come down in price. If you have been thinking about up grading your sewing machine I would wait a month or 2. As retailers realize that people are not buying the more top of the line machines then the prices will have no alternative but to come down.

When you have a business you learn to cater to people that like sports or hobbies that you are not particularly fond of. I am not a football fan but I make items that are just for fans of football. The state I live in does not have a pro team so many of the fans are followers of the college teams.

Some of the easiest items to make for football fans are scarves, fleecy headbands, stadium blankets and mittens all in their favorite team colors. If you add a team logo you need to do it in such a way as to not infringe on any copyright of the "official" team logos. What I do is use the team colors and just add the name of the team (embroidered of course) or a slogan like "GO ...(the team name)". If you go to your local fabric store you can find a large selection of fabrics with the team logos already on them. You can either use the fabric in your item or just cut out and applique the logo on to your project.

Now if you are not quite sure of the team colors you can check out this site that has NFL Merchandise as well as the college teams. Another thing to keep in mind is that certain player numbers are more desirable than others so you don't want to add just any player number to project without finding out a bit more about the team you are making the item around.

Free embroidery stuff dot com is giving away a Brother embroidery/sewing machine with a CD pack of 5000 Dakota embroidery patterns. The Dakota CD pack is worth more than the embroidery machine. The contest ends at the end of 2008 and the drawing is just for 1 machine with the CD pack.

Enter the contest for a free Brother embroidery/sewing machine

With the nights getting cooler it is time to think about blankets and warm bedding. If you have a comforter you want to protect or dress up a bit then a duvet cover is just what you need. I have found a how-to page with lots of photos showing you how to design and sew a duvet cover. Just click on the link below:
Duvet how-to instructions

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to many first time sellers online is "how do I get my money from my customers?". There are several options. First there is pay by check but almost everyone knows the down side to accepting checks from people you don't know. Even after depositing them you could still be hit with a returned check fee or the check clears after 15 days for some odd reason. Money orders are not much better since there has been a rash of counterfeit money orders going around for some time now.

Your only real options are PayPal (which has been known to transfer funds out of people's checking accounts without their knowledge) or use a credit card processing company. I have personally used PayPal and have had no problems with them so far. I don't like the fees they charge on each transaction but that is typical of most credit card processing fees charged by many other companies. If you decide to go with a company that processes your customers transactions then you must shop around for the best set up price and the per transaction fees. Some website hosting companies also have ecommerce enabled and also offer credit card processing if you have a website hosted with them. Make absolutely sure that the company that is processing your customers credit transactions is a secure and encrypted site. The last thing you want to be associated with is an unsecure and untrusted credit card processing company.

One of the most discussed aspects of selling anything you make or design is setting the selling price. I often hear that you just take the raw materials of the item and simply double it for the selling price. That method would quickly put almost every business I know in the red immediately.

Here is how I price my items. I have one item that costs me $5.00 in materials to make. The item is a piece of equipment for the horseback riding industry. If I simply sold the item for double the cost of materials I would be short changing myself because similar items that other companies make sell for $25.00 and up. You have to price your item to keep in line with what the rest of your industry charges. I almost always price my items just under the lowest price I can find, but only by a few cents. I don’t want to look like a cut rate cheap manufacturer but by a low cost manufacturer that has everything 100% made in the USA.

If you designed and made wedding dresses you would know that the time spent on the fitting, design and actual customer service would also have to be figured into your costs. That is why you need to pick out an item to make and sell that will bring in enough income so that you will not be short changing your labor. If you plan on making money from your sewing you need to treat it as a business from day one and keep in mind your labor and expertise must factor into the selling cost of any item you sell.

I always go one step further and make a chart which lists my items at cost, wholesale price and retail price. This comes in handy when local businesses, small stores or specialty shops ask if I can supply a small bulk order at wholesale. If your business grows at a level that is faster than you anticipated then listing the wholesale price will come in handy. As your costs rise make sure you always keep your lists updated.

You quickly find out that you will need 2 vital parts of your body to work well when you are sewing, one is your eyesight and the other is pain free hands. If you have arthritis then anti inflammatory pain killers will take care of most of your problems. For eyesight, good lighting and corrective lenses are a must. If your eyes start to give you problems you will end up with headaches and headaches are not best for thinking out new designs or techniques.

I am thinking about getting my eyeglasses updated. I usually go to a local store but I have been thinking about buying online. The only drawback would be the custom fitting I usually get when I shop local but the bonus would be a huge cost savings.

I was curious to find out what other people were experiencing with buying a pair of eyeglasses from a major online store so I went searching. Here is a list of reviews about Zenni Optical, one of the larger online eyeglass places. Not all the reviews were flattering so at least I know they were not paid to say how nice they are.

I am still undecided as to buying on line yet on something that I need to have personally fit. That might also be the reason why I don't sew and sell items on line that need to be fitted.

Everyone wants to know what the next big fashion trend will be or the next high demand item is for Christmas. Finding that out is not as hard as you might imagine. To find out what is in demand or what will be, talk to a teenager. For example my teenager informed me late last year that the colors pink and black were out and purple and black were "in". Sure enough my custom made items where the customer chooses their colors has a higher demand for purple and black and almost no demand for pink and black. I was talking to a friend that runs a small craft store and she just "knew" that the hot colors were pink and black this year until her own teenage daughter told her no, "pink and black went out last year, where have you been , Mom?"

I have been telling all my friends that are in the retail business to find out what the trends are by listening to family and friends. Ask what are all the kids in school wearing. Most of the time when a new trend starts, the item or items of clothing are home made or designed by the kids themselves. It is usually a few months later that the fashion industry starts to make those items. Just listen and talk to your family and beat the industry to the bottom line.