Western wagon wheels

Well my embroidery machine is back and I just had to try out one of my own digitized designs on it right away. This is a set of 3 old western wagon wheels with a rope design around them. It was sewn on a pillow case, at the edge. I made a set of 2 and now they are adorning my bed. Click on the photo for a life size view.

Having fun digitizing

I have been busy with my newest venture - digitizing embroidery patterns for my Babylock. I have done several in the past but they never turned out quite the way I wanted them to. This time I am having better luck with them. I have only tested out a few of them so far and had to send the machine in for routine maintenance. I am almost lost without my sewing machine. I have a regular older Brother sewing machine for just regular non-embroidery functions but now I am spoiled with automatic threading and computerized functions.

The good news is that I should get the machine back in a few days.

Merry Christmas and here is my gift to you

Since buying my embroidery machine over a year ago I have been trying to find an affordable way to digitize my own ideas to incorporate them into my designs. I have the Masterworks trial disk and even though it is usable it still has some drawbacks. One of them is that once you save the design you cannot go back an increase or decrease the density of the stitches. If you can I have not found a way to do that yet. Of course the biggest drawback is the purchase price of $800 and up. Masterworks II is in the price range of $1500.

Both of those prices are totally outrageous for a software program. I have worked in the electronics industry for 25 years prior to getting involved with sewing for a living. I know the actual prices at the production and wholesale levels for software. Even software programs over $75 are pricey and are almost all profit after the first few weeks of sales.

After looking at Masterworks I tried to find a more affordable solution and found out that almost all of the digitizing software is at least in the $300+ range - way too expensive for what they are.

I did say almost all of the digitizing software is outrageous but I did find one that is the best price of all and it is FREE! I have been playing around with it for a few days now and it looks very promising. You can find it at Sophie Sew. Now when you download the program don't forget to download the tutorials at their tutorial page.

I have yet to download any design to my sewing machine to sew out yet so I am not sure what if any problems I might have with it.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the software.

My tools of the trade

Being a sewing professional not only means having a reliable sewing machine but also a computer. A computer is essential for uploading new patterns to the sewing machine and for updating the sewing machine's operating software. I have a laptop computer for that task. Since I bought my husband a laptop almost 10 years ago our family became spoiled with the small computer laptops. Now we don't even bother with our old desktop computer that is 15+ years old and sits in a corner, neglected.

We all like to keep our laptops protected with a laptop bags. My laptop often travels with me to craft fairs, not so much to use to transfer designs to the sewing machine but to play games on or write blog posts. Craft fairs can be so boring at times. My laptop bag often contains my flash drives for easy access to photos of my work to show prospective clients. I stop using CD's about a year ago and went with flash drives since they cannot get scratched.

Sewing machine troubleshooting

I have a Babylock Esante sewing machine. Is is fully computerized and can be a bit of a pain in the butt at times. Yesterday I was happily embroidering all day. I decided to upload a new pattern and embroider something for me for a change and not for sale. The machine starts to do birds nests under the fabric. This happened several times and each time I cleaned out the mess, removed and replaced the bobbin case and bobbin and looked for lint or damaged parts - nothing.

I finally did something I normally do when my laptop computer acts up......I turned off the sewing machine, unplugged it from the wall and let it's memory empty. I then turned it back on and you guessed it, it now works.

I am starting to treat my sewing machine more and more like my computer.

The government and sewing regulations

As a home based sewing business you are not immune from the long arm of government regulations. If you make children's clothing you will have to adhere to new regulations regarding disclosure of lead in your products. You would think that it is a simple as putting a sticker on your items saying 100% lead free but that is not the case.

In Feb of 2009 if you make children's clothing you will be required to supply a General Conformity Certificate (GCC) stating your products contain no more than 600 ppm lead. You can only get such a certificate after your products have been tested by a certified testing lab.

For more indepth information about this new regulation and to protest it please visit this web page at the Domestic Diva

Great sewing project website

If you have run out of ideas you should check out the website, Cute Embroidery where people post photos of their sewing projects. Lots of great ideas and talented people. It is quite a community of sewing enthusiasts there. Don't worry if you forget the link I'll put it in my sidebar for future reference.

What do you sew?

I know that there are plenty of talented readers of this blog that are just waiting in the wings to let everyone know how successful they have been. So here is your opportunity to leave a comment about your sewing hobby. You can let the world know if you have gone pro or not. The comments don't allow you to upload photos of your projects but you can leave a link where they can be viewed if you want to.

What items are selling this Christmas?

I can tell you that this year frivolous items are not selling. If you make items that people can do without or are not practical in some way they are not selling. Scented candles, bath salts and handmade Christmas ornaments are not selling simply because people are learning to make and give these items as gifts rather than buy them. So what is selling? Items that are well made and are priced under $25 are selling. Heirloom quality quilts that are priced in the $100 range are not moving but if you can put one together for under $15 (labor not included) and sell it to get $10 to $15 profit then at least you are selling.

The items that I make and sell, I lower the labor rate almost to rock bottom just to get the work. I know that if I refuse a job then the customer will look else where and I might lose out on a regular paying and repeat customer. I sell to companies that sell the items online. They don't buy in volume but they do call me when they need a few items at a moments notice. I also do custom embroidery work for local mom and pop type companies and it sometimes takes several weeks before the design is worked out to their satisfaction. After that it is no guarentee that they will buy more than 3 or 4 embroidered items.

As a side note, customization (embrodered t-shirts) of items is doing well at almost any price at least my items are selling well in that regard.

What you like to sew does not always sell well

I love sewing items that are animal related. I have pillows with quilted cats on them. I also have items that have wildlife on them like mallard ducks and deer. Those items I have taken to craft fairs and they have not sold. What sold was football fan items like stadium blankets made with the team printed fleece. I am not into football at all but the fabric just happened to be on sale.

I have listed items on eBay in the past that I loved to make and thought they would sell well only to find that I was the only one that liked the item. Sure I got lots of "how nice" or "that's beautiful" but no sales. The bottom line it that in order to succeed in selling items that you sew you will have to cater to your customers and not yourself. What you like might or might not sell. Find out what your customers like and cater to them.

A tip for those who sell on eBay

If you sell on eBay you should be promoting your items off of eBay as well. For example if you have a blog or a website put an eBay widget on there that displays your current listings. Go to eBay To Go and create one. Here is what the widget will look like on your blog or website:




I picked this seller because I am the one that does most of the embroidery work for them. Your widget could just promote your items or like I did, promote the business you sell your items to. Remember to keep track of the widget on your site and change or remove it should you not have any items listed on eBay at the time.

Success at the craft sale

My idea of personalizing Christmas stockings during my latest craft show venture was a huge success. If you missed the photos of the items I made then here is the post. Besides me there was only one other "on the spot service" at the craft fair and that was an airbrush tattoo booth. Both he and I had the most customers. We both had people lining up or watching us doing our service.

I made out like a bandit with almost $400.00 in sales for 6 hours. I also gave out my calling card to people that needed to talk to their better half before buying the kids a personalized Christmas stocking. I also had a job offer from a local cattle rancher to design and machine embroider t-shirts and jackets with his ranch's logo on it.

In all, a very successful day at the craft fair.

Personalized Christmas stockings

One of the quickest ways to make some easy money for the holidays is to personalize Christmas stockings. I buy several premade Christmas stockings at my local Dollar Tree store to add machine embroidery to. Here is a photo of what I picked up today:

You will need to have stockings that have a cuff on them that is not sewn shut. Here is a photo of one of the stockings with the cuff unfolded. The reason for that is to hide the under side of the embroidery when the personalization is complete.

I have picked out both fancy and plain stockings. You can see that I also found some with paw prints on them. Those I will personalize for pet owners.

Now the best part is how to sell them. I will be at a craft show this weekend and I will be taking my sewing/embroidery machine with me along with samples of the personalized stockings. I will be charging only $6.00 per stocking for names up to 5 letters on them. Each additional letter will cost $1 more. It works out to a dollar a letter. I don't know if I will get much business doing the stockings but it will attract people to my table to buy my other items that I have for sale. A friend of mine will also be at the craft sale and said she will make a run to the Dollar Tree for more stockings should I run out of them. This will be a first for me, as I have never done any sewing out in public before, even as a demo. I have learned in the past that in order to be a success at any of the craft shows you have to attract attention to yourself. Just sitting there does not make the grade.

Here is 2 of the stockings that I made just now to show off at the craft show:

They took only 15 minutes from set up to finished article each.

Pocket or purse tissue holder

Now here is a neat little item to have in your purse, its a tissue holder. Not a bad idea at all. If you didn't have the embroidery machine to decorate it then you could sew patterned ribbon on it or use a fancy fabric. Here is the link for the detailed instructions on how to make one of these.
Tissue holder

Proper care of a bed quilt

If you have ever taken the time to make a quilt you know how much love and labor you put into it. I made a queen size quilt for my parents when I was in my 20's. It took almost 6 months of my spare hours to design and put the quilt together as an anniversary present for them. They of course loved it. I fully expected the quilt to become a family heirloom piece that I might end up with again someday. That was never to happen.

My father had a habit of taking naps during the day and sitting on his side of the bed to do hobbies. I was unaware of it until one day I happened to glance into their bedroom to take a look at the quilt and to my horror the area where my father had sat was thread bare and coming apart. By his sitting on the quilt day after day he had worn the fabric out. Quilts are not meant to be laid or sat on since the friction over time will wear the fabric out. Quilts are only made to be put on top of you to keep you warm.

Using my new found knowledge of why a quilt will wear out if laid on or sat on repeatedly I always turn back a quilt on a bed before laying down or sitting on the bed.