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Quilt Biz #3 – Creating Products

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

11 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    Oh, such good advice! I have had my own business. The first several years I rented a storefront in town. I posted my hours: Monday through Friday and Saturday mornings. I did bridal gowns/formal wear; both alterations and from pictures/patterns. I discovered that my hours didn't fit with my clients–they work during the day!(Duh!) And, many lived out of town and were only available Sat. afternoons and Sundays!!! Moved my shop to my home. Added special liability ins. to my home owners' policy and scheduled fittings with more flexibility….a very good thing! However, now I worked out of my home which changed how I was perceived!!! No "overhead" and not a REAL business! A mental hassle that I decided was not worth it and I closed. Alterations are quite lucrative (read: I made $$$$) so I still do those today. Minnesota requires that I charge tax on alterations (a service), not on a complete garment!!! Anyhow, I miss it but am loving my quilting time a lot!! (Am now retired from a pharmacy career that came after the shop experience!). Thanks for doing this series. This info does NOT get discussed enough!!! Hugs, Doreen

  2. Janet M says:

    Brilliant advice!

  3. In the UK at least, a pattern is just that. A pattern. If you decide to make a gazillion bags and sell them there is nothing anyone can do about it. You have been sold a pattern and no one, including the designer of that pattern, can stop you from making and selling items made from that pattern.

    If you try to sell a copy of the pattern, yes, you'll be in trouble.

  4. Julia in NZ says:

    Leah

    I so admire your business sense, and the way you show that you learnt this from experience. So much more effective than boring old business lectures at college.

    You are amazingly focused both in this mentoring program and in your FMQ project. You are a professional in all senses. And still so young!

  5. Laura says:

    I can't wait for next weeks! 🙂

  6. Sooli says:

    I'm finding these postings really interesting. I'm not looking at starting a business but you never know what's around the corner. If you'd asked me 12 months ago I would have said I wouldn't have a blog either! Really interesting to read and learn from someone else's experience, thanks so much Leah!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Good stuff!
    I started out making and selling quilts at a craft boutique. It was great for learning how to perfect my quilting but I really didn't make any money doing it.

    The only real money to be made was from clients who would pay for a customized design. That was more exciting but it limited my creativity because I made the quilts my clients wanted, not the quilts I wanted to make.

    But, it had a happy ending. I started purchasing my fabrics and supplies wholesale which eventually led to my current business – selling fabric online. I realized it's more profitable selling fabric rather than selling finished quilts! A good lesson to learn, though.
    –Christa

  8. Becky says:

    I can't wait to read your next post!

  9. Good advice. I experienced the same problem with the "for personal use only" when I started out making quilted items. So I created my own patterns. I allow anyone who has purchased my pattern to make up to 10 items per year from that pattern. http://www.castillejacotton.com

  10. barkway2 says:

    Hi Leah,
    I happen to have legal experience in intellectual property law and can tell you that it is possible to buy a copyrighted design and sell items made using it. There are two ways to do this: one is to clear permissions with the copyright holder (some will do it for free. They just want to be asked, and it is not as difficult as it seems to do this), and the other is to tweak the design just enough with your own creative change such that it is deemed diffetent enough from the original to not violate the copyright.

  11. Sounds so simple and easy the way you talk about it, but the reality of selling a pattern or made items is not that easy. I've been trying off and on to sell (bags, patterns, small quilts, etc.)for over 40 years and you spend more time and money than you will ever get back. I have tried several crafts shows, Etsy, my blog, quilt shops, and while I have sold a little here and there, I would starve to death if I had to depend on selling for a living. I created a pattern to sell too (my one and only pattern). I am very good about writing clear instructions and have been a pattern tester for a friend of mine too. I think I made enough money in selling those patterns to break even or made a tiny profit. I've tried selling things for a fair price and selling at cheap garage sale giveaway prices and people don't want to buy. If I had a regular space at like a farmer's market and was truly dedicated in being there all the time, I might begin to attract a following. But that takes a lot of time and money to pay for a space every weekend. It's essentially like owning a store and having to be there to sell. I love to create and I'll be the first to admit I am not a good sales person. I can't talk up my items like a car sales person does and try to talk someone into buying something from me. Most people who go to craft shows go to get ideas so they can make it themselves. Even though you might be selling a pattern or a book, they don't want to buy it either. They can go online and find free tutorials or borrow free books from the library or their quilt guild library. This has been my experience over the past 40 years. I would be a rich woman today if I got a dollar for every compliment I have received about the things I make. But that's pretty much all I have ever received is compliments and not sales. So I figured I would share what I make with the world on my blog. You can look for free, and leave a comment if you want to. Since I know I cannot make a living doing what I love, I can still share what I love to do with others and inspire them. It's like everything else in life I think that some people are able to make a name for themselves and make a living at what they do because of being in the right place at the right time. It's not always a matter of working hard or not, it's a lot of luck, and it's not what you know but who you know that can make your business grow. Anyone can write and try to sell a pattern. But my experience with purchasing most patterns that aren't brand name patterns like Simplicity or McCalls, etc. is that so many are poorly written. I do no want to spend money on a poorly written pattern. Plus to sell a lot of your patterns, you really need a rep if you want to sell them in shops across the country. I only have one pattern to sell and not a whole line of patterns, so a rep doesn't want to bother with you. Plus how do you get someone to represent you anyhow? I sent a photo of my pattern to several well-known quilt catalog companies too and nothing. No response, no sale, no word at all from them. Creating a pattern is a lot of work and there's no guarantee you can sell enough to pay for your time. It's not like you can sit back and wait for the sales to happen either. You have to work at selling all the time and that takes time and time is money and so on. I see 1,000's of blogs out there and most of them have online stores or Etsy shops and I'm sure that very few sell much at all, let alone make a living at it. While I think it's wonderful if you can make a living doing what you love to do, for every one who makes money, I think thousands or tens of thousands aren't making a living. Just my thoughts on this topic, sorry if this is so long.

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