Sewing to Sell - The Beginner's Guide to Starting a Craft Business: Bonus-16 Starter Projects - How to Sell Locally & Online

by Virginia Lindsay

You love to sew. Don't you wish you could make a living from your sewing? You can, with the help of this practical guide for turning your passion for sewing into a successful home business. Everything you need to know is here, from finding your personal sewing style to creating a product line, identifying customers, equipping your studio, pricing and selling your work, marketing yourself, designing your own patterns, and handling the business and legal side of sewing. And that's not all! You also get 16 projects (all customer-tested) to start sewing and selling right now.

Genres: Business, Sewing, Crafts, Nonfiction, Quilting, How To, Reference

152 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Virginia Lindsay is a self taught sewer and lover all things fabric. She is the author of the popular sewing blog, Gingercake and designer behind the PDF pattern shop, Gingercake Patterns and Design. She has designed 16 sewing patterns and has several published by Simplicity. She has done many craft shows and sews for her online shop, gingercakesews.etsy.com

Virginia is the mother of 4 and is happily married to her husband, Travis. She lives outside of Pittsburgh in Freeport, PA. Her kids inspire her everyday and she spends lots of time playing cards, watching soccer, throwing the baseball and listening to piano practicing. When she is not taking care of her big family, you will find her taking walks outside, vegetable gardening and sewing away in her home sewing studio.

Learn more about Virginia at gingercake.org.

Reviews

[Bekah - Chewbekah Creates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful? 3.5

[Christi Littlefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handy Guide

Very basic tips and ideas to help guide through ideas of various ways of selling your sewing projects. Very informative. Love the addition of tips for packaging ideas, business cards, and postcards.

[S Thorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good overview

Sewing to Sell gives a good overview of selling handmade crafts. Reference information on craft supplies, photographing sale items, accepting payments, taxes, etc is useful and extensive. Borrowed ebook from my local library's Overdrive website.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

not what I was expecting!

I was expecting a pattern book full of ideas to make and sell and while this does have patterns like that it was far more about how and where to sell your home sewn makes. Lots of tips and inspiration as well as good tips!

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a lot of solid information here. I also really like that the author was willing to share "recipes" for her best-selling sewn items! Ima be making several for myself, but not for sale. I've found that doing the same project over and over makes me want to stab people.

[Kiki Langberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sewing to Sell is a book that was featured on my library’s Overdrive site one day. It made me curious so I found the paperback copy and checked it out.

There is a variety of topics covered in this and Virginia Lindsay even shares some of her basic, sewing patterns towards the end. If you are new to the idea of selling your handmade crafts and want to get an idea of how to go about it, a read through of this book wouldn’t hurt. In the past, I have read posts on selling one’s crafts from Pinterest. Therefore, not much was new to me after getting through the paperback. With today’s technology ensuring a world-wide web of information, I’m the type who will research as needed and as she goes + as one who likes to compare and contrast articles. Because of this, I gave it two stars.

[Mary Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

👌

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice projects and helpful information. If I could only gather up the energy to drag out my sewing machine and relearn how to use it, I would definitely make some of the projects in this book.

[Clare Ruesga · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are the cute items but you see the same thing at every craft fair. I was hoping for a more unique approach.

[Serenity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently informative.

[Marie Osuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers great advice and has beautiful patterns.

[Carmen Grantham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some great information on setting yourself up to sell handmade items. Not a lot of depth though.

Does included a few patterns to use, but not many diagrams, just a lot of text.

[Eldora Andor · Rating 3 out of 5]

overall, I did like this book. very simple, easy to understand. I was, however, hoping for new information or someone I didn't already know.

[Christine Zibas · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has sewn her whole life and a (sometimes) crafter, I was interested to see what this book had to say. There is some very basic knowledge here about selling online and at craft shows. The author also includes some of her own patterns for users to try out. However, the disadvantage is that the instructions are not clear or easy to follow (at least for me, although I admit they aren't always on traditional patterns, like Vogue, Simplicity, etc.).

The other negative (for me) is the author's choice of fabrics throughout the book. Everyone's taste is different, I know, and this doesn't have anything to do with the writing of the book. However, I found it distracting.

There's a lot in the book about how to photograph your items for sale online, but then not much said about social media, which seems like an imbalance if you are going to try and take on a side topic like photography. Surely, they are equal in weight when it comes to selling online. Kudos, however, for her suggestions on packaging up your work.

All in all, this book was a mixed bag for me. Some good suggestions, some areas of let-down.

[June Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I've been selling my original sewing designs for the past few years. I wish I would have had this resource at my fingertips back when I was starting out!

The chapters on photographing projects for online viewing, pricing and packaging, and selling through various venues were very valuable and user friendly. I thought the author was incredibly generous to gift 16 of her original designs, with the patterns and instructions, for readers to use to sell on their own websites, craft shows, etc.

The projects in the book are colorful and well-constructed and the photography is top-notch. The tips sprinkled throughout the text from other successful designers/sewists/entrepreneurs were interesting and thought-provoking.

I hope to read more books by this author because I found her warm, down-to-earth tone while presenting detailed, technical material to be engaging and fun. I borrowed this book from our local public library.

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[javadiva · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was written for someone who has never sewn before. Most of that content should have been left out. The business part was just touching the surface of the topic.
I like how this book is different from other sell your crafts books in that she gives you instructions to make a variety of items & gives everyone permission to sell them as well.
So I tried one, the zipper pouch. I have made zipper pouches for years & this was one of the most complicated instructions I've come across. Maybe more pictures would have helped, definitely different instructions.
None of the projects in the book enticed me to try them, especially after that experience.

[Nicolle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly informative book with some cute little projects that the author permits you to make for sale. I feel like this would be a good resource for the person who is very nervous about starting to sell handmade items, but is a little bit "duh" for readers who have experience with business and law. I felt like it could have been a bit more practical with the "set-up" part of running your own business, but I understand, as requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Overall, it's worth taking a look at if you're thinking about making a little money on the side.

[Danny D'Amore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with useful advice. It reads easy, with interviews and interesting examples, which I appreciate. I didn't want a textbook. I think it is a very good place to start if you are interested in turning your hobby into a small business. If you want details about a certain topic, this isn't for you. I would definitely consider it an introduction, with cute patterns as a good starting board. I think it provides a good way to get the gears moving, so to speak, and I can research topics I wish to know more about in detail later.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

She gets five stars because she shares patterns for free. People sell and publish patterns and basically never really want you to use them, or try to control your use to making it one time then storing the item in a vault. It can get crazy. Virginia Lindsay makes the effort to cover all the bases on how to start up and succeed in a craft business, and wants so much for us to succeed and be happy that she provides 16 attractive, usable, and sellable patterns. Good for her! I hope she sells lots of books!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful book to think through a possible Etsy store, craft shows, et cetera. While I have not yet tried the patterns, the directions all seem to easily make sense. There are also some sneaky quilting tricks which make me want to try sewing a lap quilt or two. There are also grocery totes, which are always needed in Austin. Also, the items she includes can be made pretty quickly and she provides direction for cutting and sewing in multiples.

[Karan Ferrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book and received it today! Outstanding book on crafts to sew that are easy but adorable! Great information on choosing fabrics and directions on sewing your products! I'm so excited to get started on my first project!

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book cover-to-cover in one sitting. Full of really good information on how to sell what you create. In addition, it includes 16 projects to make and sell. The Boxy Pincushion, Half-Square Triangle Quilt and the Great Big Tote are now on my to-do list.

[Jessica Mahajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have said, this book is better for a beginning sewer, which I am. She advises on tools, the importance of quality tools and materials, and marketing strategies. The patterns she gives are great for gifts or to sell for fundraisers.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid beginners guide to turning your crafts into cash. What elevates it above the crowd is the inclusion of permissioned patterns that can be used to start the business, complete with suggested prices and advice about how to adapt the patterns for different uses or customers.

[Elizabeth Severance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really excited about having a new sewing space and want to try to stock etsy again. A good review and inspiration.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful tips.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good pictures but projects are basic. Not what I was looking for.

[Kaaren Matthewson · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book - lots of useful information and wonderful to keep as a resource !