Sewing To Sell

What I REALLY like about Sewing to Sell is that the author, Virginia Lindsay, gets into the nitty-gritty details of what you need to do to sell your sewing work—from finding your sewing style and identifying your customers, talking about essential equipment, all the way through to selling, pricing, and packaging. There’s also a section on business basics. Even if you’ve never sold your work before, you’ll learn where to start and what to do to sell your work online or in person at craft shows and fairs. The book has a huge list of resources to help you on your way and includes interviews with seasoned professionals who provide practical advice.

On top of all the helpful information, Virginia provides 16 projects that you can make to sell to get started—including how to make multiples. Most patterns in books are just for the reader’s personal use and can’t be made to sell—always read the copyright notice on books and patterns to see what’s allowed.

To make the book even more useful, the photos of the projects provide even more ideas: Some of the projects are pictured in ways that will give you ideas on how to package your items. Some of the project photos show you how to set up and photograph your work to sell online. And some of the project photos give you ideas of how to promote yourself and your work. For example, when selling at a craft fair or show, put items in clear bags so other people can see the great purchase that someone has made—that’s free advertising for you!

{Tablet cover in lightbox}

{Final, cropped photo}

When shooting small items to post online, make a lightbox out of foam core boards for soft, even light.

{This is an example from the book showing how to create a postcard to advertise your work.}

If you want to get into selling your sewing work, get this book as your first step.