Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

The Complete Idiot’s Guide “Selling Your Crafts” Giveaway

by

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Selling Your Crafts walks readers through the process of preparing goods for sale, pricing and bookkeeping, finding venues, marketing and promoting products, and working with customers both online and off, all without quitting their day job. Clear, concise instructions explain everything readers need to know to sell crafts effectively in their spare time, and help them decide whether to take selling to the next level. This guide shows how to:

•             Find out whether the crafters, and their craft, are ready to start

selling

•             Set prices to cover costs and make a profit

•             Establish a bookkeeping system

•             Manage dual inventories of parts and finished goods

•             Discover the best places to sell crafts in person or on the Internet

•             Identify the right people to market to

•             Accept credit cards and process other forms of payment

•             Start selling wholesale

•             Stay out of tax and legal trouble

About the Author:

Chris Franchetti Michaels (Davis, Calif.) is the author of Teach Yourself Visually Jewelry Making & Beading, Beading Quick Tips, Wire Work Quick Tips, and Teach Yourself Visually Beadwork. She has sold her handmade jewelry as well as commercial beading supplies online for nearly a decade, and she maintains a blog at www.beadjewelry.net. Contact her through this book’s companion site, www.craftychannels.com.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Selling Your Crafts

ISBN: 9781592579914, July 2010, $14.95

Author: Chris Franchetti Michaels (Davis, Calif.)

WIN WIN WIN

We are giving you the chance to win 1 of 3 copies of this book. For your chance to win, please click here.

Competition Open – Worldwide

Competition Closes – August 15th

Comments

  7. I have been trying to market my items. So far I have been ripped off to the point of pulling my hair out. Two stores that I have had items in have taken everything from me…I need help in major way…Thank you for this chance to win and help myself out.

Have you read?

Knit a Classic Aran Cardigan with this Free Knitting Pattern

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time. 

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring. 

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. 

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row. 

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves. 

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body. 

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy. 

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn. 

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]