I decided to turn ds' room into a hobby room/office, so today I sorted out my hope chest where I keep all my projects. I found some nice material I bought to make a skirt. My neighbor admired it and said she had some old patterns, so I had a look through and found one I liked. All I needed was a zipper, and I got one at the Salvation Army for nz.50 cents. Sewing notions are sooo expensive it's hardly worth making your own clothes nowadays. Patterns too. I found one pattern I bought years ago intending to make a top - you could date it by the power shoulder pads.
I also looked through my yarn. I can tell where I'm at in my life by how my knitting is going. At the moment I'm doing miles of boring stockinette in a neutral color, so the next project will be something a little more exciting. I have a big stash to keep me going for a looong time - in fact, I even gave some away. Gasp. But I asked myself the question, if I had the money again would I buy this? The answer was definitely not, so off to a group knitting blankets for Roumanian orpahnages. Crafts are wonderful outlets for creativity, and I think they are spiritual too, but hoarding supplies can get out of hand. No more impulse snapping up of this and that because "I'll use it one day." From now on I'll decide what project I want to do and then shop for that. Some of that yarn has been sitting in my hope chest for 5 years.
Getting crafty
December 13th, 2007 at 08:06 pm
December 13th, 2007 at 08:45 pm 1197578757
December 13th, 2007 at 09:43 pm 1197582205
December 14th, 2007 at 04:47 pm 1197650844
My home business is located in a 6x10 ft corner of a room. That's all. Including the desk and cabinets. When it is full, no more stuff. In fact, I spent these last 2 months working HARD at craft fairs selling things to clear out space. And it worked pretty well. For example, I sold about 1/2 the toy felt boards I had made and gave the rest to Toys for Tots. I am making NO MORE felt boards. The leftover felt fits in one gallon size ziplock bag.
Of course, this is not a sewing business (jewelry and cards mostly). So you are allowed a little more space!
Also, be sure to get patterns at JoAnns when they are on sale. They are frequently 1/2 off, the brand rotates. And use a coupon when they are not. There are also $1 pattern sales.
Finally, you can sell supplies on Etsy, an all handmade market, where there is a supplies category. Many folks list fabric, buttons, etc. However, it is very time consuming as you must attract customers. Click on the site categories if you wish http://www.etsy.com