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From: sew4hobby
Date: 12-01-2005, 08:55 PM (1 of 4)
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I have been reading your posts, gleaning knowledge which has been very helpful. I am interested in selling my embroidery in my local area specializing in wedding gifts, and baby showers, personalizing and such. I wanted to get your feedback on a few questions. Thanks in advance for your expertise and your time. 1. Do you prewash your towels/sheet sets? 2. How do you remove stabilizer and how much do you remove? 3. Where do you place monogram on wash cloth--center for trifold or to one side for half fold. 4. Where do you find good pricing on towels/sheets? 5. Do folks bring you their goods or do you keep a supply to sell? These probably seem kind of obvious, but I am just getting started with this idea of selling my embroidery. I am using my home machine Viking D1--maybe this will work and I can move to a bigger machine. Thanks ktmm164 sew4hobby
John 1:12 |
User: sew4hobby
Member since: 11-28-2001 Total posts: 16 |
From: cricket36580
Date: 12-01-2005, 11:24 PM (2 of 4)
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1. No 2. The stabilizer should remove fairly easy...I just tear it and then remove any "sniggleys" so it looks "clean". 3.center or wwhere the customer wants them. 4. try Shoppers Rule and there are a few others but I'll have to look them up. If you have an outlet mall near you or Dollar General... 5. I have some but usually they bring you what they want done. Don't invest a lot of money in that. Do some samples and have a few items you can do in a hurry that work up nicely...canvas bags, denim shirts, towels. Go to local boutiques and take samples with you. Hair dressers, kid's stores, feed stores, real estate offices, etc. Usually if all you have is the embroidery, fairs aren't the way to go. What kind of machine do you have? If it's a pro machine of some sort then sell to teams...football, cheerleading, basketball, etc. Unfortunately, if you can't do ALL of their work they won't farm out the little stuff. you can try though... It's a tough business to get into cause you have loads of competition. Remember, your competition may not even be in the same town as you...it could be across the country somewhere. Fill a niche...learn to digitize! I don't want to discourage you. I want you to know the reality of the "business" before you think you can make a living out it. I had visions of paying for my machine by selling work. HA! And I wish I'd had a mentor that could have told me this stuff back then. Oh well. If I can't be a good example, I'll just have to be horrible warning!
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User: cricket36580
Member since: 11-28-2005 Total posts: 10 |
From: sew4hobby
Date: 12-02-2005, 01:08 PM (3 of 4)
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Thank you for your time in answering. I'm not commercial size, just home machine, Viking Designer 1. I would just like to use it! I have the machine, the space, the time (I stay at home with youngin's), and I would like to have some spending cash for all the extras one "needs" once they get into this hobby. Thanks for the straight forward. I'm 30-35 miles to the nearest big city. I was hoping to get the "home" folks business. Who knows?! I'm going to try. The business experience will be good for me, at least.  Thanks ktmm164 sew4hobby
John 1:12 |
User: sew4hobby
Member since: 11-28-2001 Total posts: 16 |
From: cricket36580
Date: 12-03-2005, 01:35 PM (4 of 4)
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Well, like I said, I don't want to discourage you...Just want you to be realistic. You may do very well in a small town where everyone knows you. Get the word out to classmates of your children if you have any...teachers...dance studios... In this case you may want to make up samples of bags - duffel and canvas - and take there with business cards. Check with places that sell purses...often they outsource monogramming. You will need a sample sheet with all of your available fonts on it. You can make it work if you want to. Try not to get overwhelmed...  Also, try to find out of there is anyone else in your area that's embroidering too. That will cut your business if there is. But no worry if you just want to do a little and aren't counting on it for a living.
If I can't be a good example, I'll just have to be horrible warning!
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User: cricket36580
Member since: 11-28-2005 Total posts: 10 |
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