Make Money at Home Utilizing Your Sewing Skills
Make money at home by putting your sewing skills to good use. Sell hand-sewn items, such as clothing or handbags at craft fairs or make money by selling your hand-sewn items online. Use your sewing skills to develop garments and accessories that stand out from those you can buy in mass-merchandise and from other crafters. If you're comfortable teaching, you can also make money by teaching others how to sew.
Steps
- Decide what items you will sew and sell.
- If making garments is your specialty, sew a few sample dresses or other garments to show to potential buyers. Let buyers know that the items are only samples and offer to sew garments based on the buyer's measurements.
- Sew handbags or other accessories. Purses and bags are popular items at craft fairs and online shops, so think of a way to put your sewing skills to use to come up with a design that sets your bags apart.
- For example, you might want to sew bags with LED lights sewn into the front. Another idea would be to make a purse that can fold up to fit in a pocket when not in use.
- Create enough hand-sewn items to display to customers at craft fairs and online.
- You don't want to start an online shop or attend a craft fair and have only 1 or 2 items for sale. Make at least 20 hand-sewn items before you put your shop up online or register for craft fairs.
- Don't go overboard purchasing materials. You don't want to end up with massive amounts of unsold inventory if your home sewing business doesn't take off.
- Register and apply to sell items at craft fairs to make money.
- Before applying to any craft fair, look at the style of the fair and the type of items that vendors sell to determine whether your items will be a good fit.
- For example, if you sew traditional items, you may not fit in at a more trendy or contemporary craft fair.
- Some craft fairs want a wide range of items and may not accept you if you sew items that are common, such as purses or skirts.
- Scout out the craft fair while you're there to meet other artists and to see what other crafters are doing. Bring along a friend to watch your table while you walk around the craft fair.
- Stay local to start.
- The cost of traveling to craft fairs can add up. You'll also have to pay for the table or booth, as well as materials to display your hand-sewn items.
- Set up an online shop.
- Register for an account at an online handmade listing site. You can do this in place of selling at craft fairs to make your sewing business truly a home business.
- List your items on the site and set prices for them. Set your prices so that you'll actually make money.
- Don't be shy about pricing items high. You've put a lot of work into sewing them, and you should make money beyond reimbursing yourself for materials.
- Teach sewing lessons to children and adults to make money at home.
- Print fliers advertising your lessons and hang them at local fabric and craft stores.
- Advertise your lessons on a free online classified website.
Things You'll Need
- Sewing machine
- Samples
- Handbags
- LED lights
- Computer
- Fliers
