machine and hand sewing...getting better

A few weeks ago I posted my first attempt at merging my hand sewing designs along with machine sewing to cut down on the time it takes. I was not very pleased with my first results so I ripped them apart to try again. I re-thought what parts of my designs I felt really needed the hand sewing to get the right look and what parts could happen on the machine. I'm happy to say that I feel MUCH better about my second attempt. Good enough in fact that I feel I can finally get back to the women who is so patiently waiting for me to work out wholesale with her shop.

So once again...the first attempt with the machine for the cupcake, by hand, and the new version
vs. vs.

in the third pic we see a marriage of machine and hand that I am finally happy with. In the end I discovered that stitching hearts on the machine takes MORE time than it does by hand. Then I decided that the hand stitching on the cupcake base is really part of what I think makes my design unique, so that had to stay. However, the stitching around the the cupcake base and top can be done by machine without changing the integrity of the design. This merging of machine and hand will allow me to bring my price down to what I hope is a "wholesale" price.

Then I tried it with the bird on a toddler tee that will go to my nice who is 4. First by hand and second by machine and hand.
vs.

vs

I think the combo of machine and hand looks pretty good with the bird. There is still quite a bit of hand sewing in this one though, the wing, the hearts, the eye and the legs still need to be done by hand to keep the overall look. However, not having to sew the grass by hand saves a bit of time.

Next up...how to do the giraffe in less time....now that is a challenge

machine vs. hand sewing

I prefer to sew by hand with my appliques. I like the look and the portability. However, I see the problems with hand sewing...its slow, if you don't know what a perfectionist I am you might think the sewing is not as sturdy as with a machine and tying knots by hand is a pain. STILL with all that I like the look of a running stitch, something you can not do with a sewing machine.

Regardless, one way to decrease my base cost for wholesale items is to give sewing the design on a machine a try. I decided to start with a left-over cupcake I had on a reject onesie. I already had a hand sewn cupcake that is being shipped tomorrow to compare with. (please note the cupcake top is misshapen and was a reject item)

So let's start with the cupcake sewn by hand. Probably my fastest item to sew by hand, taking about 45 to 50min.

the stitching on the base of the cupcake is what takes the most time on this design.

Now I went ahead and stitched one on the machine. In the end I had to sew the heart by hand. It was faster and looked better when I did it by hand. I believe that stitching on the machine saved me about 12-15 min on this particular design. I used the loosest straight stitch I could trying to get a similar look to by hand...still you will never get the spacing between the stitches. Sewing machines just don't work that way.
Here is the machine one (remember...reject cupcake top)

even though this one was done with a machine it looks less professional to me...however, that might be my personal bias. If I had never seen my hand stitched ones I would think it looks cute, although lopsided.

and now for the side by side photo:
so I think I could offer the hand stitched one for $9 and the machine one for $7 each.
Next up is the bird experiment.

leave a facebook comment if you have any thoughts on this pricing/sewing dilemma issue.

wholesale mussings

I'm talking more with the women who is interested in wholesaling my items. I'm not going to mention the shop yet in case it doesn't go though. After chatting with a acquaintance who has had success with her crafting and is a pro at the wholesale thing I was in a better position to contact the shop interested in me.

Michelle, my mentor in the expansion game, had several suggestions for me. First she said that I will need to sell my stuff for less to the wholesale people than I do on etsy. The wholesale people need to feel that they are competitive with my online prices. One thing that she suggested was to up my price (online) by $1 right now and another $1 each time I get a wholesale deal. She also suggested that I set a minimum price amount that the wholesale lady needs to reach (she suggested $100).

I have thought about raising my prices....I wish my sales were more consistent, they come in spurts so I start worrying that if I go higher I won't sell. However, in person I raised my price to $14 for the winter craft fairs and I still did ok. I worry about raising my price too much on etsy because shipping costs already raise the price. I could raise my upfront price and use free shipping or I can raise my upfront price and my shipping price or I can raise my shipping price.

If I were to raise my upfront price one dollar each onesie would be $13. too bad I am incredibly afraid/paranoid about the number 13. I know it seems silly but you smash your kneecap, femur and tibia on a Friday the 13th when you are 13 years old and then tell me how you feel about the number 13.

So I think I will raise my base price by .50 and my shipping price by .50 and bada bing one dollar increase. It should be pretty easy to do as I already raised shipping on a few items by .50 and forgot about it an never did the others.

So now my base cost is $12.50 and my shipping is $2.50 giving us a total cost of $15. Michelle said I should not go below paying myself min wage...$8.75 in Oregon. My short sleeve onesies cost me $1.50 each and the long sleeve $2.00 each. I will only wholesale short sleeve. Some of my designs take about an hour to cut and sew...like the bird and cupcake....others like the rocket ship and fox take close to two hours. So I need to stick with simpler designs for wholesale.

Let's use the bird. The bird takes an hour to sew at $8.75 + $1.50 for the onesie = $10.25. Michelle suggested that I offer to sell my stuff at $9 a item and remind the shop that I have my items prices really low. So we have a $1.25 deficit. The question is can I start doing a combination of hand and machine sewing to cut down a bit on the time it takes to make the onesie but still get the look I go for? I feel like I'm cheating...but most people buy my items because they like the designs, although I think the running stitch adds to the look. Perhaps I can do layering with the machine and outline stitching by hand. I am going to start by trying to make the stitching on the cupcake bottom with the machine set at a longer stitch and then hand sew it onto the onesie. I'll post a comparison later on and update what the wholesale lady has to say in response to my email... as follows below:)

Thank you so much for your interest. I would love to know more about your boutique. Do you have a website I could visit? I have not done wholesale yet, as I have been focusing on building a customer base since July. Since I have been starting out with Etsy I have priced my items low seeing that I hand cut and stitch everything. I know usually when sellers do wholesale orders they sell their items for less than their Etsy price. Some of my designs take far more time to sew while others. I feel I have several designs I can stitch in a reasonable amount of time that wholesale pricing would be possible. I would love to know what types of arrangements you have with other people you work with and learn more about your shop. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Suzanne:)