THE HAPPY SQUIRREL GOES NATIONAL!

My bags just got accepted into a new craft shop opening in Bantry, Co. Cork! I am so delighted as hopefully it will be steady income rather than the randomness of Etsy.

Etsy has been slow for me since about the second week of February but recently has picked up again (11 sales last week) However with recent algorithm changes and general discontent among European sellers in particular Etsy does not instill confidence.

The craft shop is called Forest & Flock and they have already run it as a pop up shop last December, they are now back permanently and hopefully I can get a good summer out of it. The contract is three months which is also ideal because I’m getting married the end of August when the contract will end!

So basically its happy days for me but nose to the sewing machine for the next two weeks!!

Anyone who wants to come round and help or just make tea?

Sarah

SEWING THE SWEET PEA SADDLE BAG – Pattern by Blue Calla

My latest obsession is sewing these gorgeous Sweet Pea Saddle bags. This is a free (can you believe it) pattern from Blue Calla Patterns. The bag is so cute and can be made completely with fabric but I combine it with vegan friendly leather.

The bag comes together fairly quickly (2-3 hours) and makes perfect sense throughout (normally I get lost half way through patterns)

It has instructions on how to make the tassel that make it super easy and you can skip it if you’re not the tassel type, but I really think it adds to the bag. I have made mine in glittery vinyl.

There is a good bit of interfacing to do, all of the fabric pieces are first interfaced with woven interfacing and the flap and side pieces are also interfaced with fusible fleece. Even the lining is interfaced which I wouldn’t normally do but it definitely gives a super professional finish.

I would say that this pattern is beginner friendly, the trickiest part is sewing the curved sides onto the main piece of the bag, to make this easier I cut those pieces with a flat bottom rather than a curved bottom, but I’d say with a bit of practice anyone would get the curves perfect.

I think these bags are perfect for night out so I’ve been finishing them with these lovely chain straps in silver and gold. You could easily make them more day time with a matching fabric or leather strap.

So that’s my general musings on this wonderful bag pattern, you can download it from the Blue Calla website here, I’m going to try the Marigold Messenger Pattern next and will do another blog post on that.

Happy Sewing

Sarah

 

 

SELLING ON ETSY – ONE YEAR ON

So it’s just over a year since I started selling my handmade bags on Etsy and I thought I’d do a roundup on how things have gone and are going!

 

I tend to discount the first month because really it was only people who knew me who were kind enough to buy my bags on etsy in those early days. It was around the beginning of April when things started to really move.

I got my first international sale on 5th of April 2017 to Canada! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get it in the post, it was an Alice in Wonderland Purse and the lady who bought it ended up ordering three more! 

Good reviews followed and more international sales came through, I have now shipped to Canada, America, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore the U.K and other parts of Europe.

I think the reach is one of the most amazing things about Etsy, I told my Dad (who is 81) about these and his mind is just blown, he even got out the map to see where exactly Singapore is!

Initial Goals:

So from the beginning of setting up my Etsy shop my initial goal was to sell an average of one bag a week, so by April 2018 I was hoping to have 52 sales.

GOAL COMPLETE – As of today April 24th 2018 I have 84 sales! I would love to hit 150 by the end of 2018, so lots more making to do!

 

Things I love about Etsy:

• The reach: it is amazing to see people visit my store, favourite and buy my items from places that I never thought I would sell to, when you see an order coming in from Singapore or Canada it is very surreal.
• The analytics in general: Ok slightly controversial here as I know alot of people don’t like the new analytics of visits and views but it is a very handy tool, I can see how many visits and views I have had in a day, what country they are looking from and how they found my store. Are they always accurate? I don’t know but it is easy to see a lift in views after a facebook or instagram post so I don’t think they are too far out.
• The community: I love the forums feature, I don’t post there regularly but it’s good to get a feel for what is going on. The teams are also good, I am a member of the Etsy Ireland team and it is a great resource.
• The fees: realistically for what you get from Etsy the fees are not excessive, its 20 cents ($) to list an item and then Etsy keep 3.5% of each sale, I haven’t personally looked at too many other e-commerce websites but from what I have seen in the forums Etsy is very reasonable.

Things I don’t like about Etsy:

• Clumping:this seems to be a new thing with Etsy but alot of times when I search for items I see items from certain shops clumped together, it’s a bit annoying in that I feel that other shops aren’t getting a look in in those situations. It is generally thought that this is and AI problem (robots eh?!)
• Search: Ok so searching on Etsy can be very frustrating whether its for my own items or if I’m just shopping, because you can add up to 13 tags on Etsy for products sometimes the AI just doesn’t get it right (or some say its search manipulation by users) for example if I search for a purse in a particular type of fabric, the likelihood of me actually seeing a whole page of purses in that fabric even if they are on Etsy is unlikely.
• Search (Again!): So lately Etsy has gotten much quieter for me, after some inward panicking I looked on the forum and it seems to be Europe wide, the main reason that I can figure is that Etsy changed the search function slightly. The main users of Etsy is in North America and Canada as it is well known there, from what I have gathered if customers search for ready to ship items it gives U.S and Canadian shops more weight in the search as they have figured that people want to receive items quickly. I suppose us Europeans will just have to hope that this won’t last forever and use social media as a way to reach those people.

 

So that’s my general musings on Etsy, I don’t always love it but without it where would I be? Sitting in a house full of bags probably! 🙂

 

I would love to hear of other peoples experience of selling on Etsy or online in general, it’s great to hear of how other people find it.

Sarah

ONE OF MY FAVOURITES TO MAKE

I am very reluctant to pick my favourite bag or purse to make because inevitably I love everything that happens to be my latest or newest make, but these clutchy wristlet type purses are definitely one of my favourites. I love these because they are mine – as in I’m not following someones pattern and there is A LOT of trail and error gone into getting them right!

In early versions of these I could only figure out how to get in two card slots, which would have been okay for a going out type bag by realistically I wanted them to be something that could be used everyday. I eventually figured out how to get 6 card slots into them without them looking a complete mess.

Here’s a badly lit picture of the card slots alone.

These purses also have an zipped pocket inside ideal for coins.

The basics of this purse are:

Cotton or canvas interior and exterior fabric

Faux leather corners

Metal zip to close

6 card slots

Inside zipped pocket

 

 

I’ve made these in all different beautiful fabrics and I usually have at least one hanging around my Etsy shop, you can take a look here.

 

Let me know in the comments if you would like this pattern to try yourself!

 

Happy sewing

Sarah

SEWING THE MINIMALIST WALLET – PATTERN BY NOODLEHEAD

Last night I had a go at following a pattern, I’m not very good with most patterns as I don’t understand a lot of sewing jargon, but this one is very easy to follow and make. Other patterns I have followed are the infamous Necessary Clutch by Emmaline Bags, which is a tough make but so worth it and The Sweet Pea Saddle Bag by Blue Calla patterns.

So this pattern by Noodlehead is $8 which I think worked out at just over €6. I had just gotten this beautiful floral Japanese fabric  and thought it would be perfect as ideally you need non directional fabric or the back will be upside down. I used yellow linen from Billow Fabrics for the pocket and some black glittery vinyl for the top.

This wallet is supposed to have snaps but I didn’t have any so I used a magnetic snap instead, I think it worked out fine but if I had used snaps they would have been visible from the outside which might be nice.

It took me about 20 minutes to cut out and interface and about an hour to sew. So definitely a quick make.

Things I love about this pattern and wallet:

• The pattern is easy to follow, no crazy jargon
• It’s a step by step pattern so it would be hard to go wrong
• Its a quick make
• The wallet has lots of space, a large pocket with a 7 inch zip, 3 card slots and a back pocket with room for notes or a phone.
• It’s great for using smaller pieces of fabric and really the possibility of fabric and patterns to use are endless.

Things I would play around with:

• Mainly just the interfacing, it is lightly interfaced which is nice but personally I would prefer a bit more structure so I might add more when I make more. Other than that the wallet is pretty perfect!

I have linked the pattern above and again here, it is very beginner friendly more so than the Necessary Clutch so if you are thinking of making it, go for it! And if you mess up you haven’t wasted a load of fabric!

Happy sewing!

Sarah