Can you make money at sewing/knitting handmade items?

So, the question is, Can you make money from creating handmade items? No. At least, not if you do what I do.  If you sell online you have to pay a fee. Now, I believe Etsy has the lowest fee along with Ebay, but the problem is that people generally do not buy handmade items.

If you sell at Craft Shows you need to pay a $30-$50 fee. A lot of the time you don't even break even. (payed $30, didn't even sell $30 worth of items)  

When I went to the craft show I paid $30 for 1 table. I sold Hotpads and Cat toys. I didn't sell anything else. ($4 for hotpads and $1 for cat toys)

                                                              Both from my Etsy shop

Needless to say, this is why I believe that you cannot make money at this. Not unless you have patented your own brand of item. Which I refuse to do. It is ridiculous to restricted others from creating that same item. Your item is popular, that is great, so why can't others make the same item? It is likely that they won't make it the same way as you and if you already have loyal customers then you shouldn't be afraid of some competition. 

The other way you could make money at this is if you are not the one doing the work and are paying some poor soul 50 cents an item that they make. 

But handmade in the USA by one person isn't worth the money?  Allow me to tell you the time it takes for each item.

Hotpads: I take 1 day to cut the fabric and middle. Then I take an entire second day to iron and pin. Sometimes it takes a third day to sew all the hotpads. Once I made 150 hotpads in a week, but my fingers were bruised.

Pillowcases: I can make four a day. But that is with my mother's help. She cuts the fabric to the correct size that I need and then I iron and pin. I can have 15 pinned but it can take up to two weeks to get them all done.

Cat toys: These didn't take much time, my mom had 10 crocheted in 15-20 minutes.

Knitted items: These can take between 1 week and 6 months, depending on what it is. The Doctor Who scarves took up to 2 months. The blankets took 1 week through 3 weeks. The regular scarves took between 10 days and 1 month.

Fleece Blanket (I will soon have a made to order thing in my Etsy shop for these)- This took a lot longer then it should have. But it was 3-8 months. My fingers have been bruised and cut from this and I will be finished with this blanket sometime this week. (Lord willing)  The poor man has been waiting forever since he first ordered it.  I only asked for $75 from him, but he is a family friend. In the etsy shop it will be at least $100. (Custom made blanket)

I hope you can see my point of view.

How my Shop started

My Shop

The link above goes to my Etsy shop. This is the story about how my Etsy shop began and why I decided to try Social Media to improve views and sales.

I had wanted to try an Etsy shop when I was 16. I found out I had to be at least 21. For a while I had forgotten all about Etsy until I was 18.  Why then? Well, I discovered when you have no previous job experience, it is sort of hard to find a job.

But I knew I was good at one thing. And that was sewing. I started with hotpads. 

Hotpads: Etsy

Once again, the above link goes to Etsy.

I made close to 200 for a church thing, then I had realized that I could sew the hotpads and sell them. I started building inventory when I was 17, knowing that I wanted to try Etsy when I was 18.

It was a while before I realized that pillowcases could even be an option.

Pillowcase: Etsy

This was not my first one, but my first ones where gifts. And I find this blog much more worth while as an advertising tool.

I started with about...5-10 pillowcases. The first one I messed up, I believe I still have that one in my room somewhere.

I re-watched the tutorial and it clicked. It is now much easier then almost anything else.

Fleece scarves were very much one of my friend's idea. She said they were easy and sold well. That proved to be correct.

This one was sold to a friend. The person in the picture is my sister.

These were a stroke of genius. I sold 5 or 6 of these, they are actually doing better then what I set out to sell. But I am not complaining.

Knit scarves never even crossed my mind until someone gave me knitting needles. Then I thought about my Great Grandma. She knew how to knit, surely she would teach me.

She was reluctant at first, as she had tried to teach my Mom, Nana, and a couple cousins. But as she showed me it suddenly started to click on in my head, like the pillowcases. 

I learned close to the end of last year. It's only been 3 or 4 months, but I am already making patterns. 

Once again, thanks to a friend, I realized I could sell those too. They are a little more expensive, but I plan on selling them for less.

Orange Knit Scarf: Etsy

I made this one at my Great Grandma's house. I believe it is 40 stitches wide. I find knitting very relaxing, a lot more relaxing then sewing.

The Fringe blankets were my mom's idea. She saw them in Jo-anns and thought they might be a good idea. They were more of an experiment, and so far, I am not planning on making anymore, unless they sell.

Camo Fringe: Etsy

I like them, personally, but I am really hoping they sell. My room is starting to get a little messy. (=

The cat toys were sort of an accident. A friend ordered a custom made fleece throw. When we cut off the salvage my mom started to crochet them with her thumb. She can do it with her thumb, but not with a tool. Mom looked at me and commented, "These would make good cat toys."  I looked at them again then looked it up on the computer. Since fleece was deemed safe, we decided to give them a shot.

They are our most popular item so far.

Cat Toys: Etsy

At $1 a piece, they are fairly cheap. A lot of the cat toys are more expensive, but since we were just going to throw these away anyways, $1 seemed like a reasonable price.

Social Media

Well, I first decided to use this because Etsy suggested it. But I wasn't sure which social media site to join. For a while I ignored the subject, hoping that I would figure it out.  First I decided on Twitter. (GodsGraceSewing is the easiest way to find me.)

Twitter was confusing at first, the 200 character count annoyed me. But it made me think and type creatively. That has helped my views on my Etsy shoot through the roof. The most views I had ever gotten was 43, with Twitter it shot up to 50+.

Then I thought about Tumbler. I decided not to go with that. It isn't my favorite site and I would rather not give them my soul. (I am weird, its how it feels to me)

Then I remembered that my dad had a Google blog. I really thought about that then remembered I had signed up for You-tube, therefore making the Blog available to me. I started a Google+ account then went right to the blog.  

Thanks for reading!

Sam