On Commissions

When folks see the stuff I make right after they get done laughing or saying "too cute!" the next thing out of their mouth is:

You should sell this stuff.

Putting aside the fact that I tend to sew from non-original patterns (which means I technically shouldn't make a store filled with stuff I made from the pattern--though I have separate thoughts on that but that's for another day) I can't imagine how much I'd HATE my sewing if I had to do it "for a living".

Face it.  To make money from handmade goods you have to have one (or more) of the following:

1.  Fabulous luck

2.  All the time in the world.

3.  Very few bills and/or earthy needs.

Am I being dramatic?

Yes, a bit.

But lets be honest here.

Most folks are too cheap to pay a "living wage" to someone making a handmade item like, say, a stuffed toy.  You see, stuffed toys are easy to come by and have little "value" ("it's just a toy") so folks just aren't going to spend a lot of money for them.

Yeah, some wil but those are few and far between.  And to make a living finding those folks you have to WORK.  HARD.  All the damn time.

Just the thought of that makes not want to ever pick up a needle again and that makes me sad.

So there's no etsy store (or other such thing) in my future.

But that doesn't mean I don't sell stuff.  Hey, if someone wants me to make something for them and they want to pay then who am I to stop them.

All that is to say, I have a commission I'm working on now (for a stranger) and after seeing the puppies my mother wants one (for my aunt) and my sister wants six for a friend and THEN, just yesterday a co-worker comes up to me asking if I still make sock monkeys.  So I may have a commissioned monkey in my future.

But I'm still not starting a store or any such stuff.  I don't want this to become a JOB.  It's a fun hobby that might just pay for itself (once in a while).