Etsy Endeavor

A good Monday morning to you all!  The day is moving along nicely for me and I’m happy to have a little bit of time on the computer before I throw myself into all that this day has in store.

I’ve got a little bit of shop talk today – Etsy shop talk that is, and how this idea came to be.  Back about three years ago when I started making dresses on a regular basis, I was worried enough about making something just for me let alone anyone else.  I had several friends/family members ask me to make them something, and I always politely refused.  As I sewed more and got better, I finally started to think about selfless sewing, and it was early last year when someone asked me if I’d make a prom dress that I started thinking of it even more.  That fell through, but it gave me some confidence to start to consider making dresses for someone other than myself and babies.  (I’ve made two baby dresses, by the way, and I’ll never really know what those babies thought of them.  😉 )  My sister was the one who I made the real dress for, last year around this time, and that made me realize that I definitely could sew to sell.

Then, once I had my custom labels made back in June or so, my mind was set on opening an Etsy shop.  I have perfected a couple styles of the dresses that I regularly make for myself, and the patterns so happen to be ’boutique’ patterns and are available to be made to sell at craft fairs, Etsy, online shops, etc.  I was all set to start out on this little endeavor of mine.  All I was lacking was the store front.  Many a time I have thought about going to some of the boutique stores here in town to see what they could do for me, but have yet to follow through with that idea.

About a month ago, I said to myself, “Just open the  Etsy account and go from there?”  That is exactly what I did.  You got to start somewhere, and I had one dress in particular that I wanted to get rid of, an older make, so I used it as my starter to see how the whole posting and selling process would work.  Two weeks later, I had my first two makes up, and one sold within a couple of hours.  I was beyond shocked and oh, so, excited!  I definitely didn’t expect a turn around that soon, but it was the perfect inspiration to go ahead and keep moving forward with this new idea of mine.

I have four listings up now (well three, but the fourth one I am posting today), and I have a couple of others in the works as we speak.  I really am enjoying doing this so far.  My only problem is that it’s hard not to want to keep everything that I am making, ha ha!  I guess that’s what I get for making my own style of dresses in fabric that I really like, it is my Signature Style after all.

The fabric shopping is a pretty fun part of the process too.  I am able to step out of my comfort zone a little and look at material designs that I might not necessarily give a second thought were it just for me.  And, I am finding I like a lot of what I see that I didn’t think I would.  Is that making any sense?  I’m re-buying some that I already bought to make one for me too.  If things take off, I will make money to spend money on more dresses for me.  It’s a win win either way.  If they don’t sell, I get to keep them.  🙂

Pictures are the listings I currently have available: sizes, small and medium right now.  I am working on some large, to be posted hopefully by the end of the week.  I know that it takes time to get something like this going, but I am enjoying the process, and I’ve got a little bit of extra time for it.  (Hunting season for my guys is dress making season for me, and it runs until January.)

I’d love any advice, or any words of wisdom any of you might have for me.  I’ll even take constructive criticism.  Tell me anything!  Thanks for reading and the link to my shop is in my header menu, or you can click here.