Last year, I made character hats. They were my thing. I noticed that all the kids were wearing them, and rather than going out and spending $20 per kid for my own children to have one, I decided to just try making them myself.
These are the first character hats I produced...
Definitely some room for improvement, but not bad at all for my first attempts - especially since I made up my own patterns.
This year, character hats are still "in" and I noticed that sock monkey hats had taken a lot of the limelight. Butter wanted one, so I decided to try and pull one of those off. Coming up with this...
The mouth is a little crocked, but an easy fix. Butter seemed happy with it, anyway. Jelly, not wanting to be left out, decided she wanted a monkey hat (her favorite animal) but gave me specific instructions. The monkey had to be wearing a black hat with a pink flower on it. I'd been making some hats with flowers, and she wanted me to combine both. OK, no problem...
I think the thing looks terrifying... but Jelly loves it. She says it looks like a monkey, it's wearing the hat she requested, another satisfied customer.
Because the hats are very time consuming and require lots of sewing and separate parts, I wanted to start making stuff that were a little easier to knock out. That began my interest in headbands. I knocked these out in less than an hour each...
Then, a friend mentioned to me that I should try and make some infinity scarves. I had never heard of them - but after a quick online search I realized that they were in pretty high demand - with pretty darn high prices. A few days and a couple balls of yarn later, I had these to add to my collection...
Please excuse my reluctant model. The gray one should be worn a little more bunched up, but Peanut wanted to show off the pattern. All three patterns are from my own creation, by the way.
And finally, yesterday afternoon, a friend asked me if I'd make him a slouchy hat. Again, having no idea what that was, a quick search online gave me my answer...and so I made him this...
The back view shot isn't Peanut - I took that photo last night after I was all finished. Once again, my own pattern, very simple to make, and quite the current trend from what I hear.
I don't think that's a bad lineup of items. I've also made tons of regular beanies and scarfs and even fingerless gloves.
So, what do you think? Am I ready to start branching out and selling items? Do I make items to order or do I make a bunch of stuff and sell what I've made?
Come on, I know there has to be a few people out there with some advice for this novice crocheter.
One thing I have decided on is that I refuse to charge exorbitant prices. The price of the yarn plus a couple of bucks for my time should do it. I'm definitely not going to charge the $20+ prices I've seen these items sell for.
Help a gal out...what should I do? Any recommendations on how to sell, where to sell, etc. is greatly appreciated. You don't have to be someone that sells stuff - just a person with an opinion.
Thanks!
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I'm not crazy about the "character hats," but that's just me. Love the infinity scarves, but I'd want them in a "fuzzy" yarn, know what I mean? I love the slouchy hats!
ReplyDeleteAs far as marketing, I have no idea, except to start at craft fairs, like you said. I have a feeling you'd sell a lot of those at the craft fair in Prairie Grove -- Labor Day weekend, I think.
Thanks for the feedback!! The infinity scarves would be great in the fuzzy yarn, I'll have to try that. ;)
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