I help yarn loving women overcome knowledge barriers when it comes to learning to crochet and operating a crochet business by providing fun, educational, and inspirational crochet related content. On my channel, you'll find lots of info about selling crochet at craft fairs, on Etsy, and you'll also find cute crochet tutorials!
Hi there! I'm Jacki, Your newest yarn loving BFF!
Thank you so much for stopping by the CottonBabyCrochet RU-vid channel!
I appreciate every comment, like and subscribe. It warms my heart to hear where you're from and what you're working on!
If you're interested in buying my makes or patterns, check out my Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/CottonBabyCrochet
Love this video. So much good information. I love the business learning with you. It's very fun. 😃❤️ I have encountered crochet hobbiest at markets, where they just earned enough for "yarn money ". But just going to a market or a bigger event is very expensive. I like your thinking for a business you have to sell! 🎉
I have been a vendor for a year now and i have liked the tent I bought, except that it is super hard for me to set up alone. There were decently strong winds at my last market and a leg bent up towards the top so im in the market for a new one. How easy is yours to do alone?
It IS doable alone, definitely. Rebecca, my podcast cohost sets up alone at all of her events and has an ABCanopy tent too. But it's definitely easier to do if you're not on the pavement because you can kind of use the dirt/ground as leverage. Like basically slightly bury a foot to hold it in place so when you're trying to pull the tent to pop it open, you're not just dragging the whole thing, if that makes sense. However, I don't set up alone, so I can't 100% give you my own experience. But I do know it's doable because of Rebecca and because, I won't lie, a lot of times, I just have my husband set up the tent for me, and then I get out and start setting up the stuff in the tent haha.
Thanks for the advice! I have my first 2 markets this month and so far I can tick off many of your boxes. When I try outdoor markets I will use my dinette tent - it is not a cheap one, at all. Once I have determined whether or not outdoor markets are for me, then I will invest in a commercial tent. I going to take my table cloths out now and get out any wrinkles. I saw a tip to use a pool noodle to roll up your table cloths so that they aren't wrinkled when you get to the show. I will be testing this out!
Ohhh, I like that tip!!! I would have never thought of that, but I could see it working pretty well and it's not like pool noodles take up a ton of space, so it could be pretty functional too. Great suggestion. You'll have to let me know how it goes. I don't use table cloths anymore because I've switched totally to grid walls, so I can't test this advice myself, but I'd love to find out of it works!!! And I totally understand where you're coming from. Not everyone that has a crochet business does markets, that's just one option for your business. So, it's definitely smart to find out if it's right for you before investing a lot of money into those larger purchases, like a commercial tent. I hope most people got that as a take away here: the fact that you can work your way up to these things and you don't necessarily have to have them all from the get go. I don't want to stress anyone out or overwhelm them.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo I'm sure that no one was stressed out. You were giving advice from your experience and not telling anyone what to do. I appreciated the information and the visuals.
The commercial tents are expensive but they are definitely worth the money. The quality is much better. I had two tents - one was commercial and the other was walmart brand. I had left both overnight at an outdoor market and a strong microburst went through and had completely snapped the bar of the walmart tent but only bent the commercial tent. Both had to be thrown out, but the quality difference was very obvious.
Yeah, that's probably the most expensive upgrade on this list, getting a commercial tent. But if you're going to be regularly doing markets, it IS worth the money for sure. That's a cool side by side comparison though. I mean, not cool cool because having to spend more money on something you already had sucks but just for science sake, that's a cool side by side comparison lol.
Just like Amazon. That is why they offer you royalties in a percentage as low as 3%. I was wondering that when I saw the percentage they were giving you for your content that you created. I was like ‘Biatch, you need the freaking royalties’.
The equivalent to your giant plushie happened to me too. In the end it felt like I was paying the buyer to get my product. Still, I wouldn't change a thing, because how should I have known?! I was happy that I got everything done in time, and then checked the whole situation off as a lesson learned. Thanks for sharing. ❤
The shipping I was quoted was nuts, but I do think $40 for that big of a box is fair on my end, though. But not the $130 that USPS Priority Mail quoted me. That's insane haha.
Here's a link to Part 1: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ET1bcL_YX8Y.html Here's a link to Part 2: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JDCSVSM1F_w.html
The first and only market that I had so far was a total flop. The market ran from 10am to 4-5pm, and I made 2 sales over the entire day (one of which was a friend that came by to chat). There was another crochet artist at the booth right next to me and they did make a small profit. A few contributing factors; a huge booth (4m wide, which made the booth setup a bit sad looking), me just starting out and the rain drizzles during the day probably didn't help. Also, the market was advertised as this big market while in reality it wasn't that big.. I haven't done any other markets since, partly because it was a flop and because life got pretty busy after that.
I would give it a try. In my experience, even a little bit of rain can really kill the traffic at an event. Try to find markets that are centered around a special occasion, like a fall festival or a strawberry festival, or a pioneer days kind of event, versus more "generic" events like a monthly farmers market. The farmers market can still be profitable, they'll have their regulars, but the specialty kind of events draw bigger crowds. Bigger crowds mean more opportunities to make sales, and more opportunities typically means more actual sales. If you do just ONE market in fall, try something for October. Those were my most profitable fall markets last year.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo unfortunately in the Netherlands there aren't a lot of markets. But I'm currently too busy with my job and my two bachelor studies to even think about doing a market. But I definitely want to do more in the future, when I'm able to afford it more easily!
Thank you! We're glad you're already enjoying it, but we're definitely doing our best to better it already. We're like little baby podcasters currently, but I have hopes that we can really level up the production value on this with time. High High hopes!!!
Thank you so much! I really like being able to talk from the stance of a "regular person" honestly. Though, at the same time I'm also excited for the opportunities doing stuff like RU-vid has brought me. And this isn't exactly a regular part of the crochet business model. But I feel like this kind of stuff is just common sense. We work hard, we should be paid, and it's okay to like your job AND be well paid. That's a nice way to live.
I agree with pricing. My adult son said not to price low just to sell. He said people will buy something they like at a good price and people who don’t want your product, won’t buy because of low price. Made sense to me😂. I like your banter back and forth…lots of good information.
Yes! Smart man your son is!!! My products aren't for you if you don't see their value, and that's okay because there are PLENTY of people that do see their value.! And thanks! We really do enjoy doing the podcast. These are the kinds of conversations we regularly have anyway, so doing a podcast kind of just made sense. It's not like they teach things in school, so we need to bring more attention to them. Of course, some of it is based on our opinions from our own experiences, but some of it comes from actual education we've sought out too.
Amazing! I'm glad so many people who watch my channel do! We need to keep encouraging people to price their worth! For whatever reason, people don't seem to do this and are almost against it? Makes no sense to me. HOWEVER, for the people who just don't know better, we should spread the word!
I use a waitress' belt instead of a cash box. It seperates all of my cash and coins and I can wear it so it goes with me to the bathroom. I bought mine on Amazon. I use square on my phone which allows me to swipe with the dongle or use tap to pay directly on my phone which is super cool. I do want to get the chip reader one though because it would streamline any payments taken through square.
I thought about an apron but I was worried about getting up and down a lot during the event and was concerned that money COULD fall out. Your system seems quite smooth though!!!
I used to make custom jewellery and I never took part payments and have the custom jewellery still because they never ended up paying for it. So I would never ever do that again ever it’s part payment or no item ever
I like doing full payments up front for stuff like this for this exact reason. Partial payment does me no good, neither does keeping custom plushies I've made. So all, or I do nothing.
I know that feeling😭😭😭 I also made a huge plushie and I realized that materials take up half of the price. Luckily the order was local and I could deliver it myself instead of using shipping. I still made some profit.
I'm sorry, but I'm glad you made some! I would have delivered it myself if I could. That would have helped some lol. Save me $40 at least haha. But now we know!!!
I am a slow crocheter. So i charge by the stitch instead of by the hour. If i charge by the hour it would be even more expensive than charging by the stitch.
I've never tested this but this at least has a formula so I'm not totally against it. It's much better than pricing by "vibes" because too many people price based on what they THINK someone will pay. But like I said, I've not actually tried this to see if it's comparable price wise to how I normally price. THOUGH, it's also not FULLY practical for my business because sometimes I come up with my own patterns for my customs, it's not something I really write down either. So like, I have no idea how many stitches I'll use before I make the thing, you know what I'm saying.
The only thing i can suggest is making a sample piece of the yarn youre gonna use especially if youre unfamiliar, calculate how many rows that your project will be, that should give you a diameter atleast in length. Do do the same for the stitches to get the diameter in witdth. Also i guess clause that although you charge full price, there may be the rare occasion that you need to charge extra and if they refuse, make the piece anyway and sell it on your etsy as a finished product for how much you think its worth. Someone will buy it. Also im not sure if this is what you do, but buy a vacumme pump, if youre shipping something huge and not vacumed, it will cost heaps.
I can't really do the sample piece. At least not for something like this. It was too big to really even guesstimate how many rows or stitches it was going to come out to to get to the diameter the customer requested. But that vacuum pump thing is a good idea. I definitely did not do that lol.
So sorry this happened to you I would have made the same mistake ! But on the up side it won't happen again thanks for sharing with us so we all learn! It' amazing you did a great job!!!
I hope we can all learn for this for sure, because it definitely sucks, from a business stand point, to lose money on an order. ESPECIALLY a big order like this. HOWEVER, it really is an awesome plushie, so I am very proud of it! Thank you for your kind words!
Oh yeah, she THIIICK haha. Which, had I known really how thick she was going to actually be in person, I would have charged more. But it's hard, even using a measuring tape, to fully visualize the grandeur of something lol. At least for me haha. But, it's worth noting, I've always been pretty bad about judging size/distance, so perhaps other people won't have as much trouble. BUT just in case, I hope this helps people in gauging their quotes/prices for things. At the very least, I think it's helpful to really see the math in play here... accounting for the materials and the shipping, and not even the time... $125 was clearly not enough and some people really benefit from seeing the full breakdown on things, you know what I mean.
Great video! I have been making custom crocheted character hats for 12 years and I finally started charging a custom order fee in addition to say a hat I’ve already made a bunch. This covers the extra time and work for me to write the pattern. Hope this helps. Love your channel.
Omg, thank you so much!!! And yes! Do whatever you can to make sure that your time and effort is accounted for. I really do try because I preach that mentality. We're doing special things here and it's valuable. But I'm not perfect and I'm actually more inexperienced in some areas than people realize, so I wanted to bring attention to this situation because it's good to show that to people. And then, there's the more obvious lesson of really kind of analyzing the situation before quoting a price and using this as a general baseline for larger orders that's definitely going to be helpful to people. At the very least this is a helpful record for me to have for future large orders haha.
It seems everyone uses plushy yarn these days. I use worsted weight for my amigurumi. It means they take longer to make and probably should be priced higher than plushy yarn items, even though they are usually smaller (if going by the same/similar pattern). It hasn't slowed my sales though. I am just wondering if I am the only worsted weight amigurumi crafter left!
I use worsted weight! I tried the dollar tree chenille once and hated it. The fuzz, can't find my stitches, snapping on magic ring, getting caught on itself while using or weaving in ends? Yuck. Plush vs worsted has the opposites of: plush yarn = expensive, but fast & big Worsted = cheap, but slow & small It feels weird for me use a plush yarn intended pattern and charge the same price or even higher as the plush creator that took 20 minutes for them, while Im making half the size in 40min 🥲
I use worsted weight for SOME stuff. But yes, it absolutely should be priced higher even if it's smaller, if the time invested says so. If I make something that takes 2 hours but is only 4 inches tall, it still took 2 hours so I'm going at least $40 on it.
I still think pricing by time should go for worsted weight. I made a doll that's like 6 inches tall in worsted weight, and I'm 100% pricing it for like $70-$80. It was time consuming. And just fyi, not all plush yarn is like that. Bernat blanket doesn't shed. Premier parfait chunky can shed some but it's less fragile too. I'm not sure if you ever branched out again, so I just wanted to let you know there were other options.
I've only sold stuffies I've already made, but I'm also a reseller. One of my biggest flips was a mid-century modern chair that I picked up disassembled at goodwill for $3.99. Well my husband assembled it for me, and I flipped it on eBay for over $500. Unfortunately I only charged I think $60 or so for shipping; even disassembled, the lowest quote I got for shipping it ended up being about $250. It was a very hard and expensive lesson learned in the cost of "over sized packages"
Ugh, dang! That's the worst! Like maybe we're dumb, but also, who WOULD think it would cost THAT much to ship? Like, that's a new TV, man haha. So expensive lol.
That plushie is HUUGE and you did such a good job on it. I know it not the most mathematical way of doing things but when you said a 15in plush was 90-120 I just took the fact that the plushie was twice that and double the price so about 180-240. Again that's not totally accurate but that the best i could come up with. I am sure there is some way to estimate the amount of yarn based on the total number of stitches. I completely agree on the pay first model even though there is processing and its really hard to know what your supposed to charge until you do it and everything comes back. Thank you so much for sharing!
I hear your logic, and it does sound helpful. However, I'll tell you why I didn't just double it... and this is me specific, so I maybe should have/could have mentioned this in the video. There are times when the quote I give is for a larger size, but then the item works up so quickly that I almost feel like I've overcharged the customer. Like, in retrospect, I wouldn't have minded doing some orders cheaper. I don't do refunds because I think there's a balance to it. Some orders I make a little more. Some orders I make a little less. So usually it's not an issue, but that's also why I didn't necessarily go the route of double size, double price. And I would love to have a formula for the stitch count situation because THAT actually could be a decent guide. HOWEVER, the issue here is, I free hand a LOT of my custom work. Some orders, I only free hand parts, other orders, I free hand the whole thing. Like for this, I free handed the whole thing so there was no way ahead of time to work out the number of stitches and try to go from there for a quote. But that is helpful for people who may work from patterns more often than I do, so I love that recommendation! As far as stitches are concerned though, this guys got A LOT. Just the straight rounds of the sphere (so you know you have your increase rounds for the bottom of the sphere, then the straight rounds where it's the same number of stitches around to make the middle part of the sphere, then your decrease rounds to close it up) have over 3,000 stitches. The last increase round I did was (18 sc, inc) x 8 so there were 160 in just that round. And then I did 20 rows of 160 stitches, which comes out to 3200 stitches. And again, that's JUST FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE SPHERE. Ain't that crazy haha!?!
@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo 160 stitches in round is mind blowing🤯🤯🤯!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, that does make a lot of sense but it also help us gauge the yarn for a 3 ft project PS the Chenille fallout must have been INSANE
Thank you, ladies, for all your information. I'm just starting my small crochet business. Your videos are a big help. I'm also in Florida, so hello neighbors 😅
Omg! I love your crochet business name! I love a good nature name! Howdy neighbor! Around what parts do you live? Perhaps we can do a meet up one day!!! And thank you for your kind words!
I will take your word for it, because I sure don't know South Carolina law! But I know in Florida, you have to pay tax on the sales you make, for sure. And that's ALL sales technically, so it's not just market dependent. AND the real annoying part is the tax rate varies from county to county, so I have to know what markets I did where to calculate the right tax rate. It's tiresome haha.
This is definitely something that needs to be talked about more. Obviously everyone has their own opinions, but this is useful to hear. There is definitely not a one size fits all for this kind of business. Im still in my beginning stages, so Im not to the point of making a livable income yet. But this gives me more confidence to how I price my items. So thank you 😊
Oh my gosh thank you for this especially talking about the stitches being seen, as a beginner I bought other plush yarns that have been recommended on RU-vid and I can not see the stitches. I will definitely go try the premier chunky thank you so much
Let me know how it goes. I can only look at things from the eyes of an experienced crocheter, but I do try to think in terms of the newbies that watch my channel too. So to me, it definitely FELT like they were a lot more visible, but I'd love to hear if you felt that way when you try that yarn out.
You GO girl this is 100% truth!! We don’t go out to eat and expect them to charge the price we could get the same food for at the grocery store. Just because it is a self owned business does not mean we can’t price items high enough to be profitable like all other consumer businesses!
Say it louder for the people in the back, baby!!! I'm GOING to make money at this. Period. Hard stop. And if that means I make slightly less sales because my stuff is slightly higher in price, than so be it because that means my time is ACTUALLY being accounted for and I'm not working my a$$ off just to break even.
Hello! I got them on Amazon. No, they're not collapsible, so they are a bit of a pain to maneuver. BUT we can store them in our van running from the back of the car clear up to between the drivers seat OR on top of our van (which is how we usually do it.) BUT if you have a car, there's a second option: TABLE TOP GRID WALLS! I have a few of these and I like them. You can still put baskets on them. Obviously, the space is a bit more limited because it's not a 6 ft tall grid wall, but it's still the same width, so the baskets fit. Here's a link to the big 6 ft tall ones: amzn.to/3LjXdPd And here's a link to the table top kind: amzn.to/466jslh
I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by your comment? I mean, it wasn't what I expected. I've seen a lot of crochet books, they're all quite similar. This book follows that format to a point, but it's more in depth. And I explained how it differed from other crochet books, and what was included in it, and what parts I was particularly fond of.
Jacki, thank you for your video. Not sure why I never thought of crocheted items as a luxury and that I should keep my items at a profit. I have fell pray to the “I won’t get $40 for an 16” long Dino even if it took me 2 hours and $10 in yarn. I’m retired and pay myself $8-10/hr and when I priced a detailed amigurumi cow and a pig and a horse (all 12” tall), the shop where I sell my items said people were rolling their eyes and complaining. But you are right! It doesn’t matter that I live in So. Mississippi. If someone wants to buy an heirloom, handmade,keepsake 12” cow then they will be willing to pay $58. There is something called perceived value and if makers create a small whale and charge $3, the handmade toy is perceived no better than a dog chew toy. I know this but lowered my pricing anyway. Thank you for snapping me out of it.
Yesss! You should be paid well and your plushies ARE special and could really be long term keepsakes/heirlooms, so they should be charged as such. I definitely know that it's hard to price well because you don't want to put anyone off, but at the same time, you're right. If you're selling something for only $3, you're basically telling them that it's a disposable item with basically no value. That's why I really like to charge a range. So, I have some inexpensive plushies for my families on a budget, or that have multiple kids. Because $15 isn't a lot of money TECHNICALLY, but it becomes a lot when you're shopping for 5 children lol. So I try to stock quite a few different options in the $5-$10, and then my larger plushies consistently go up to about $50 (with stuff at $10, $15, $18, $20, $25, etc in between the $10-$50 range). AND THEN, even from there I have the occasional outlier that's even more expensive than that and that's simple a pattern that I wanted to make that I'm also going to sell eventually haha. But that way, all price points are covered, so no one gets left out!
It sounds like this feeling of "Imposter Syndrome" which is a newer expression, comes from insecurity, lack of self confidence. We never gave this a title in my days of corporate business. IMO, I don't believe anyone should expect anyone else to know everything, that's illogical. Great leaders & business people are as great as their support network that fills the gaps where they lack mixed eith their own experience in their field. If someone does expect another to know everything, then it's most likely coming from jealousy. Jealousy attacks success, don't sweat it. As a retired public speaker & sales person myself, it's always been my position to simply state, "I will find out for you, what is your contact information, I can get back with you on that." It's always ok & best to be comfortable in your own skin, don't covet what others have, except maybe for purposes of learning. We all learn from each other & being in the same area with others, with like minds, is always a growing & inspirational environment. (Except any Sales field. Salespeople are mostly insecure child like adults hiding their winning secrets, lol. Ignore that, move on.) I agree education teaches "technique & how to think" a good foundation for life. However, there is no short cut to skill learned from repetitive practice and experience, hence practice makes perfect. Years of dedicated experience with ongoing learning and surrounding oneself with the right team to fill the gaps where one lacks can equate to a Masters level of formal education. On my, just relax & keep doing you! Keep up the great job ladies. You are an inspiration & joy!
I love & appreciate this rant. Thank you very much. Your thoughts are spot on. I have been selling at markets for 12 years now, have had an Etsy shop for 10 & recently started my vlog. I have continued to raise my prices over the years & will continue to do so. Bravo! Also, I will be watching more of your videos as a new subscriber. ❤️
I actually am going to be doing a better job at accounting for materials for my fall markets, so I'm upping my prices too. The fact is, in this economy, EVERYTHING is expensive. Including the yarn to make things. So in order to profit, we need to actually price well!
Thank you so much for your suggestion!!! I did a vote and the woodland category actually won, but I can maybe do a sitting pose of what ever animal I end up picking!!!
Thank you so much! I haven't decided what to make yet. The woodland category definitely won, but I wanted to pick an animal out of that category and I just haven't decided yet haha. Soon though.
All from Jade also has Spanish tutorials on her RU-vid channel. Thank you whimsy for giving your opinion on this book. I didn't know she had a book until now. Love your channel..
If you have social media, you should follow her! That's how I found out about the book and she also releases free patterns on instagram from time to time too!
I'm all for trying to make money with anything that you do, but sometimes people do overprice crochet items especially items made with thick yarn. Those yarns are not the best quality. I am all for pricing items the way you want to price them, but please keep in mind quality over quantity will yield better customers for the long term.❤
I hear you, but I disagree because quality is subjective. For a child, a durable, yet washable fluffy yarn like bernat blanket IS good quality for a plushie. Parfait chunky, as far as chenille yarns go, is also reasonably durable and washable, so also good for plushies. Same with small toys made with acrylic yarn, since it's washable yet durable, it's actually a smart choice. Now, would I use acrylic for a dish cloth? No. Something like a kitchen cotton is better quality for that application. Would I use a kitchen cotton for a nice summer shirt though? Nope, kitchen cotton is definitely perfect for wash cloths, soap savers, face scrubbies, but it's too rough a cotton to really make a quality top. So what makes something quality is subjective. Most kids don't want a stuffed animal made with tiny fancy yarn lol. They want something squishy and of a good size lol. Plus, if someone wants to charge a super high hourly rate, that's on them. They've decided their time is valuable, and are charging as such. If they're making sales, you, objectively, might think they're overpriced, but clearly there is still a market demand for their items at those prices. And if their high prices discourage sales, then they know they need to adjust. But I personally don't think there's anything wrong with aiming high. It's not like selling all your plushies at like $60 a pop ever made anyone an actual millionaire. That's still hardly a livable wage, so no one's pricing is really even THAT crazy.
