Make Money Sewing At Home +50 DIY Sewing Projects To Sell
How Can I Make Money Sewing At Home?
Sewing is such an amazing skill to have! If you know how to sew or have the ambition to learn, you can make money sewing at home and even build your own online craft business.
I wanted to share some fun ideas you can use to make money sewing at home because selling my handmade products online has literally changed my life!
I left an amazing career as a nail technician to move to another state. Once we got there I realized I wanted to pursue something new, but I had no clue what.
The idea of having to get a job and work for someone else made me cringe.
After procrastinating way too long, I decided to put a few items (I had 7 to be exact) on Etsy and just see what happened.
Can you believe I made my first sale within a week?!
I’ve now expanded to Amazon Handmade too and just recently had my first $10,000 month! Woot!
THIS TOOLKIT WILL HELP YOU SET UP A PROFESSIONAL ETSY SHOP AND START MAKING MONEY.
This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure.
Sewing business ideas to make money sewing at home.
Start an Etsy shop to sell your sewn items
Sell at craft fairs
Open your own local shop
Sell on consignment in a local shop
Do alterations from your home.
Sell at farmer’s markets
Sell on Ebay
Start a sewing blog to teach others to sew and share fun sewing projects
Sell your sewing patterns on Ebay or in your own store on Shopify
Start a membership where you teach your members to sew or share your own patterns
Make an online sewing course to teach others to sew
Start a YouTube channel to teach others to sew
How can I learn to sew if I’m a beginner?
If you’re a beginner at sewing, you can find sewing classes at your local craft stores where you can learn how to sew so you can start making money sewing from home.
Of course, you’ll need quite a bit of practice before you start a business. It’s not as easy as it looks.
This machine makes sewing so much easier!
I got it on Amazon and it does a lot of the hard work for you and has lots of really cool stitches programmed in. All you have to do is guide the fabric through!
My sister and I were shocked at how easy it is to use and it’s one of the least expensive sewing machines I’ve seen!
It’s perfect for beginners who want to start sewing as a hobby or business.
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How to find best selling sewn items on Etsy.
You can use the list below to use Etsy and search for items that are selling regularly.
Just type in the term from my list and take a look at the top results.
See what is unique and special about their items and use that for inspiration to create something of your own.
Don’t copy a best selling item.
Besides the fact that it’s not ethical to copy, they are already on top and you won’t be able to compete with them as a new seller so be sure to create your own unique product.
Check out this tutorial if you want to find trendy best-selling items you can sell in your handmade shop.
You can make a similar product that is better than theirs though. See if there’s a way you can sew something and make it even more special than what other sellers have listed.
You can plan an entire year of products so easily with The Profitable Handmade Product Planner. Stop struggling to think of items to add to your shop.
DIY sewing project ideas sew to sell on Etsy, at craft fairs, online, etc.
If you’re already a seasoned pro at sewing, here’s a list of diy sewing projects you can sell so you can make money sewing at home.
Just be sure if you use someone else’s pattern that it is ok to sell the items you make with their patterns.
Some pattern makers may want you to give them credit in your listing or they may not allow you to resell the items made with their patterns at all.
If you make your own patterns, you could consider selling them online on Etsy or Shopify as a digital download.
50 Ways To Make Money Sewing For Profit
Doll clothes
Handmade purses
Children’s clothing
Dog clothes
Scrubs for doctors and nurses
Baby clothes
Baby blankets
Women’s clothing
Men’s clothing
Curtains
Cloth Diapers
Gloves
Garland
Quilts
Hair bows/Scrunchies
Hats
Scarves
Stuffed toys
Scrunchies
Hand Sewn Dolls
Headbands
Makeup bags/zipper pouch
Comforters
Pillows
Pillow cases
Dog beds
Dog toys
Pot holders
Oven mitts
Casserole carriers
Heat/cold packs
Napkins
Can koozies
Sleeping bags
Dishtowels
Reusable snack bags
Bowl covers
Aprons
Backpacks
Lunch bags
Soup bowl holders
Storage bins
Baby shoes
Baby nests
Bumper pads for cribs
Earbud cases
Laptop/tablet cases
Baby bibs
Lingerie
Workout armbands for phones and Ipods
Can You Make Money Selling Sewing Patterns Online?
Selling sewing patterns online is a great way to make passive income with your sewing business.
You can sell digital or physical sewing patterns on Etsy or open your own Shopify store. You can also create a membership where you provide a new pattern for your members each month.
If you sell digital sewing patterns, you design the pattern one time, upload it into your listing on Etsy or Shopify and then it automatically gets sent to your customer when they purchase.
This will help you make money without having to ship anything so you can make money passively anytime and anywhere.
If you want to learn how to make your own sewing patterns, Skillshare has a bunch of sewing pattern making courses. You can get a FREE TRIAL OF SKILLSHARE HERE.
P.S. They also have so many other awesome courses for just about anything you could ever want to learn.
How To Start Your Own Sewing Business At Home
First you’ll need to decide how you want to make money sewing from home. If you want to sell online you’ll need to set up a store on whatever platform you choose.
I recommend starting to sell on only one platform to begin with and you can add others as you become more familiar with selling your sewing projects online.
If you’re starting with Etsy, be sure to grab my ETSY SHOP SETUP TOOLKIT to get you started on the right foot.
To sell at craft fairs or farmer’s markets you’ll have to find out who to contact for information on booth rental. You can usually find this information on the website for the fair or market.
To start a sewing blog, see this post that walks you through step by step how to start your blog. You can also add a membership program right on your blog if you want to do both.
For a YouTube channel, you’ll need a phone or camera that you can record your videos with and a tripod.
For doing alterations at home, you’ll need to decide how you want to get clients and how you want to deal with them coming to your home. Some neighbors may not like people coming and going all the time and there may be laws or rules against running a business like that from your home. So be sure to check on what’s allowed where you live.
You’ll have to consider any business licenses you might need when starting a sewing business at home. Check your local laws regarding what licenses are required for the type of at home sewing business you want to start.
How Much Does It Cost To Start A Sewing Business From Home?
To get started with your at home sewing business, you’ll need a sewing machine, fabric, thread, sewing machine needles and other sewing tools plus accessories like zippers and buttons.
You can start sewing business from home for as little as $500 if you go with a lower cost sewing machine. If you want a higher end sewing machine to start your sewing business you can expect to spend $1500 or more.
Advice And Tips For Making Money Sewing From Home
My biggest piece of advice for selling your handmade sewn items online to make money is to try to find something to sell that will really help people in some way. It is much easier to sell something that is really useful or a necessity.
If you are going to sell on Etsy, Amazon, Shopify or your own website, be sure to buy fabrics you can continue buying again and again.
Taking photos, editing photos, and making new listings for your online shop is pretty time consuming. It will make your life so much easier if you can use the same listing over and over rather than making one of a kind items that you have to take pictures and make a new listing for every single time.
Plus it makes marketing your shop on Pinterest more effective when you have the same listings. If your listings are expiring or selling out, your Pinterest pin for that item will lead to a page that says the product is unavailable which doesn’t help you sell anything.
Learn all about Pinterest marketing for your online sewing business here.
Try to make 40 to 50 items for your shop right away if you can. This will give you much more exposure on Etsy and online in general. The more items you have, the more chance you have of getting found in search online. But don’t let this overwhelm you. If you can only get a few items listed right now, that’s better than not doing it at all.
You can get 40 free Etsy listings here.
I hope this list has inspired you to start your own sewing business online or offline and start making money sewing from home!
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