Article by Ian McAllister

If you sell your arts and crafts patterns successfully you can take a pride in the millions of copies that have been made up around the world.

And the money isn’t bad either.

How much could you earn if you made up one of your designs and sold it? Enough to pay for the materials?

Now for the bad news

* You have to learn all the basics and work advanced patterns too before you can start.

* Designing is an art. Does every artist make money? No.

* Copyright problems can bankrupt you.

If you’ve got what it takes none of these problems will discourage you. You are prepared to have the fickle public refuse to like nine out of your ten designs. Perhaps you already are an expert at crochet or sewing embroidery designs and quilt patterns.

You can use your sewing machine with your eyes shut. Great!

Remember the people who use patterns are people who need them. So you will need to explain everything simply.

What does the public want?

Visit your local stationers and look through the women’s magazines for the handcraft article titles. Write them down. Visit Amazon and look at the subjects that are most popular. Visit eBay and see what handcraft items have most bidders.

If you find something that is in enormous demand, does this demand mean that you can sell your designs? Unfortunately no. Artistic things either click with the public or they don’t. Most of the time there is no logical explanation. You either like something or you don’t.

Copyright Problems With Popular Items

If you design a jumper with a photograph of Harry Potter knitted into it, you are likely to have legal charges of breach of copyright before you can draw your breath. If you photograph the actors (not dressed as the characters) you can use them in the designs – but they will no longer be popular.

There are things you can do to take advantage of recent news. Some of them are decidedly inartistic, but could make some money for you. For instance – I visited a bomb-site in Iraq and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. It’s a revolting idea but it might sell.

If you are really expert you might be able to make designs suitable for kids arts crafts. These have to be the simplest designs of them all, and they also have to convince the parents that they are simple enough and pleasing enough to entertain their children. Knitting, quilting, and jewelry are very popular crafts for children.

You can even prepare designs for recycling. For instance if you have a long-haired wooly dog, you can collect the hair for several years, then wash it and tease out the tangles. Then you can make up a garment without spinning the hair first. It won’t work with a long-haired hairy dog, because the hairs don’t bind together into thread, but wool is great.

You can come up with recycling designs for the garden, using old margarine containers or soft-drink bottles etc.

You may find this hard to believe, if you have been struggling all your life to interest people in the handcrafts that you produce, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can really learn how to make the public think of you whenever they want a patterns for hobbies crafts.

Several stitches are slipped with yarn in front to create a stack of loose strands. These strands are gathered up in one stitch creating wings radiating out from the center. Done in a solid color, the butterflies are very prominent. When done in multiple colors, the butterflies are hidden and simulate tuck point quilting.

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