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flac  ·  2462 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: August 9, 2017

Sewing shit

Some shirts I made last week. This is the first time I've done any sewing in about 3 months.

One of my favorite shirts I've ever made. Really well executed and lovely design.

Pretty fine lines, kind of hard to see the print - it's umbrellas and rain. Been wanting to make this one since when it actually rained here.

b-b-b-branding! Bought these labels in December and have never used them.

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When I was back on the east coast this past week, I met a friend's fiance - a woodworker who has made enough to afford a downpayment on a house just through selling things on Etsy. I talked with her all night about logistics and how to dip my toes into selling clothes online, and I think I am finally going to give this a shot. I have no work the next 3 weeks until preschool starts, and I have the fabric to make about 10 shirts. I think I'm going to make those, work on putting together a passable site, and see how those 10 shirts sell. I'll be timing myself throughout this process just to get a better idea of how long specific tasks take me, and figure out whether it's best to do tasks in bulk, or make an entire shirt at once.

If it seems like it's worth the time and energy, I'll start spending about 10 hours a week (or more, but that should be about 3 well done shirts a week) working on clothes to sell - I don't see it as a main job anytime in the forseeable future, but it could be a solid source of additional funds.

Speaking of which, the price that I am thinking of starting at for shirts is $40 for a basic short sleeve shirt (like the bee shirt above). For an additional $5, you can get one/two pockets, or a Mandarin collar (as seen in the umbrella shirt). For an additional $10, you can make it long sleeved (though I honestly may not consider this as an option for now, just because the shirts I am pre-making for sale will all be short sleeved). I would like to eventually move the base price higher so that I can consistently afford higher quality fabric, but $40 seems reasonable to me for now.

Keep an eye out, hoping to have the Etsy live by the end of the month.