Opening an Etsy shop is one of those things I have noodled on and off for years and never made a decision about. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to sell and if I wanted to deal with running a shop. I ran a doll clothing and jewelry shop with Judy for a bit when we were really into ball-jointed-dolls, and I’m not sure I had a lot of fun doing it. After some thinking though, I realized that the problem with our previous shop was that I felt like I had to sell stuff so I spent a lot of time thinking about what would sell and making stuff that would cater to the market. And what people wanted to buy wasn’t necessarily stuff that I enjoyed making.
What I would much rather be doing is making stuff that I want to make and if it sells, that’s just an added bonus.
“It’s the making not the having.”
Pretty by Hand, a blog I just started following and love, posted that last week and it’s so true. I love making bags but I need more bags like I need a hole in my head. (Marcus has this patented “ANOTHER ONE”? look when I tell him I’m making another bag. LOL) So that’s what my Etsy shop will be: a place for me to offload items I don’t have room for… which is pretty much anything craftsy I make these days. I barely have room for my costumes as it is.
So, I present to you the Confused Kitty Shop! Complete with my one lone product! (Isn’t the banner adorable? Lorelai made it for me.)
And here are some photos of the bag I’ve been working on for the last 2 weeks that I listed for sale.
This was supposed to be a fun fast bag using up scraps from my teacup quilt, but it ended up taking me way longer than I originally thought. I was making up the pattern as I went and some things didn’t quite turn out how I expected. Like I wasn’t able to flat fell the seams like I originally planned because of how thick the quilting batting made the bag, so I ended up using binding to finish the seams inside. The quilting step always takes longer than I think it will, and then I ended up doing more hand sewing than I originally planned because I didn’t like how the plain handles looked so I added the diamond appliques.
I feel like hand sewing is one of my more serious weaknesses, but I’m working on it! I have a bunch of applique projects in my future so I’m about to get lots of practice.
