Monday, September 1, 2008

To Sell or Not to Sell

People have been asking me if I sell or intend to sell the things I make. My answer has always been "yes, I do intend to" but not until I upgrade to a better sewing machine. I know that buying a new machine is not going to happen in the very near future so in the meantime, I am finding myself trying to learn and master whatever craft I am interested in at the moment. Sometimes I do feel though that I am wasting (or have in fact wasted) a lot of money, time and energy into all these and for what??? For instance, I have piles of handmade bags in my closet -- I don't use most of them and I certainly do not have the confidence to sell them or at least give them away for fear that they are not good enough.

To cut the long story short, I just realized I have got to do something or I may end up not having the opportunity to do this ever. That would be a great tragedy... I have got to take the risk NOW.

And so for the past few days, I have been drafting out simple softie patterns. I have made several bag tutorials before and have, in fact, received good reviews for them...
how hard can this one be? I figured, selling ePatterns would be a great start for me. My very first bear softie turned out like this and to be honest, I wasn't too happy about it...

(Click to view larger images)

The face looks rather scary, don't you think? Not really the cute type you would want to immediately hug...


I made a few changes to the face, gave it a heart-shaped tummy and the revised version turned out like this...


Better? I think so. So gentle and meek...


And here are the two together...


Can I please have some opinions/comments? Do you think this bear would even appeal to anyone? Would you personally purchase it?

6 comments:

  1. Hi, I really like the bears! Even the first one - the face doesn't seem scary to me, maybe it looks weird because the eyes are too far from each other? Maybe if you made the nose area smaller, you could kinda move the eyes towards the center and the face will look better? I like how the legs look, but I would make the crotch (where the legs meet) more round, and I would move tummy higher - I think it would look better than when it starts right in the crotch. Also maybe you should experiment with arms - maybe try thicker arms? Sorry for my crappy English, but I hope I helped :) Both bears look great and I am looking forward to see more of your patterns!

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  2. YES!!! Sell it.
    Of course, I like all of them. Are realy funny for kids.
    I realy love all your wrislets and bags, especialy yours messenguer bags.
    You can sell patterns and kits included pre-cut.
    Good luck with that.

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  3. I love your bags and of course your bears! I am sure you can sell your creations and your patterns (your tutorials are always easy to follow ;D )

    I like both bears, but maybe I would change the legs and the arms for "fatter" ones (sorry for my English). My grandmother says "Nobody wants to hug bones",so... fat is better :D

    Probably I am writing too much...but maybe you could try to design bags or bears or wallets or...with Philippine style so they would be more special.

    Love your blog!

    Alicia

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  4. The bears are cute and the bags are very professional looking, I think you should start selling them. I especially liked the camo one from a while back =)

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  5. I am a little late reading this post but I have to tell you anyway. If I did not sew I would be all over you to sell me one of those bears. They are adorable! But since I can sew I would definitly buy the pattern from you! So put them up for sale, PLEASE... Donna Rae (-:

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  6. I think they are very cute. I know my Mary-Grace would love it. She loves her babies!

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