While She Naps

Baby Butterfly Toy Pattern and Some Analysis of the Best Sellers

I am over at SewMamaSew today with a pattern I designed for this Baby Butterfly.

This butterfly is made to be a stroller toy (or you could attach it to your diaper bag) to entertain your baby when your out and about. Long line at the coffee shop? Stuck in traffic? Give the butterfly a little shake and hear him rattle (there is a jingle bell sewn into a little muslin bag inside the stuffing so she makes a nice sound) and squeeze his wings to hear him crinkle (a piece of a pretzel bag is sewn inside her wings!).

A quick, easy project, this sweet butterfly comes together with just a few pretty scraps and some ribbon from your stash.  

=====

Releasing this free pattern has caused me to reflect a little on what I've learned from these first three months of selling digital sewing patterns.

I began selling downloadable sewing patterns in March, both in my pattern shop on Craftsy and my shop on Etsy. All of the patterns are $6.50 and allow you to sell the toys you make with credit to me as the designer. The patterns contain step-by-step photos, clear written instructions, and full-sized templates to easily download and print out again and again. The Craftsy patterns are an instant download and the Etsy patterns I email out within 24 hours, but usually very quickly. Patterns sell just about equally well on both platforms.

The whole experience of selling digital patterns has been fantastic. After writing two books I feel very comfortable writing pattern instructions at a professional level and I am confident that I know what steps benefit most from a photo illustration. And most importantly I enjoy every part of the process of creating new patterns.

The best part of selling digital downloads, though, has been the feedback from watching what sells best. Looking at the sales numbers on a per pattern basis is incredibly informative. The biggest takeaway has been that patterns for baby toys are very popular. It would have taken me a long time to figure this out on my own without hard data to back it up. I love to sew baby gifts and clearly I'm not alone in this.

I still think patterns bundled together in a book offer value in providing a body of work that builds on itself over the course of a longer text, but these unbundled patterns allow me to release new designs much more quickly and to get immediate feedback in terms of sales numbers which is incredibly valuable.

Of the nine patterns I've released, the top three sellers are:

The Lovey Dovey: Kitty, Bear, Bunny, and Puppy (on Etsy and Craftsy)

The Chick and Egg Reversible Toy (on Etsy and Craftsy)

The Baby Bear and Blankie Set (on Etsy and Craftsy)

A few months ago I talked about how I signed a licensing contract with Simplicity to design toys for their crafts division. A few weeks ago I gave the Design Director at Simplicity access to all nine patterns so that she could choose three for their spring 2013 catalogue. (One of the great thing about the licensing arrangement is that I can still sell the patterns individually online.) Without knowing anything about the sales numbers, she chose these same three patterns! Fascinating.

Clearly these toys have broad appeal and I can see why. They are clever, cute, and not too intimidating. If you sew one and bring it to a baby shower, people are going to be impressed and you're going to feel great that you gave a unique, handmade gift. I'm right there with you!

The struggle, of course, is to allow the numbers to inform what I design next without letting sales statistics choose my creative path. I have to love what I'm working on in order for the design work to be successful AND I want to produce patterns that will sell well. So now the challenge is to create new  patterns that fit both bills.

Baby Bear and Blankie Set: A New PDF Sewing Pattern

Imagine making a baby’s first favorite toy – a soft, huggable, handmade teddy bear. This bear has embroidered features and machine-sewn arms, legs, and ears. There are no small parts that might come off, even after years of snuggling and play. And make a cute matching blankie, too, perfect for the crib and complete with little ribbon loops to play with.

This quick and easy pattern will become a go-to staple of your sewing repertoire, as you turn a half yard of soft fleece and a fat quarter of quilting cotton or flannel into an adorable bear and blankie set that will delight baby and parents alike.

A quick and easy gift for that special person’s baby shower!

The Baby Bear and Blankie Set pattern is available in my Etsy shop and as an instant download in my Craftsy pattern shop.

Once you make one set you'll want to make more! Go for it! You can make Baby Bear and Blankie sets and sell them in your own shop or at craft fairs if you'd like. Everything is spelled out in the pattern listing. Happy sewing! 

Plush From a Child's Drawing: Stella's Snail

Stella came home from Kindergarten with this snail drawing a few months ago.

I think it was a pretty slapdash effort, actually, but to me this snail had such incredible personality. I squirreled the drawing away upstairs for a future plush project.

I mentioned to Stella this week that I was making a plush snail based on her drawing and she had not idea what I was talking about. So I would say that this softie captures a truly ephemeral moment of her childhood and that's just perfect to me!

Get a plush toy from your child's drawing right here.

 

A Collaboration

Grey whales by Kristy of Fog and Swell.

To me, one way to continue to push your creative boundaries is to reach out to other artists and collaborate.  For a long time I have admired Kristy's work on her beautiful blog, Fog and Swell. Kristy interprets her seaside surroundings by creating softies that are beautifully detailed with thread, visible stitches, and vibrant hand-dyed linen fabrics. Her sea urchins and whales are just amazing and whenever I see a new piece she's made I just look and look and keep on looking. 

Roosevelt Elk by Kristy of Fog and Swell.

A few months ago I emailed Kristy to ask if she'd like to embark on a collaborative project with me. I didn't yet know what it would be, but I knew that I wanted to work with her and create softies together. I was so pleased when she seemed excited about the idea, too, and we went back and forth figuring out exactly what we wanted it to become.

This is what Kristy sent me! These sweet starfish hang in my studio now.

We decided to pick two themes: ocean and forest. She would select some fabrics for us to use for the ocean and I would select some for the forest. I dyed brown wool with black dye to create a striated effect and sent her a piece of it, along with a piece of old white flour sack with gray type. She sent me beautiful linen in three shades of red. 

And here are our fabrics together, waiting to be transformed.

We will now both get to work. We will both use the forest fabrics to make a forest animal and the ocean fabrics to make an ocean animal. And we'll post about it periodically to update one another, and you, on our progress. My hope is that collaborating with an artist that I truly admire will push me to create something new, something I love, something that employs fabrics I might not normally choose. 

When our pieces are completed they will be for sale: two ocean creatures (one by me and one by Kristy), and two forest pieces (one by me and one by Kristy), tied together because they use the same fabrics and are being made at the same moment, but different in that Kristy lives far away from Boston (she is on the west coast of British Columbia) and we work in different styles.

I don't know how this project will take shape, but I know that it will be interesting and I know that I can't wait to see it all together. 

If you are smitten with a particular artist, maybe someone you've admired for years, why not reach out and collaborate with them? At the very least it will help to stretch your skills, form a new friendship, and build excitement for your craft together.

Kristy, thank you for working with me. Happy sewing!

Shark!: A PDF Sewing Pattern

This guy may look fearsome, but he's really a soft, huggable softie just perfect for all those little pirates in your life! He's got an open mouth full of felt teeth. In fact, his mouth is a soft pocket so you can reach your hand inside and the shark will gobble up your treasures!

My friend here thinks that's pretty cool. It was hard to wrestle Mr. Shark away from her after the photoshoot.

As you can see, this pattern creates a nice, big softie and it includes a few special techniques that might stretch your skills in a pretty cool way.

This pattern includes step-by-step photos, clear instructions, and full-sized templates to take you through from beginning to end.

You can find the shark pattern as an instant download in my Craftsy pattern shop.

 

 

Caterpillar and Butterfly: A Reversible Toy!

Once I started thinking about reversible toys I couldn't stop! The next most obvious transformation, after the chick and egg, was a caterpillar and butterfly. So here we go! I present you with this happy green caterpillar that you can turn inside out and it reverses to a butterfly!

Like the chick and egg, this toy is made from scraps of fleece and bits of felt. I came up with a nifty way to overlay sparkly organza on the wings to make my 8 year old squeal with delight. 

The pattern is underway. It's been amazing to see the success of the chick and egg pattern in my Craftsy pattern shop and my store on Etsy. I think reversible toys are very clever and I love that, "Oh wow!" moment the first time you turn one inside out the reveal the hidden creature inside. I hope you like them, too!

**The pattern is now up in my Craftsy pattern shop. Thank you!

 

Chick and Egg: A Reversible Toy!

I made my very first reversible toy! Making toys that you can turn inside out, that transform themselves, is something I'm really excited to explore. There are so many excellent possibilities. And I find them irresistible. You just have to turn it inside and out and start playing. The very best kind of toy!

Would you like to make one? I hope so! I'm working on the pattern now and I'll add it to my Craftsy pattern shop soon.

Octopus Softie Pattern

The idea of making an octopus crossed my mind on Saturday and I quickly became totally obsessed. Once I start down a softie-making road, there is no turning back! And so today I have a new pattern in my Craftsy pattern store!  A fleece octopus that is fun to sew and fun to hug!

I've heard from several people that the idea of stitching, turning, and stuffing eight long legs is really intimidating. In this pattern I show you a neat trick that makes it fast and easy! And you can sell the octopuses you make from this pattern! I hope you'll give it a go. You can purchase the pattern right here.

I couldn't help it, I had to dress this guy as a pirate!

Shark!

I'm working on some fleece sea creatures. This shark, with his big open mouth full of felt teeth, is the first one. Stella is in love with him. And I have to say softies sewn from fleece are so soft! I left this guy squishy so he is awfully huggable, despite his fierce appearance.

 

Rubber Duck Softie

I was giving Josephine a bath the other night and while we were playing with rubber duckies in the bubbles it occured to me that I should make a plush rubber duck. I did a quick search and it seems that there aren't very many plush rubber ducks around, but I think there should be! I decided to make one, and to write a pattern for it.

And while I was there, I had to make him a pirate eye patch and a bandana.

The accessory possibilities for rubber ducks are endless. A birthday hat? A bonnet of flower petals? Seriously this could be fun. I'm not sure yet where this pattern will end up. I'd like to put in in my shop on Etsy and make it an instant download (maybe on Craftsy, too? Are you on there yet?). I will make it so that you can sell the ducks you make. And there would be a sheet of patterns for various accessories, too. Yes?