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selling

7 Profitable Weaving Projects to Sell (Make Money Weaving!)

by Kelly Leave a Comment

Weaving is a rewarding craft, but did you know you can also turn it into a profitable business? Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced weaver, there’s a strong market for handwoven textiles, from scarves to home décor.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through seven profitable weaving projects that sell well online, at craft fairs, and in local shops. Plus, I’ll share tips on pricing, marketing, and where to sell your handmade woven goods.

If you’re looking for weaving projects that make money, you’re in the right place!

1. Handwoven Scarves (A Timeless Bestseller!

Why It Sells:

Handwoven scarves are a staple in the handmade market. They are stylish, functional, and appeal to a wide audience, making them one of the best weaving projects to sell.

Best Materials:

  • Cotton or bamboo for lightweight, breathable scarves.
  • Merino wool or alpaca for cozy, winter-friendly options.
  • Hand-dyed or variegated yarns add a unique touch.
  • Tencel, bamboo, cashmere and silk for luxury scarves.

Pricing Tip:

Handwoven scarves can range anywhere from $50–$500 online, depending on fiber quality and weave complexity.

Marketing Idea:

Create seasonal collections—lightweight scarves for spring/summer and wool blends for fall/winter.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, Instagram, local craft fairs, fiber festivals.

2. Woven Wall Hangings (Trendy & High-Value)

Why It Sells:

The demand for woven wall art has skyrocketed, especially with the popularity of boho home décor. These pieces allow weavers to express creativity while attracting home décor enthusiasts who are looking to invest in some textile art.

Best Styles to Sell:

  • Minimalist & neutral tones for a modern aesthetic.
  • Bold, textured pieces featuring fringe and mixed fibers.
  • Custom commissions for personalized home décor.

Pricing Tip:

Pricing varies based on size, but small pieces can start at $50, while larger custom wall hangings sell for $200+.

Marketing Idea:

Use Instagram Reels and Pinterest to show your weaving process—people love seeing handmade items in progress!

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, Instagram, interior design boutiques, online art markets.

3. Mug Rugs & Coasters (Small but Mighty!)

Why It Sells:

Mug rugs and woven coasters are perfect for customers looking for affordable, handmade gifts. They’re small, quick to make, and easy to ship, making them an excellent low-cost weaving project to sell.

Best Fibers:

  • Cotton for durability and easy washing.
  • Linen for a high-end, natural look.

Pricing Tip:

Sell single mug rugs for $10 – $15 or in sets of four for $40 – $50.

Marketing Idea:

Bundle your coasters with matching table runners or coffee gift sets for upselling.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, gift shops, craft fairs, farmers’ markets.

4. Woven Tote Bags (Sustainable & Stylish)

Why It Sells:

Handwoven tote bags attract eco-conscious shoppers who love reusable, stylish bags. They are perfect for daily use, shopping, or even as beach bags.

Best Materials:

  • Thick cotton or hemp for durability.
  • Upcycled fabric strips for a unique, sustainable touch.
  • Wool (felted or unfelted)

Pricing Tip:

Handwoven totes sell for $40–$120, depending on size and materials.

Marketing Idea:

Offer custom colors or styles to make your totes stand out.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, local boutiques, zero-waste stores, farmers’ markets.

5. Table Runners & Placemats (Handwoven Home Décor)

Why It Sells:

Handwoven table runners and placemats elevate any dining space, making them popular as wedding gifts or holiday décor.

Best Fibers:

  • Linen or cottolin for a classic, high-end look.
  • Cotton blends for durability.

Pricing Tip:

Placemats sell well in sets ($50–$100), while table runners range from $60–$200.

Marketing Idea:

Create seasonal collections (holiday, spring, rustic farmhouse) for repeat customers.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, home décor stores, artisan markets.

6. Baby Blankets & Heirloom Textiles (Cherished Keepsakes)

Why It Sells:

Parents love one-of-a-kind, handwoven baby blankets as sentimental gifts. Family heirlooms are also popular. Many families have either full or fragments of hand woven coverlet and blankets from the past to pass down through the generations!

Best Fibers:

  • Organic cotton for breathability (very important for babies!)
  • Soft wool or bamboo for warmth.
  • A combination of cotton and wool, as you will often find in traditional overshot coverlets and blankets.

Pricing Tip:

Handwoven baby blankets range from $80 up to $300, depending on size and material.

Marketing Idea:

Offer personalized details for a higher price point.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Etsy, baby boutiques, craft fairs.

7. Woven Keychains & Accessories (Perfect for Craft Fairs!)

Why It Sells:

Small, affordable, and easy to make in batches, woven keychains and mini accessories like small purses are great impulse buys.

Best Materials:

  • Cotton, cottolin, tencel, bamboo for durability.
  • Hand-dyed fibers for a unique touch.

Pricing Tip:

Handwoven keychains sell for $8–$20, making them great for bulk sales.

Marketing Idea:

Sell keychains as part of a bundle with other woven goods to increase order value.

👉 Where to Sell: Shopify, Craft fairs, Etsy, Instagram, gift shops.

How to Sell Your Woven Creations Successfully

  • Know Your Costs:
  • Factor in materials, time, and overhead. This is so important – you have to know that you’re actually able to make money to have a viable business.
  • Know What The People Want:
  • Sounds pretty common sense, right? Give potential customers what they’re looking for and you will make sales. We all love to make what we make, but is it going to sell?
  • Sell in the Right Places: Shopify, Etsy, craft fairs, social media shops, or local boutiques. Don’t forget word of mouth and starting out by selling to family and friends too, this teaches valuable lessons!
  • Use Social Media: Share your weaving process on Pinterest and Instagram to attract buyers.

Start Selling Your Weaving Projects Today!

If you’ve been wondering how to make money weaving, these seven projects are a great starting point! Experiment with styles, market your pieces well, and most importantly—enjoy the creative journey!

If now is the right time for you to get started selling your weaving, I have resources to help!

Selling Your Weaving

Selling Your Weaving (member’s only online class)

Which Platform is the Best for Online Selling?

Handmade Business Beginner Essentials

3 Ways to Start Selling Online for Free!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

👇 Save this on Pinterest! 📌

Filed Under: Selling, Weaving Tagged With: handwoven business, make money weaving, selling

Should I start with Etsy or Shopify?

by Kelly 4 Comments

Opening your first online shop is such an exciting experience!

When I first started out as an Etsy seller in 2008 there were really only a couple of options for handmade sellers. Etsy is the one that has stood the test of time, but in 2024 you have a lot of choices when it comes to selling online and it may be difficult to choose one that best suits you, your products and your budget.

I sold my handmade goods on Etsy for many years and in the past 5 years I have moved almost exclusively into selling digital products. For me, digital products looks like hand weaving PDF patterns and ebooks.

This year, for a variety of reasons, I decided to open a Shopify store. This store contains the same patterns and ebooks as my Etsy store and the customer experience is quite similar. For now, I am keeping both stores open, and I will explain why as you read on.

Etsy has changed considerably since I opened my first shop there 16 years ago. Many of the changes (in my opinion) have not been for the better and that is why I have started my own store, on my own terms elsewhere.

I still do recommend Etsy for absolute beginners though, and we will have a look at the reasons why.

I’m going to take you through what I consider the pros and cons of Etsy and Shopify as well as how much my monthly fees cost.

Etsy Pros:

It is still a great option for absolute beginners. It’s easy to make an account and start listing products. All payments are processed for you and the templates are simple. Basically, you don’t need a lot of tech knowledge to get started.

One of the main attractions of Etsy for newbie sellers is the tiny financial outlay. The only initial cost you will pay is 20 cents to list an item. 

If you don’t make any sales for the month all you will be asked to pay is the 20 cent listing fee, so this is great for beginners as there is very little risk.

The other huge benefit to having a shop on Etsy is that it is a marketplace. This is great for those who are just starting out and may not have a customer base already.

Etsy Cons

Once you make a sale you must pay fees. Any you may be unpleasantly surprised by how much those fees add up to!

Yes, you start out with your very low 20 cent listing fee, but once a sale is made there is a transaction fee of 6.5% (this is even charged on your shipping amount) followed by payment processing fees. The payment processing fees will vary according to your physical location.

I mentioned in the “Pros” section that Etsy is a marketplace, and that can really help to build a customer base. Conversely, that marketplace can work against you because you have so very many competitors and it can be hard to be seen and found by new customers. There are many things you can do to optimise your listings but if you want to increase your reach Etsy will expect you to pay more for that in the form of offsite (which you can’t opt out of!) and onsite ads.

Now, another way in which a marketplace on Etsy can be a disadvantage is that when someone clicks on your listing to take a closer look, Etsy shows additional listings below your listing from other sellers. Effectively, they are using your page space to advertise other sellers!

Here is a screenshot example: I clicked on a knitted rabbit pattern listing from the wonderful Little Cotton Rabbits. When I scrolled down the listing page a little, Etsy had lists and pictures of similar items from other sellers and then underneath that there are more listings from other sellers under “You may also like”.

Underneath that, there are even more collections of other products to browse and related searches to explore.

OK, I get it, Etsy is a business, they exist to make money and they don’t care if they make a percentage of your sale or from another seller. But it certainly doesn’t help me, the seller, if my page advertises other sellers and I am not compensated for that.

On Etsy, you can’t collect emails in an automated fashion to be able to build and contact your customer base. This means that If anything happens to your Etsy shop you can’t get in touch with existing customers and you also can’t use Etsy to build a mailing list (an essential part of any business startup).

You also don’t own your shop and can be removed from Etsy at any time without warning. This has happened to many sellers who inadvertently or mistakenly breached copyright and had their shops removed. It can be a laborious and time consuming process to get a shop back and results in lost revenue while you’re trying to sort out the issues with Etsy customer service (which can be frustrating, to say the least).

I understand why Etsy does deactivate or remove shops, as copyright can be a huge issue in the selling field, but they seem to throw everyone into the same pool without carefully looking at individual circumstances. An example of this would be if a seller had made a short product video for one of their listings, and in the listing the seller is wearing a branded t-shirt. This can be seen as an instant copyright breach and the seller can be penalised, meanwhile the seller is wondering what on earth happened, as they were just wearing what they were wearing that day when they filmed the video!

A beef that I personally have with Etsy is that it is unrecognisable from back when I started, when it was a truly handmade marketplace. It felt niche and special in those days. Now they allow “vintage”, “supplies” and even print on demand. It feels more like a commercial shopping centre.

Shopify Pros

Shopify has a professional, clean and customisable look. Even if you don’t customise anything it still looks great and is easy to navigate.

It’s easy to setup and use and payments and ordering are simple processes

One of the best and most important part is that your own shop on the internet, you own it and can collect emails of your customers. You set your own parameters and no one can take the shop from you.

You can have a domain name of your own choosing for your shop, so it’s easy for customers to find.

Shopify Cons

You need to have a way to get eyes on your shop, Shopify is not a marketplace. If you already have an audience (especially in the form of a mailing list) it won’t be hard to share your shop link. But if you’re starting from scratch it’s going to be much harder for potential customers to find your shop.

The monthly fee that Shopify charges as hosting fees is charged whether you make sales or not. This can be a big disadvantage to a newer seller unless you get a lot of sales right away.

In addition to the monthly hosting fees, there are other fees that you will likely have to pay for customisation. This is not something that I realised when I first signed up for Shopify – I assumed that everything would be covered by the monthly fee. I use some apps for things like displaying customer feedback and social media icons.

Speaking of fees, I’m going to share some of my financials for both Etsy and Shopify to give you an idea of what to expect. Please note that my sales for both can vary immensely from month to month, this is particularly relevant to the Etsy figures considering they take a percentage of earnings.

FEES – Please bear in mind that these are my figures. Yours may look quite different.

Etsy per month -For me, the monthly fees range from $50 – $1600 (yes, really!!)

Shopify per month – $42 per month plus apps of around $20 = total of $60 a month

When you compare these figures you can probably see why I started the Shopify store. Overall, for me as an established seller with a very healthy customer base (over 12,000 sales on Etsy at the time of this article) Shopify fees work out at a much more affordable rate and are not dependent on my total sales for the month.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SHOPIFY-

I wanted to share my thoughts as a newer user of Shopify. My sales in my Shopify store have been slower than I had hoped, but that is business in general in the present climate. I’m seeing slow sales in the Online Weaving School, my Etsy store and my affiliate links. There is a lot of economic uncertainty and inflation remains high, this is all having an impact on my business.

Also, having been on Etsy for 16 years, customers are comfortable with seeing and buying from me there. They are familiar with the process and they know where to find me. Not everyone likes change and I completely understand that.

Hopefully people will start to use my Shopify store more as time goes on as I would prefer to continue moving away from Etsy.

If you are interested in starting your own Shopify store, be sure to use my link to sign up! You can get your first month for just $1 when you sign up for a free trial, which is a great way to try out Shopify and see what you think.

Or if you are wondering about different avenues you can take for getting started selling your handmade products, check out there articles:

3 ways to start selling online for free!…

Do you want to start selling your weaving?…

3 Etsy essentials…

My 11 income streams…

What I would do differently if I started selling now…

I hope you found this article helpful in making a decision for yourself and your own needs as a seller or potential seller.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Filed Under: Handmade business, Selling, Weaving Tagged With: selling, selling handmade, selling on etsy, selling on shopify

3 Etsy Essentials

by Kelly Leave a Comment

There can be a lot to learn when you make the decision to open an Etsy shop to sell your handmade products. However, rather than trying to learn “all the things” I always recommend to new sellers that they narrow it down to the most important things.

There are the obvious must haves like ensuring you are selling a quality product at a price that is fair to both you and the buyer, having policies in place and shipping on time.

In my experience as a handmade Etsy seller over the past 15 years and after almost 10,000 sales, I think there are 3 essentials that will best set you up for success on Etsy.

Before I talk about my recommended essentials, I’d like to point out why I think Etsy is a great place for beginner (and veteran) sellers.

Etsy has been around for a long time now and unlike some online platforms, you won’t have to jump through hoops to set up an account, list some items and start getting sales. The process is very simple and doesn’t require special technical knowledge.

Etsy takes care of all the payment processing for you and although they do take a percentage of each sale as commission, it takes that additional stress off you when you’re starting out.

Etsy is a marketplace, meaning shoppers can search for what they are wanting to buy. It’s a great way to get found and start building a customer base.

According to Capital One’s Research Report, there are over 100 million people worldwide using Etsy to buy and sell. They say that there are 277 million visits by shoppers every month to the platform. That is a lot of potential eyeballs on your products!

Now let’s have a look at my 3 Etsy essentials!

  1. Photos

This is an absolute non negotiable for Etsy success. The only real downside to selling online is that the buyer does not have the ability to see and touch your handmade item in person. Your goal should be to bring that in person experience to them as much as possible. Excellent photos are a must.

You can present your handmade items best by ensuring your photographs are well lit (natural light is best when possible), clear (nothing will turn off a buyer like a blurry photo will!) and appropriate composition.

If you don’t have any experience with photography, don’t worry! Almost any smartphone these days will take very nice photos and they are basically point and shoot.

If you are brand new to photography or feel that you can make some improvements, I have an excellent free resource for you:

Photography for Weavers…

2. Customer Service

When selling online, customer service begins when you list your item, ensuring you have great photos and descriptions so that the buyer can make a well informed decision. For some transactions, that is as far as the customer service needs to go.

But quite often you will need to have some form of contact with the buyer. On Etsy, this happens through direct messaging. It’s a great opportunity to answer buyer questions and to assure them of their purchase.

This is your time to shine as a seller. Your job is to make the sale as easy and positive for the buyer as you possibly can. A happy sale means a happy buyer and this is crucial to a successful business. Why?

Well, firstly, a happy customer will tell others about you. Never underestimate the value of word of mouth advertising (and it’s free for you as the seller!) Secondly, a happy customer will leave you a positive review which will tell other potential buyers that your business can be trusted. And thirdly, a happy buyer will likely become a repeat and loyal customer. Win, win, win!

One simple move that you can make towards providing great customer service on Etsy is to check your messages regularly and respond to them promptly. A 24 hour time frame is good, but if you can reply sooner than that, even better. Buyers love a fast response – remember, they are waiting to make a decision on whether to buy or not, so that is time sensitive.

When you do respond to messages, make sure your reply is friendly and polite. Check your grammar and spelling. If the buyer has a problem, offer a resolution. It’s not always easy to convey meaning within the confines of text, so read over any of your messages before sending to make sure they are coherent and professional.

3. Description

Your description section can be so much more than simply describing the item you are selling. I think of it as one of the little pieces of real estate available in my Etsy shop. I use it to let shoppers know more about the item they are interested in, but I also use it to let shoppers get to know me a little more by the tone I use. It’s also the perfect space to tell a story about the item – the way it was made, what it means to you, how it will enrich the life of the buyer.

Here is an example of one of my actual listings for a PDF download pattern in my shop. The listing text is in italics and my commentary is in bold.

Description

Please note – this is a PDF pattern, not a finished item. (Telling the buyer exactly what they’re purchasing).

This project is designed for those who are familiar with the basics of rigid heddle weaving.  (Is this skill level appropriate to the buyer?)

This wrap is inspired by and dedicated to Cheryl. Cheryl was a student of the Online Weaving School and a valued member of the private member’s group.

Sadly, Cheryl lost her battle with cancer in October 2021. 

Weaving brought great joy to her life during her illness and I know she would have loved this wrap. (Telling the story of how the pattern came about and why).

When you complete this project, you can choose from either a long version (pictured) for luxurious multiple wrapping, or a shorter, more scarf like version. (Giving the buyer choices or variations).

You will need:

Rigid heddle loom with a width 16 inches or wider

1x 10 dent heddle

A stick shuttle longer than the width of the project or a boat shuttle

A warping board or frame for hybrid warping (if you are weaving the longer version).

A reed and threading hook

Tapestry needle

A fringe twister is very handy

Full yarn and materials list is given when you purchase the pattern. (Telling the buyer what they need for the project, so there are no surprises).

The printable PDF file is 30 pages long and includes instructions, lots of colour photos and video tutorial links to ensure your success. (Instilling confidence in the buyer that they can complete the project).

This PDF is not just a pattern, it’s a lesson!

In the additional resource pages, you will learn all about colcolastic yarn and the hybrid warping method. 

Any questions? Simply message me and I’ll get back to you ASAP. (Ensuring support to the buyer).

What happens when you purchase a digital file? (Further information for a smooth transaction).

Following checkout you will receive an email from Etsy with a download link. If you don’t see the email in a timely matter, please check your spam/junk email folder.

If for any reason you are not able to access your file in this way, you can find it by logging into your Etsy account, clicking on your profile picture in the top right hand corner of your page, then choosing “Purchases and Reviews” from the drop down menu.

If you need further help, please feel free to message me 😊

I finish this listing my linking to my other available scarf patterns in my shop, using that available real estate to advertise my other products that could be of interest to the buyer.

If you are interested in selling your handmade pieces, I have a number of resources that you will find most helpful:

3 ways to start selling online for free…

Do you want to start selling your weaving?..

10 things I’ve learned about Etsy in 10 years…

I hope you found this post interesting and useful, feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions down below!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

*This post may contain affiliate links. For further information, please see my disclosure policy.

Filed Under: Business, Etsy, Selling, Weaving Tagged With: Etsy, handmade business, selling, selling on etsy

Do you want to start selling your weaving?

by Kelly 14 Comments

There are numerous reasons why a weaver may decide it is the right time to begin selling their work. These are some of the most common reasons:

  • An ambition to make a living doing what you love

  • You have more woven items than you know what to do with (I think we can all relate to this one!)

  • You would like some spare money to buy more yarn or weaving supplies
  • Although there is a lot to learn when it comes to beginning to sell your work and it can feel intimidating, you can start out very small and learn as you go along. Don’t feel as though you need to know “all the things” before you start selling.

I’m going to talk about a few key points to think about when you start selling. It’s not an exhaustive list, but more of a guide to get you thinking in the right direction.

Key Points to begin selling:

The Why?

Have a serious think about your personal reasons for wanting to sell your hand wovens. This will help to determine the kind of approach you might want to take when starting up.

For example, if you are a hobby weaver and wish to make a little money on the side to fund your hobby, your approach will be quite different to a weaver who wants to work towards making a full time income from selling.

Deciding on what level of selling you want to get into will help to determine all of the next steps.

Space

Many weavers will begin by weaving items in their own homes and then selling them. Consider whether you have the right space and enough space to house your woven pieces ready to sell. Do you have a good work flow, or is your space a total mess? Do you need to rejig your space to make it more viable, or find a different space within your home that is more conducive to weaving for a business?

The weaver who is more serious about selling may have to consider other avenues for making a space just for weaving. When I was selling physical handmade items, I did have a space within our home, but it was a shared family space. This became increasingly difficult over time, as my tools and items made their way into other parts of the home, and other items of the home made their way into my space. It was a great way to start out, but not all that viable over time.

If you don’t have a dedicated space for your weaving, you may also find the constant set up and storing away of tools and materials difficult.

Time

Are you in a position to devote the time to selling? Being realistic about the time you need to put into selling is important. It’s not just the weaving of items to sell, but possible liasing with customers, wrapping and packing, set up and pack up for markets, business recording requirements.

Sustainability

Is a weaving business going to be a positive thing for you? Are you prepared for the bookkeeping, packing and shipping, photography, travel and all the possible necessities revolving around being a business owner? I don’t detail any of these points in order to put you off, but I think it’s fair to say that many people have no idea what goes into a business behind the scenes – this has certainly been an eye opener for me over the years!

As I pointed out earlier, all of these things can be learned, but some weavers, after consideration, may well decide that they would be more content keeping their weaving as a hobby.

Will it pay?

This is very relevant to sustainability, but also deserves it’s own section because it’s a major consideration when selling your work.

I have experienced first hand how difficult it can to have to let go of a business idea because it is not financially viable. Many years ago, when my children were small, I handcrafted Waldorf style dolls for sale. I started out making dolls for my children, but really loved the creative process and so began selling them also.

These dolls were a really big time investment, you can’t hurry the process of first making the doll, embroidering the face, sewing on (and sometimes knitting the wig first to sew on!) the hair, then completing further details like sewing a full outfit. I chose to use beautiful, natural materials like the best quality cotton tricot for the skin, mohair for the wigs, gorgeously carded wool for the stuffing and European fabrics for the clothes.

It was after a my first negative experience with a customer who felt the customer doll I made for her did not look enough like her daughter (!!!) that I started to ponder how much time I was spending making a doll and what I was actually getting paid for all that work.

I used a calculation formula and was absolutely dumbfounded with results. I was making negative $1AUD per hour! That is correct, it was actually costing me $1 per hour to run that business.

I was a little bit heartbroken, but I stopped offering my dolls for sale.

The point is, I never did my research in the first place to determine if it was a viable business venture, and so I learned the hard way.

Here is a basic formula to get you started:

Supplies cost + labour (your time) + 10% (other costs eg. fees, packaging, insurance)

Here is a practical example for how you might use this formula for a weaving business (these calculations make the assumption that you already have a loom and all the tools you need to actually weave the project, and also that the customer is paying for shipping, if applicable –

The item – A bamboo scarf

Materials cost –

  • Warp – 2 cones Bambu 7 @ $18AUD each = $36
  • Weft – 1.5 cones Bambu 7 @ $18AUD each = $27

Total materials cost = $63 AUD

Labour cost-

This is how much you wished to be paid per hour. This is a very personal decision, but for the sake of this exercise, I will put my desired hourly rate at $20AUD.

Now is the tricky part – how much time does it take to weave a scarf? In this example, I’m using a floor loom, which takes a good while to set up! I also have to allow for weaving time, things like hemstitching, wet finishing, packing time and even liasing with the customer if that applies. I’m going to estimate 5 hours for this, though that is probably too low. I never time a project, so it’s just an estimation.

5 hours of labour at $20 per hour = $100AUD.

So far we have total materials cost of $63 + labour of $100 = $163

Now we take that figure and add an extra 10% to allow for other, often hidden or forgotten costs.

So, $163 + $16.30 = $179.30

If you would like a quick and easy way to know your costs, check out my free interactive Weaving Cost Estimator.

Here I’m going to insert my personal opinion again 😊 You can take it or leave it, I’m just sharing thoughts. Pricing is a delicate and sensitive issue, it’s essential that you do what works for YOU. I’ll make a couple of points to ponder over:

  • It’s very important to not “cheapen the weaving industry” by charging too little. People complain that non weavers don’t understand the time and skill that goes into a woven item. Well, the best way to change that perception is by charging appropriately for your work.
  • When you are starting out selling, it is likely your work will not be as good as someone who has been weaving professionally for some time. That is OK, there is absolutely nothing wrong with selling pieces that are “not perfect” but be realistic in your pricing. I’m not talking about being cheap. But you may expect to price your work lower than someone who is known as a professional weaver, has an excellent reputation and consistently delivers high quality. You can adjust your pricing over time, as your work improves and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has to start somewhere!
  • Your time is valuable. If you are weaving as a business, make sure your hourly rate (labour) is an amount that is sustainable for you and that you feel good about. Again, this can always be adjusted over time, but trust me, you are not going to feel motivated to weave beautiful things for customers if your hourly rate is below minimum wage or worse.

There are many more points to discuss when it comes to selling, some of which include:

  • Avenues for selling and finding the right avenue for you.
  • Legal and tax requirements.
  • Getting the word out.
  • Copyright issues.

If you would like to dive deeper into this subject, have a member’s only class – Selling Your Weaving class, which is a 40 minute discussion workshop to get you thinking about whether selling is right for you.

I also have a video that discusses many of the points listed here, plus more:

And if you are interested specifically in selling on Etsy, I have this Youtube video from the perspective of 10 years of selling there:

In addition to my Etsy shop I now have my own store Kelly Casanova Designs. I use Shopify to host this store and I think it’s a great option for weavers who want to sell and have an interested audience already.

You can get your first month for just $1 when you sign up to Shopify for a free trial.

If you are ready to start your own email list, I recommend using Convertkit. This is the company that I use for my mailing list and I think it’s awesome. Perhaps you want to see what my emails to my list actually look like? You can do that by signing up to my mailing list.

I hope this post was helpful to you! I would love to continue the discussion, so if you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the comments section down below.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Filed Under: Selling, Weaving Tagged With: business, selling

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