I was in a bit of a bind last week when I was asked to make a hoodie with very short notice. Luckily, I have bags upon bags of projects that have been cut but not sewn from the era when I did craft fairs and worked sweat-shop style to a schedule. It didn't save me heaps of time, but probably an hour of cutting and two hours of faffing about staring at fabric wondering what to make.
I've been wondering for a while if I should be branching into kits as well as patterns. Kits are a great introduction to a project, and remove some of the stress and cost of picking components yourself. For a hoodie, you might buy your pattern from me, your fabric from another place, your ribbing from another, your zipper from another... all that shipping adds up! The fabric, pattern and notions would be included, and obviously you can use the pattern again and again.
I have to admit, I don't have a lot of experience with sewing kits. I bought a few Clothkits a couple of years back but shamefully never made them up; I just really liked the fabric. Because their pattern pieces are actually printed on the fabric itself, I think it's slightly limiting if your child has a figure quirk like long arms or big bum. So I think I'd definitely be providing the fabric required as an even piece, but not pre-marked or cut.
What say you, hive mind... Do you like kits? Would you be interested in them as an introduction to a pattern? What things appeal or put you off?
Appeals vastly to me, living overseas for the military in Germany is VERY hard to locate all the odds and ends to pull just one project together....or beg relatives back in the states to buy it for you....and if they're like my mom they totally eff it up and get something horrific. I'm a GO! :)
ReplyDeleteYar! You know my thinking on this anyway - they're the future.
ReplyDeleteit great idea. alot less faffing around if you only sew occassionally
ReplyDeleteI like the idea. I could see myself buying kits, particularly if you offered just a smidge of variety. For example, a choice of two or three ribbing colors in a hoodie kit (meaning, choice at purchase time. Not three kinds of ribbing shipped).
ReplyDeleteThe biggest cost problem I have with sewing for Rylee is getting those coordinating fabrics in small quantities. I'm either stuck with what I can find locally or I have to buy a yard (or more) from some of the cute online places. If you have a lot of good stock already (hello?) and/or start to sell kits you could offer good, coordinating colors for notions, trims and the parts of fabric where you need just only 1/4-1/2 yard or less.
Yes- as a novice sewer, it does appeal. I like the idea of Clothkits but suspect I wouldn't be learning much about measurements or cutting. It'd be nice to perhaps have a choice of fabrics, too, so that you didn't feel like everyone else might have just the same garment (probably less of an issue for you than Clothkits, though, on reflection).
ReplyDeleteoh yes very appealing to me...like you say so many different places online to have to buy from (plus not knowing what is good quality as a novice) - having that hard work done for me would be great! a no brainer IMO, x
ReplyDeleteI would love to buy a kit from you since you have great taste in fabric and I can never find stuff that cute around here. My one concern is that I live in the states so would the shipping cost be prohibitive?
ReplyDeleteI love this idea and would definitely be interested if you put together some kits.
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