How I Made it and Sold It, With No Time to Waste

Many years ago, I found myself living in Oklahoma during it's most economically depressed years.

Needing to bring in some extra income, I naturally looked to my own creative talents. I went shopping. I was unfamiliar with the local flavors, having come from New Mexico, and needed to first acquaint myself with "what the market wanted" and "what the market will bare".

I was pretty much aghast at the "Piggy's" and "Cow's" and all the country folk flavors of the local crafts, but this was a necessity and I forced myself to understand.

I took note, that every shop seemed to carry at least a few, decorative pillows. I also took note that the acceptable colors were peach, pink, mauve and country blue. I adjusted my entire outlook on local arts.

I immediately began creating very "Victorian" decorative pillows, all within the acceptable color ranges and sold them each for $5 to a local shop. At the least, I was making a profit of $3 on each one.

I soon learned that the quickest and most acceptable way to introduce an item was to simply carry it into the shop and let it sell itself.

Facing rent and needing to do better on the income, I turned my attention to the furniture stores. What I saw missing, was one of the most popular subjects at the time: pieced quilts.

I began calling around to all the furniture stores, within driving distance and asked them about quilts. When I discovered interest, I made an appointment to show.

Then I took all the money I had, went to a small town dime store, where I had seen the right fabrics for a low price. I purchased the needed materials and went home to get to work.

I happened to have a Log Cabin quilt pattern. Although I'd never tried it, I knew I could follow the directions and that it would be the fastest route for completing a quilt. I stayed with a generic 'queen size'.

I spent one day cutting out the pieces for 3 quilts, then the next 3 days piecing together. I sat at that sewing machine, 12 hours a day and pushed. I barely finished the last one, the very morning before my first appointment.

The quilts were a success and I sold every one of them, that same day. They sold for $130 each, which covered my costs and labor plus a little for profit.

Being in a strange area with a whole other market, from what I was used to, this was my approach. I farmed out the market first, to see what would sell. Then I set about producing only those items, I was willing to gamble on. I had no time to build a market, it had to be already built.

by Judy Sims

Judy is an artist, ceramist and product designer http://judysbookshop.com