Embroidering for profit

[John A.]

Hi
My daughter has suggested that I embroider items to sell, I am not sure that there is a market here in UK and whether you can buy blanks at a reasonable price! Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks
Lynn in cold UK

[Hannelore N.]

It's copyright you have to think about very carefully, Lynn.

Theoretically, there must be a market because not everybody has a machine with embroidery module.

[Hannelore N.]

It depends on whether you are planning hand or machine embroidery.

Machine embroidery - badges/clothing for schools, local clubs (wood turners, Rotary etc look more at the male clubs the WI don't seem to do so and besides have their own in house expertise )

Be really careful about how much it will actually cost you to produce, in time, materials, electricity, set up costs AND a small percentage of profit to pay for replacement of machinery in the future. Don't forget you also have to SELL the items! that will take a heap of time as well.

I'm pretty sure that Sewing World ran an article about several different ladies who had set up their own embroidery businesses, but it woud have been several years ago - you might be able to contact them to find out which issue it was and buy a back copy.

If you are uncertain about going into this and your daughter is 'sure' it is a winner get her involved in working out the maths and time logistics and don't give up the day job too soon.

Good luck with your research and decision.

Rosemary

[Hannelore N.]

Thanks for the advice Lorchen and Rosemary, I think I will leave this one alone! Daughter does NOT sew, or do any craft, so she does not realise the time involved and how little you can charge for most things, as for the maths! well, she is smart except in one area, and guess which one? LOL

Lynn in still cold UK

[Debbie W.]

Thanks for the advice Lorchen and Rosemary, I think I will leave this one alone! Daughter does NOT sew, or do any craft, so she does not realise the time involved and how little you can charge for most things, as for the maths! well, she is smart except in one area, and guess which one? LOL

Lynn in still cold UK

Probably a very good idea, Lynn. The companies that make designs for embroidery machines, like OESD, do have strict copyright restrictions and you cannot stitch their designs for resale purposes. I have an embroidery machine and I thought about doing the same thing when I first got it, but that got nipped in the bud pretty quickly due to the copyright limitations.

Debbie

[Hannelore N.]

With the right software you can digitize your own artwork and embroider it. That would be a way around the copyright problem.

[Eileen K.]

It's funny I'm reading this today. I got a flyer from my LQS-they're offering a 2 day embroidery education workshop. The last segment of the first day is "How to make lots of money with embroidery". The instructor is from John Deer's Adorable Ideas. It's all fine and good to tell people that there might be a market for their skills but to tell them they can make "lots" of money-I don't agree with that. If there are 20 people in the class and they're mostly from the same geographic area, how many will make "lots" of money?