Cross Stitch - Learn how to do it and how to make money doing it.

Cross Stitch Learn how to do it and how to make money doing it. Win a Coach bag Pagina 1 CONTENTS Introduction Chapter One The History of Embroidery Chapter Two What do you need to know before you start Chapter Three What can you make? Chapter Four Where to find inspiration Chapter Five Turning your skill into money Chapter Six Don’t stitch yourself up – think about how to start and manage your new business effectively Chapter Seven Conclusion Win a Coach bag Pagina 2 Introduction Cross stitch is a hobby with lots of advantages. It is an activity that can be done at home, at convenient times that fit in with your domestic timetable. Depending on the size of your piece of work, you can even do it en route to work on the train or bus, while at the hairdressers, or while sitting outside in the sunshine. It is something you can take on holiday with you, or do in front of the fire on those cold winter evenings. In fact, it is something you can do almost anywhere and at any time. It is also an opportunity to learn an ancient craft, and gain an insight into the old civilizations that first developed the skills, not to mention their religious history that it often depicts. Handcrafts like cross stitch are world wide, and often involve skills passed down from generation to generation. Hobbies are considered to be healthy. Hobbies provide an interest, stimulation, an opportunity to learn something new, a means of self expression, and in the case of cross stitch, an activity that can produce a wide range of delightful, artistic, unique and useful things. Done well, cross stitch can look as good as silk screen printing or a painting, and it is not the most difficult of handicrafts, although it does require a neat working method. Win a Coach bag Pagina 3 Cross stitch provides both mental and physical exercise – but thankfully it’s not too energetic. It doesn’t require that you buy expensive sports clothes, or spend hours in the rain, or even that you travel to a gym or playing field. Wow, let us just count our blessings that there are hobbies that are so nice! Another usually others. real benefit of hobbies is that involve a sharing of interest they with You probably won't find a cross stitching circle that sits together, sipping earl grey tea and munching on home made biscuits, there are other options. For example, you could join any number of internet groups that offer a massive amount of information, tips and patterns. You can also find useful forums where members discuss their work and develop a sense of camaraderie, whilst not leaving their sitting rooms. The internet is also an excellent source of information on exhibitions, craft fairs, suppliers of materials and patterns, and also how to develop your skill effectively. Internet forums for craft interests have transformed the craft and put people in touch world wide to promote this traditional activity. It has also helped to advance the range of uses and designs. Cross stitch is a very old style of embroidery, and has an interesting history. One can imagine the lady wearing a wimple in a draughty tower of a medieval castle, stitching away at a heraldic standard for her knight in shining armor. These days we are able to use a wider range of fabrics, silks, yarns, cottons and ribbons. We can also access lots of pre printed Win a Coach bag Pagina 4 backgrounds, some with counted stitches, and some without. We can use modern technology to print patterns on a whole range of fabrics, including the copying of photographs, which can then be worked with cross stitch. There is already a substantial business in the marketing of kits for beginners. They come complete with step by step diagrams, fabric with color coding, printed crosses marked, and the right amount of wool, yarn or silk to enable you to complete the design. Depending on the size and the design, the kits might provide a frame to hold the fabric. However, when you get used to making larger pieces of work, you will probably want to invest in a good quality frame that will hold the area of fabric you are working on. Larger embroidery designs might require a large stand alone frame. The old tower with howling draughts might sound romantic, but it’s best of course to find somewhere draught free. You’ll also want lots of natural light and a comfortable temperature. It’s important when starting any new skill to be mindful of your posture and position. The last thing you want is something new and interesting to lead to back strain or discomfort of any sort. Of course most importantly with close work of any kind, good task lighting is essential so that you avoid eye strain. Most of us won’t be using cross stitch to help create heraldic standards for our knights in armor. Pagina 5 Win a Coach bag Most of us would probably start by doing a small ‘sampler’, which traditionally young girls did to show they knew the various embroidery stitches. It might also be good to attempt a small picture to frame, or perhaps a cushion cover with a simple cross stitch design to complement a mix of colour or fabric. However cross stitching is not only for the fairer sex. There are some famous men who have developed top class businesses in the design and production of cross stitch work. Historically, of course, it would have been men in religious communities who created many of the ancient pieces of work to decorate their surroundings and their religious leaders. Once you get used to cross stitch, which is really a straight forward embroidery style, you can then learn other stitches, and combine these with clever use of fabric types and colours to create really beautiful work. It does require neat and careful stitching, regardless of whether you are using very tiny stitches or larger ones, but once you’ve gotten the hang of it, it gets much easier. And if you have an eye for design, you can move from the pre-printed kits or fabrics to individual designs of your own, which can be transferred or copied onto almost any fabric of your choice. Most cross stitchers create their beautiful work purely from the one stitch, and are very proud of being part of the traditional cross stitch craft world. It is easy now to find the materials for craft work. Most large department stores sections selling virtually everything you for embroidery. It’s generally best to start Win a Coach bag most have need with Pagina 6 kits for beginners and move on to more complex ones when you are ready to take on bigger more complicated pieces of work. The internet is a fantastic source for patterns, many of which can be downloaded free. Styles and prices vary enormously, so you should expect to spend quite a lot of time looking at the options. If you want to make a wall hanging for instance, you would want to find a design and colour palette that would complement the room where the wall hanging is to be placed. If you want to make a decorative pattern for an article of clothing, you will also need to think about how the texture and colour will work with the item you intend to use. And of course, there are patterns galore that date back years, and are printed on transfer paper. How nice to spend an afternoon looking through your grandmother’s embroidery files, and perhaps recognizing a pattern on a cushion you used as a child. As with any hobby, particularly one that can be enjoyed at home, it is also worth considering whether it is possible to turn something you enjoy into a business. Like all good ideas, its best to walk before you run. Only when you feel you are mastering the cross stitch, and have found the best way to incorporate it into other craft medium with which you are already familiar, should you be setting out to turn it into a business. If you want to make money from this hobby, you will have to decide whether you think it is feasible to turn it into a business, or whether Win a Coach bag Pagina 7 you would like just to make enough money to cover the costs of your materials. That way, your hobby pays for itself. Kits are available very inexpensively for small ones, and the larger ones are obviously more expensive as they include more fabric, more floss and more complex instructions and directions. So you could be spending from a little or a lot each month, depending on the time you spend on your cross stitch. Once you start, and speed up, you will no doubt be doing commissions for your family and friends. You may also find yourself making presents for Christmas and birthdays, new babies, new homes and all sorts of events in your local community. You could find that this is becoming an expensive hobby. You should consider thinking about how to spend less but without doing less. This is the time to start thinking about whether or not you can make money doing cross stitch. Either way, you will have learned the art of cross stitch, and probably a wide range of other stitches that can be used to create beautiful items for your home and wardrobe. It should give you great pleasure in the making and even greater pleasure in the giving. You will also have experienced the world wide cross stitch community, which is richer and more diverse than you could have imagined. Win a Coach bag Pagina 8 Chapter One - The History of Cross Stitch Cross stitch is just one way of decorating fabric or textile. It has its history in the production of wall hangings, clothes, household linens, rugs and soft furnishings, dating back to ancient times. Cross stitch is a type of embroidery or tapestry that dates back to ancient times, and was principally used in the creation of church vestments. There are two forms of using fabrics originally, one is using decorative stitching on fabric, and the other is to use the wool or silk to create a knitted or crochet fabric. This can then form a basis for further decoration with stitching. Embroidery as a word originates in the Anglo Saxon word for ‘Edge’. Gradually, it came to be seen as a description of decorative stitching on a range of fabrics for a wide variety of different uses. There is virtually no limit to the fabrics that you can use as a background for stitched decoration – leather, cotton, wool, silk – almost anything. In 1828 Joseph Heilman from Alsatia designed and built the first embroidery machine. Until then only hand made articles were possible. With the invention of machines, it was possible to make pieces faster and to reproduce items as many times as was required. As with many crafts, there has developed a tradition that respects its origins. Wall hangings and domestic soft furnishings are still Win a Coach bag Pagina 9 probably the most popular use for cross stitch and other forms of embroidery. It is also still mainly a craft, or art form, that is carried out by hand. It’s generally done in the home or within small co-operative groups. The term embroidery covers work that is both decorative and functional. For example, from a functional point of view, the use of stitching secures the edges of fabrics that would otherwise fray. It is also a means of providing information by way of picture or words, a message about somebody’s rank in the church perhaps, or the group of which they are a member. There are lots of different stitches that people use. These include cross stitch of course, and blanket stitch – used as you would imagine for edging blankets to stop them fraying and to decorate them as well. Chain stitch is often used to create curved or straight lines of pattern, particularly in flower designs. In addition, there is Feather stitch, French knots, Satin stitch, Gros point, Tent stitch and Petit point. Traditionally, these stitching crafts used cotton, linen, silk or wool. Later on, they also used gold and silver threads. However, now you can be creative and use leather, metal thread and even a range of synthetics. Very special pieces use gold thread and sewn on gem stones, but only the wealthy could use gold and silver. The choice of these materials indicates the wealth of the owner - rather like Pagina 10 Win a Coach bag having a large house to denote you are a person to be taken seriously in life. The background fabrics also vary enormously. Depending on the nature of the work you are doing, and the finish you want to achieve, you can use quilted fabric, silky fabrics, chunky wool, bobbly linen or flat embroidery cloth or canvas. You can mix fabrics and stitching to create large distinct panels that have superbly interesting textures and stitching as highlights. The cloth used for embroidery was originally dyed with colours derived from vegetables and plants. These are still used of course, for the fabrics and for the stitching medium – be it wool or silk or cotton. From very early times, embroidery was used on fabrics and clothing, and this can be seen in ancient paintings, sculptures and religious and literary texts all around the world. There are still some examples that have survived from Egypt. We have to thank the desert weather for that – it being so dry. The Egyptians were very skilled. They particularly excelled in appliqué involving beads and leather. Most of the Mediterranean areas, such as Phoenicia (the Phoenicians) traveled extensively and took their arts across southern Europe to what is now Spain, to what was Yugoslavia, to the Greek Islands and Italy. Also in Babylon, Israel and Syria. They practiced embroidery, training their young people in the traditional stitching and patterns. Again the making of clothes for the religious leaders and for decorating the churches was considered a very important vocation. Sadly, Win a Coach bag Pagina 11 there are not many examples surviving now from pre 6th Century AD. In Europe, clothing was made for the medieval courtiers, religious leaders, and to decorate the churches and houses of the wealthy and aspiring nobles. The wealth of the wearer or owner was demonstrated in the choice of threads – gold and silver and the use of decorative stones for the wealthy – plain wool for the poor. The pattern work developed in those olden days continues now. There are famous Turkish and Persian prayer mat designs – still used both on rugs and wall hangings. Kelims from Morocco also have traditional patterns that have been handed down through the ages. Often, skills have been taught by parents and grandparents. Major influences of Byzantine art are to be seen in religious clothing and decoration, especially in Italy and Germany. In England, probably the oldest example is a church stole and maniple worn by St Cuthbert of Durham. Perhaps the most famous example is the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the background to the Norman Conquest of England and is 231 feet long and nearly 20 inches wide. It is made with wool stitching on a linen back cloth. I remember learning about this at school and being amazed by the intricacy of the work and the beauty of the style. It tells the story of its time in a way that everyone can understand – although at the time we were being taught about Pagina 12 Win a Coach bag the events, rather than the means of preserving the telling of it. Well known also is the silk and metal thread work known as ‘English Work’, which became famous across Europe. Again, this is mainly religious work – alter cloths, decorative stoles for the church leaders and using religious pictures of saints and devotions. Later in the 14th century, gold become more commonly used, and coincided with the development of embroidered pictures. This enabled artists like Jan van Eyck from Holland to create a different type of painting, which became known as ‘nue’ or shaded gold work. This type of work dominated until the early 16th Century, when ideas for embroiderers were developed by famous painters like Antonio del Pollaiuolo. They also included non-religious scenes, although many of the people doing the embroidery were nuns and monks. By this time as well, embroiders guilds were being established, and here we see the beginning of embroidery as a profession. Communications between European countries by this time meant that fashions from the principal courts were soon of interest elsewhere. So styles developed in Spain, for example, would soon be copied in the English court. As members of the European monarchy moved from one country to another, they took with them their retinue of staff. So the fashions for the whole range of wealthy to poor could be seen abroad. The wool from black sheep being used to stitch on white linen was very striking and very popular, Win a Coach bag Pagina 13 and eventually became Elizabethan blackwork. known in England as All over Europe, the craft of embroidery was evolving as a folk art too. All sorts of domestic fabrics were decorated with flowers, line decorations or geometric patterns and using a bright colourful palette. By the 17th and 18th Centuries, patterns were being printed and available for purchase – I bet they would have fallen over if someone told them that one day these could be sold by ‘internet’! Samplers, which most of us had to do as children, started to become popular at this time. These gave a record that the embroiderer could do the full range of stitches and knew the traditional patterns for borders. Different uses began to be popular – decorating not just cloth or clothing, but objects, like boxes or mirror frames. This was a way of showing the skill of the embroiderer – not just in the stitching, but also in developing new pictorial designs that were very different from the mainly religious scenes and motifs that had dominated previously. New ways to create abstract emerged too. Flame pattern with zig zags called bargello, and patterning for the decorative elements of every day clothes. Things like collars and cuffs that people would change to enable them to create variety in their dress. Fashions changed then as they do now. After embroiderers had become used to developing design ideas and creating quite complex pictures, a trend emerged that was much simpler. Win a Coach bag Pagina 14 By the French Revolution, the technique known as Berlin work became popular. This involved a number of stitching styles or needlepoint, sometimes using canvas, sometimes using wool, with silk threads and beads. Soon the Berlin work was being exported abroad, as well as being very popular throughout Germany. In the United Kingdom, the Arts and Crafts Movement dominated by William Morris, his wife and their fellow artists, started a tradition of design and utility. I think his most famous saying was ‘only have things of beauty or use in your home’. In the United States, there is a strong craft tradition. Quilt making in particular is very popular, but stitch work and embroidery is very much part of the popular craft movement. Many of the internet sites you find will be American. Although we now live in a world of high commerce, high technology and continuous advancement, we also have the means of passing on the traditions of our ancestors and learning of the traditions of other countries, communities and religions. Although we may not produce our craft work for the same reasons, we can continue to learn and teach the old skills, and continue to make items of beauty and usefulness. So cross stitch, within the embroidery craft is, in effect, a living history, and one that is still very popular. It’s also one that will continue to give pleasure to people all over the world. Win a Coach bag Pagina 15 Chapter Two – What do you need to know before you start I would recommend you start by visiting your local department store and finding out the range of materials they have on offer. Also check out the internet. Try a Google search (www.google.com) for ‘cross stitch’ and you will be amazed at the number of sites that exist. Some are suppliers of kits and materials, some are much more. Those with a monthly or annual subscription often give access to a wealth of information, designs, patterns, ideas, and groups You can find just about anything you could imagine that has to do with cross stitch. There are online courses that show you how to do cross stitch in easy step by step instructions with pictures. And, of course, you can purchase books and magazines that have very detailed information on how to tackle the stitches and how to keep your work neat. When you get really proficient, you’ll want to know how to deal with the very, very tricky bits. Some of these sites will also advertise events, shows and exhibitions, as well as selling starter kits, and a whole range of craft tools, books, and materials. Going to craft exhibitions is a great way to see what works other people are doing, and to give you ideas on what you would like to start with. It also gives you a chance to see items close up and talk to their creators. Because there is so much choice, you will need to think about Win a Coach bag Pagina 16 What you would like to start with in terms of size and complexity Whether you want to create something to frame and hang on the wall, or a cushion cover, or perhaps a cover for a storage box. How much you want to spend Whether you think you need to find someone to help you get started, or whether you are happy to follow the instructions in a kit Where is the best place for you to buy your kit – do you have access to local shops, or is it easier to order over the internet? Most of the starter kits have all information and materials you need, starting small is a really good idea. So what exactly is cross stitch? Cross stitch is really the most popular type of embroidery, particularly in Europe and the United States, but also in Australia. It is not difficult to learn, and can be used on all sorts of decorative work. Mostly it is used to create framed and wall hung decorations containing flowers, motifs and pictures of children or pets. In most cases, the whole of the background fabric is covered with stitches. This is not essential though, and some lovely work can be created by making the accent pattern only and leaving background areas unstitched. Pagina 17 the and Win a Coach bag There are fabrics available in a range of colours so you can show white, cream or other off whites. Cross stitch is really ‘what is says on the tin’ i.e. you create an X by making two stitches, one starting from the bottom of the \ line and another starting from the top of the / line. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you keep the same starting point throughout, which gives the neatest finish. It is also described as a popular form of counted thread embroidery. In addition to the simple X shape using two stitches, there are ¼, ½, and ¾ stitches, as well as back stitches. Sometimes a waste fabric is used, with the pattern, the cross stitches and the colours shown. The embroidery is done through the waste fabric which is then removed. This enables you to stitch fabric that has no markings on it. Talking of size……. There is a range of cross stitch background material that you can use, and the ones with fewer holes per square inch, i.e. the larger ones, are the easier to use. And you can be creative with the larger ones, using ribbons or fabric pieces – as long as you can find a large enough needle to thread them on to. Generally these days a cotton embroidery floss is used for standard cross stitch. This is a combination of six strands loosely twisted together and made of mercerized cotton. Pearl cotton and Danish Flower Thread can also be used. Pagina 18 Win a Coach bag Pieces can have a mix of wool and cotton to give a range of texture within the work, as well as showing the main and background parts in different materials. The possibilities in terms of innovation are endless – you can work with all sorts of fabrics, use all sorts of materials for stitching, and combine cross stitch with lots of other crafts. When you get really confident, and as long as you have really good eye sight, you can use the smallest, and work with as many as 22 holes per square inch to produce sensational work. The most generally used cloth is called ‘Aida Cloth’, which has groups of woven threads with tiny spaces between them. This is really easy for beginners to use, as you can see precisely where the needle needs to go. Beginners are advised to use the 14 thread count, although this cloth offers a range from 6-18. This cloth is 100% cotton, easy to use and the easiest size (14 count) is available in the most color choices. Experienced cross-stitchers often use ‘Linen’, as it’s a really good fabric to work with and not too expensive. It’s also a lovely fabric to work with because it has irregularities in the finish. With linen, a 28 count will give 14 stitches per square inch because most designs use two threads (one / and one \ crossing over in the centre to form an X). You can get linen in counts of 14 to 40. Just divide the count by two to get the number of stitches per square inch. Linen looks like a basket weave, and appears more traditionally like embroidery fabric. However, it is not as easy as Aida fabric, and it is more Win a Coach bag Pagina 19 difficult to keep the tension of the floss right. Don’t try using this until you are more experienced in keeping your stitches even. Other standard fabrics include ‘Evenweave’ which you stitch rather like Linen. Evenweave is a ‘plain weave’ and is also made from cotton. You can obtain this in lots of colors. Jobelan - probably the most popular due to the range of colours, its draping quality, and because it just looks so good, elegant and soft. You need to know that this generally has 2 x 2 blocks of threads. So it halves the thread count. A 14 count aida will be the same size as a 28 count even weave. Other even weaves include Linda, Davosa, Janina, Annabelle and Jubilee ‘Needlepoint’ fabric which comes in 6 ½ to 20 stitches per inch and can be used in conjunction with other fabrics. ‘Hardanger’ is used for the really fine work, and is the name of the traditional and very famous Norwegian embroidery with 22 squares to the inch. So those are some of the materials you use, and now you know that the principle is to use two diagonal and crossing stitches to create one X. Together the stitches transform themselves to create whatever you want them to look like; a picture, a print, or a photo or a design or motif on different colored background. A popular format for the kits is a series of flowers and petals on a stem set against a plain background. Pagina 20 Win a Coach bag This could be framed and hung on the wall or used for part of a cushion cover or book cover, or under glass on a tray. The options are really endless. The more experienced you become, the more professional your work will look. Of course, there are ways to make it look like you have been cross stitching for ages – so its worth checking out the tips to make your work look as good as you can. With Stamped Cross Stitch the ‘x’ is printed onto the fabric, as is the design, so you follow the stamped ‘x’ starting at the top by inserting the needle from the back of the fabric, and back out again at the bottom along the diagonal, then again through from the back at the other base of the ‘x’ and across the first stitch and then through to the back of the fabric at the top of the ‘x’. The main thing with cross stitch is to make sure you keep the same direction of stitching on the underside of the fabric throughout the work as this gives the best quality finish on the face/front side of your work. Counted cross stitch is almost the same, but doesn’t have the ‘x’ printed on the fabric, just the pattern is printed. With counted cross stitch you have to count how many stitches you need in each colour. The fabric will look like a series of small squares or grids, so it’s not difficult to see how many x stitches you will need for each color. When you progress to using individual designs, you will need to think about how large the pattern detail is to ensure you can get the right number of stitches. Pagina 21 Win a Coach bag Chapter Three – What can you make This is the really great thing about cross stitch – you can make so many different things. The old favorites were the small framed pictures, which could be flowers or lettering – I remember making my first one, a small framed design to th commemorate my parents’ 40 wedding anniversary. When you have completed a few small items you might want to try something bigger – either as a piece of art work to hang on the wall, or as part of an object. Some of the most interesting pieces can be used throughout the house. If you have a coffee table with a boring top that you would like to transform, why not create a design to fit to almost the length and breadth of the coffee table? You could even get a piece of beveled glass to sit on top. Interesting mirror surrounds make a change – why not create a border pattern that could be stuck to an old wooden mirror frame? Oak leaf patterns or similar winding would make a great mirror frame. designs Very small pictures or designs could be inserted or glued onto the card of your own hand made cards for family and friends If you look around the house you will see all sorts of items that could be transformed by using your own designs and ideas. Nowadays, you can have transfers of photographs on to fabric so you can try an enormous range of designs. For small pieces, you can use a working frame that holds the fabric stiffly, which makes it Win a Coach bag Pagina 22 easier to handle the fabric while you are working on it. There are frames for larger pieces too – some very big ones are stands that grip the fabric at the top and the bottom, and roll it up and down from one section to another. Cushion covers are a favorite, and can be part of, or all of, the cover. Sometimes it’s more effective to use a cross stitch piece together with another medium. For example, you can create a cover with an outside border in a colored fabric, and in the center, a tightly cross stitched design. It is always worth thinking about combining cross stitch work with other fabrics – this can be very economical, and allow you to create an accent with the cross stitch. Many photography studios will print photos or other images onto T shirts - You could impose a grid pattern on to the image you want transferred to make it easier to keep to your pattern lines. Win a Coach bag Pagina 23 Chapter Four – Where to find inspiration Well, where do we start! There is a wide range of pre-stamped designs available. Perhaps it boils down to the individual. It usually depends on what you are most interested in and what it is you want to make. Works of art, photographs, posters, old texts from ancient books, animals, abstract patterns, calligraphy, plants, buildings, cars, toys, and comic characters – the list is endless. To find these images you can use magazines, books, your own photos, advertising media of all sorts, and of course, the internet. Most computer programs come with clip art which can be downloaded and printed off. There are lots of web sites were you can source designs for craft work, often for free. Nature is always a wonderful theme, and anything from small flowers to larger landscapes can be used. Photographs or paintings can be reproduced. You can now find computer programs that will convert your digital photographs into cross-marked patterns. You can get your patterns made for specific ‘floss’ palettes. Floss is what a cross stitcher calls the yarn they use. Alternatively you can make your own patterns by using virtual needles and other computer tools to create your color areas and writing. Or why not try hand drawn sketches, which you can draw onto fabric using fabric pens or paints. Pagina 24 Win a Coach bag If you are making something for children, try finding images of their favourite story book characters, or film stars, or maybe their pet dog or cat. Sometimes the simple ideas are the best, and when you are just beginning, it could be a little daunting to try and create something very large or very complex. Doing single characters or line drawings, might be easiest. This way you don’t have to deal with too many different colors at first, and can concentrate on the neatness of the stitching. Win a Coach bag Pagina 25 Chapter Five – Turning your new skill into money Well why not? At the least it would be worth covering your costs. There are a number of ways you could start to make some money in a small way. Craft work is serious business these days. There are craft fairs everywhere now, and they are very popular for family outings, as well as for the serious collector of craft work. So let us look at the possibilities for making money with cross stitch. The first option is to produce your work for sale. How would you sell? Well, you could go to the craft fairs and sell your work at a stall. You would of course have to pay to have your stand, so you would need to have enough items and sell them at the right prices to cover the cost of renting the stall. You would also need transport to take you and your work to the venue. You wouldn’t necessarily have to have your own stall, but could have a stall holder show your work on a per sale or return basis. You could try to sell your work through shops on this basis, too. But if you have a range of items to display you could also undertake to do work on commission. Obviously you would have to pay the shop keeper a portion of the sale price. Internet sites are another way of selling craft work, either through the specialist sites, or on more general sites. Ebay is a well known site for selling all sorts of items, but you could check out craft oriented Win a Coach bag Pagina 26 sites too, although you advertise on these sites. might have to pay to Another option is to develop your own web site and advertise your products with photos, measurements and individual prices. These are ways of selling your items, either as specific commissions or as pieces that you have decided are in demand and are likely to sell well. In this way you could cover your costs and possibly more. However, you could take this a stage further and think about setting up a business. So, what sort of business would work? Well, at this point you would need to review your skills and abilities and decide what type of business you would do best with. For example, if your skill is in cross stitch itself, you may not want to take on the marketing, sales, book-keeping and advertising that would be needed with a larger scale business. The range of businesses involving cross stitch is numerous:Creating patterns Manufacturing kits Writing books about cross stitch Teaching Running your own courses Win a Coach bag Pagina 27 Internet marketing and sales Other questions you would need to ask yourself are: Would I prefer to work on my own or with other people? If others, would I want this to be in the form of a partnership, or a limited company, or a cooperative? Do I want or need to be able to work from home, or would I prefer to have somewhere separate? Have I got space in my house? How much would other premises cost? Would I have to take a long lease? How much could I spend on rent of premises? What sort of investment would I need to make? How much money do I have available? Would I be prepared to borrow money to set up this business? If you decide that you want to start a serious business, you may think about sub-contracting some of the work. You could find other people to make cross stitch work. Pagina 28 Win a Coach bag You could find stitch patterns. good designers for the cross You could find someone else to set up your web site. You could find someone to source the materials you want to sell. You could find someone advertising copy. who can write superb You could find someone else to run the stall at the exhibitions. You could find someone to letters and telephone calls. deal with all the You could find someone to keep your accounts. So you see there are lots of options. Win a Coach bag Pagina 29 Chapter Six - Don’t stitch yourself up – think about how to start and manage your new business effectively! So now that you have decided to make money out of your business, you will need to ensure that you do, in fact, make money. No matter what type of business you decide to undertake, you need to start with some basics! You will need to have a plan of action, and a budget, and clear guidelines about what you think you want to achieve and how you think you will go about doing it. If you don’t have a plan, you could get side tracked, spend more money than you should, or spend more time than you want. Think carefully about how your new business plan affects your family – make sure you have your priorities sorted out. Without the support of your family, what started out as a great adventure could become a problem that affects yourself and other people as well. It’s a great idea to get friends and family to give you feedback on what you think your strengths and weaknesses are - always a good idea to get their support. All of us have our own experiences, passions and skills. Sometimes we like to think we are capable of more than we are, or good at things that really we are quite average at. Sometimes we are not aware of skills we have and need someone else to tell us. Win a Coach bag Pagina 30 If you are going to start a proper business, it needs to be something you are really, really passionate about. Most successful business people think that their driving passion was what made them successful – not just a skill at making money. And for many people the success and achievement is the real reward – the money is secondary. The other question you need to ask yourself is what you would do for a hobby if you turned your hobby into a business? Most of us need activities that provide personal development in one way or another, and hobbies are great for all the reasons mentioned in the introduction. So if you start a business, will you still have time to enjoy a hobby? A big question is about whether you intend to work on your own or whether you actually want to employ other people. If you think you will need to have help in your new business, and you can’t persuade your family to help you out, you will have to think about employing someone…possibly even more than one person. Then you need to consider whether you want to employ someone directly. In other words, do you want to have to be responsible for paying salaries, national insurance and hassle with sick leave? If you want to employ people you will need to be very clear about what their responsibilities are going to be, and what you are offering to pay them. You will also need to check to see how that salary compares with other similar employment, Pagina 31 Win a Coach bag and whether you are employing someone on a short, medium or long term contract. Initially it could be risky employing someone on a permanent basis. It might be best to wait until you can see how successful your new business is going to be, before you take on the obligation of paying someone a salary on a permanent basis The option is engaging people to work with you on a ‘self employed’ basis. This way you would not be responsible for dealing with their tax and insurance, but would have to pay on an hourly rate or on some other basis that you would have agreed with them. If people are self employed they can off set their costs against their tax. Do you want to be an ‘organizer’ or would you prefer to be a ‘doer’? For example you could be exhibitioner or event organizer. a successful Or, you could organize the buying of kits wholesale prices and the selling of them retail outlets or online. at at On the other hand, you might prefer to be selling directly to the public. Ok, so having gone through the serious initial questions, and if you are still sure, you will need to ask yourself the following questions: What exactly do you intend to do – sometimes good ideas need careful thinking before they evolve into good business plans. So write it down and think about it – get someone who you know has good business skills to look at it as well and give you their opinion on it. Pagina 32 Win a Coach bag You will need to be clear about who do you intend to sell to. It is always advisable to do lots of research about your market – find out who buys the product or service you are proposing to sell. Think about how you can offer these buyers a better deal on either quality or quantity, or speed of delivery, or any other factor that you think will give you the edge over your competition. And of course you can about successful or operation that you will need to know as much as your competition – what makes them what is it about their service or you could improve on? So when you have decided who you are hoping to sell to, you will need to plan how and where you will be selling to them and how you can make sure they know about your product or service. This will take you into the area of advertising, marketing and sales. Check out the industry magazines and web sites to see how your competition advertises – find out how much the advertising cost is for different media. For example, advertising in newspapers and magazines is expensive and you are reliant on your buyers purchasing those newspapers and magazines in order to find out about your product. So maybe it is worth checking out how you can contact them directly. One direct advertising method is through leaflets. However it can be expensive getting the leaflets to the individuals or organizations you want to target. There are organizations that deal with advertising leaflets on a direct mailing basis, and you would need to find out how much this would cost. Win a Coach bag Pagina 33 Advertising business. via the internet is now big, big You can develop web sites (would you need to pay someone to do this for you?) and use them to place your advertisements, or you can pay to advertise on other web sites. The difference between a good web site and an average one could be lots of sales! If you search for web sites related to cross stitching you will see lots of groups that have their own web site and where different businesses can advertise. You’ll also know that the visitors to the web site will be looking for these particular services or products. You should be able to find out how much it would cost to advertise on these specialist sites by finding their ‘advertise with us’ tab. It’s quite straight forward to write out an advertisement, perhaps with a photograph of one of your items, and in this, give your contact details. Often these adverts have click on links to the sellers’ own web sites where they can see much more information about the products, the prices, the ordering and delivery details. You can also incorporate on your own web site some feedback from satisfied customers – once you have them. How much will it cost in overheads, materials, advertising, fees, etc. Remember that you will have to finance your advertising, materials and all other overheads before you start getting any return. Pagina 34 Win a Coach bag So you need to be really focused on the costs of reaching your target market in the first place, and the costs of providing the product or service. How much time do you intend to spend on your work? This is really important – good businesses normally take a big investment of both time and usually some money. The old saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch is very true. With any successful business, there needs to be a commitment to putting in the time necessary. So if you are thinking that you can get something for nothing – think again. However, if you do all your research, and invest the time and effort in the beginning, it is quite possible to develop a business that works efficiently and effectively…and which needs to be maintained, but doesn’t take up all the hours of every day to earn you a good living. If you can develop a business where different aspects are the responsibility of other people, and your job is to ensure all the facets of the enterprise are working well together, you could have time to sit in the sunshine and get back to the enjoyment of doing some cross stitching for fun! Win a Coach bag Pagina 35 Chapter Seven – Conclusion Starting to learn to do cross stitch is not difficult, and while you can start with simple designs and easy size stitches, you can progress to really complicated patterns (with counted stitches or without). You’ll be able to make superb pieces of art, in the comfort of your own home, and whenever you want. When you first start, it would be easiest to use a background cloth that allows you to do about 14 stitches to the square inch. Most of the starter kits offer this. Aida Cloth is the most common, and you will find this easily obtainable from specialist shops or web sites. Look for kits with stamped cross stitches marked – this way you will see exactly where you start each stitch. Information about cross stitching is abundant. There are specialist magazines, specialist web sites, exhibitions and craft fairs and small dedicated shops, as well as large department stalls where you can find information, materials, and everything you need - cross stitch paradise, really. The more you check out the specialist cross stitch locations – either on the web or the high street, the more potential for design you will find. You will be able to find kits for pictures of animals, children, landscapes, cartoon characters, buildings…almost everything. And of course, you can find your own sources of inspiration from family photographs or post cards – let your imagination really fly! You don’t have to do this on your own either. There are forums and groups where you can talk to other beginners, and find all the hints and tips Win a Coach bag Pagina 36 such as: the best places to buy the materials, where to find the best designs, and how to make your cross stitch projects look really professional. As you will discover, there are lots of businesses, both large and small, that are part of the cross stitch world. So if you want to turn your new hobby into a money spinner – either to cover your costs or to make money, there are lots of options. First, you have to be realistic about where your skills and abilities lie. Second, you need to research the area you are thinking of turning into a business. Find out as much as you can about other similar businesses, how they operate, who they sell to, and how popular they are with their customers. When you have this information, you should collate it, and it might be easiest to do this on your computer by using a program like Excel. Third, you need to establish what the costs are in your selected business. This links with determining how much you can afford or want to invest to start up the new business. This is something else that should be collated on an Excel type computer program. It is essential to keep a list of anticipated costs, and as you develop your business, measure your actual outgoings against each area of expenditure. For example, you may find other web sites to advertise on which are less expensive. Or you may find more expensive advertising that appears to be much more effective, and therefore worth the additional expenditure. Fourth, you need to be realistic about whether you can achieve your goals on your own, or Pagina 37 Win a Coach bag whether it would be better people to work with you. to find the right Fifth, you need to develop a good business plan, and get other people in whom you have confidence to check this out and give you any advice they think appropriate. At this stage, review your plan in light of the feedback you have received. You might need help in developing your business plan, if you haven’t done one before. See if you can find someone with some experience to help you, and if you don’t know anyone suitable, it might be worth consulting an expert for a small fee. This could save you lots of money by ensuring you are looking at every aspect of your new business. Sixth, plan on a monthly review of your progress – if you are not achieving your targets you need to think about why this is. Be open to amending your advertising, or your product if necessary. Seventh, keep an eye on your competition – know as much as you can at all times. Check out their customer satisfaction ratings, their prices and their quality control. Watch out for their new products or services, or if they stop certain ranges. Sometimes companies sell off some products cheaply when they are going to move to another range – this could be an opportunity to buy goods at wholesale prices and sell them yourself at retail. Eighth, be conscientious about your record keeping. When you are in business it is essential that you have information and details on record. You will need to keep a track of your expenditure and your income. If you need to, find a way learning good business practices from associates or by taking a short course – it could save you lots of time and money Pagina 38 Win a Coach bag Ninth, review your progress against your business plan on a regular basis. Also on a regular basis, you need to be thinking about where your business is going – should you be investing more time or money to capture new markets? Or would it be best to out source part of the work to free up some of your time? Tenth, and finally, enjoy being involved with the world of cross stitch and enjoy turning your hobby into a money spinner! Win a Coach bag Pagina 39