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[zafania]

Firstly, I should apologise for having been a bit crap lately - not answering comments and stuff, my only excuse is that stuff is getting me down a lot and I've been quite heartily depressed. And thats all I want to say about it.

ANd now to the main event. Pictures of the christmas presents I made for friends and family

First, one I did for nlvb

Comments

[tjs_whatnot]

AMAZING!

I really think their is a new craze for handmade quality goods... definitely think you have something marketable there...

[zafania]

i think i just have to suck it and see, as they say, obviously not going to suck an actual cushion tho, it would get soggy

[lurkerfromoz]

I agree with all of the above. In Australia, craft of all sort is big business, so if you sold on ebay, I would be inclined to offer worldwide shipping as I have never seen anything like these available here, and I'm sure there would be a market for them.

[zafania]

I was thinking etsy, cos you cant get decent prices on ebay, but i would ship internationally

[susana_stitches]

Oh, I love the cat you did for your mother! I'm in the States, and do know a few people who have sewing machines and "would love to learn how to use it," (and here, lots of girls who couldn't re-stitch a hem or button to save their lives, were exposed to some basic embroidery in Scouts or 4-H, or even elementary-school art class) so I'm sure there's *some* market for such a kit, altho how much, I've no idea.
Are they felt? That would be better than woven for a beginner's kit; no edge-finishing.
Something that might improve your chances: Supply (and state in the advertisement that you are supplying) alternative instructions for doing the kit entirely by machine or entirely by hand, with diagrams for suggested hand-embroidery stitches and a basic tutorial on running-stitching the case together. Extra work, yes, but you'd only need to do it once per pattern.
Best of luck!

[zafania]

the cats one of my favourites too.

they're mostly made from high quality melton wool, which doesn't need hemiing and wont fray. i'm not keen on most actual felts as they're largely synthetic these days and dont wear well.

I do plan to provide everything, including the instructions, to finsh the cushion, but machine stitching instrutions would be a complete impossibility as I niether own nor use such a beast!

[susana_stitches]

Yeah, I haven't seen actual *wool* felt in . . . years.
I must have misread something; I thought you had machined parts of these, or were proposing that your kit-buyers should. Sorry. Probably hand-embroidery is a better bet for beginners' kits, tho!
oh, did you actually say cushions like yours go for 60 to 100 *pounds* *sterling* ?? Wow. That's . . . I've just spent a maddening week buying pewter tankards for our shop, and the exhange rate was about $1.55 to $1.60 . . . that's 100 to 160 US dollars each. My word. Yes, you need to do kits!

[zafania]

theres one particular designer cushion with an appliqued union jack, and yes, that goes for quite a chunk of cash - but just a needlpoint kit can be anything up to £75!

[amazlab]

Seeing the tardis and handles have made you my new hero!

They look amazing!

As well as all your other beautiful patterns. How long does it take you to do one? Is it difficult to start?