Making cross stitch is an awesome way to spend your time, however, there’s always that one thing in your mind, the question everyone always thinks about “Can I make money from this?”.
Luckily, the answer is yes. There are LOADS of people selling cross stitch and cross stitch patterns online. It’s super simple to do and doesn’t cost a lot to set up at all (if anything).
I will add the caveat now though, that you aren’t going to suddenly be drowning in dollar bills. But its enough to cover most cross stitch expenses.
Deciding what to sell
The first step along this journey is what you’re going to sell. There are two main areas:
- Finished cross stitch
- Cross stitch patterns
Now, both have their advantages. The first is that you can charge higher amounts per product, whilst making patterns you can shift a dime a dozen and have it all done automatically. If you’re looking from a purely economic point of view, then selling cross stitch patterns is definitely your best bet. If you don’t know how to do this I have a guide on making cross stitch patterns here.
Your brand
The next step is to make a brand. Now, there are loads of different ways to come at this, so I’m going to leave it in your faithful hands, however, it’s important to note that you need a UNIQUE name. This will be the name of your store, and possibly what you put on products too. Depending on your target market, this might be very different. For example, I tend to aim towards the younger market with crazy patterns and so a tongue in cheek design and a flash logo work, but if you sell to more traditional stitchers a friendly face might work better.
Setting up a store
So now you have a brand you can set up a store. There are two main online platforms but Etsy is the best. You can find an official guide here.
They take a small cut on each deal, but they set up an automatic sale for digital files (patterns), and have massive amounts of traffic.
Make your products
Well… Yeh. Make the stuff.
Product images
Once you have items to sell the next thing is to get some awesome photos. This is the biggest thing about Etsy sales. The picture is EVERYTHING. Make it professional, make it stand out. Make sure people want to select it. This can be the hardest bit though, so if in doubt copy the style of other people who sell on Etsy until you develop your own style.
Being prepared
With everything set up and ready there is one final thing I would note; be prepared. This can take loads of different forms, but making sure you have enough of what your trying to sell is a big one. If this is finished pieces or kits you need to have the product ready to start when the sale goes through.
Quick tips
– Make sure you can sell your stuff. This is SUPER important. You can read up on cross stitch and copyright over here.
– Ensure you have awesome drawing product descriptions. After all, it’s all about selling the product.
– Customer care is super important. Just be there to speak to customers, answer questions, help them out.
– Etsy ads are a great way to get some extra eyes on your items, but I would stay away from general terms like “cross stitch” instead be more specific, and you’ll get a better return.
– Make sure you make a profit. If the item costs $10, the sale price needs to be $15 for you to get a $1 profit. But this doesn’t work out as a great wage. Price your time accordingly.
Struggling to sell your patterns online? Check out our post on why your why your cross stitch patterns aren’t selling.
I’m looking to start creating my own cross stitch jewellery kits but I’m stuck on how to go about finding packaging and printing instruction booklets etc. I want to be able to sell physical kits with all the items needed in one package but I don’t know where to start! I already have some good designs but I’m struggling on how to create and print instructions. Do you have any advice?
As a kit seller, this can be a hard thing to get right, especially as you’re making kits for unusual items too.
First thing first, you’ll need a way of giving away needles. You can get individually packed needles from places like Amazon, Etsy, Ebay or Alibaba. Thread is dependant on amount, but cutting lengths and loosely tying them together is fine. Once you have everything seperate, you can then work out a way to put them all together in one package. Ebay and Alibaba is a great place to look for hard or soft packaging in pretty much any size.
In regards to instructions, I would make two sets. Set one is a ‘how to cross stitch’ one, which you can include in every kit. The second will be more specific to the kit you’re making. For the generic one, I would read cross stitch books and write something similar to what they have. Then put it in a publisher/word template that looks nice and you can just print this on a home printer. If you’re looking to sell patterns like this we’d suggest you check out or post on the perfect printer for cross stitch as it will save you a lot of money.
Hope that helps!
I have a lot of designs ready to sell on Esy, but I cannot find anything that explains how to get them out of Patternmaker and into a pdf. I know how to create the design. I need to know how to make the actual pdf file itself. I have searched with every term I can think of and I cannot find the help to make the pdf! All my searches lead me to existing pdf for sale.
Hi, exporting the patterns depends on which pattern maker you have. Only about a quarter of the online versions can export to pdf though. If you advise which one you’re using I can tell you how to export if you want.
We had an interview with Makoto Oozu recently actually, I love his style!
Selling charts of othre designers is about the same, however you need to have permission from the original designer.
Thanks for a great article! I’m stick wondering how to take a pattern chart I’ve made and convert it into a nice image that looks like a finished piece (with X’s and the image of Aida cloth behind it)… basically so that I don’t have to actually stitch every single pattern I make, but the customer sees pretty much what the finished piece would look like. Are there web-based programs that do this? Theoretically I can Photoshop these images, but I figure there must be a faster solution. Thank you!
Hi.
Your designs are unique and reminds me ones of Makoto Oozu in my counry.
I’m glad more men do embroidery casually than before.
I’m interested in your ultimate guide, and wondering if it shows how to sell charts of other desingners. I want to make a shop selling charts of famous designers online.
Please help!!!! I have researched just about every website I could find so that I sell my finished/completed cross stitch, with very little to no success, whatsoever.
I am looking for a FREE website to sell my cross stitch, including shipping and handling, as I cannot afford neither, at this moment.
As I stated before, the websites, E-Bay, Amazon, etc., have been very little help.
Could you PLEASE assist me in finding a website that is FREE, legitimate and available in the Caribbean? Your assistance in this matter is highly appreciated.
Thank you!
Hi Marie,
I’m afraid there is nowhere that is totally free that you can sell your completed cross stitch. There are two options though, that are almost free.
ETSY – This is a platform that lets you sell anything handmade. There are lots of completed cross stitch on here, so I would suggest this as the best option. The cost is 20 American cents per item you list. The buyer then pays for shipping and you get all the money before you send anything.
YOUR OWN WEBSITE – For about $15 (American) you can set up a website with an online store and start selling. This would be the same as Etsy, but you don’t have to pay 20c each time. The downside is you have to do a lot of marketing yourself.
Based on your comment I would suggest that Etsy is the best option for you.
I have used apps like photoshop and Procreate to make the patterns I use. I’m trying to find something that I can pop those designs into so I can create patterns other people will understand. Do you have one that you recommend?
We regularly update a list of all the pattern making software out there on a monthly basis. You can find them all here:
https://lordlibidan.com/best-cross-stitch-pattern-software/
Personally, I would recommend WinStitch/MacStitch. It has a lot of capabilities that you won’t need as you create the images in photoshop and procreate, but it allows you to put things like copyrights on the page, the designer name, you can choose the icons, etc. PCStitch is a good alternative if you want something slightly cheaper.