Etsy Favorites Get a Pinterest Makeover

 

 
We can organize our favorites on Etsy into lists, making them look a little bit like Pinterest boards. I realized this is a great opportunity for me to promote those of you who make items for sale from my patterns. I have created a list called Made from a StudioCherie Pattern. If you would like your items included in this list, please send me an email or an Etsy convo. There are times when I get a custom request that I cannot fill, so I would love to be able to refer buyers to this list to shop with you!

2 New Patterns and a New Fabric

I created a custom bag for a customer and I thought it would be one you might like too. Here is the new pattern. It's the duffle, re sized with some changes and improvements. The new size makes it a lot easier to sew. As you can see, I even quilted it more. For those of you who like to quilt, the more manageable size makes the quilting more fun too. The end pocket on the right holds a magazine perfectly.  I found a better way to explain the pleated zippered pocket and a new way to put it on that is a lot easier - that pocket is still on the other end. The ends are rectangular - taller than they are wide, so it sits atop your rolling luggage better. There is a sleeve on the back side that slides over the luggage handle to attach the duffle to the other luggage. Since this bag is a couple of inches shorter than the original duffle, I was able to use 2" wide webbing instead of the jute. This is going to give you some fun design options with color, and it makes the bag machine washable. I wrote it up with a new, faster way to attach the straps. (One of the benefits of making more than a hundred of something.)

Most of you probably know that the zip around wallet pattern is out. I have it on Etsy and Craftsy. Craftsy is actually better for me as a shop than Etsy, but whichever you like to use is great.  I decided to size it down as small as possible for the first version. I think it works great and have great feedback from those using it. Of course, my first custom order for one on Etsy is for someone with the iPhone5, and I researched just to make sure it will fit - and it won't. If you are making this pattern for the iPhone5, you will have to make it 1/2" taller. So you will split the base pattern in half at the center and add a 1/2" there. Also add the same to the interior and exterior pockets. The spine will need to be 1/2" longer and the zipper 1/2" longer. I will have to adjust the pattern pieces and release it again with both options. It is an advanced pattern though, so those of you who have it should be able to make all of the adjustments with no problem.

Just because I am not blogging, don't assume I am not creating anything. I drew those bears the other night. For my son's graduation, I am making him a special quilt from fabric I have designed. My daughter and I drew the vans, and I have a friend in Seattle who colorized the drawings. The vans fabric is available on Spoonflower. It has 6 different colorful vans on a fat quarter. They are great for a quilt sized project like mine. I will have to scale it down if I want to use it for Kindle Fire cases and smaller stuff. As soon as I decide on the size and layout for the bumper sticker bears "Cher Bears," I will get that uploaded as a fabric too. 

Mail Chimp makes me feel like a chump. I have a list of people who have signed up for pattern and product updates, but I haven't used it. I am hoping you all are reading the blog too.

Maybe someday I will be one of those sewing bloggers who learns how to post a picture and some words everyday. Or maybe even one of those who has a schedule: Mondays WIP, Tuesdays a recipe, Wednesdays something I drew, Thursdays Pinterest, Fridays Flickr, or something like that. Doesn't sound too hard, right? I don't think I could do the same thing every week. Maybe I need something more like a list of things to cover monthly, and I check them off as I do them. It's on my to-do list to blog better. Making the stuff is more important though.

Portrait vs. Landscape

Letters are written with portrait orientation. Magazines are pages and pages of portraits. People are usually vertical when we are interacting with them. "Why," many of us ask, does Etsy insist on landscape orientation for our product photos? It's a bit of a burden for those of us in fashion. It's an adjustment for anyone new to Etsy. We just don't think in terms of landscape. And it is hard work to bend your leggy model like gumby to fit into a wide frame. Why can't I just let her stand there and look beautiful?  I think the real answer is that they just weren't thinking when they designed the site layout. The fantasy answer is much more fun and useful for me.  Perhaps landscapes make us linger.

A landscape view is sexy.

With a landscape view, online shoppers see more of your shop on every page.

Our computer screens are landscape (this is probably the source of the real answer,) so we need to adjust and make the best of it.
This is how I crop and size my photos so there are no surprises when I see them in my Etsy shop:
If your subject is vertical and you want to capture the whole subject, your first option is to shoot in landscape, farther away than usual, and leave room on the sides for an interesting background.

The perfect sizing for Etsy is 1000 pixels wide by 800 pixels tall. If your original is too small for that, 750 wide by 600 tall also works.
If you do want to upload a vertical shot to Etsy, just know it will get cropped into these proportions - the width will remain untouched and the height will get cropped to width divided by 1.25. The crop will be centered. So I uploaded another version of the photo at the top of this article, and on Etsy it looks like this:

The bottom line is that if you want to make sales online, the most important thing is your presentation. You can have the most gorgeous product in person, but if your photos don't look as good as the real thing, they will not sell. I hope this article helps you frame every product shot like a work of art.

My Craft Party Project

My Craft Party Project
Originally uploaded by studiocherie

If I go to a craft party, you can be pretty sure I will have a different project in mind for the craft than the one presented by the leader. I made sure this was okay with Sarah before the party, and she happily set me loose on the copper wire while she taught the class how to make a fine silver wire pendant. When I got home, I wrapped the new handle on my teapot. Now it's back to sewing. That was fun. Read more about the party at the team blog.

Instant banners and email signatures for Etsy shops

Some of you who know me know that I have been bannerless for a long time. One of Etsy's first big sellers, Littleputbooks, advised me quite a while ago that banners were a waste of precious space. Just get to the items and let people shop. Etsy has made a lot of changes since then. When I found this new instant banner and email signature site, and tried it out - and liked it, I checked over at LittlePut, and noticed she has a banner now. That was all I needed. If you want an instant banner like mine, do this first: renew the 4 items you want to appear in the banner, wait for about an hour, then go to Etsync.com and use the banner maker. The colors of your items will affect the background color of your banner. If you don't like the first try, experiment with different items until you get one that you like. The site is generating PNG files that you can save and use - that is how I have more than one below to show you.

Another cool feature on the site is a generator for an HTML signature you can use on your email that will be a photo and a link to your shop. The photo will always be the last item you renewed or listed. I think it is a nice way to dress up your email.




You just copy and paste the code as your email signature. Here is where to go to get your code.

Art Licensing: Another Kind of Interview Part 2

I am not a journalist. Journalists take better notes. I will tell you I had a wonderful conversation with Cori Dantini, the brilliant self-taught and just plain talented artist known as CoriD on Etsy. Cori was approached at an art fair by a licensing agent. She currently has a number of products in various stages of launch and unlike me, she is not in a position to go blabbing about them. Suffice it to say that in a couple of years, CoriD will be a household word. Another way to say this is: collect her originals now!

Since I can't find my meager notes, Cori may have to come along and correct some of this. This is from my memory of a phone chat we had around the first of September. The first way Cori licensed was with greeting card companies. She said that what they lacked in percentage offered, they made up for in volume. Cori is glad to have an agent, even though the fees are a factor. Cori would rather free up her time to create art rather than manage a multitude of product relationships. I think it really makes sense to focus on your strengths if you can and leave the rest to experts in their field. Again, what she is giving up in percentage, she can gain back in efficiency. Art fairs are hit and miss. She sells a lot at some and others bomb. There is an art to choosing art fairs. Maybe we need agents to handle that too? There is so much more that we talked about, and I will look forward to sharing more, from better notes, when Cori can share some of the specifics. Meanwhile congratulations, Cori.
Resources
For any artists out there wanting to educate yourselves on licensing, here is a super blog to plug into by Alyson Stanfield. Another resource for you is Tara Reeds site, artlicensinginfo.com. Here is more from Cori. All so charming! I am guessing you can find yourself among Coris thoughtful portraits. I do.

Antique Dealer Video Portrait

Every once in a while there is a sweet video portrait posted on Etsy's blog that I turn around and share here. Watching a video like this, I am mindful of the day a filmmaker will show up and make my life look fascinating. This is for my friends who love to treasure hunt. You know who you are. Enjoy!

Crafting in Color Saturday Happy 4th of July

We'll be watching fireworks in downtown Spokane. Here are a few red white and blue favorites from my crafting in color teammates. Here is a link to the search I did to find these.

Let them pick

Sweet fabric for clutches
Originally uploaded by studiocherie

This is why I let them pick - I have no clue what women want. The bride tells me her colors are brown and green. I make one clutch thinking - when she sees this she is going to say oooh, that's perfect! The fabric is flying off the shelves at both Buttercuppity and Hawthorne Threads, so that is a good sign, right? Wrong. That is not the one, she says. I give her the link to Hawthorne Threads so she can see the other options in the Timber line which is the only line right now with fantastic greens and browns together in wedding possible fabrics. Here is what she picked. These will be gorgeous as well, but how could I have guessed? I absolutely love making items from my patterns in fabrics chosen by the customer. Their choices have lead me to fantastic features and opportunities I would not have had without them. I am specifially thinking of the bride who ordered 6 duffles at a time - she let me pick the fabrics on that one, but I would not have made a pyramid o duffles without her. I believe this is the highest and best use of Etsy - a place where product designers and their customers meet and create together. Way more effective than a focus group in my opinion. Thank you to all of my customers who are leading me along the way.

Get Featured Hint, Hint

Etsy says jump, you say how high? I mean this in a positive way. Etsy tells us what they want to feature and how they want to do it. We just need to stay plugged-in to the Storque, read and respond. Here is your next high priority assignment straight from the horses mouth (or maybe it's more of a squirrels mouth.) 2 words: Self Portrait. Now here are some tools you can use to accomplish this effectively - in a way Etsy can use. Read the original article in the Storque. I read it as a cry for help from Vanessa for more people to put themselves in the picture. Look at the archive of featured sellers, and take note of the self portraits you like the most. Join the EtsyOpenStudios Flickr group, and add your portrait (in your work space) there. Now you know Etsy Admin will see it because they approve every photo that gets posted there.

Some notes on my photo in case you need more tips. What did not work:

1. I tried taking it myself with the timer on my camera, but I could tell from my expression that nobody was there. Maybe that makes me a bad actress. (No maybe. I am a bad actress. I learned that at the U of W School of Drama. I also learned that some people happen to like bad acting. That is another story.)

2. I tried it without makeup and wearing my reading glasses - like I really am, everyday. I felt that in those photos, the glasses were a barrier between myself and the viewer. I did not like that feeling.

3. I tried photographing myself actually working, but those didn't really seem to tell the story.

What did work for me:

1. A person behind the camera. In this case it was Rory, and he knows how to get a genuine expression out of me.

2. Styling the shot. Moving stuff in the background a little so there were no purple scissors sticking out of my head. (I guess we are okay with the white ones and the orange.) Styling the foreground to make it interesting and not distracting. Turning the sewing machine at an angle that I would not actually use, but puts it more in the photo.

I think the first impression of the portrait is that I am there working, but if you examine it closely, you will see that the angles are staged.

3. Make up and hair, like I want to make a good first impression with someone who really matters to me.

I know it can be a daunting process and time consuming, but doesn't your business deserve it? I look at the hundreds of photos in the OpenStudios group and think of how many of those would be absolutely captivating, if only the person were in them. Show yourself to me. I will be watching the Flickr group too. I can't wait to see you in your studio!

Vanessa's Wedding

Etsy's blog, the Storque, has featured some great wedding articles. This one takes the cake. Vanessa, the editor of the Storque, has published an article about her own wedding that includes great pointers for those of us looking to serve brides with what we make. Much to my delight, and this will not surprise you, it also includes a link to a contest that Martha Stewart is running now! Can some of you help me out with this by commenting here about which item I should enter in the contest? I am wondering if I should enter my set of bridesmaids clutches or the yellow one with the vintage pin. Martha is looking for a craft to feature on her show, and since I sell the pattern to make these clutches, I think it's a great entry. My quandary is that in the last 6 weeks, I have sold three sets of clutches that look just like the set in the photo, plus another set in a different fabric that I have yet to make and photograph, so I know it is popular with modern brides. I think the yellow one might appeal to Martha's own style though, even though it has not been as popular on Etsy. Let me complicate it for you now. The set I will be completing this week is in a gorgeous new fabric that has peacocks and lacy designs in teal and bronze and green. maybe I should wait and enter that set? I will post a photo when I get them done. Now I have got to go sew. Please let me know what you think and if you are going to enter anything in the contest.

Coffee Search

My friend Randi is redoing her shop and it looks great. One of her new items inspired me to look further for coffee themed items. I love it!

Oops! What do you do?

I received an email from a most wonderful Etsy buyer who kindly pointed out a mistake on my best selling pattern! It's a tiny typo and easy to figure out, maybe that's why the 50 people before her never mentioned it? Still, it needed fixing. I promptly emailed her one of my other PDF patterns as a thank you. We were both exceedingly grateful to one another. Happy ending. Do you have an "oops!" story with a happy ending? I'd love to read it. By the way, "oops" is a fun search to do on Etsy.
cupcake is an oops listing from LilyBaySoap

Am I worthy?

We see versions of this question posted daily on the Etsy forums. Are my photos treasury worthy? Why am I never picked for the Etsy front page? Answers abound in the form of photography tips and tricks, and networking advice. In my opinion, what most of us are missing in our own photography is the vital element of perspective. How do your photos look side by side with those that are appearing on the font page? Using Etsy's poster sketch, you can easily check for yourself and, in some cases make adjustments to your existing photos to make them work.

First, go to poster sketch. (I saved mine to my desktop by clicking "page" and "save as" in my browser bar, now I can click on it anytime and get to work.) Load the sketch with the item(s) of yours that you want to test along with items you have seen on the front page. I started with the photo above because I thought it was so great and I could not understand how so many front pages featuring these colors could get posted and not one of them feature my bag. What I discovered was that while my bag was photogenic, showing it in its entirety was keeping it out of treasuries. There was too much white space and the photo lost all of its punch. After cropping the photo closer, it becomes treasury worthy. Here is a screen shot of the finished sketch. My bag is in the lower left corner.


list of sellers in this sketch in order of appearance: outoftheflames, randomscraps, humbledaisyhandmade, ragnazidnar, livepoultry, petalandpink, thepaintedlily, rachel323, khphillips, debbyaremdesigns, patapri, studiocherie, studiocherie, sagegold, rachel323, elephannie

Using this method, I have discovered that some of my bags need a fresh photo shoot. The last photo in the third row of the poster above is a detail shot of a cute bag, but I am afraid that the fabric is a lot better in person than it is in the photos. This shot might work a little better, but I am afraid it is still too washed out and small for the front page. The door and the brick wall is more interesting than the bag. Can you be brutally honest with yourself? I have to accept that this bag is not front page material and never will be.

Here is another sketch I put together with one of my bags in each row. Each row could be the start of a complete treasury. I think they hold up to scrutiny along side the most popular sellers. So now I don't have to ask if my photos are treasury worthy, I can check them myself.

sellers appearing in this sketch in order of appearance: rachel323, studiocherie, larimeloom, LittleSparrowNest, studiocherie, makool, sherrytruitt, redrubyrose, totusmel, dillondesigns, studiocherie, maryandangelika, paintedmetal, studiocherie, livepoultry, imagesofbeauty