I recently published my second book, and I’m really proud of it. “Sew Cloth Grocery Bags: Make Your Own in Quantity for Yourself, for Gifts, and for Sale” took several years of work, sewing and writing down the instructions as I went, learning two styles of grocery bag manufacturing (“boxed” and “tailored”), teaching myself production […]
If you’re making cloth grocery bags to sell, you need to know your grocery bag competitors. Why should a customer fork over $10 for a cloth bag? You have to be able to make a case for your superior, reusable, locally made in the U.S., cloth, lead-free bags. At the head of the pack of […]
This is the third and final post on how Peschel Press handles selling at art shows, craft fairs, and book festivals. The series starts here then moves on to this post. Be prepared to spend the entire day. It can be exhausting, so be ready for that too, with coffee, aspirin, throat lozenges, sunscreen, snackies, […]
Last week we launched the first post in a three-part series on selling handmade crafts. Although it describes how we sell our books and cloth grocery bags, the best practices are applicable to anything you want to sell. Rehearse the Set-Up and Break-down Be organized. This means packing your car so you take out you […]
I came up with the idea to sew and sell cloth grocery bags because we at Peschel Press wanted a space at the Hershey Winter Arts show (first Saturday in November at the high school if you’re interested in coming out and meeting us). Although we write and self-publish our books (thanks to the miracle […]
I taught myself how to sew grocery bags in quantity. I know there are plenty of things that I have missed or don’t understand. There isn’t much information out there about sewing the same thing over and over, especially for the home seamstress. Patterns assume you’ll only make one item and only one at a […]
We’re nearing the end of the book. This time, we’re going back to the beginning, to explain how Teresa learned to sew cloth grocery bags and the two styles she’ll teach in her book. There’s just two more posts to round out the series: one on Production Sewing and one on Selling Your Bags. Stay […]
If you have a large piece of heavy fabric hiding in the stash, you can turn it into grocery bags. The length and width will determine how many bags you end up with. This is what I did with one of those pieces. I bought this piece of fabric a long, long time ago; I […]
Good panel and gusset layout is critical for getting the most bags from the least amount of yardage. You start by choosing your size panels as they determine how much fabric you will end up using. I always use 13-by-15-inch panels. With their corresponding gusset, they made a nice size bag that isn’t too large […]