questions for clothes makers
 

I was fortunate that another person who stopped sewing game me permission to use her patterns for the classic harness and tank harness that I make, though I have altered the tank a bit. The nightie, dress and bikini harness I make are my designs from just playing around as are a few other things I have made my girls and decided not to offer for sale.

I personally like working with cotton or cotton/poly fabrics the best. I don't use snaps cause I HATE hand-sewing, but velcro is a pain and really hard on your machine as well.

Everyone is different, but for me I tried to make "standard" sizes that fell into a few categories. For the most part, I like to work with actual measurements to ensure a proper fit - so pretty much everything is custom made.

I haven't yet done a business license. I have been saving receipts and will decide at the end of the year if it is worth doing that or not. It is a pretty simply thing to file as a sole proprietor. With my other business (as a yoga/pilates instrutor) we simply file a Schedule C with our normal taxes.

I use USPS regular mail. For some areas it only takes a day or two, for others it can be longer - but as postal rates keep going up using Priority Mail, UPS or FedEx would just be way too expensive. I start shipping charges at $2.00 and with the new rates, the least amount I pay is $1.18 - so you need to also take into account your envelopes and whatever packing supplies you are using as well.

I don't sell my doggie clothes on Ebay. I tried a few things and it didn't work at that time for me. Ebay fees range depending on how you list an item and what it sells for. Paypal charges are a few cents on the dollar, but it gives you some protection both as a buyer and seller.

Hope this helps.

That's pretty much what I do too... LOL! Thanks for saving me time! The only thing more is that I invested in 'Oscar' a dog mannequinn. He helps me tremendously and I don't have to bother Mitzi all the time. There is a lot of 'trial and error' involved but also a lot of fun!

do a search on the web for tax information as all states vary.

We decided to do an LLC and taxes are quite heavy and you have to pay to license your company. There are companies out there that will handle all the paperwork and it runs about $600 for all this.

For envelopes, buy in bulk, they will save you a lot of $ but you have to put in a lot of upfront fees. Be prepared for huge fees for using credit card companies to accept credit card companies. We used paypal initially but their fees are like 3.5% or something like that. Which totally ads up.

Whatever you do, SAVE all your receipts. It becomes an accounting nightmare if you have to go back in your records, especially if you're dipping into your personal funds to finance the items/materials.

Another thing, it's so worthwhile to pay for the shipping confirmation to track packages, you WILL get inquiries about 'where's my package' and you want to prove it was delivered. Most people on YT never do this, it's other people. We too mostly use USPS....you probably won't run into this problem but shipping is really expensive if a box is larger than 12x12x12. Eg. we ship beds and it runs us at least $30 to ship these things, due to size even though it's lightweight.

If you can't avoid the sticky-backed velcro...
 

I found a solution if you can't avoid the stick-backed velcro: Put a tiny drop of hair clipper oil on the needle ( I do that with a Q-tip...) You have to repeat that every few inches but it works. I use hair clipper oil b/c it has no smell to it. :aimeeyork

Oh... and you also can use side release buckles for closing... I have some right now very, very cheap. PM me if you are interested!

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88466

I like the side release buckles the best. One of the nicest members here gave me instructions on how to put them on.