Handmades are human-made
CraftDoodling Designs News, other updates etc.
I recently came across an online conversation where someone declared they would learn knitting in the New Year 2025. Their reason? They found the price of a hand-knit cardigan on Etsy outrageously high.🤷🏽
This sparked quite the discussion online, but it also took me back to my own days of selling handmade items. Pricing handmade goods has always been a tricky subject for me. Sure, there’s plenty of advice and “formulas” for pricing handmades, and every crafter who sells their work eventually develops their own system. 💸
But today, I’d like to share some insights from my own experience. Whether you’re in the handmade market as a buyer or seller, I hope you find this helpful.🩵
Handmades are not fast, cheap or optimizable
We often talk about AI 🤖 and social media’s growing influence on our lives. We are concerned about the survival of human made art in the wake of AI imaging. This isn’t the first time technology has challenged handmade crafts. Industrialization did the same, prioritizing speed, cost-effectiveness, and “optimization.”
New technologies promise to make life more comfortable, but they often redefine how we value time and effort. With factories churning out products at an unprecedented pace, it’s easy to forget the value of human touch in making.
When valuing a handmade item, it is crucial to unlearn what you know about the cost of a similar store-bought item. Comparing factory-made goods to handmade creations is a disservice to both.
For one thing, hand making cannot be optimized beyond what is humanly possible and that is a good thing ! A great thing indeed. Because handmade items represent humanity in ways machines never can. Now, more than ever, is the time to embrace and support hand-making.
Handmades are human-made
Hand-making or art making is a uniquely human thing.
It is not merely shaping a finished object out of the given raw materials. The act of hand-making also captures the makers’ thought, attention, effort and a general love for the world.
Think of an artwork in a museum whose history is carefully retold - our hand mades deserve that kind of gentle adoration too! They have a context, time and story attached to them even as they are being made and it only grows with time on a well made item.
Recently, I ordered a handmade coffee table on Etsy. The shop owner emailed to explain a delay due to snowy weather affecting his workshop. He even asked about my family’s safety since I live in the Bay Area. (Thankfully, we were not affected.) His thoughtfulness added a personal touch to the experience, and I’m already certain this table will become a cherished part of our home.🏠
The time taken is part of the magic
Handmade items take time—and that’s part of their magic. When you buy handmade, you’re purchasing the time someone dedicated to honing their craft, creating something unique, and bringing beauty into the world. It’s time you don’t need to spend learning the skill yourself, and it’s time the maker could have spent elsewhere. 🕰️
Would you like to share about a handmade that you recently bought, sold, received or gifted? I’d love to listen to your stories.🩵
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CRAFTDOODLING DESIGNS UPDATES
Mika Vest is currently under test. Some testers are nearly finished and some testers are actually about to start. I have the test schedule quite flexible because I had to start it during the holidays. If anyone is still interested, I have spots open on Sizes 5 - 9. Please let me know!
Ceremonial Grade Cowl is currently under test as well. I have been working on additional video resources for the pattern this week. T
This pattern is part of the BayArea Yarn Crawl Make Along and is slated to be released on Jan 30th alongside two other cowl designs by designers Kira and Ksenia. Please keep an eye out!
If you haven’t already, grab your free ticket to the Knit Happy Summit! here.
There are presentations by designers and teachers from Jan 23-26th and I am SO EXCITED to be one of the participants. 🎉
These presentations are very focussed and designed to take your knitting skills to the next level. They are free to watch for 48 hours. Apart from the presentations, there are live sessions, freebies, VIP perks and much more. Be sure to check the summit schedule and mark your calendars, so you don’t miss any of those!🗓️
If you make a purchase at the summit, I’ll earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support. 💙
OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE
READING UPDATES
Finished Reading 📖
Golden Hour - Beatriz Williams
Currently Reading 📖
Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow
Until next time,
Kavitha. ♡
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Nice post Kavitha. I think one could write a book about how differently we humans think about handmade items. We are all over the map as to how we regard them! One person looks at say, an Irish knit cardigan and loves it and wears it for years, Another person has no interest in it at all. This is also true for high-end machine knits. Some people love them when they buy them, but do little to care for them. While others give these garments a good deal of love and attention to keep them looking their best. I have often smiled at the very American style of jeans with holes top with an ultra beautiful knit!
Along time ago, in a land far away, I made many art sweaters. Big hand knit sweaters were VERY popular! Everyone including big name celebrities were wearing them. Mine were usually commissioned for individuals with agreed upon designs and costs. Yarn was much less costly then and as the sweaters were each unique and in demand, I could charge a good bit. It was quite different from today. when the cost of yarn impacts the overall cost of any hand-made knit. I would suggest to anyone thinking of making handcrafts for sale, to stick to smaller items initially. Things like hats, scarves and Christmas stockings. Where you live will determine what is popular. In a warm climate you might do better making handbags! It is important to have your buyer in mind for whatever you are creating. You need to know your market. It could be baby
items and children's clothes!?! Otherwise, your items may not be seen no matter how beautiful they turn out. An interesting side business if you like finishing knits, is to offer to put other knitter's sweaters together for them. Always good to have pieces you have done as examples. And give yourself plenty of time. It is okay to pay yourself well. You are working with someone else's knit pieces which can be challenging.
I knit and make mostly for me, not for sale, very VERY rarely to order (it tends to be when it's a pattern I'd like to do for me so I'm effectively doing a test knit for someone else 😂)
In summer 2020, I made a blanket for a friend. It is her comfort, her safety; it goes with her when she travels to visit family. Everyone in the family loves it but it is absolutely hers. I used a lot of stash, but also bought several balls to get the effect I wanted. Yes: I knitted a super chunky blanket in the warm summer of 2020 when we were largely isolated and stuck indoors 😂🤦🏻♀️ But the love in every stitch brings me so much delight whenever my friend says "I'm going under my blanket", whether that's for comfort, solace, or warmth on a cold day. The best investment is in love, whether for ourselves or those we love.
To those of you who craft as art of your living, career or income, I salute what you do!