Sewing for Fun and Profit – The Top Sites to Get Great Teddy Bear Sewing Patterns for Free
No other home-based business offers the opportunity to enjoy your work while making a profit more than teddy bear sewing. Teddy bears are liked by almost everyone. In fact,stuffed animal sales, along with the teddy bear,have already passed$1.3 billion in 2006. Maybe your goal is not to build such a large company selling teddy bears, but you can easily build a part-time business with teddy bear sewing and selling them at local flea markets and craft shows.
And to get started, here are a few of my favorite websites that offer free teddy bear sewing patterns.
- www.allfreecrafts.com – How to Make a Panda Teddy Bear Sewing Pattern – A pattern for a panda-ish Teddy Bear
- www.sewing.org – Sew Bear-y Sweet Pumpkin Teddy – A pattern to make a Teddy Bear and his pumpkin
- www.teddybearandfriends.com – 6 inch Teddy Bear – Instructions to make a teeny tiny bear
Large Teddy Bear Sewing Companies that Grew into Big Corporations
There are two different companies in the US that started out with just one person sewing teddy bears, that is now a large corporation. One lady that wanted a toy bear for her son, Barbara Isenberg, started sewing just one bear at a time. You now know that company as the North American Bear Company.
Another person frustrated by the teddy bears available was John Sortino, who set out to bring the bear back to life again. John and his wife started a teddy bear sewing business that turned into the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, of which is the largest teddy bear manufacturer in the country today. See, you can start small scale and stay that way, or move up to the big time.
Getting Started
To start with, it helps if you have sewing skills and love to sew. The business of teddy bear sewing will require love for sewing in order for you to sit and sew for several hours per day. These sewing skills need to be pretty good if you want people to love them enough to buy them.
Basic supplies needed:
Heavy-duty sewing machine that will easily sew fur and other heavy materials
Different sizes of sharp scissors
Many colors of threads to match fabrics
More than one bear pattern
Parts to make movable arms and legs
Business Plan
A marketing plan will be needed in order to share your sewing business with others. This could also be in the form of business cards or brochures from which you sell your teddy bears. The home party plan works for other businesses and will work for yours too to sell to friends and family.
While others are only selling at craft shows you will be covering several venues. Since teddy bears are very easily shipped to other parts of the country or all over the world, because bears pack down well and shipping them for foreign sales would not be hard.
Using your teddy bears as fund raisers is a great way to get your product know as well. These two methods gets your name out there as a artisan with a teddy bear sewing business.
Forums are a great place to learn more about how crafters work their business and it could bring you some customers as well. Participating in forums where you can leave a link to your business is a great way to socialize and gain new customers.
In this article we have presented a way for you to have your own home business. Two great teddy bear manufacturers began as home-based businesses and have grown into multi-million dollar corporations. Now you have the basic information of what supplies you need to get your craft business started and some ideas for marketing. Please search the Internet to find even more information on how to start your craft business at home on a shoestring.
Teddy Bears Paradise really is a Teddy Bears paradise. It has everything from Build a Bear to teddy bear sewing patterns, and so much more. So please drop by Teddy Bears Paradise now at www.iloveyouletsmeet.com. Thank you.