Hey I'm a newbie and a man

[saturnus]

Hey All,
I am new to the forum so thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Frankie I live in Croydon in the UK but I'm from Hungary originally. I never done cross stitch, my wife does and I just want to know how it's like. She also try to make her own designs and stuff and she keep asking me why it's so hard to sell a new type of cross stitch and why people still want to cross stitch what they did a hundred years ago. I mean I kind of can see big companies doesn't change that much and have the same sort of things all the time. Not many new ideas around and if there is people ignore it and than saying no one cares when they stitch something as a gift or something. Anyway I can't really answer her and I don't like to see her frustrated. So I just thought I have a look around and maybe I can have some good idea from you what to say.

[Serinde]

Welcome from the West of Scotland! We like to have chaps around, too. And you'll meet a few if you hang around a bit.

Cross stitch design has changed radically since I first began stitching (more years ago than I care to remember). And thank goodness, too. I was never one for "twee"! What sort of designs is your wife looking for in a perfect world? Big? Small? Lots of colours? Monochrome? Fractals? (oh, some of them are wonderful!) Great Masters? We are enablers. We will help you find lots of designs to suit every mood. And perhaps start both your journeys towards other needle crafts. Hardanger, anyone?

[Reta]

Welcome

To me Cross Stitch is a personal thing .. And sometimes over priced

I stitch for charity as no room left on the walls in this house .. And I use mainly free charts

http://www.lovequiltsuk.com/index.php" target="_blank" target="_blank

[rcperryls]

Hello and welcome to the forum from South Carolina! Like Serinde said, we have a few other guys around and are always happy to welcome another. There are all kinds of cross stitching done here from the small and less complicated designs to ones involving lots of colors and blended threads and fractional stitches. Subjects and techniques and wonderful variety. I hope you and your wife will take a look around.

Carole

[Allyn]

Welcome aboard! What a thoughtful, caring husband you are.

I am a long-time stitcher and I sometimes have a hard time finding something different to stitch. I think a lot of (if not most) stitchers go for cute/pretty designs which is why most of the main stream chart-producers cater to that majority. I don't fall into the category. The out-of-the-ordinary designs are out there and cater to a niche customer base. Shops like Unconventional XStitch are more up my alley (https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/UnconventionalX" target="_blank). My favorite category is Horror/Macabre. How many other designers/chart producers have a horror/macabre category?

As far as gift-giving, we've all lamented here on numerous occasions that some folks just don't appreciate hand-crafted gifts. With all the inexpensive, mass-produced gift-items readily available, so few people nowadays understand and appreciate the skill needed to craft these items out of love from the crafter. It's a shame, but we've learned (mostly the hard way) not to bother giving cross stitch as gifts unless we know that person will appreciate it.

[lavenderbee]

Hello & welcome. I have not been doing cross stitching that long but I like to see old designs but also like modern designs. I am not into designing myself but enjoy what others do. Would like to see some of your wife's work & designs . Hope she can find an outlet for her creative side.

[Squirrel]

Hi and Welcome from me too in sunny Queensland where it is slowly warming up. How wonderful of you to do some research to help your lovely wife. I am more of a traditionist and not keen on many of the newer designs but it all depends on who I am stitching an item for as to which design I stitch.

[saturnus]

Thanks Guys:)

I know I'm a caring husband Allyn:) You know I just see that what she does I think they are nice and practical. I mean I try to understand how stitchers think. Like you said you do this horror stuff. I had a look:) Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound arrogant or be horrible but can I ask what you do with them after you finished? Like with the zombie design. I mean I guess it's not on your wall:)
What you said about people don't give a dam about handmade stuff. I think it will change or well I hope. Everyone got 55 000 phone and tablet now so why they are happy for a new one all the time.

lavenderbee: I try to share our link I don't know if I can. Have a look around. The basic idea is about that what Allyn said. She said not many people happy with cross stitch gift. I think they are just need to give them the right one. Like my sister would never put cross stitch on the wall, but when Viki made her a bag what looks cool she was happy with it and she still using it.

Oh well I don't know if it ok but safer, our site is: xstitchcrazy dot com hope it makes sense:)

[HalbertMusik]

Hello from Germany-

Its great to have another guy around. Over the years I have noticed quite a few advantages to doing our hobby as a man, not the least is its serving as a conversation breaker with new people...

You have me curious about these designs that your wife does - please post a link or so when possible.

I find that the people around me who appreciate hand crafts the most are those who themselves have accomplished such - they understand the time committment above all..

William David

[saturnus]

Hey HalbertMusik,

Thanks for your comment. Well my wife point is that to cross stitch things what not really just cross stitch. confusing isn't it:) Basically it's sort of 2 in 1 stuff. Because you do cross stitch it but instead of ends up as a cross stitch it's more likely ends up as a fashion item or so. Like she does tote bags and other things. So when you stitch it you like do your hobby but than you got something usable at the end. The name is above in my previous comment where you can find them or just google house of margaret cross stitch and it comes up. Now I paid so hopefully I'll be able to add links just I don't want to brake the rules until I'm not sure. Plus here I more likely want to learn what people think about them than sell them. I mean I don't want to lie course we want to sell them but also we need feedback from real people who do stitch to see what they think.

Frankie

[Cecilia]

I was just having a look on Etsy and I'm just wondering if she would have more luck selling them as completely finished items rather than kits for people to stitch for themselves.

Also, I looked at Etsy and did a search for "cross stitch tote bags" and, in my personal opinion, the prices she's selling these items for are a bit high in comparison to others I've seen who are selling their fully completed cross stitch patterned bags, and so I think this might put people off as they may think it's cheaper to buy a similar, finished product. It might be worth it trying to sell her kits a bit cheaper to see whether she'd get a better response from potential buyers.

[saturnus]

Hey Cecilia,

Thanks for your response.
With all respect I don't agree. I understand my wife`s kits are seem to be expensive, but all we just try to do are the cross stitch kits what doesn't ends up in a plastic bag or in the drawer. If she finishes it than it's not a cross stitch kit than it's a bag that's handmade. Considering the work/time she puts in making these bags I think they are priceless when finished
I had a look on etsy as well and one witch is quite orange got a tiny line at the top with some cross stitch for twentysomething. Don't get me wrong it's nice for someone who wants just a bag, but we want to sell our kits for stitchers who enjoy stitching as a hobby, but don`t want to stitch a picture to the wall. Considering similar size cross stitch kits, i think they cost around the same, but you also need to consider extra cost with framing etc or you do nothing with them. Most other items I found there as handmade finished, they all come from Asia. Where I think.....handmade is ....well... made by lots of little hands:)
I know I may be sound angry but I'm not and I really do appreciate your opinion but I don't think they are quite the same.

[Allyn]

... Like you said you do this horror stuff. I had a look:) Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound arrogant or be horrible but can I ask what you do with them after you finished? Like with the zombie design. I mean I guess it's not on your wall:)...

Of course it is on my wall. I know those designs are for a niche customer base and definitely not mainstream. My point was, there's something out there for everyone; you just might have to look for it. Folks look at what is in the mainstream offerings and then lament that there's nothing different out there. There is, but you have to look for it.

On an aside note, I didn't say people don't give a damn about handcrafted gifts. I said they don't appreciate them as far as the time, effort and love that goes into making it. Any gift can be unappreciated, especially if it is the wrong gift. Mass-produced gift items have, in my opinion, made people blasé about gifts in general and with so few people that actually craft anymore, the handcrafted gift is not held in high esteem because folks don't appreciate what went into the making. I'm speaking in generalities, of course. Machines can mass-produce embroidered items. When you give a stitched gift to someone who doesn't understand what went into the making of it, that person can assign it the same value as a mass-produced item and so that gift is unappreciated.

The designs in the shop are cute -- a bit pricey, but cute. I wish her luck with it. Does she sell the designs separately? If the kits were less expensive and she had something like sugar-skull designs, it would be more up my alley.

Also, all the prices are in GBP. If she ships outside the area, giving the prices in USD would keep folks on the site shopping. I know when I look at a website and all the prices are non-USD, there is no information about shipping and no USD prices, I leave the site. Why shop there if I can't get the merchandise?

[saturnus]

Hey Allyn,

She is not sort of a skull girl:) They are pricey but it is because of the quality I think. Maybe she should try to find some cheaper bag or something but hard to find out if people want quality or cheap stuff. As I see the to things don't work together even if we want it.
Information about shipping is at the help menu and in the footer. The USD vs GBP think well. Thats a tough one, because currency exchange is moving all the time plus you don't pay VAT here. So even let say we put a currency converter on the page it will say something like not £30 but 46 Dollars. Scary but in reality its nearly 8-10 Dollars less as you don't pay VAT what is around £5 out of the price and comes off at checkout just right now we only can say price including or excluding VAT but we can't change it with the currency.
Anyway thanks for your comments because at least we no where to look around on our site. Thats why I want feedback about it because some stuff we can't change as than it's just not worth it but on some I guess we can experimenting:) Even on the Skulls:)

Frankie

[Allyn]

Sugar skulls. They're very colorful.

Is she getting the bags for bulk wholesale discount prices? That would be the cheapest way to get them so the kits can be as reasonably priced as possible without sacrificing quality. Rather than supply the bag, if the designs are sold separately, or maybe have a kit with a piece of waste canvas and recommendations for the size and type of bag, then let people supply their own bag. Just a thought.

As far as the currency goes, lots of shopping sites have set prices for GBP and USD (and other currencies) and they don't constantly adjust the prices when the rates change. They just set a price and that's what it is. I was just letting you know, as a shopper, what my thoughts are. Information -- like the shipping info -- might be there somewhere, but I'm probably not going to be on the site long enough to find it if I don't see USD prices or an attention-getting banner that tells me you'll ship to my country.

[saturnus]

Hey,

Yeah well I think if you want good quality it's more expensive even if you buy bulk. The very top banner says about international delivery. not US but kind of worldwide. Should it be bigger you think? We will work on this price issue.
I think if we only supply without the bag I think it's actually make it more expensive for the customers at the end. I mean one of the point is to have everything and you just stitch it and ready to go. If you need to buy the bag elsewhere than you pay for the delivery again elsewhere. I think she going to try to sell only the charts as well.
She just don't understand and I don't either. Someone said it should be stitched. Why a stitcher would buy something what don't need to stitch.
What I just try to understand why people rather buy something with aida what they probably will do nothing with than buy something what they actually can use at the end and really unique and handmade but doesn't shout it's handmade like the others. You know like my mam and grandma done stitching and many old women and they all did like tablecloths what's got a purpose. Like they used them for something. I mean I saw her made bags and I saw some with this aida panel at the middle and they don't look that nice in my opinion.
Like people buy those clairebella bags for similar price and yes they are finished items and look great. But in my mind it shouldn't be a punishment for a stitcher you need to stitch if theoretically it's your hobby. It's more like a two in one thing in my head. Like you got a cross stitch kit and a bag for one price. Maybe I'm a weirdo:) And if I was a stitcher I rather would buy something for a bit more expensive if it's good quality than something for cheap. You know if I spent 2 months or so to do it than I would want something what lasts.

[saturnus]

Hey,

I get the currency converter on and the prices excluding vat now. What do you think?

frankie

[Mabel Figworthy]

Hello Frankie and welcome. I like your wife's idea of using her cross stitch on useful items, I just wish more of mine ended up useful !

[Allyn]

I agree that good quality is more expensive; but if you get the bags at a bulk price, as the reseller, you can reduce the price of the kits and still keep your profit margin. Supplying the kit without the bag was just a suggestion. I agree that it could end up being more expensive for the customer in the end, but buyers aren't always thinking that way. If the item is too expensive, you lose impulse sales, and I know lots of folks that will buy two items that cost $30 each, but one item for $50 is too expensive in their mind. Also consider that the customer may already have a bag and is looking for a design for it. I don't stitch kits, so I don't really know what people want. Maybe some folks who do kits can offer some insight on whether they would buy the kit without the bag and then buy the bag separately.

I really like the currency converter. Just that little change makes me feel like I'm welcome to shop there. I don't see the shipping banner, but I don't need to. If you post prices in my currency, I know you'll ship to me. The information block on the home page tells me you ship anywhere, but I spent about 3 seconds on the home page and went right to the shopping pages. I look at the merchandise first. That's how I shop; other folks may do it differently.

You might also want to provide links to your social media sites. Businesses almost have to have a social media presence nowadays.

[saturnus]

Hey,

Thanks Mabel. You still can do them:) just look around on our page:)

Allyn I'm glad you like the converter:) The bags right now the cheapest what we can buy right now. The other thing is we use dmc threads in every kit and I know that Viki won't change it because we could buy cheaper stuff but she says they are often really bad quality, plus we give plenty of it as lots of kits got just not enough in it and she says it needs to be enough. But we thinking about to do a cheaper range with like bit smaller bags and charts. To be far it's shouldn't be a problem to sell the same woman more than one. I mean if they are like my wife than they have hundreds of bags and shoes:) Kind of never ending story:)
The social media icons at the footer. I think nowdays it's not good to be to pushy with those. And of course you can share every product page on nearly every social media sites.
We thought about that to sell only the bags and than you can stitch on whatever you want to plus the designs separately. We will see...