BEDDING — Inside the Home

One Quilted

Find Your Niche in the Quilting Business; Make and Sell Quilted Accessories

If you want to start a quilting business but don't want to make actual quilts, how about selling quilted accessories?

Quilted accessories include a wide range of products: home d?r, clothing, pet accessories... and more!

In the home d?r category, your business could make and sell quilted potholders and matching aprons with pockets that coordinate with the potholder pattern. You could make and sell quilted oven mitts.

Table runners and mantel drapes are also popular quilted items for the home. Quilted placemats and coasters are also ideas.

For a living room, den, bedroom, dining room or kitchen quilted wall hangings are popular. These can be custom made to coordinate with your client's own interior colors and style.

For a guest room or bathroom, why not quilt covers for a tissue box or photo or mirror frame? Quilted pillowcases are also good sellers.

Take the idea of home d?r to a smaller scale and perhaps your quilting business could be making quilted items for doll houses. Many collectors will pay top dollar to have their dollhouse beds accented with tiny little quilts. Such quilts would also be a niche business for baby dolls. Little girls love their dolls and many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would pay good money to have a special quilt made for a special doll!

Holidays open up a wide range of options for home d?r as well. Keep that in mind if your quilting business will focus on home d?r. Your quilting business could actually focus on holiday items.

Christmas ornaments, stockings, wall hangings, table decorations...the possibilities for that one holiday alone are endless! Imagine if your quilting business focused on all holidays.

For January, quilted d?r featuring snowmen and snowflakes would be popular for the winter theme. February is Valentine's Day. Focus for that holiday would be on quilted items with hearts, cupids, etc. March brings St. Patricks' Day and Spring.

April is Easter, and brings another slew of quilted holiday items to mind. Baskets made from quilted strips of fabric would be gorgeous. Patchwork eggs stuffed to perfection would also be fun items.

May and June bring graduations along with Mother's and Father's days. These months are great for quilted photo frames or scrapbooks with a quilted cover.

July's patriotic theme would be great inspiration for quilted home de'cor as well. August and September sends children (and teachers) back to school. Quilted notebooks, tote bags, pencil cases would be great accessories for those months. Halloween and Thanksgiving also offer endless possibilities for home d&eacutecor, too. Use your imagination!

Quilted apparel could include a number of items as well. Belts and headbands are popular accessories. Quilted jackets are a higher ticket item you could make and sell. You could add small quilt blocks to simple cardigans as pockets. Combine your jackets with a matching quilted cap or tote bag and increase your price accordingly!

Other quilted accessories you could make include cell phone holders, lip gloss pouches, and eye glass cases. Coin purses and wallets are other ideas for quilted accessories. Purses and tote bags are also very popular items that translate nicely into quilted products.

The pet niche can be so much fun. People of all ages love to buy things for their pets. For cats and dogs, quilted carrying cases are good sellers. Pet beds are another top item.

Pet clothing is also very popular. Small dogs generally need the added warmth of a coat in the winter. Quilted coats, jackets and shawls are good sellers for pet clothing. Create a package by including the quilted coat or jacket along with a matching quilted hat.

No matter which niche you choose, any of these areas would offer great sales opportunities for your own quilting business.

About the Author

Penny Halgren
http://www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
Penny has been a quilter for more than 27 years. She enjoys exploring all aspects of quilting and sharing her knowledge with all quilters. If you are looking for an Internet quilting club with a wide variety of resources for all level quilters, check out http://www.TheQuiltingCoach.com .

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 6:15 pm and is filed under bedding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.