Thread: Just starting out making costumes and jewelry - would like some advice

A few months ago I started a website on weebly.com showing some of my costumes that I have made along with some jewelry and other crochet items. I haven't had any sales other than locally and was wondering if I could get some advice on how to improve not only my costumes, but my website and also on how to get more exposure.

Unfortunately I am an unemployed stay at home grandmother so I have non-existent funds in order to do any advertising. Afraid I might be a hopeless case but I feel strongly about my skills with the crochet hook and felt that my new love for belly dancing would be compatible with my crocheting skills.

My website is bellycrochet.weebly.com and I have a page on FB called Belly Crochet. Any and all comments and advice will be greatly appreciated.

You might want to set up an Etsy shop- you can still do this website & link it, but Etsy already has an audience looking for handmade items.

I would put the price separate from the rest of the text and in bold- right now you have to pick it out from the rest of the text.

Another thing I wanted to know right off was what kind of yarn you are using- I really like the smoother, less bulky threads & yarns for BD gear (tho the fuzzy fuschia set is cute!)

Are the bras lined? it didn't say on the site, but I'd definitely want a layer of cotton between me and the bra, to reduce chafing as well as to keep the crochet section cleaner. (given my size, I'd have to sew in bra cups anyway!)

love the gauntlets. upper arm bands with coins/beads/paillettes would also be appealing, if you feel so inclined.

Originally Posted by Lara L

You might want to set up an Etsy shop- you can still do this website & link it, but Etsy already has an audience looking for handmade items.

I would put the price separate from the rest of the text and in bold- right now you have to pick it out from the rest of the text.

Another thing I wanted to know right off was what kind of yarn you are using- I really like the smoother, less bulky threads & yarns for BD gear (tho the fuzzy fuschia set is cute!)

Are the bras lined? it didn't say on the site, but I'd definitely want a layer of cotton between me and the bra, to reduce chafing as well as to keep the crochet section cleaner. (given my size, I'd have to sew in bra cups anyway!)

love the gauntlets. upper arm bands with coins/beads/paillettes would also be appealing, if you feel so inclined.

Thank you for your advice! Marvelous! - the yarn I'm currently using is 100% acrylic. I saw some very interesting yarn at Hobby Lobby which is glitter yarn -

The bras are lined with 100% cotton fabric. I use fabric glue to hold the cotton fabric in place and discovered that when it dried, it kind of left the cups molded! My daughter-in-law is a cup size D and she tried on the blue one with the gold beads.... I'll have to ask her how it felt and did it hold her up - right now she is recovering from giving birth to my 8th grandchild yesterday so will have to wait for a "testimonial" from her!

I will have to play around with inserting bra cups for the larger sizes.....

I was thinking about how to do upper arm bands - should they be tied or use elastic? Tying might be difficult to do by oneself ...... hmmmmm?

Originally Posted by Jaddah

Thank you for your advice! Marvelous! - the yarn I'm currently using is 100% acrylic. I saw some very interesting yarn at Hobby Lobby which is glitter yarn -

The bras are lined with 100% cotton fabric. I use fabric glue to hold the cotton fabric in place and discovered that when it dried, it kind of left the cups molded! My daughter-in-law is a cup size D and she tried on the blue one with the gold beads.... I'll have to ask her how it felt and did it hold her up - right now she is recovering from giving birth to my 8th grandchild yesterday so will have to wait for a "testimonial" from her!

I will have to play around with inserting bra cups for the larger sizes.....

I was thinking about how to do upper arm bands - should they be tied or use elastic? Tying might be difficult to do by oneself ...... hmmmmm?

I was wondering more about the thickness & texture of the yarn- don't want to look like I kidnapped the baby's blanket, lol! Not really sure how to communicate that online.

I rehabilitated an old set of gauntlets by weaving elastic thread into the top few rows and it held up pretty well. you could probably just crochet that in when you are making it. What kind of glue are you using? Eileen's craft glue holds up pretty well to sweat and is a good stiffener as well. I used to use glue to stiffen bra cups, but they would need to be reshaped periodically, depending on how much I sweat. Now there are some nice heavy duty fabrics available like pellon and fosshape that don't deform so much.

Originally Posted by Lara L

I was wondering more about the thickness & texture of the yarn- don't want to look like I kidnapped the baby's blanket, lol! Not really sure how to communicate that online.

I rehabilitated an old set of gauntlets by weaving elastic thread into the top few rows and it held up pretty well. you could probably just crochet that in when you are making it. What kind of glue are you using? Eileen's craft glue holds up pretty well to sweat and is a good stiffener as well. I used to use glue to stiffen bra cups, but they would need to be reshaped periodically, depending on how much I sweat. Now there are some nice heavy duty fabrics available like pellon and fosshape that don't deform so much.

Ah, yes! Sorry about that - it's worsted weight - it's not too heavy or bulky - it's probably the most used weight of yarn - baby weight or sports weight yarn might not be thick/heavy enough to give any support and might stretch out more than the worsted weight which is why I went with that.

Not sure what the brand name is on the fabric glue but I get it at Walmart. That is an idea with the pellon tho - use that with the fabric glue and the 100% cotton fabric and you wouldn't have to worry about bra cups! Thank you!

And the idea of the gauntlets/arm bands would be great - for the arm bands I would use crochet thread rather than yarn - lot cooler! I'm trying to find a turkish vest pattern that I could use to translate that into crochet - they have some nice metallic crochet thread that would look nice....

I do appreciate your comments - you have given me some things to think about and to try! God bless ya! As Dilara Sultan would say - Hugs and shimmies!

Originally Posted by Jaddah

Ah, yes! Sorry about that - it's worsted weight - it's not too heavy or bulky - it's probably the most used weight of yarn - baby weight or sports weight yarn might not be thick/heavy enough to give any support and might stretch out more than the worsted weight which is why I went with that.

Not sure what the brand name is on the fabric glue but I get it at Walmart. That is an idea with the pellon tho - use that with the fabric glue and the 100% cotton fabric and you wouldn't have to worry about bra cups! Thank you!

And the idea of the gauntlets/arm bands would be great - for the arm bands I would use crochet thread rather than yarn - lot cooler! I'm trying to find a turkish vest pattern that I could use to translate that into crochet - they have some nice metallic crochet thread that would look nice....

I do appreciate your comments - you have given me some things to think about and to try! God bless ya! As Dilara Sultan would say - Hugs and shimmies!

crochet thread is probably what I was thinking of- I have a crochet hip scarf I love, but it's hard to describe what it's made of!

A crochet Turkish vest would be fabulous! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy to help enable a fellow costume junkie!

Originally Posted by Lara L

crochet thread is probably what I was thinking of- I have a crochet hip scarf I love, but it's hard to describe what it's made of!

A crochet Turkish vest would be fabulous! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy to help enable a fellow costume junkie!

I like crochet thread! My grandmother taught me to crochet many many moons ago and she did a lot of doilies and the like..... I did a hip scarf in crochet thread with gold colored size 6/0 seed beads - took me awhile to make that one! I've got it on the site.

Thanks again for the advice - can't wait to get my hands on some new yarn and get going! Right now I'm working on some bracelets in crochet and seed beads - they turn out like ropes...

May I trouble you for advice on the jewelry? Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by SandArnolds

Try to do some link building and backlinking. If you dont know how to do that, better hire an expert seo to work for your site.

I guess hiring some seo expert is a little costly.

Originally Posted by Jaddah

I like crochet thread! My grandmother taught me to crochet many many moons ago and she did a lot of doilies and the like..... I did a hip scarf in crochet thread with gold colored size 6/0 seed beads - took me awhile to make that one! I've got it on the site.

Thanks again for the advice - can't wait to get my hands on some new yarn and get going! Right now I'm working on some bracelets in crochet and seed beads - they turn out like ropes...

I think a crochet thread size (like size 3 thread) might turn out better for beaded items than the worsted weight acrylic yarn. Personally, I find acrylic to be itchy; it also doesn't wash the way I like it, can snag and become fuzzy.

I have purchased bamboo crochet thread from crochetgal on Etsy and been very satisfied with her prices and service. (Can't see the right link button right now -- hope this comes through affordable yarns soap dishes wearable art mannequins by crochetgal )

The Egyptian style crocheted hipscarves that I have are made with a silky, slippery thread, about the thickness of size 3 crochet thread. I love them with pailettes or beads.

Elastic at the top of gauntlets would be good. I'm not dexterous enough to tie them on myself, plus a good elastic can do a better job of keeping things up than yarn, which has a bit of inherent stretch. Check out swimwear elastic, for optimum sweat-proofing.
:)

aloha, if you could at least break even on ebay for a while without overworking yourself, it's excellent exposure if you use the right keywords. even if it ends up costing you more at first, ebay has high fees but I started Home - Divine Dancing Silks and Island Wear there in 2000 and it helped me build a worldwide customer base

Dang, you really do some good crochet work. And I like how your site has the various inspirational pictures in each section.

I agree that you might try etsy. I go there when looking for handmade stuff.

Thank you all for your excellent advice. I will try ebay/etsy and also use size 3 crochet thread. I've also found a nice soft yarn from Caron which I'll be trying out as well.