2018 was my first full year of putting some focused thought into income-generating options within the quilting community and industry. (For reference, I started quilting in 2011, and wrote my first patterns in late 2015. My editing and design skills go farther back.) I enjoy reading about income breakdowns from other more professional quilters, so I thought it’d be interesting to show my own.
A few things to be aware of up front:
First and foremost, I have a full-time engineering job. So quilting, at the most, is a side hustle. (You could also argue quite rightfully that it is simply a hobby that happens to make me a bit of money.) The point is that I don’t rely on it for income at all.
That said, I’m quite interested in exploring my options in the quilting community and industry, contributing where I can, and being fairly compensated for my efforts when appropriate.
Thus far, my level of effort in seeking out opportunities has been low to moderate. I’m plugged in to a few specific online communities that are helpful, and have pitched my services a handful of times with a decent success rate. But at the moment I’m not actively trying to increase the amount of paid work I have on my plate.
So! In 2018, my quilting income looked like this:
Let’s break it down, shall we?
Pattern Sales – 3.5%
This is income from online sales of my own patterns, which at the moment is solely through my Craftsy shop. As you can see, it’s not a lot. I have done very little to promote my shop. With the recent changes at Craftsy (now Bluprint), I’m watching cautiously to see how things evolve. I was able to keep my shop and would like to put more effort into it this year, but want to make sure the effort will be worthwhile.
Contract Patterns – 12%
These are patterns I wrote under contract/agreement with another entity; once I’m done with the pattern, it belongs to them (at least for a while). Last year I had 3 of these — a monthly block for the MQG, and two patterns for Craftsy. (One was the tree skirt; the other has not yet been released.)
Editing/Design – 50%
It’s pretty clear that this is where the money is for someone like me, eh? I have a degree in digital media studies, a lot of experience with Adobe products, an engineering degree, and an eye for detail. This has helped me carve out a small niche doing tech editing and various levels of pattern design and writing for others. I enjoy this quite a bit, but also have to be very careful to manage my workload.
Awards – 16%
We’ll call this the “dumb luck” category! I won 1st place in one of the categories at QuiltCon last year, which certainly bolstered my quilting income for the year. But there’s absolutely no guarantee it will ever happen again no matter how hard I may try.
Quilt Sales – 18%
I lumped three things into this category — the sale of my winning QuiltCon entry, the commissioned onesie quilt I made last spring, and a sample that I made for Craftsy to go along with a pattern I wrote in 2017.
Teaching – 0.5%
I taught a single 2-hour class at a local sewing studio. I’d like to do a bit more teaching this year if I can, but at this casual level I don’t expect it to be a significant income source at all.
So that’s it — a breakdown of my “quilting side hustle” last year!
Yvonne from says
Thank you for sharing the breakdown this way!
Gavin says
This is interesting for us non-quilters too 🙂