Although I’ve been stitching dolls and hooking rugs since my kids were little, it’s only been the past few years that I’ve really tried to turn my favorite hobby into a true side income. It’s funny, when I first started out over 20 years ago putting my dolls and pillows in local shops, I never once heard the phrase side hustle, or side gig.
These days though, it seems like everyone I know has some sort of side hustle / side gig. So this year, I’d like to feature a few of the people I know who are not only doing what they love, but making a side income from it was well.
Each month, I will be shining the light on a resource, hobby, or money-making idea. This month’s guest post comes from my friend Zoë. Her story is below.
Hello friends!
Maybe you recognize this face? I’ve shared here before about gardening and there are a few sewing tutorials as well. But,
today let’s talk about my side gig!
My story is 30 years in the making. I began sewing as a young girl, next to my mom as she sewed us our clothes. Well really, my “career” started out as collecting her cast off scraps in a plastic grocery bag and hauling it all over the house, sometimes using the scraps to make doll clothes.
rope bowls By age eight my parents figured it was time to invest in my talents and got me a sewing machine for Christmas. I remember the first garment I sewed: a pair of blue elastic waist pants. Boy was I proud of those things!
first quilt
At age 15 I graduated to quilts. One simple patchwork quilt and I was hooked. I finished my second quilt fresh out of high school while being a nanny in Germany. Then shortly after getting married, to my handsome dairy farmer, I needed a pair of potholders. My fabric stash was slim at that point but I scraped together enough scraps to make my first pair of crazy patch potholders.
first potholders
Several years and a few children later (stay-at-home mom is my main gig!), I wanted an outlet for getting rid of some of the items I was sewing and thus was born my Etsy shop. I sold random sewed items and whole grain baking mixes.
The Rohrer Family: Brad, Zoe, Jada, Tage, Bennet, and Leila
I’ve always been passionate about reducing waste and using what I have on hand to create so most of my materials are thrifted or pulled from the trash. For a couple of years my mom had a part-time job at a local creative reuse store and would bring home bags of fabric for me to shop out of in her living room. This was hugely helpful since shopping with four young children is not exactly my favorite pastime! It aided in the expansion of my fabric stash and made it possible for me to get more creative.
I listed items in my Etsy shop off and on for the next 8 years or so but it wasn’t a dependable venue for me. The fees were adding up and I struggled to gain enough traffic to my shop to make it worthwhile.
Farmall mini quilt Local craft markets did and continue to do well for me. One of my favorite yearly events is a Christmas bazaar a friend of mine hosts and a percentage of the proceeds always goes to help local families in need. What a gift to be able to participate!
Washington Boro Creative Bazaar
But, I couldn’t attend enough markets and I needed to quit listing on Etsy so I began selling through Instagram…my cupboards can only hold so much stuff! While items did sell there, I realized the sales were a little confusing for a lot of potential customers and I began thinking about opening an online shop.
Easter baskets For a while I struggled with the idea of this option. I’m a big fan of real-life connections with people and opening an official online store felt like I was abandoning this ideal. But, I realized people want my products and since Instagram wasn’t cutting it and a brick-and-mortar store is not currently an option financially or logistically, I might as well open an online shop.
potholdersThen there were fears! to overcome. I knew NOTHING about creating a website. I worried it would be a waste of my time (Is this what God wanted me to invest in?) and that it wouldn’t be professional or attractive enough (I’m no web design pro). I spent a lot of time bugging my friend who’s had a shop for several years. She was hugely helpful answering my thousand questions and with the encouragement of my husband, I decided to go for it and here we are today!
www.zoedawnshop.comI’m so grateful I get to stay home with my children, scratch my creative itch, help buy groceries, and give back to our community and local church.
Oh, and bags of scraps still make up about 50 percent of my fabric stash. Old habits die hard, I guess!
Thank you all for reading along and supporting my posts here in Mavis’ corner of the web. You guys are the best!
~ Zoë
Shop: www.zoedawnshop.com
Instagram: @zoedawnshop
Other Posts Written by Zoë
- How to Make a Rope Basket
- Lou Pads Sewing Tutorial
- How to Make Crazy Patch Pot Holders
- Tips and Tricks on Saving Money – Zoe from Lancaster County, PA
- My Friend Zoe From Pennsylvania Sends in Her Summer Garden Photos
- Zoe From Lancaster, Pennsylvania Sends in Her Garden Photos
Tell Us About Your Side Hustle – Get Featured on the Blog – Get a $20 Gift Card to Amazon for Your Story
Do you have a side hustle / side gig you think would appeal to the readers of One Hundred Dollars a Month? If so, we’d love to hear about it and give you a big shout out here on the blog. Here’s how to get paid for your story:
Send in a Minimum of 5 HIGH QUALITY {the more the merrier} photos of your side hustle / side gig and the story of how you got started and why you keep doing it Please do not send in a couple of grainy photos and a sentence about them. I can’t post that. It doesn’t make for an interesting or informative story. If you need a good example of what to write, look to the story above. 🙂
If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them in a blog post on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to Amazon.com. You can send your side hustle / side gig submissions to me at onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {spaces removed} and be sure and put Mavis Mail – Side Hustle in the subject line. Thank you. I’m looking forward to your submissions.
Rebecca in MD says
Zoe, your items are beautiful! I really like that you use so many scrap materials for your items and keep the scraps out of our landfills.
Zoë says
Thanks Rebecca! It’s like a little game only using what I have 🙂
Joanna says
The hanging pin cushions are such a smart idea!
Julie says
Your quilts and such are beautiful, but look at those PRECIOUS children!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
charwelsh says
After reading your article on how you save money, I’d like to plead with you to stop feeding your cats (or dog) chicken bones. They can splinter and cause them major problems!
Mollie says
Zoe, I really like your items as well as your story. This has encouraged me to put my ideas into action! Good luck with everything!!
Zoë Rohrer says
thanks Mollie! go for it 🙂
Audra from Ohio says
Your sewing space is so beautiful! I love it, it must be such a great place to work in.
Christy L says
Zoe- I live about an hour from you and (I think) I have been following on FB the creative reuse store that your mom used to work for. It looks so incredible! Now I have even more incentive to take the drive to Lancaster but my fabric stash really doesn’t need any more at the moment – such problems!
Beautiful items! Keep up the good work.
Zoë Rohrer says
Haha!! I def have the same problem 🙂 It’s Lancaster Creative Reuse. They do update frequently on FB!
Thank you!
Melissa Guzman says
I so enjoyed reading your story Zoe. Such beautiful things! Can you tell me who did your website and who you use for ecommerce processing? I’ve resisted long enough and need to get my side hustle going.
Thank you.