Hi friends, just a quick reminder that the pursa palooza is starting today over on Sew Sweetness! My post will be coming up fairly quickly (wow, it's tomorrow...that's come around quick!) , so make sure you're ready & waiting for that little gem *wink*.

I couldn't think of a more boring title, but I'm sorry my lovely friends, because today's topic is boring. B.O.R.I.N.G.

If you don't sell your craftware, patterns, hardware etc online, then skip today's post, this will bore you.

Also, if you're not in the EU, skip this post and use the one UK or US one.

I would like you all to know that preparing for today's post almost boiled my brain alive, but I'm writing this post because I don't want anyone else's brain to boil.

I have for you, for free, a set of spreadsheets that will help you work out your profit margin with minimal brain boiling for you. I've done a set for UK, US, & EU. If you're outside of those then you'll need to contact me and I'll tell you how to edit them for your country/currency. Today's post contains the EU sheets.

I've assumed you're using Etsy & Paypal, so the fees are worked out accordingly. I've also added a column to work out your profit margin if you were to discount your items.

These spreadsheets are incredibly useful for keeping track of your stock, and the money you're making on each one, vital if a customer contacts you for a bulk discount. I think you should always be able to give a bulk discount, some of my best customers are those who pay less, because they buy 8 or more strap kits in one sale!

Let's start with talking Paypal fees. 

There are two rates for paypal fees, although the second rate isn't particularly well publicised, it's Micropayments.

Unless you've applied for the micropayments status, you'll be on the regular fee structure which is .9% + 35c per transaction. (Different currencies are coming in other posts).

With the micropayments fee structure you pay a higher percentage of 5% but a lower fixed fee of 5c.

If you're selling something worth €5, this is how the fees differ.

€5 item - regular fees (1.9% + 35c) = 44c fee
€5 item - micropayments (5% + 5c) = 30c fee.

I know it's only 14c difference, but why should you give paypal more than you have to?

The point at which it's economical to be on the micropayments fee structure is for transactions under €10. You can't switch between the two fee structures easily, so make sure most of your transactions are under €10 for it to be worth your while.

€10 item - regular fees (1.9% + 35c) = 54c
€10 item - micropayments (5% + 5c) - 55c

If you want to change to micropayments, you need to call paypal, or submit a help ticket asking to be put onto the micropayments fees, stating that your average transactions are below €10.

Ok, so now you know about fees, download the right spreadsheet for you, either the one with micropayments fees, or regular fees. This is the EU version, if you want the UK or US version, just click those links. The fees are different for different currencies within paypal (Just to make it a bit more complicated!)

Now you've downloaded the spreadsheet, don't be alarmed, it's time to edit it for your needs. Save it somewhere on your computer so you can find it again. Don't forget to save it whenever you walk away from your computer otherwise your hard work will all be gone!

The spreadsheets



My first 3 columns are type, size, colour which relate to the bag hardware I sell. I only use this sheet for keeping track of my hardware stock so where it says qty, that's how I know how many I've got. I keep a track of which size/colour each of my sets are by using a different colour washi tape on the glassine bags I pack them in. If you have different criteria, just click on those boxes and edit the titles. The spreadsheet is set so that as you scroll down, the headers will remain.

Next along is the money side. The important side, but don't worry, I've done the hard work for you. And my very clever brainy younger sister has checked my maths before passing it on to her chartered engineer husband to check HER maths! So don't worry, all you need to do it use it!

The pictures show the UK version, the ones you've just downloaded have the correct fees & currency for your country.


The first numbers column is the sale price. This is how much you're thinking of selling the item for. You can leave that blank for a moment if you'd like. Add on the cost of postage to this. Put in the total sale price of the item + shipping. (If you're offering free shipping just put the total price in)

Next is the cost price. I usually put in the price per item, plus a portion of the shipping. So say I buy 80 triglides, 160 rectangular rings, then I divide the shipping price by 80+160 and that gives me a portion of the shipping to add to the cost price. You can also add other things like packaging, ink, paper, whatever it costs you to produce one ready to sell item.

Regardless of whether you will charge for postage or offer it free within the sale price, pop the price of postage in this next box. You will be charged paypal fees on ALL money you receive, the spreadsheet is set up to work this into your profits. (In theory!)


As you've started entering your numbers, you'll see the fees column change. This will work out how much your fees are per item, based on the prices you've put in. If you haven't decided on a sales price yet, you can look at the fees, and then work out how much you can afford to sell your item for. I'm not going to get into how much you should sell your item for and valuing your work because that's a whole other kettle of fish!

The fees on these spreadsheets are made up of the following
Etsy fees  (3.5% final sale fee  + $0.20 which I've converted into the approximate € fee) + Paypal fees (as discussed previously)

After the fees you'll see your profit column, which will change along with your fees as you start entering data.


The final 3 columns are only if you wish to give a discount. Enter the discount percentage in the discount% column. I.e. if you're offering 10% off, just enter 10.

The fees & profit will change accordingly, showing you whether your sale price is high enough to give a discount. If it's not, I'd recommend changing it so that you CAN offer a discount. Just my personal opinion though!

Is everyone ok with that? Any questions?

I couldn't think of a more boring title, but I'm sorry my lovely friends, because today's topic is boring. B.O.R.I.N.G.

If you don't sell your craftware, patterns, hardware etc online, then skip today's post, this will bore you.

Also, if you're not in the US, pop over to the  UK or EU ones.

I would like you all to know that preparing for today's post almost boiled my brain alive, but I'm writing this post because I don't want anyone else's brain to boil.

I have for you, for free, a set of spreadsheets that will help you work out your profit margin with minimal brain boiling for you. I've done a set for UK, US, & EU. If you're outside of those then you'll need to contact me and I'll tell you how to edit them for your country/currency. Today's post contains the US sheets.

I've assumed you're using Etsy & Paypal, so the fees are worked out accordingly. I've also added a column to work out your profit margin if you were to discount your items.

These spreadsheets are incredibly useful for keeping track of your stock, and the money you're making each one, vital if a customer contacts you for a bulk discount. I think you should always be able to give a bulk discount, some of my best customers are those who pay less, because they buy 8 or more strap kits in one sale!

Let's start with talking Paypal fees. 

There are two rates for paypal fees, although the second rate isn't particularly well publicised, it's Micropayments.

Unless you've applied for the micropayments status, you'll be on the regular fee structure which is 2.9% + 30c per transaction. (Different currencies are coming in other posts).

With the micropayments fee structure you pay a higher percentage of 5% but a lower fixed fee of 5c.

If you're selling something worth $5, this is how the fees differ.

$5 item - regular fees (2.9% + 30c) = 44c fee
$5 item - micropayments (5% + 5c) = 30c fee.

I know it's only 14c difference, but why should you give paypal more than you have to?

The point at which it's economical to be on the micropayments fee structure is for transactions under $12. You can't switch between the two fee structures easily, so make sure most of your transactions are under $10 for it to be worth your while.

$12 item - regular fees (2.9% + 30c) = 65c
$12 item - micropayments (5% + 5c) - 65c

$13 item - regular fees (2.9% + 30c) = 67c
$13 item - micropayments (5% + 5c) - 70c

If you want to change to micropayments, you need to call paypal, or submit a help ticket asking to be put onto the micropayments fees, stating that your average transactions are below $10.

Ok, so now you know about fees, download the right spreadsheet for you, either the one with micropayments fees, or regular fees. This is the US version, if you want the UK or EU version, just click those links. The fees are different for different currencies within paypal (Just to make it a bit more complicated!)

Now you've downloaded the spreadsheet, don't be alarmed, it's time to edit it for your needs. Save it somewhere on your computer so you can find it again. Don't forget to save it whenever you walk away from your computer otherwise your hard work will all be gone!

The spreadsheets



My first 3 columns are type, size, colour which relate to the bag hardware I sell. I only use this sheet for keeping track of my hardware stock so where it says qty, that's how I know how many I've got. I keep a track of which size/colour each of my sets are by using a different colour washi tape on the glassine bags I pack them in. If you have different criteria, just click on those boxes and edit the titles. The spreadsheet is set so that as you scroll down, the headers will remain.

Next along is the money side. The important side, but don't worry, I've done the hard work for you. And my very clever brainy younger sister has checked my maths before passing it on to her chartered engineer husband to check HER maths! So don't worry, all you need to do it use it!

The pictures show the UK version, the ones you've just downloaded have the correct fees & currency for your country.


The first numbers column is the sale price. This is how much you're thinking of selling the item for. You can leave that blank for a moment if you'd like. Add on the cost of postage to this. Put in the total sale price of the item + shipping. (If you're offering free shipping just put the total price in)

Next is the cost price. I usually put in the price per item, plus a portion of the shipping. So say I buy 80 triglides, 160 rectangular rings, then I divide the shipping price by 80+160 and that gives me a portion of the shipping to add to the cost price. You can also add other things like packaging, ink, paper, whatever it costs you to produce one ready to sell item.

Regardless of whether you will charge for postage or offer it free within the sale price, pop the price of postage in this next box. You will be charged paypal fees on ALL money you receive, the spreadsheet is set up to work this into your profits. (In theory!)


As you've started entering your numbers, you'll see the fees column change. This will work out how much your fees are per item, based on the prices you've put in. If you haven't decided on a sales price yet, you can look at the fees, and then work out how much you can afford to sell your item for. I'm not going to get into how much you should sell your item for and valuing your work because that's a whole other kettle of fish!

The fees on these spreadsheets are made up of the following
Etsy fees  (3.5% final sale fee  + 20c) + Paypal fees (as discussed previously)

After the fees you'll see your profit column, which will change along with your fees as you start entering data.


The final 3 columns are only if you wish to give a discount. Enter the discount percentage in the discount% column. I.e. if you're offering 10% off, just enter 10.

The fees & profit will change accordingly, showing you whether your sale price is high enough to give a discount. If it's not, I'd recommend changing it so that you CAN offer a discount. Just my personal opinion though!

Is everyone ok with that? Any questions?

I couldn't think of a more boring title, but I'm sorry my lovely friends, because today's topic is boring. B.O.R.I.N.G.

If you don't sell your craftware, patterns, hardware etc online, then skip today's post, this won't be of much interest to you.

Also, if you're not in the UK, skip this post and pop over to the US or EU ones.

I would like you all to know that preparing for today's post almost boiled my brain alive, but I'm writing this post because I don't want anyone else's brain to boil.

I have for you, for free, a set of spreadsheets that will help you work out your profit margin with minimal brain boiling for you. I've done a set for UK, US, & EU. If you're outside of those then you'll need to contact me and I'll tell you how to edit them for your country/currency. Today's post contains the UK sheets.

I've assumed you're using Etsy & Paypal, so the fees are worked out accordingly. I've also added a column to work out your profit margin if you were to discount your items.

These spreadsheets are incredibly useful for keeping track of your stock, and the money you're making each one, vital if a customer contacts you for a bulk discount. I think you should always be able to give a bulk discount, some of my best customers are those who pay less, because they buy 8 or more strap kits in one sale!

Let's start with talking Paypal fees. 

There are two rates for paypal fees, although the second rate isn't particularly well publicised, it's Micropayments.

Unless you've applied for the micropayments status, you'll be on the regular fee structure which is 3.4% + 20p per transaction. (Different currencies are coming in other posts).

With the micropayments fee structure you pay a higher percentage of 5% but a lower fixed fee of 5p.

If you're selling something worth £5, this is how the fees differ.

£5 item - regular fees (3.4% + 20p) = 37p fee
£5 item - micropayments (5% + 5p) = 30p fee.

I know it's only 7p difference, but why should you give paypal more than you have to?

The point at which it's economical to be on the micropayments fee structure is for transactions under £10. You can't switch between the two fee structures easily, so make sure most of your transactions are under £5 for it to be worth your while.

£10 item - regular fees (3.4% + 20p) = 54p
£10 item - micropayments (5% + 5p) - 55p.

If you want to change to micropayments, you need to call paypal, or submit a help ticket asking to be put onto the micropayments fees, stating that your average transactions are below £10.

Ok, so now you know about fees, download the right spreadsheet for you, either the one with micropayments fees, or regular fees. This is the UK version, if you want the US or EU version, hold on til the later blog post with those in. The fees are different for different currencies within paypal (Just to make it a bit more complicated!)

Now you've downloaded the spreadsheet, don't be alarmed, it's time to edit it for your needs. Save it somewhere on your computer so you can find it again. Don't forget to save it whenever you walk away from your computer otherwise your hard work will all be gone!

The spreadsheets



My first 3 columns are type, size, colour which relate to the bag hardware I sell. I only use this sheet for keeping track of my hardware stock so where it says qty, that's how I know how many I've got. I keep a track of which size/colour each of my sets are by using a different colour washi tape on the glassine bags I pack them in. If you have different criteria, just click on those boxes and edit the titles. The spreadsheet is set so that as you scroll down, the headers will remain.

Next along is the money side. The important side, but don't worry, I've done the hard work for you. And my very clever brainy younger sister has checked my maths before passing it on to her chartered engineer husband to check HER maths! So don't worry, all you need to do it use it!


The first numbers column is the sale price. This is how much you're thinking of selling the item for. You can leave that blank for a moment if you'd like. Add on the cost of postage to this. Put in the total sale price of the item + shipping. (If you're offering free shipping just put the total price in)

Next is the cost price. I usually put in the price per item, plus a portion of the shipping. So say I buy 80 triglides, 160 rectangular rings, then I divide the shipping price by 80+160 and that gives me a portion of the shipping to add to the cost price. You can also add other things like packaging, ink, paper, whatever it costs you to produce one ready to sell item.

Regardless of whether you will charge for postage or offer it free within the sale price, pop the price of postage in this next box. You will be charged paypal fees on ALL money you receive, the spreadsheet is set up to work this into your profits. (In theory!)


As you've started entering your numbers, you'll see the fees column change. This will work out how much your fees are per item, based on the prices you've put in. If you haven't decided on a sales price yet, you can look at the fees, and then work out how much you can afford to sell your item for. I'm not going to get into how much you should sell your item for and valuing your work because that's a whole other kettle of fish!

The fees on these spreadsheets are made up of the following
Etsy fees  (3.5% final sale fee  + 20c which I've converted into pence by an average exchange rate) + Paypal fees (as discussed previously)

After the fees you'll see your profit column, which will change along with your fees as you start entering data.


The final 3 columns are only if you wish to give a discount. Enter the discount percentage in the discount% column. I.e. if you're offering 10% off, just enter 10.

The fees & profit will change accordingly, showing you whether your sale price is high enough to give a discount. If it's not, I'd recommend changing it so that you CAN offer a discount. Just my personal opinion though!

Is everyone ok with that? Any questions?

Friends, there are different reasons that new bag patterns come about. Sometimes it's a design necessitated by function, sometimes it's a feature we want to work around. This time, it was a shockingly bad reason. Since I designed the Bow pleat tote, I really wanted to make a miniature version JUST FOR THE NAME!! Isn't 'Little bow pleat' kinda funny? Like little bow peep!

Anyway, so I made the pattern up, because I'm a sucker for an amusing name, and it turned out that it was really cute. Phew! Panic over! Wouldn't it have been awful if it had a cute name, but looked really bad when made up?

Little bow pleat party purse PDF sewing pattern - £3

This bag uses less than a FQ of outer, much less than a FQ for lining and less than a FQ of fusible fleece. This is perfect for those larger scraps that you've got, but aren't quite as big as a fat quarter.

It's now available for sale in my etsy store and my craftsy store, and I'm here to show you the testers bags. Please try not to drool too much!


Liz from Moments blog chose to insert the ribbon loops inside to allow her to add a chain handle later on.
She top stitched the pleats to keep them crisp, this is a great idea for anyone making this bag out of thicker fabrics, or vinyls which don't pleat too well. I told her it was a bit kinky, what do you think?


Maria ignored (AGAIN!) my suggestion that she might not be able to use upholstery fabric (AGAIN!) and proved me wrong (AGAIN!). One day she might even show us some wonky stitching!


Next up is the 'other Maria'. I also think of her as the polite Maria lol!
(Excuse all the photos, I loved her bag!)


Isn't it neat! I love this pale chambray fabric!


Maria also added ribbon loops for a chain handle. She also added slip pockets, which aren't included in the pattern.


What a cutie!


Next up is a new tester, Marisa from Passion et Couture.


Eeeee!!! I love this bag so much! It's so perfect for autumn, and the bow has a lovely luxury look to it being a bit silky.


I could see this bag in a boutique, for sure!


Next up is Mary, who's used a lovely coppery gold fabric, perfect for an autumn wedding, or a Christmas party!


Does everyone remember Nancy? I've yet to find a neater bag maker, and I'm so lucky she tests my patterns for me. Check this out.

How neat is Nancy's bag!? And I love the purple & gold of those leaves on this beautiful fabric.


Because this bag has the bow sewn separately, you can use it as a lovely little clutch and put your fingers through the bow. If you've got a particularly slim wrist you could pop your whole hand through and cradle the bottom of the bag in your hand.


I'm very, very lucky to have the beautiful & talented Nicole as one of my testers. When I sent through this pattern it turned out that Nicole had two weddings coming up, isn't this a perfect clutch to accompany her to these weddings?


Nicole also made this Cambie dress!!


I do love a good hot pink bag!


Once again Sally has produced a very precise, and beautiful shimmery bag that she could bring with her to work, and to play...I'd feel confident bringing this to a wedding any day!



Susie from Susie's Sunroom was amazed at how much fitted into her tiny bag so she stuffed it full for us to have a look and see what it would hold. It doesn't even look very full!




Unfortunately for Terri her bag was seen. You know what that means? Christmas presents have been demanded, orders put in! I don't blame them for wanting one like Terri's!!



Finally we've got Dee's beautiful little bow pleat. She's just had a blog re-design. I had a 'wow' shock when I popped over just now!



So there we go, that's the little bow pleat. Now this is where it gets confusing.

I'm offering this pattern as part of a discounted price 2 pack with the regular bow pleat tote.


If you've already purchased the Bow pleat tote, please contact me either using the contact seller form on etsy, or below as a comment on this post, or by email (if you've got it) for a discount code to bring the price of the little bow pleat pattern down so that you don't miss out on the discounted pack price. It'll take 1/3 off the price, so if you're in the UK, it'll only be £2!!

So to recap, if you've bought the bow pleat tote pattern, the little bow pleat pattern will be £2 for you, if you haven't bought the bow pleat tote pattern, you can buy both for just £5.

If you've got any questions, please do let me know, I love this little pattern!

Lovely friends, there's one thing I've shied away from on this blog, and that's the people that my husband cares about. Part of me wants to respect his privacy and leave those things for him, personally, and part of me worries that I would never do justice to those whom Dus loves.

One of those people, is his mother, Penelope Jane Hussey (Neé Juby). She was known to everyone as Jane, in fact, I didn't even know her name was Penelope til we were nearly married! (ok, yes, yes, we had only known each other 7 months when we signed on the dotted line). I've mentioned her in brief before when we went to North Wales on our holiday and visited the bench in remembrance of her.

Sometimes I wish she was still here, just so I could know I was doing a good job of looking after her son...of course we all know that really, it's Dus who looks after me! I like to think we'd get on quite well, she was creative, liked homely things, brought Dus up to be possibly the most considerate, and neat man ever to walk the earth!

Well, anyway, to the point. I have the perfect excuse for talking about Jane today on my blog, because we've been so very blessed to receive a charcoal picture that she drew. It was in Dus' Granny's sewing room, and as she's moved now into a home, she invited me to avail myself of her fabric/notions stash. Oh readers, her stash! I was a very lucky lady and made sure to wash & press everything nicely before assimilating it into my stash. Thank you Granny! (I do owe her a miniature book bag backpack though in return!)

In Granny's sewing room sat this picture that I mentioned before, and it's so beautiful. It was drawn by Jane, I have no idea when. We requested it, because we didn't want to just take it, it's still Granny's house after all! This weekend when his sister came to visit, she brought the picture with her, for us, to have.

I'm so very, very grateful to have been given this gift of a picture that I know must have taken so much time and care, and not I've got the perfect excuse to share Jane with you all, by sharing this picture.


Isn't it beautiful? Every time I look at it I imagine some great famous five adventure just about to begin, or in progress! I wish I could have posted it larger, but you have to be able to see other things on your screen!

We're very lucky to also own a couple of other pieces of art from Jane. One is a pencil sketch of a house they lived in, when my husband was a young teenager. It's a home that has influenced him greatly, and his stories will often revolve around Huxloe lodge. So much so that it's got him a bit of a reputation at our church for being a bit posh. While we were all off building dens, Dus was building a bivouac, and shooting the air rifle at the cow in the next field!


Dus' sister gave this to him last Christmas, as it's a view of the back of the house, where Dus' bedroom was.

His room was in that sticky out bit in the middle, by the tree.


It's a beautiful drawing, and I'm so glad that it's dated. While I was only thinking about starting high school, Dus was leaning out of his window shooting cows & flying kites.

Jane wasn't just a skilled artist, she also took photographs and made them into cards. Here's a card she sent to Granny & Granddad from one she took.


We have a lot of things in this house that have meaning for me, and great significance, but until recently, we had very little for Dus to remember his mum, and now we've been gifted a few very important items, which mean so much to Dus, and I love to look at them, and imagine the person that Jane was.