Etsy Seller Interview with Cindy of PrintPrintPattern

How PrintPrintPattern got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Well over a decade ago, I stumbled across the epic Pokemon cross-stitch pattern of the first generation. It’s a fan-made one that is available for free, and as someone whose first personal gaming purchase was a Gameboy Color with Pokemon Yellow (I was 8 and had saved up forever), I knew I had to give it a try. While stitching the first page, I thought about how I could probably make a pattern like that myself since I used to dabble in pixel art as a teenager, but it took me many more years to actually go for it.

I’m not even sure what finally prompted me to actually give it a try, but I do know I was in university at the time, so it most likely was just some study-avoiding behavior. So in September 2017 I picked a shop name (honestly was just looking for something that was available, not even sure I like the name PrintPrintPattern that much but it has stuck and I think it is fun to say at least), and threw it together some basic branding that I have since changed and made two patterns. One is still in my shop; it’s two clinking wine glasses that eventually led to lots of other drink-related patterns. The other one was Halloween-themed, and I retired it when I rebranded two years later, although now that I think about it, I am not sure why it had to go. Maybe I will bring it back!

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My personal favorites are the tiny samplers; so far, they are almost all drink or food-related, and I just think they are cute and simple to make. Just fun little patterns that you can stitch all together or pick and choose from and stitch individually! I think this might be why they are the top sellers in my shop. I've seen pictures of customers stitching some on towels or bookmarks, and a group even completed one for a self-organized stitch.

The first one I made in this series was the tiny wines, those were an immediate hit (relatively speaking to my shop’s numbers of course) and inspired me to make variations. If I have to choose, though, the bigger pattern featuring all the tiny cocktails is my number one favorite! This is a compilation of four separate patterns about tiny cocktails, but without the names underneath them. There is also a round version that is more suitable to frame in a hoop.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I got my first sale a month after creating my shop and its first two listings. After listing the two patterns, nothing much happened, which is par for the course, I think. But when I posted a picture of my finished test piece to Reddit in r/crossstitch, it led to my first sale! I made sure to follow the subreddit’s rules but was still nervous about linking to my shop for the pattern; I didn’t want to come across as being just there for the self promotion, even though I did of course hope people would be interested. But I didn’t expect anyone to actually buy something, seeing as how my shop was brand new and had zero reviews. I honestly didn’t even expect people to comment either, but everyone was very nice!

It motivated me to create a third pattern, something completely different again that I have since retired, and the next month, in November, I sold one of those and one of the wine glasses I opened my shop with. And that was it for 2017! I sold three patterns and got two five-star reviews, and I was over the moon with those results!

The next year, I added more patterns and started a series of tiny samplers. By now I was selling something every month, but I never really got into marketing my patterns much, so Etsy’s search has been doing most of the heavy lifting there. I always make sure to post my listings on Pinterest via the sharing feature inside the Etsy app, but otherwise, I am not active there. Since the start of 2020, I have actually sold in the double digits every month, which is very lucky since I have also been neglecting my shop since about then. I have been meaning to get back into it, but life has been busy and it’s been tough to get back into the pattern-design flow where I actually complete the entire process.

Managing PrintPrintPattern

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

It is just me, the convenient thing about only selling digital patterns is that I don’t need to take care of any shipping and fulfillment. After creating a listing everything else is automated by Etsy, all I do is make sure to respond to customer messages as quickly as I can. Because of this, I really only use the Etsy app and website. Even if I would get back into the swing of it, most of my time would still go to creating patterns rather than running the shop. Not having to commit time to my shop regularly is pretty ideal for me, but it also means it is easier to neglect it which of course isn’t ideal.

The future of PrintPrintPattern

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

More patterns are definitely the biggest goal. I even feel like I have cheated a bit to get to the number of listings I currently have since there is a full alphabet of letters in there as individual listings that make up about a third of the total. I do have a big list of ideas lying around, so it’s just a matter of committing time and effort to turn those into patterns. It's a bit easier than it sounds since I also always have the goal of creating good patterns. I really take pride in getting reviews that mention the quality of the patterns; it’s good to know the extra effort shows!

I would also like to expand the style of my designs a bit while not looking like some pattern mill that sources the images for their patterns from all over to get a high quantity of listings. Because I enjoy making my designs from scratch, I will definitely keep doing that while experimenting a bit more. Besides, I believe it is possible to have both quality and quantity when it comes to cross-stitch patterns, since lots of shops I look up to have achieved that. It just takes more commitment and dedication than I have had in me so far, especially while having to work a day job to make a living.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

If you are looking to start an Etsy shop, this is probably not the first thing you've read about that. There are loads of opinions out there; some say you need to have a certain amount of products before you get started, while others say you need to get started as soon as possible, even if that means having just one listing. So I think the best thing to do is to go with what resonates with you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach because there isn’t only one way to get where you want to go.

Just about anything you would want to learn can be found online for free; don’t trust anything that promises certain results because that is just not how it works. Unless you get really lucky, it will take time to grow your shop and achieve your personal goals. Even if you do get lucky, it doesn’t mean you are now set for life because there will always be room for improvement and learning.

Personally speaking, I can be a terrible procrastinator for all things creative because I easily feel overwhelmed and like I will never be good enough. So for me, it was key to just get started and maybe not pour my entire heart into it right away. I just tried some relatively easy things to get going, noticed what would stick and what wouldn’t, and reworked things as I learned more. As opposed to wanting to learn all there is before I start, which is what my brain usually wants to do.

I don’t know if I will ever stop struggling with that, but now that I have been reflecting on my Etsy journey so far for this interview, I can’t help but feel a little proud of what I have done so far. And that beats focusing on what I didn’t do or should be doing. Even if you love what you do, that doesn’t mean it will be easy, so try to be kind to yourself.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: My all-time conversion rate is 2%