How TatraCottage 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?
Tatra Cottage started a long time ago when I used to paint flower pots, then design laser-cut decorations, and now design my own seamless patterns for fabrics. I used to be a full-time graphic designer, but now I have 2 gorgeous boys who are the inspirations behind my designs. I work from home when the baby sleeps and my other boy is at school. I discovered handmade baby clothes shops that sell very well on Instagram when I first got pregnant. Their fabrics were absolutely fantastic, so my addiction started with dressing my boys in handmade clothes too. I was doing laser-cut decorations then, but one of the shops asked me to design their new collection, a scene with watercolor deer and bears, and they loved it. So I decided to try this, and I opened up a new Instagram page called Tatra Cottage Designs, started designing my very own seamless patterns for fabrics, and uploaded them to Etsy too. Now that I have over 200 designs, I wouldn’t look back.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
One of my favorite designs in my shop is Buddy the Duck in Wellies. This is one of the first designs that I painted in watercolor, and I can’t believe that it’s still going strong and is still my best seller. I get tagged in Buddy Makes every day, and it just makes me happy to see all those beautiful kids in my design 😊 Now I have a few more series of Buddy Duck, particularly the autumn version of him, which was very popular too.
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?
This is a tricky question because my first sale was a wooden decoration with personalized text, and it sold within a week. But regarding pattern designs, it was within a few minutes that I posted the listing, but because people knew about it, I advertise a lot on my social media, mostly Instagram. Then I became a part of several handmade clothing groups on Facebook where I posted about special offers and new designs, and now I have my own Facebook group called Tatra Cottage Makes VIP where people show us their makes and sometimes add links to the listings.
Managing TatraCottage
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?
This is not really applicable to me as I don’t ship orders. I look after my shop’s listings. As they are digital products, people get their download links automatically from Etsy after their purchase, but some patterns are too large to upload to Etsy, so we host them on our own server, which my husband helps me with. I don’t use many tools; it’s just my watercolor drawings, which I edit in Photoshop and make into patterns.
The future of TatraCottage
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
My goal is to paint more designs that people will love. More of Buddy’s adventures, and hopefully I can see my listings on the first page of the search one day.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Be unique, and don’t be scared. Make sure your titles and tags have keywords in them so people can find you, and if you don’t get a sale soon, then don’t give up. It doesn't mean you're not good enough; it simply means that no one has discovered your shop yet. Change tags and titles, perhaps photos, and stay positive, as positive thinking attracts positive outcomes.
TatraCottage
Surface Seamless Patterns & Graphic Design
