Etsy Seller Interview with Andreia of LemonYarnCreations

How LemonYarnCreations 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?

My journey on Etsy with Lemon Yarn Creations began in 2017, a couple of years after I picked up crochet as a hobby. I had already been selling some of my crafts among local friends, but then I started getting requests from international people on social media. I thought that would be the perfect moment to expand my business, and Etsy was the right fit for me. At first I focused on handmade crochet plushies (amigurumi), fanart characters, keychains, and others, but I quickly realized what I wanted to pursue was the design aspect of this art form. I now sell digital crochet patterns so people can follow along with my designs and make plushies for themselves.

For me, this move in my business made a lot of sense and also brought a lot of new opportunities for creating fun characters of my own. Digital files may seem easy, but for each crochet pattern in my shop, there’s a huge amount of work behind it. First, there’s the whole creative side of it—finding inspiration, sketching the idea, etc. Then there’s the practical side: having to actually crochet the idea, take pictures for each step, edit every picture, type the pattern, and so on. In the end, you only see a neatly put-together pdf and sometimes don’t realize all the work it took to get there.

Favorite items

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

My favorite listings in my shop are the ones that I've worked the hardest on or have a special meaning for me. When I started designing my own crochet characters, I was unsure if I was making the right choice and if people would even be interested. Then I designed my Hibiscus Sloth, and the amount of love it received really validated it for me. As of now, it is one of my top 3 most-sold patterns ever.

Another design I cherish a lot is Toby the Birthday Turtle, which is my top-selling listing. The pandemic had just started, and I knew I would be spending my birthday at home during lockdown, so I decided to design a character that would be my party guest. I think a lot of people really enjoy this design because of all its fun accessories and the whole birthday aspect of it.

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?

When I opened my shop back in 2017, I think I made my first sale within minutes. As I previously mentioned, I already had a small presence on social media, and the reason I even opened my Etsy shop was to fulfill international requests, so as soon as I made the announcement that it was open, my friends went shopping. Nowadays, I still use social media as a platform to attract new customers to my Etsy shop, as well as a mailing list to send out newsletters for new listings and other important things happening with my business.

Managing LemonYarnCreations 

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?

I’m the only person behind Lemon Yarn Creations, running the whole thing from my home in Portugal. I design each character myself, create the listings, translate some patterns whenever I can, provide customer support, etc. I don’t use any tools or apps to help me run my store; for now, I’ve been able to manage things as they are. Since I only sell digital files, I no longer need to worry about shipping or having enough stock to fulfill orders, which is why this change in my business made sense for me. I get to spend more time designing, which is what I enjoy the most, and less time dealing with shipping issues.

The future of LemonYarnCreations 

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

My goal for my shop is for it to keep growing, not only in sales, which is always nice, but also in the variety of products I offer. I want to keep providing great quality products to my customers while I work on what brings me joy.

Advice for new sellers

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

My advice would be to not get discouraged if you don’t make a large number of sales right away. Everything takes time, and from my experience, your sales will grow as long as you keep promoting your shop on different platforms and keep adding more listings. The more listings you have in your shop, the more people you’ll reach and thus grow your sales.