Etsy Seller Interview with Mila of VelvetPonyDesign

How VelvetPonyDesign 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?

I’m Mila Koira, the founder and owner of Velvet Pony. I started selling on Etsy in 2016. At that moment, I was an office worker and cross-stitching was just a hobby. One day, I asked myself what my dream occupation was, and the answer was: to stitch and get paid. It sounded pretty silly at first, but once I came across Etsy and did some research, I understood that my dreams could come true. So I decided to sell cross stitch patterns.

My husband (he’s a graphic designer and illustrator) helped me create my first designs. I stitched them and they turned out quite nice. We’ve taken some amateur photos of the finished samples (very lousy ones, if truth be told) and posted a few listings. My first designs were geometric animal portraits. Some of them are still for sale and are quite popular.

All of the Velvet Pony designs are designed by me with a little help from my husband. He’s way more into graphic software, so he helps me a lot with the sketches. I transfer the sketches into patterns, pick the threads and stitch the samples. That’s how we have worked since day one. Nothing has changed :)

Favorite items

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

My favorite products are geometric animal portraits, especially the Fox (one of the top selling designs), the Giraffe, and the Leopard (these ones aren’t that big but still very popular). I also like the Animal Silhouette series, which is super popular now, and some of the floral patterns, like the Floral Heart.

I think these designs are selling well because they are unusual and don’t look like a "classic cross stitch" kind of thing. Another important reason is that my patterns are good for both skilled stitchers and beginners; they’re neither primitive nor extremely big and complicated.

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?

As far as I remember, I did my first sales in about a week after the shop opened. The sales were growing gradually, so it took me at least half a year to get some sort of a stable income from the shop.

I have an Instagram account, which helps me attract customers. There are 25K subs and some of them are my regular customers. I also use Pinterest to share some of my artwork, which occasionally brings new customers to my shop. About a month ago, I started posting some clips with my embroidery and cross-stitch tips to my TikTok. I have no idea how it should work, but it seems to be fun though :)

Managing VelvetPonyDesign

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?

My husband and I do most of the work ourselves. He helps me with the sketches and all the design stuff (graphic materials, video and photo editing, etc.). I design the charts, stitch the samples and make the listings. I’m also in charge of social media and customer service.

We use Adobe Illustrator to create the sketches, Adobe Photoshop to edit the photos, MacStitch and PatternMaker to create the charts, Adobe Premier Rush for video editing, and Canva for Pinterest. We use some other tools from time to time, but these are the main ones!

Some time ago, we put a lot of effort into selling complete embroidery kits, and there was a lot of work involved in packing the parcels and shipping them. Nowadays, we are focused on digital products because we’ve started traveling and living a tech nomad lifestyle. We still have some physical items in the shop. They are shipping from a warehouse in the US.

The future of VelvetPonyDesign 

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

I’d like to get into some other crafts, like crocheting and satin stitching. Also, we’re going to enter some other platforms and marketplaces to increase and widen the audience and diversify the sources of income.

Advice for new sellers

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

My first and main advice is to be patient and don’t expect instant results! Keep on improving your products and use as many tools to reach the audience as you can handle. Don’t be afraid of trying something new; sometimes good things come from an unexpected source.

Things are constantly changing on Etsy, so keep an eye on the updates. What worked a year ago could be completely useless today. Search terms, trends, advertising conditions—you definitely need to know how it works at the moment.

Good customer service is also crucial! Be helpful, be patient, and be nice.