Needlework is a business like any other, but there seems to be a shortage of information about this topic.

Because information seems to be guarded more carefully than the gold at Fort Knox, I decided to write a book! This book, titled Handbook for Needlework Teachers: An Experienced Teacher's Advice, is specifically for needlework teachers. You'll find "insider info" and practical advice for just about anything to do with teaching at a festival. If you've read any of my work in Just CrossStitch, you know that I am nothing if not thorough! Partial contents list here. Contact me for more information.

In the files below, anything that is the work of another is clearly identified; please contact that person for reprint permission or other use of his/her work. I am unable to authorize it. For reprinting my work, please contact me.

Ethics

• Business Ethics
• Copyright and Needlework

Teaching

• Are You Qualified to Teach at a National Show?
• Tips for In-Class Teaching
• Teaching Needlework to Children

Kitting

• Kitting for Needlework Classes
• Writing Stitch Directions for Class Kits
• The Number of Beads in a Package

Stitch Diagrams

• Drawing Stitch Diagrams for the Stitch Directions

Marketing and Sales of Needlework Classes

• Designing a Class and Project That Will Sell at a National Needlework Festival
• Writing a Class Description for a Festival Brochure
• Photographing Your Models
• Pricing Your Kits and Leaflets
• What Types of Classes Do Needlework Students Want? and Should Needlework Teachers Use Kits?

Color and Design in Needlework

• excellent compendium on color and design; many links
• synopsis of color theory
• more color theory
• why color matters
• DMC floss colors expressed in RGB values
• a quilt made of "morphing" RGB values

Conversion Charts

• DMC floss to Anchor floss - JP Coats floss - Marlitt rayon - Medicis wool - Au Ver à Soie silk
• Mill Hill beads to Anchor floss and DMC floss
• another Mill Hill to DMC floss and Anchor floss
• Anchor to DMC
• Danish Flower Thread to DMC Flower Thread and DMC floss
• DMC floss to Ginny Thompson Flower Thread
• Weeks Dye Works to DMC
• DMC floss by color name and number
• Kreinik metallics by color name and number
• other conversions to/from various threads are available as part of the RCTN FAQ

Advertising, Promotion, and Business Practices

• Legal Form of Your Business
• Why Business Cards Are Important and How to Use Them
• Choosing a Web Host for Your Needlework Business
• Freebie Charts for Needlework Groups' Newsletters and Shops
• Teaching a Class in Your Shop
  • Planning
  • More Planning
  • Selecting the Design and the Teacher
  • Making the Kit
  • Writing the Directions

Trade Shows and Stitch Festivals

• About Needlework Industry Trade Shows . This file began life as "Having an Exhibitor's Booth at Industry Wholesale Shows," by Ken Davis, creator of EasyGrapher charting software and Stitch Wiz stitch-diagramming software. I then "collected" even more information on this topic for you.
• Booth Fees at Industry Wholesale and Consumer Shows by Lula Chang of Wooly Dream Needlepoint Design
• Attending Needlework Industry Trade Shows as a Shop Owner or Other Buyer by Carol Bromund
• Help for Tired Feet

Publishing and Selling Your Needlework Designs

• some information on submitting a design to a magazine
• in "Selling Your Own Needlework Designs," Larry Johnson of Yarn Tree, a needlework materials distributor, discusses selling designs direct or through distributors, trade shows, and selling to magazines
• an editor of now-defunct McCall's Needlework discusses production schedules and decision-making at her needlework magazine in an article at Lois Caron's site
• in an e-mail to me, designer Deb Bergmann notes that she has enjoyed working with Judy Stein of Yarn Tree/Imaginating.

Finances and Taxes

• Estimating Business Expenses in a Needlework Business
  
• Maximizing Your Take-Home Pay in a Needlework Business with a Schedule C
• Tax Help from the IRS
  
• Estimated Tax Payments