I love getting craft catalogs in the mail. It is tough to resist the temptation of books, yarns, and new patterns. However, it is always interesting to see what I may have missed in my journeys around the Internet.
Recently I was reminded that these catalogs provide temptations that should be researched for significant cost savings. Mary Maxim offers some beautiful doll, stuffed animal, and holiday kits. I have purchased a few of the holiday kits, mostly on clearance, but this year I splurged and bought, two prior to the post holiday sales. I generally avoid the kits. While I love the Mary Maxim yarn, it is generally more expensive without a real value added to most of the toy projects I make. The additional cost of the yarn does not really increase the enjoyment of the toy or doll clothes and they have not been shown to last longer in my experiments. In addition, the doll kits come with the dolls. The children I am making doll clothes for already have the 18" dolls and I can buy dolls to donate with coupons at AC Moore for significantly less money. Getting a doll with the kit is not an advantage.
However, some of those doll patterns are so adorable and I have been left tempted to buy the kits on clearance even though they are still more than I would normally pay for a doll pattern. Then I saw the bunnies. The last catalog had Esther and Ernie Bunny with their baby bunny. It was an adorable pattern, but there was no way I would pay close to $37 plus shipping for a stuffed animal kit. While I found the pattern cute, the colors were not as appealing. Then I remembered previous pattern hunting lessons. Google is your friend. Mary Maxim and others get their kit pattern from designers who also sell their patterns. Sometimes those patterns are available right away. Other times you have to wait for the designers to release them on their own sites. Mary Maxim rarely tells you the designer’s name, but with the pattern name, you can begin a search. The names are generally kept consistent. Searching would cost me nothing but time. Sure enough one of my favorite pattern places, Maggie's Crochet, had the Ernie and Esther pattern available for $7.99. While I was there, I found a doll pattern I had been previously been tempted to buy the doll kit on clearance at Mary Maxim and a few other doll patterns I had thought about buying through Annie's Attic.
If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:
Hello Kitty
Crochet and Knit Puppets
Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns
Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys
Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls
Knit and Crochet Toys
Dinosaurs and Dragons
Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes
Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food
Valentines
Easter
Graduation
Patriotic
Halloween Page
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Pictures may not be used without permission.
Very great ideas on how to save money on buying craft items. I have learned that you can really get some great deals online. The best part is sometimes you can find some great patterns for free.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is full of free Internet patterns. I started collecting them for family and then articles I was writing. There are wonderful people who share their talents for writing patterns for free with others.
ReplyDeleteI do respect people need to make money from their gifts which is why I do buy patterns, too. When possible I try to buy direct hoping the designer or at least the original publisher gets to keep more of what they make.
When I was digital scrapbooking, I found some great deals on digital supplies. I also came across free kits that people would give away. The internet is a great source for all kinds of supplies. No doubt about it.
ReplyDelete