How to Earn $ From Sewing and Quilting – Keep it Legit!

This site contains affiliate links from which we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Welcome to Day 3 of How to Earn $ From Sewing and Quilting! Today I am writing a bit about the legal side of things…

I am just skimming over this topic because I am NOT an accountant, nor do I have legal training, or much experience in setting up official businesses.

DH and I have run our own business in Australia, and we had a good accountant, so that is my main tip for you – go find someone who knows what they are doing!

With my earning from sewing and quilting, however, I have never set up an official business because I have always been under the tax free threshold in Australia and in Arabia it was a totally different story!

Every country has different rules. Even within a country there are different laws in different states, councils and shires. So there is no point me trying to go into detail about all of this. What I do want to encourage you to do in this post, is to make sure you do your research and stay legit.

Before DH came back to Arabia two years ago, I was going to set up a business in an actual physical shop. I looked into all the permits I needed for running a shop – a permit for having signs out on the sidewalk, a permit to sell food, a permit to hold classes, a permit to play music…. the list went on and on and on!!!

I saw a business adviser… and I had to decide whether I wanted to start a company, be a sole trader or trade with my own name… my head was spinning! Then DH went back to Arabia and it was all put on hold since I knew I would be joining him eventually.

Depending on what your goal is with earning from your sewing and quilting, you may need to start an official business, or you can stay small and it won’t be a problem. If you want to buy supplies at wholesale prices, however, you will need to register as a business and (in Australia) get an ABN number. Buying wholesale will help a lot with your profits, so look into that aspect as well.

Other areas of staying legit relate to copyright laws with regards to patterns and designs. We’ll look into that within the relevant topics.

My motto in all of this is better safe than sorry… Do your research. Get advice. Go to the professionals…. even if it costs a bit to set up your business, do it, so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Does anyone have advice in this area or anything to add?

PS Please remember I am answering your comments in the comment section below and not via email like I usually do. Sorry for the hassle, but I am hoping this month we can share ideas!

PPS The main page of this series is here along with links to each post for this series.

PPPS You can download the FREE EBOOK of last year’s series, 31 Days of Quilting UFOs HERE!