
Yesterday, I told you the story of Evelyn, who hand-knitted a multitude of tiny stocking caps before she passed away. I bought them at a church rummage sale, from a woman who seemed very disrespectful toward Evelyn.
And now I’m trying to sell these very tiny handmade stocking caps in a way that honors Evelyn’s hard work. When I say “very tiny,” this is what I mean:

To read the earlier blog post about the origin of these stocking caps, please click here.
In brief, I don’t know what Evelyn intended for these little stocking caps, but I’m sure she had some kind of craft project in mind.
Maybe she wanted to make them for little snowmen that she could give away to friends at Christmas. Or maybe she wanted to make them into Christmas tree ornaments. I honestly don’t know.

But I want to honor her memory by making sure these tiny, hand-knitted stocking caps go to people who will truly enjoy them.
Today’s blog post is an opportunity for you, my regular followers, to help me brainstorm ways to sell these tiny stocking caps in my online store.
First, what are they worth?
They’ve been for sale in my shop, for $1.99 each, but no one has purchased them. I only posted three colors of hats, to see if this would be a viable way to sell them.

When I first encountered them at the church rummage sale, I was willing to pay two dollars a piece for them, but in an online store, one must also consider the cost of shipping, which I have currently set at $7.99 because that’s the average of what it has cost me to ship the first few packages that I’ve mailed to my buyers.
I’ve tried the little hand-knitted stocking caps on various dolls. Most of them are designed to fit very small dolls, like this vintage Skipper doll and any dolls with a head-size that’s smaller than hers:

As you can see, the stocking cap fits her snugly, with the cuff rolled down.
For smaller dolls (Pippa/Topper Dawn doll sized), they look fine with the cuff, as you can see in the image below:

There are also a smattering of bigger winter hats, that seem to be made of strings of yarn, all wrapped around a plastic ring, and then tied in a way that forms a stringy pom-pom on top.
These will fit Barbie and similar-sized dolls, but they were probably much easier to make, and therefore not worth as much money.
Here’s what they look like:

In the bag of handmade hats that Evelyn made, I literally have about 100 hats in total, but only about half a dozen of them are the stringy kind that will fit Barbie.
Both styles of hats will look good with a doll’s winter coat, even just an easy-to-make felt coat.
I enjoyed making the coat and dress you see on my Remco I Dream of Jeannie doll, below, but to make 100 of these seems daunting. And I doubt that I could sell 100 of them.

I’ve made some beautiful felt coats for dolls, for various projects in the past. I like to embroider my coats, and the tiny coats with embroidery are especially fun projects for my followers.
Take this coat that I made for my Disney Mini Elsa doll, for example:

Instead of me sewing 100 of these, maybe I could create kits that include the felt, the embroidery floss, the cotton fabric for the coat’s lining, and the little knitted stocking cap hat…
What would you be willing to pay for a kit like this?

Or maybe I should try to sell the hats in bulk, with a variety of colors — a sort of “grab bag” of tiny hats. What would you be willing to pay for, say, ten little hats in a variety of colors?
Can you help me brainstorm some other ideas?
How might I honor the memory of Evelyn, who made these tiny hats, and at the same time offer a product that you, my followers, would enjoy working with, in your own creative endeavors?
Please add your thoughts in the comments section! Thanks!
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Shipping is so expensive it keeps me from ordering many things plus those tiny knitted hats are on Amazon and maybe even temu. I don’t have any answers about selling items as shipping costs keep increasing.
Hmmmm… I’ve thought a lot about these things, Karen, and I’m 100% with you on this.
It’s really hard to decide how to charge people fairly when a.) it’s a handmade item, and b.) you don’t want to take a financial loss on the item due to shipping costs.
I have also seen similar hats on other websites, however these hats do look very well made. Maybe I should only offer them at a price per dozen, just to be competitive against the Amazon prices.
That’s not a bad idea. I would gladly buy 5, 10, 12 if you decide to do that. You could also sell a “package” of 5, 10 or 12 on ebay. You get a break on shipping charges if you are a seller with them.
Hi! Here in the U.K. there is a drinks firm called Innocent, every year they have a Big Knit . This involves knitters making tiny hats for the tops of their fruit juice bottles, with a charity donation going to the homeless for every bottle sold with a hat on. If there’s something similar where you are you could donate them, then the folk who bought them could then decide what to do with them.
Ps. I’m enjoying the patterns!
What a neat program!
I don’t know of anything similar here in the US, but maybe other folks will comment and let me know of US-based programs that I’m unaware of.
Thank you for your comment!
I have truly enjoyed your posts about Evelyn and the tiny hats. I have a tiny (3.5″) porcelain bisque baby that my mother acquired in Germany in or about 1947. When it passed down to me it was still naked. Stayed that way for a long time. But I am finally retired and finding your web content made me realize I should enjoy my dolls. Made an cute little crocheted jacket and cap for this baby., as well as a flannel bunting, and a little white felt diaper, a lace=trimmed pillow, a “mattress” and two flannel blankets. I think these caps would fit this size doll. Would you sell 3 caps for $5? That might interest collectors. I would not buy a kit, but I would think many people might be interested in that. At any rate, you have been an inspiration on a lot of levels – not room here to be specific enough. Oh, and I really would be interested in buying 3 hats if you were willing to sell 3 for $5 plus postage. Thanks.
Great! Thanks for the tips, Margaret!
What color hats would you like? I will put together a set of 3 hats for $5, specifically in the colors you want.
There are LOTS of colors in Evelyn’s collection. Let me know what three colors you want, and I’ll post them as a specific item.
Two blue and 2 red. Or, if you need to post three different colors – blue, red and green. I will watch for it and buy as soon as I see them. thanks
The hats with a ring at the base I have made several times as Christmas ornaments. The smaller ones could be used as a package decoration or on a miniature Christmas as an ornament. For the price point unless someone a large quantity selling at a craft, garage etc sale would seem to be the best way to go to avoid shipping
Yes, I’m starting to see that selling them bulk is going to work better.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. 🙂
LOVE the idea of using them as package decorations. Wouldn’t that be cute? Maybe combine a little hat with a couple of jingle bells!