Bowl Cozy Bundle to Sew & Sell | Free Printable Patterns

If you’ve started making bowl cozies, you may be thinking about selling them.

Although you can build a profitable business with one product, it’s more beneficial to have a little variety in your product offering. Which will:

• Increase your UPT (units per transaction) – if you only sell bowl cozies, a customer at a craft show can only buy one item from you (or a set of bowl cozies). But if you sell other items that work well with bowl cozies, they’re more likely to buy multiple items so you make more money.
• Create repeat customers – when you have a few items in your product line, it gives customers a reason to return and buy from you again. A bowl cozy will need to be replaced at some point, but probably not for a year or two.
• Add more interest – at a craft show, variety does tend to attract shoppers. You just have to be sure you don’t have too much variety, or it can harm your sales. Having more than one type of product displayed in your space will attract more shoppers and keep them there longer, browsing.

This article shares 3 products you can sew and sell as a bundle or add to an existing product line.

 

Product #1 – Bowl Cozies

These would likely be the main item in the bundle; the product most shoppers are drawn to.

If you wanted to expand on this product, you could offer them in small, medium, and large sizes. The medium size might be ideal for people heating up big bowls of soup, while the large size could be marketed as an item that keeps a serving bowl warm while it’s on the table and also protects the table surface from a hot bowl.

The beginner bowl cozy is ideal for selling because it’s quicker and cheaper to make (which means higher profits).

However, if you’re creating a higher-end brand, you may want to go with a more detailed bowl cozy that’s finished with bias tape. You can view and download that pattern here. 

 

Product #2 – Bowl Covers

These are an ideal product to sell alongside bowl cozies because people can cover any leftovers they heated up when using their bowl cozy. Or, for busy people or parents with younger children, they may pre-portion food into bowls and use the covers to keep it fresh until they’re ready to take the bowls out of the fridge, set them into a bowl cozy, and place the dish into the microwave.

Again, you could offer these in small, medium, and large size; especially if you’re offering the three sizes in bowl cozies.

The bowl covers shown in the photo are waterproof and finished with bias tape. For a beginner-friendly, lower-cost version of the bowl cover, check out:

>> How To Sew Simple Bowl Covers

There are also free patterns for:

>> How To Sew Ruffle Bowl Covers

>> How To Sew an Adjustable Bowl Cover

 

Product #3 – Reusable Napkins

The customer who purchases a bowl cover is likely interested in reducing costs and waste (from disposable plastic wrap). So reusable napkins align with that initiative and can replace paper napkins.

They’re also an item people will need while eating their food from the bowl (that was previously wrapped in the bowl cover and is now in the bowl cozy).

No pattern is needed for these, as they’re simply a rectangular piece of fabric. But you can follow the instructions to make these with quick, no-sew mitered corners by clicking the button below.

 

Important selling points for this bundle

• Matching or coordinating – to help shoppers picture using the 3 products together, make sure they match or coordinate.
• Sets – these 3 items can be grouped together and sold as a set (one bowl cozy, one reusable bowl cover, and a reusable napkin, or 2 bowl cozies, 2 reusable bowl covers, and 2 reusable napkins), but they should also be grouped as sets individually (e.g. a set of 2 or 4 bowl cozies, a set of 2 or 4 reusable bowl covers, a set of 2 or 4 reusable napkins).
• Pricing – when you bundle items together or create sets of a product, it’s important to offer a slight discount from the price of an individual item. For example, if one bowl cozy is $12, then a set of 2 might be $22 and a set of 4 could be $42. Offering a small discount when customers buy more than one item will encourage them to buy more. Just be sure you set your prices before selling (don’t wait for a shopper to ask if you offer a discount if they’re buying more than one and stumble on price). And that those discounted prices still leave you with healthy profits.

 

Display

Here are a few points to keep in mind when displaying your products at a craft show, or even online.

Color

When displaying these products at a craft show, a good place to start is with color. Color can make a big statement, grab a shopper’s attention, and draw them in.

When you offer too many colors and prints, a display can begin to look cluttered and disjointed.

On the other hand, if you create 3 sections on your craft show table for  color groupings, it organizes your products, grabs a shopper’s attention, and makes it easier for them to shop.

The same applies in an online shop; too much color/prints can feel overwhelming to a shopper and lead to decision fatigue (i.e. should I buy this one or that one?).

Fixtures

Choose fixtures that allow you to add height to your display and makes it easy for people to shop. If you have all your products on one level, shoppers must move products to get to other products.

Stacking crates or placing a shorter shelf (e.g. a children’s bookshelf) will give you different levels to sort and display your products.

Depending on how you package the reusable napkins and reusable bowl covers, you may also want hanging space. For example, if you use a tagging gun and plastic hook fasteners to secure a set of napkins together, you can turn a set of crates around, add some screw-in hooks to the back of them, and hang the napkin sets.

If your bowl covers are waterproof, you won’t want to use a tagging gun, as that will put a hole in the plastic. You could use plastic bags with a hang hole or cardboard hang tabs. Alternatively, bowl covers could be displayed in baskets or boxes.

Props

Show a few of your products in action so shoppers immediately understand when they’re purpose is and can imagine themselves using them.

Definitely bring a few bowls to help demonstrate the size of bowl that fits in the cozies and that the covers will fit on.

To add an eye-catching element (and create a conversation starter), bring a small microwave and display it on top of some crates (so it’s eye-level and will catch the eyes of shoppers from several feet away). Leave the door open and set a bowl in a bowl cozy inside. Shoppers will immediately understand the purpose of the item.

You may be able to find a small microwave for a low price at second-hand stores, or even centers that take in old appliances that don’t work.