
The Business of Sew Busty: Looking Back at 2024 and Forward to 2025
From 2021-2024, I ran Sew Busty 100% as a hobby. I didn’t make money from it; I mostly lost money from it. The small amounts I received in affiliate commissions from y’all clicking links in posts didn’t come close to paying for the costs of the blog, such as web hosting, design software, and — although I rarely consider this — my own time in putting together tutorials and other content.
But, before you think I’m complaining, I didn’t (and don’t) mind! I love sharing what I’ve learned with all of you, and I didn’t need to make any extra money.
In August, when I decided to expand Sew Busty to include selling the Jet Set Bra and Constellation Panty patterns, and to ultimately include an offering of Sew Busty Original patterns, I recognized that I was going to have to start approaching Sew Busty as more of a business. For the sake of my family, I couldn’t have it lose more money than it had been losing, and I hoped this plan would help Sew Busty break even, such that it could be a more sustainable model. So I formed an LLC, set up separate bank and Paypal accounts for Sew Busty, and worked hard to continue to offer free resources here on the blog, while also expanding into patterning.
I’m happy to say, we’re doing pretty well! Sew Busty did lose some money in 2024, and while I hoped the funds raised during the August Kickstarter would be enough to cover a year of expenses, we’re not quite there. But, given most new businesses lose quite a bit of money in their first year, I’m not too worried.
Wanna dive into the numbers with me? I’m nothing if not transparent, so let’s go!

2024 Income
Sources of income in 2024 included affiliate commissions, leading the Advanced Bra Roundtable at the Bra Bee, Kickstarter pattern preorders, pattern sales, and kit sales. In total, Sew Busty made $8,661.88 in 2024. Here’s the breakdown:
Category | Expense |
Kickstarter | $7,234.00 |
Pattern + Kit Sales | $1,229.89 |
Affiliate Commissions | $78.13 |
Bra Bee Teaching | $119.86 |
$8,661.88 |

2024 Expenses
Expenses were far and wide, with many small things adding up, as well as a couple large expenses. One unanticipated cost was a new computer — I thought my old 2018 macbook pro from grad school would do the job if I reformatted the hard drive, but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to work, especially for CAD pattern drafting. One morning, after it froze for literally 30 minutes, I drove myself to the Apple Store and bought a new computer with twice the RAM.
I also included in the below table the couple of machines I purchased this year — a new serger and coverstitch — though I’ll show the breakdown if we ignored these costs also. While I’m using these machines for business purposes, I did purchase them before I decided to focus on Sew Busty as a business venture. It’s worth noting that these machines and the computer are assets that depreciate over many years, so while they caused a significant year one loss, they will not be repeated expenses.
Overall, expenses ran $12,955.58, or $10,097.48 if you exclude the machines. Here’s how that broke down:
Category | Expense |
Canva | $168.87 |
Clo3D (pattern software) | $250.00 |
Web Hosting | $218.40 |
Google Workspace | $93.10 |
Adobe Creative | $42.62 |
Books + Reference Material (drafting, grading, etc.) | $634.97 |
Pattern Testers (Jet Set, Constellation, and pattern block sloper) | $136.98 |
Materials + Inventory (materials for testing, kit materials, shipping materials, etc.) | $1,009.03 |
Travel (for business trip to Porcelynne) | $297.96 |
Web design + plugins | $308.05 |
Jet Set + Constellation Intellectual Property | $2,000.00 |
Kickstarter fees | $361.70 |
Consultation + Professional Fees (grading consults, web design, etc.) | $373.70 |
Payment processing fees (including Kickstarter payment processing) | $361.14 |
Customer refunds (accidental purchases, etc.) | $132.80 |
Printing + shipping | $226.83 |
Equipment (serger, coverstitch, travel machine, and computer) | $6,244.43 ($3,386.33 excluding machines) |
Marketing | $95.00 |
Sales Tax | $20.00 |
12,975.58 — total | |
10,117.48 — total excluding machines |
Looking Back on 2024
So, what this tells us is that Sew Busty lost a total of $4,293.70 — or $1,435.60 if we exclude the serger and coverstitch.
Honestly, I’m feeling mostly good about that number. I’m a bit frustrated that I don’t have more liquidity going into 2025 and the launch of the first Sew Busty Original pattern — the Rittenhouse Dress. But a lot of expenses, like reference materials, equipment, and web design costs (remember, I had to overhaul the Sew Busty site for ecommerce!) are one-off expenses that won’t repeat.

Looking Forward to 2025
In 2025, I’m planning to release:
- the Rittenhouse Dress pattern
- a stretch back band add-on pattern for the Jet Set Bras
- 1-2 additional patterns
Here are the costs I’m looking at for 2025:
Category | Expense |
Canva | $120.00 |
Clo3D (pattern software) | $450.00 |
Web Hosting + Domain | $259.40 |
Google Workspace | $144.00 |
Adobe Creative | $255.72 |
Pattern Testers | $500.00 |
Materials + Inventory (materials for testing, kit materials, shipping materials, etc.) | $100.00 |
Web design + plugins | $100.00 |
Consultation + Professional Fees (grading contractor, design and grading consults, copyediting, web design, etc.) | $1,400.00 |
Payment processing fees | ?? |
Marketing | $200 |
$3,429.12 |
This budget assumes development of two original patterns: the Rittenhouse and one more. Not including payment processing fees (which amount to somewhere around 3% of each payment made to Sew Busty), this means I need a total of ~$3400 to break even in 2025. With the launch of two original patterns and an add-on for the Jet Set, I think this is doable, if a bit of a challenge.
If I keep to my current model of selling each pattern for $20, or $18 for preorders, I need to sell a total of 177 patterns at regular price, or 197 at preorder price in order to break even, estimating a 3% payment processing fee and without considering other streams of income. This comes to an average of 89-99 sales per new pattern. For reference, about 275 people backed the Jet Set/Constellation kickstarter.
If I manage to develop a third pattern, there will be about $250 additional in testing costs, and another $700 additional professional services (grading, etc. — remember, I’m not a trained fashion designer, so to ensure Sew Busty puts out quality patterns, I’m working with some industry leaders). In this case, the total expense budget would be $4129.12, requiring the sale of 226 patterns at regular price or 251 at preorder price to break even — so an average of 76-84 sales per new pattern.
I do anticipate a couple of things — such as teaching fees and affiliate commissions — providing some additional revenue. The Sew Busty Retreat at Spokes and Stitches May 3-4 should bring in an additional $600 or so, and I hope to see around $50-100 in various affiliate commissions over the year. And while I didn’t love the process of putting together and selling kits, it was lucrative, so perhaps I will do another round of exclusive kits for each pattern launch.
Then there’s the question of my own time. I’m happy to be donating time to Sew Busty for now. It’s giving me a new way to use my brain, and I’m really enjoying it! So I really don’t mind if it takes another year before I can start paying myself.

Embracing the Challenges, Excited for the Next Steps
This post really might read like a downer, and I didn’t mean it that way AT ALL! I’m so excited for this adventure! I just also want to be up front about where things are, where things are going, and some unanticipated (and anticipated) challenges that have developed since the Jet Set Kickstarter. I really admire Delphine at Just Patterns for her transparency, and I want to bring a similar vibe to Sew Busty.
At the end of the day, I 100% believe super busty folks deserve a pattern line dedicated to them — the ability to make something easy, without having to start with a full bust adjustment. And I’m making 12-year-old Lindsie very happy by doing some design work!
Now, for the dreaded sales pitch … if you want to help Sew Busty grow in 2025, preorders for the Rittenhouse Dress and Fancy Rittenhouse Add-On are open. No pressure, but I’d love to bring this pattern to your sewing table 🙂