Craft kits go beyond supplies—kit makers show how pricing, packaging, and design shape a successful kit experience, like this paint-by-numbers kit from Elle Crée.
Craft kits can be gateways into new hobbies and a convenient grab-and-go option for more experienced makers. Whether they are chosen as gifts, vacation projects, or quick creative fixes, good kits offer a great user experience that goes beyond providing materials.
This user experience includes kit packaging and the unboxing, quality of components, sophistication of design, sustainability, instructional design, and end-usability.
What makes a kit successful? Conversations with more than a dozen kit-makers across a variety of crafts reveal both common practices and individual strategies for pricing, packaging, and evolving their products over time.
Pricing for Profit
The basics of pricing start with costs: the cost of materials, labor, and overhead. Some makers design their pricing from the outset to support wholesale margins, then price their direct-to-consumer kits from that baseline. Stocking Craft, a knit Christmas stocking kit retailer, calculated the average cost of all their kits to maintain a consistent price across the product line, then priced the kits with the plan of wholesaling, even before they got any wholesale customers. They currently sell online only, at the same retail price that any future wholesalers will use.
Other makers have discovered that their kits simply aren’t viable for wholesale. Brett Bara of Hello Bargello “couldn’t get the numbers to work for wholesale”. Factoring in the value-added features such as printed instruction booklets, specialty hardware and hard-to-fit notions, wholesale pricing didn’t make sense. Direct-to-consumer sales allows for premium touches that might not be possible in a wholesale model.
The cost of labor is an often-overlooked aspect of pricing. The labor cost of picking and packing materials for each kit can be a burden. Legit Kit‘s Mike O’Dell calculates the labor costs on how much time it takes to pull fabric, cut it, pack and quality-control the materials, plus the labor and printing costs of their high-quality printed instructions, plus materials costs, then adds a profit margin to arrive at a retail price. This pricing calculation led them to make the decision to sell kits at retail, but patterns only at wholesale.
Junebug and Darlin’s cross-stitch kits include everything from floss to finishing materials, making them beginner-friendly and frustration-free.
Design choices also affect pricing. Embroidery designer Melissa Galbraith deliberately limits her palettes to about five floss colors. This creative constraint keeps costs and packaging manageable. Many makers report raising prices as they better understood their costs or absorbed supplier increases.
Keeping the price of a kit below what a consumer would pay to gather and pay for the materials at retail is a selling point. Many fabric stores won’t sell less than ¼ yard of fabric, for example, so kits that use small amounts of different fabrics provide a cost savings to the consumer.
The kit sellers interviewed remained conscious of the retail prices from competitors in their sector but didn’t express a lot of concern about trying to match lower prices, emphasizing that it is more important to price for a sustainable business. Importantly, they emphasize that customers are buying not just supplies, but the experience of creating something beautiful with high-quality materials.
What Goes in the Kit?
What should a kit include? It can be a balancing act. For beginners, having the right tools on hand is part of the appeal. Junebug and Darlin‘s cross-stitch kits include not only fabric, needles, floss and a hoop, but also finishing materials like backing and a sawtooth hanger. Jill Wiseman Designs makes sure beading needles, thread, and findings are included.
More advanced kits take a different approach, avoiding tools that experienced crafters already own. Purl Soho, for example, doesn’t include knitting needles in most of its kits, reasoning that customers who already knit probably don’t want duplicates–or may need a different size needle to match gauge. Purl Soho’s beginner-friendly “learn to knit” kits (a Wirecutter choice) include more support–sometimes with companion videos–but still resist the temptation to teach the entire craft in one box.
Some brands offer add-ons rather than overloading the initial kit. Crosscut Sewing sells refills for certain projects, giving customers an easy way to make multiples without repurchasing common tools. This keeps the core kit affordable. Others focus on making the finishing process less intimidating. Since framing, blocking or assembly can be stumbling blocks for new makers, several kit designers either include finishing materials or they design projects that avoid finishing altogether.
Appalachian Baby Designs balances eco-friendly packaging with durability, ensuring their kits hold up on retail shelves.
Quantity is another critical piece, both from a cost standpoint and a consumer-satisfaction standpoint. Most brands test their samples carefully, measure actual use of materials, and then round up supplies to avoid customer frustration. Yarn-based kits either add an extra 10% or provide full skeins to ensure no one runs short. Many businesses promise to send additional supplies if a customer runs out, although all said this hasn’t been an issue.
Some have shifted their strategies based on labor costs: Junebug and Darlin, for example, stopped cutting embroidery floss because it took too much time, choosing instead to include full skeins. The common denominator is a commitment to ensuring the maker has a good experience and isn’t stymied by running out of materials.
Packaging Success
Across the board, makers agree that packaging needs to inform and entice the buyer, protect the contents, and make the project feel like a treat. Eco-friendly packaging was another priority for some sellers.
For wholesale sellers, durability and clarity is key. Kits have to survive shipping, display well on retailers’ shelves, and communicate at a glance what the product is and what’s included. Appalachian Baby Designs experimented with eco-friendly packaging but didn’t find a package that held up to the rough-and-tumble of retail shelves. They are transitioning to organza bags which can both hold the yarn kit and later serve as a gift bag for wrapping the finished project. With larger kit orders, they also send a “kit repair kit” that includes and extra bag and extra closures so that the store can refresh the look of a shop-worn kit.
For direct-to-consumer brands, the unboxing experience matters more. Hello Bargello uses a clear zippered bag that shows the contents and serves as a project bag. They use a branded box to ship larger items like an acrylic tray. Junebug and Darlin invested in heavy, locally produced card stock envelopes to create a premium feel while aligning with sustainability values. Elle Crée, a paint-by-number company, has emphasized eco-friendly packaging from the beginning, and later resized its boxes to reduce both waste and shipping costs.
Makeropolis, a creative re-use shop which sells up-cycled crafting kits at farmer’s markets, found that showcasing the “prettiest thing on the outside” draws customers in.
Elle Crée evolves its paint-by-number kits based on customer feedback.
Instructional Design
Packaging sets expectations, but instructions are integral to the experience. A successful kit strikes a balance between giving beginners enough information–without overwhelming them– while letting experienced crafters dive right in.
Many makers rely on a combination of print and video instruction. Written steps with photos form the basis, but QR costs or URLs may lead to video tutorials for trickier steps. Melissa Galbraith added QR-linked videos after customers asked for more visual guidance. Jill Wiseman Designs maintains an extensive library of video tutorials, searchable by material and technique.
Rather than trying to teach an entire craft, instructions may introduce just enough to complete the project at hand. Purl Soho structures its instructions to create early wins–moments when the knitter can see progress quickly–before moving into more complex steps. Clear labeling of skill level and estimated time of completion also helps set expectations and reduces abandoned projects.
Some brands prefer high-quality fully printed instructions. Hello Bargello provides printed instruction booklets along with a few web-based photo tutorials. They advertise that makers “don’t need the internet” to successfully complete a project, making the kits an appealing choice for those going on vacation with less-than-stellar internet access. Legit Kits’ extensive printed directions require a high-output high-end printer, but they also include QR codes that link to the website and to a private Facebook group that provides troubleshooting and community support.
Sourcing for Consistency
Sourcing high-quality materials that are available in a predictable time frame and at a predictable price has become more of a challenge in recent years. Several kit makers mentioned challenges with the availability of yarn and thread stock, and with upward pricing pressures.
Some brands prioritize sourcing locally or domestically when possible, weighing cost against sustainability and logistics. Others mix local and imported components, particularly for custom items. Timing orders and ordering in larger quantities when possible were suggestions for mitigating these challenges. The consensus seems to be that dependability matters more than shaving a few cents off cost, because when a supplier falters, it affects the kit maker’s ability to deliver. They often have to redesign around more reliable alternatives or colors, rather than providing an inferior product–or not being able to deliver at all.
Legit Kits factors in labor, materials, and detailed printed instructions to deliver a polished kit that prioritizes customer experience.
Evolving with Feedback
Most successful kit sellers say that they have revised their products based on what sells and on customer feedback. Elle Cree regularly reviews sales and retires slower-moving designs.
Customer reviews, emails, and social media posts highlight confusing instructions and allow the kit maker to refine their product. Feedback from wholesale customers may result in a change in packaging, including more robust shelf-friendly merchandising.
Words of Advice
Successful kit makers offered the following advice:
Rachel Austen, Elle Cree. There will always be competition. Find ways to identify with your audience and help them understand their choice to purchase your product is impactful to you as a maker and to the planet.
Whitney Van Nes, Purl Soho. Beautiful and inspiring yarn makes learning more engaging; have excellent customer support to help people get over hurdles; set people up for success!
Stephanie Theisen, Crosscut Sewing. If you have the ability, teach the project in person before you finalize the project. That helps refine the instructions and identify sticking points.
Jill Wiseman, Jill Wiseman Designs. Photographs of products are critical. Having a video demo with the physical manipulation of the materials draws people in.
Mike O’Dell, Legit Kits. If you don’t take care of your customers, you don’t have a job. As hard as it is to do, hire help. Be prepared to fire people; don’t hire someone you can’t fire.
Zoe Frost, Junebug and Darlin. Find your niche market. There are a lot of indie kits out there, so know what makes your kit special or different.
Brett Bara, Hello Bargello. Try to standardize as much as possible, not putting special things in each different kit. Stay streamlined, including with packaging.
Engineering a successful kit requires attention to pricing, packaging, and presentation. Ultimately, a craft kit is more than a bundle of materials. It’s a carefully curated invitation to learn a new craft, pick up a sure-to-be-successful project, and create something to be proud of.
Edie Eckman
contributor
