10 Profitable Crafts You Can Make and Sell from Home

Want to make money from home without spending all day in front of a computer screen? Creating and selling items from home can be a practical and enjoyable way to earn extra income, and in some cases, it could even turn into a full-time venture.

This approach offers a chance to generate additional income with relatively low start-up costs, especially if you focus on activities you enjoy.

How to Start Making and Selling Items from Home in 3 Steps

1. Choose What to Make
Start by deciding what you want to create. While I’ll provide some ideas below, your first step is to narrow down your options.

Look at current trends and popular items on platforms like Etsy to get a sense of what’s selling well, though make sure not to copy other sellers’ ideas directly. This can give you insights into pricing and demand.

Research various crafts to understand which ones are potentially more profitable. Consider your own skills, the time required, your budget, and the cost of materials. It’s also important to choose something you enjoy making—this will keep you motivated and engaged in your new venture.

2. Start Creating
Once you’ve chosen your product, gather all the necessary materials and tools, and set aside dedicated time for crafting. To ensure quality and build a loyal customer base, be prepared to refine your skills and perfect your products through practice.

Keep track of your material costs and the time spent creating each item. This will help you price your products accurately to ensure you cover costs and make a profit.

3. Promote and Sell Your Products
With your items ready, you’ll need to focus on promotion. Consider setting up a shop on platforms like Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or even your own website. Social media and local craft fairs are also effective ways to reach potential buyers.

For more tips on successfully selling products online, check out this detailed guide on setting up an online shop.

Top Items to Make and Sell from Home
Now, let’s dive into some popular items that you can make and sell from home. The craft and handmade goods market is thriving, and there’s never been a better time to start your own craft business.

From crochet and knitted items to printables, polymer clay products, leather goods, body scrubs, and soaps, there’s a wide range of options available. Your creativity and imagination are your only limits.

Here are some of the most sought-after products that can help you earn extra cash or even establish a full-time business.

1. T-Shirts
T-shirts have become a popular product to make and sell online, most likely because you can start with little to no upfront cost.

Sites like Spring, Spreadshop, Redbubble, and Printify allow you to start designing your own tees and making money right away.

Learn more about making money by designing t-shirts with a print-on-demand company!

Of course, you can also use a local screen printer to create your t-shirts and sell them on sites like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon, but the start-up costs (and hassles) are considerably higher. And most concerning, you may be stuck holding on to any remaining inventory that doesn’t sell.

The t-shirt business is one of the easiest to get into and make money from quickly because you don’t need to have strong design skills or even create the products yourself to earn a great profit.

Plus, it’s easy to expand into other items such as tote bags, sweatshirts, mugs, and more.

That said, you can also make your own t-shirts using certain types of vinyl, which you can cut out with a machine like a Cricut. The options truly are endless!

2. Clothing
Sewing is quickly becoming a lost art, so if you’re a talented seamstress or fashion designer and enjoy using a sewing machine, taking your wares online could be a lucrative prospect. Customers love handmade clothing and are willing to pay for it if the quality is high.

Children’s clothing and special occasion dresses, such as wedding dresses, are popular sewn items. But you can pretty much market anything you create in an online marketplace.

Of course, if sewing isn’t your favorite pastime, you can sell clothing you knit or crochet. People love buying handmade scarves as gifts and fashion items.

3. Videos and Courses
This is a great option for content creators and small business owners who create their own products and are willing to teach others how to do the same. Videos and courses are popular, and you can focus on just about any topic in which you have expertise.

The profit margin on these is usually quite high because you create them once and sell them again and again. Plus, you can develop new videos or courses that expand on your original ideas (or make them based on customer feedback and questions).

Sites like Uscreen, Teachable, and Thinkific are good places to consider checking out.

4. Handmade Candles
People love candles! If you want to start an online craft business, candles are a great product to begin making and selling. All you’ll need to get started is a little know-how plus a few simple supplies like wax, dye, candle wicks, scents, and mason jars.

Once you get the basics down, you can expand your skills into adding decorative elements to create beautiful and unique candles your customers can’t find anywhere else.

Since candles make great gifts for any time of the year, as well as being go-to holiday gifts, you could easily have a year-round business just by making beautiful candles.

If this sounds like the business for you, check out this step-by-step guide for starting a candle business.

5. E-books
If you’re a natural-born writer, e-books are a popular product to create and can earn you decent money.

Amazon is by far the most popular platform for selling e-books, but a few other sites, such as E-junkie and Smashwords, can take your work even further.

If this is something you’d like to learn more about, check out how to create an e-book in one month with seven simple steps.

6. Photographs
Whether you have your own website or sell on stock photo sites like Foap, photography can be a profitable business.

You can sell your photographs at art galleries, and many galleries also have websites for online sales. You can also sell custom portrait sessions for families, graduates, weddings, and more by scheduling online with social media or through your website.

Learn more about how to make money selling photos here, or if you want something a bit outside the norm, learn how you can make money selling feet pics!

7. Signs
Handmade signs have surged in popularity over the past few years. Just look at popular home decor and design accounts on Instagram, and you’ll see a ton of them.

Whether you paint or use stencils, you can create signs from various materials, although wood is currently all the rage. What’s more, signs are usually quick to make, so you can promptly fulfill orders (or stock inventory), especially if you have a cutting machine like a Cricut.

Tutorials for creating signs are everywhere, too. Check out Pinterest and YouTube if you’d like to learn how to make signs.

8. Restored Furniture
This can be a bit tricky as furniture is expensive to ship. But who says you have to ship it?

If you love refurbishing old, neglected furniture pieces, this can be the perfect side hustle for you! Upcycle furniture, sell pieces online by running ads on Craigslist or listing them in Facebook groups, and then meet locally for delivery.

This idea may not be the biggest money maker simply because of the time it takes on a single piece of furniture, but there’s something to be said for creating a labor of love.

9. Handmade Soap
I’ve always loved soap. Call me weird, but when I was a little girl, I had a jar of all the different soaps I collected. Some were in the shape of animals, and others were like small flowers. I always loved the smell.

Now, as an adult, I’ve seen some amazing homemade soaps created by talented makers. I’m talking everything from yummy scents to soap that looks so much like food you might be tempted to eat it!

Plus, there are homemade soaps so gorgeous that I’d rather use them as home decor than use them to wash my body.

Soap can be sold online either on your own website or on one of the many sites listed in this post. You can also easily sell your handmade soaps at craft fairs and farmer’s markets.

10. Handmade Jewelry
Custom-made jewelry has developed a kind of cult-like following in recent years. When people like a brand, they tend to stay with it and make future purchases from it as well.

The handmade movement has been great for jewelry artists as customers are shopping at small businesses instead of big box stores.

Whether you enjoy making necklaces, bracelets, rings, or other items, jewelry is one of the best things to make and sell. And the market offers so much potential for you to use the materials you enjoy working with, from beading to stamping leather to silversmithing and more!

Plus, people also love to have products that are customized for them. These wind up becoming memorable pieces that they cherish and maybe even pass down to family members.