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Migrating From Square to Shopify: A Handmade Shop, Completed 10 Weeks Early
Kathy Creech runs Fabri-K-Tions, a one-woman sewing studio in Louisville, Kentucky. She sold at festivals through Square and had a Shopify account she couldn’t get off the ground. I planned, designed, built and launched her new store. The contract said January 1. It went live October 21, in time for the holidays.
The live home page. The headline is the owner’s own tagline, and the photo is hers too.
The Deliverables
What Shipped
A complete Shopify store, designed around her brand and ready to take orders on launch day. Every product, page and policy was in place, the store was set up to be found in search, and my support continued after it went live.
3Custom home page designs
Three full directions to choose from. Her pick became the look for every page, built on her colors, tagline and photos.
89Product pages
One page per piece, with photos, a description in her voice, size, age guidance, ready time and personalization.
10Shoppable collections
Dolls, notebooks, bags, shoe wings and more, with filters for category, availability, price and personalization.
EarlyAhead of schedule, within budget
Live October 21 against a January 1 deadline, with everything in the original scope delivered at launch.
SupportOngoing after launch
Domain moved to Shopify, search and shopper behavior tracked, and her store costs kept in check as it grows.
113Search-ready pages
Keyword URLs, written titles and descriptions on key pages, plus Product and FAQ data that search engines read.
The Schedule
Promised January 1, Live October 21
The proposal went out September 16 with a January 1 launch date, which left room for slow approvals or a late photo shoot. The store opened 72 days early. The line below is drawn to scale.
ProposalSep 16
KickoffSep 21
Wireframe approvedSep 28
Design pickedOct 9
First full buildOct 12
LaunchOct 21
72 days to spare
Promised launchJan 1
ProposalSep 16
KickoffSep 21
Wireframe approvedSep 28
Design pickedOct 9
First full buildOct 12
LaunchOct 21
Promised launchJan 1
72 days to spare
Before and After
Where the Shop Started
Kathy makes cloth dolls, bags, notebook covers, shoe wings, door knob hangers and key fobs in her Louisville sewing room. Most of her sales happen at festivals and craft fairs across Kentucky and Indiana.
Online, she had a basic Square store with 49 listings, most without a photo. Pieces were grouped into catch-all listings like “DOLLS 18” and “KEY FOBS,” so no single design had its own page for a shopper, or Google, to find. Her Shopify account had stalled with payouts paused and default settings everywhere.
BeforeHer Square store: 49 listings, three categories, mostly placeholder images.AfterThe new store: 89 pieces on their own pages, plus 10 collections with filters.
Her goal was to sell more online, with a shop that looked like her work and gave people who met her at a booth a place to buy again. Mine was to get it live before the holiday shopping season, when handmade gifts sell.
Scope and Onboarding
The Plan and the Kickoff Checklist
September 16 to 21
The proposal kept the first build small on purpose: launch with 50 priority products rather than her whole inventory, so the store could open sooner and grow from there. Kathy approved it the same evening.
On kickoff morning I sent one list of everything I would need for the whole project, grouped so she could work through it in any order:
Group
What I asked for
Shared files
One Google Drive folder for every file and photo
Access
Shopify staff access, Square access to export products, the domain login, Facebook and Instagram admin
Owner-only setup
Shopify Payments, tax ID and bank account, ship-from address, and whether Square stays for in-person sales
Brand
Logo files, colors and fonts, and two or three sites she likes the look of
Products
50 priority products with names, prices, variations, materials and stock, plus a photo plan and file naming rule
Policies
Shipping rates and package sizes, returns and custom order terms, made-to-order turnaround
Content
Her story, a photo of her in the studio, ten common customer questions and the custom order form fields
I also told her she didn’t need to send everything at once, and that we would work through it as we went. She started on the access items that day.
Risk Check
Fixing Launch Blockers Before Design
September 21 to 22
Before designing anything, I went through every settings page in her Shopify account. Three problems would have kept the store from opening no matter how good the design was:
Payouts were paused. Shopify was holding her money until her business details were verified. The hold traced back to an old trial store she had started years earlier and forgotten. I explained the second store and how to send her tax form through Shopify’s secure upload, and she sent it right away.
Kentucky sales tax wasn’t set up. Shopify flagged that she needed to collect it. She had it done the same afternoon.
Only a privacy policy existed. A store needs return, shipping and terms pages too. I drafted all of them in her voice for her to edit.
Seven smaller items went on the same list, from her business name reading “My Store - entity” to two-step login and placeholder shipping rates. I split the list into what only she could do as the owner and what she needed to decide.
Why It Matters
An audit before design costs very little. Finding paused payouts on launch day costs a lot. Most owners don’t know these settings exist, so someone has to check them.
Client Experience
Keeping the Owner’s Workload Light
September 22 to October 20
Kathy runs her shop part-time, and every hour on the website was an hour away from her sewing machine. The biggest risk to the schedule was asking her for things in ways that were hard to answer, so I built every request around her time.
A Product Sheet That Showed What Was Missing
Instead of asking her to “send product info,” I built a Google Sheet based on what Shopify needs. A Still Needed column filled itself in and turned green when a row was complete. A Collections tab set materials, size, care and lead time once for every product in a group. Product IDs tied each row to its photos.
Swipe sideways to see more columns.
Product ID
Launch?
Product Name
Still Needed
Collection
Size
Age
Price ($)
Item Type
Lead Time
Packed Wt (oz)
Already filled in. Use it to name your photos.
Yes for launch day
What customers see. Be specific.
Fills in by itself
Pick from the list
Grey text comes from the Collections tab
Numbers only
One of a kind, made to order or stocked
From Collections tab
A kitchen scale is fine
FKT-0001
Yes
Madeline Mushroom Doll
Ready
Dolls
18 in tall, about 4 in wide
3 and up
$45.00
One of a kind
1 to 3 days, or 5 to 10
12.0
FKT-0003
Yes
Mikaela Medic Doll
Ready
Dolls
18 in tall, about 6 in wide
3 and up
$45.00
One of a kind
1 to 3 days, or 5 to 10
12.0
FKT-0051
Yes
Baby Lovey Blanket Set - Pup
Size
Children & Infants
Infant and up
$40.00
Made to order
5 to 10 business days
32.0
FKT-0061
Yes
Pet Bandanna
Short description, Size, Age
Pet Gear
$15.00
Made to order
5 to 10 business days
8.0
Recreated from the real product sheet: a few of its 28 columns and real rows. The Still Needed column fills itself in, and pink cells show exactly what’s left.
Drafts in Her Voice, Not Blank Pages
Her About story, collection descriptions, store policies, FAQ and three starter blog posts went into Google Docs she could edit. I wrote each one first in her voice and marked every guess in yellow, so she was editing instead of writing from scratch. For product descriptions, I sent three samples before writing the rest. She approved them within fifteen minutes.
One Punch List Instead of Email Threads
Once the pages were built, I moved every open question into one online punch list and walked her through it on a short call, with a Loom recording she could rewatch. Each item had an owner, a status and an answer box for text or photos, and replies emailed the other person automatically.
Launch punch listReal items from the build
Needed before launch
Weigh your packed pieces
So international shipping can go live
KathySent
Name and price your new pieces
42 new rows added: FKT-0051 to FKT-0092
KathySent
How should key fobs be counted?
“20 each” or “no count”
KathySent
Before or after launch
Update the FAQ info Google reads
FAQ structured data
EdwardDone
Set up Google’s free tracking tools
Search Console and analytics
EdwardDone
Redrawn with real items from the list. Kathy’s items show where they stood in mid-October; my two are done. Owner tags mattered: when Kathy started on two of my items, the name on each one cleared it up.
Research and Design
Research, Wireframe and Three Designs
September 22 to October 9
Research Before Layout
Before drawing anything, I studied other handmade and craft shops: how they set up their pages and navigation, how they presented their products, which keywords they were going after and which shops showed up when people asked AI tools for recommendations.
The menu and collections follow ecommerce structure that works across many kinds of stores. Kathy chose which products to feature at launch, so the home page leads with what she most wanted to sell.
Wireframe First, Then Design
The home page wireframe came first, in desktop and phone versions with no colors or styling, so Kathy could judge the structure on its own. I sent a five-minute Loom on how to review it, plus a short list of questions to ask herself. She approved it with no changes.
Home page wireframe, desktop and mobileLayout only, no design
Announcement barshipping offer
Headerlogo, menu, search, cart
Hero: headline, two buttons, photoShop / Custom
Value striphandmade, made to order, personalize
Shop by collection6 tiles + custom tile
Seasonal featureHalloween, then holiday
New & featured4 products
Custom requests3 steps + button
Meet the makerphoto + story
Galleryphoto mosaic
Newsletter + footerpolicies, social
Bar
Header
Hero
Values
Collections
Seasonal
Featured
Custom
Maker
Footer
The section order from the approved wireframe, redrawn. Kathy reviewed the desktop and phone versions separately.
For the look, I designed the full home page three ways, each with the same sections so she could compare them side by side. Each direction started from something in her world: her colors, the muslin her dolls are made of, the energy of her booth.
Option 1
Clean Boutique
White and ivory with her pink and plum, a serif display face and a pink “running stitch” line drawn from her tagline. The quietest of the three, with a classic boutique feel.
Option 2
Sewing Room
Earthy tones taken from the muslin her dolls are made of, with paper hang tags, pinking-shear edges and a custom section styled like a pattern piece.
Her pick
Bold Maker
Graphic and confident, like an indie maker brand or a printed zine. Big type, color-block sections, rotating stickers and a pink ticker band in place of an icon strip.
Kathy picked Bold Maker on October 9. She preferred option 2’s footer, so I combined them. Back at the first design check-in, she had mentioned that her tagline had always been “1000 stitches to Fab-U-lous,” because embroidery is priced by the thousand stitches. It became the home page headline.
Conversion Strategy
How the Store Is Built to Sell
Built October 10 to 20
Handmade shoppers have their own questions: how long a piece takes, whether it can be personalized and whether it will look like the photo. Many meet the maker in person first, at a booth. The store was built to answer those questions and turn interest into an order.
Two ways to buy
Every Page Leads to the Shop or a Custom Request
Custom work is a big part of Kathy’s business, so it got its own spot in the main menu, its own page and a working request form. Pages end with a path to shop or a path to ask for something new.
Buyer confidence
Answering Handmade Questions Up Front
Every product shows a status (one of a kind, made to order or ready to ship) and a ready time. Product pages add size, age guidance and a Christmas order-by date, and the FAQ covers shipping, returns and care.
Order value
Personalization and a Holiday Gift Card
Many pieces can carry a name for $5, offered on the product page and filterable in every collection. A gift card from $10 to $100, sent by email on a chosen date, covers shoppers who know the person but not the piece.
Booth to online
Festival Customers Can Find Her Again
A festivals page lists her full schedule, pins the next show at the top and links back to the shop. Her photo and story run through the whole site, because people buy handmade from a person they know.
Product pages answer how big, how soon and by when, just above the Add to Cart button.Custom requests get their own page and a spot in the main menu.
Designed for the Phone
Many shoppers will find her on a phone, often standing at her booth. The wireframe and design were done at phone width as well as desktop: the headline and both buttons fit on the first screen, and product cards run two across.
Home: the headline and both buttons fit on the first screen.
Collections: every card shows status, price and ready time.
Gift card: on the home page, sent by email on a chosen date.
Search Visibility
The SEO and Content Foundation
The old Square store gave Google little to work with: grouped listings, few photos and thin descriptions. The new store launched with 113 published pages, each with its own URL.
113 pages published at launchFrom the store’s sitemap
90 products126
90 product pages (89 pieces and the gift card)12 collection pages6 content pages4 blog pages1 home page
Not counted: five store policy pages and one page Shopify adds on its own.
What
How it’s set up
One page per piece
Every design has its own page, photo, description and price, replacing the old catch-all listings
Collection URLs
Named for what people search, like /crafted-cloth-dolls and /personalized-baby-gifts
Titles and descriptions
Written for search on key pages, like “Zach Zombie Doll | Handmade 18-Inch Cloth Doll,” plus a short Google summary for each collection
Structured data
Product markup on product pages and FAQ markup on the FAQ page, so Google and AI tools can read prices, availability and answers directly
Local signals
Louisville, KY in titles, descriptions and copy, since her customers find her at local events
Starter blog
Three posts at launch, including one on why embroidery is priced by the stitch
Measurement
Google Search Console verified October 14, before launch, and Microsoft Clarity installed to see how shoppers use the pages
Testing, Launch and Handoff
Testing, Launch and Support
Before and after October 21
Tested Before It Opened
Before launch, I tested the store the way shoppers and Kathy would use it:
Test orders to check checkout, payments, shipping rates and the order emails a customer receives.
Real phones and different browsers, not only a desktop preview.
The custom request form and gift card run end to end, from submission to the email that arrives.
Page speed tests, run several times, with adjustments between rounds so pages load faster.
Launch and Handoff
The shop went live at fabri-k-tions.com on October 21 with orders, payments and shipping working. Launch day is the first day an owner runs the store, so the handoff was built for Kathy to manage it herself:
Loom walkthroughs for each review step, so she could rewatch them instead of relying on a call.
Plain-language how-to emails for new features. The gift card email covered where it appears, how a recipient redeems it and where she can see the cards she’s sold.
Shopify notices filtered for her. Store emails came to me first, and I forwarded only the ones she needed to act on.
Search watched after launch. When Search Console sent its first indexing warnings, Kathy forwarded them, worried. I was already on it and explained that they’re normal in a new site’s first week or two.
Problem Solving
Challenges and How We Solved Them
The schedule never slipped, but the build had its share of problems. Each one would have caused trouble after launch if it had been missed.
SolvedOct 5
Photos Too Small for a Store
What happened
The first collection photos were only 640 pixels wide, likely downloads or screenshots. Her logo from Square had the same problem. They looked fine in a mockup but blurry on a big screen.
How we solved it
I used what she had to keep design moving, asked for originals at 1200 by 1600 or larger and gave her simple photo tips: phone camera, window light, no flash, a plain background and file names that match the product ID.
SolvedOct 10
The Design and the Product Sheet Disagreed
What happened
The approved home page showed collections, like Notebooks and Shoe Wings, that weren’t in her product sheet. Building the menu from either one would have left something out.
How we solved it
I flagged it on the first day of the build and asked for one final category list. She settled on one list, and the store launched with 10 collections.
SolvedOct 13
The Catalog Grew in the Middle of the Build
What happened
The plan was 50 launch products. Halfway through, Kathy sent 42 new photos. More products is good news, but it can easily push a launch date.
How we solved it
I added a row for every photo to her sheet, numbered FKT-0051 to FKT-0092, with the picture and collection filled in. She only had to type a name and a price. The store launched with 89 pieces, and the schedule didn’t move.
SolvedOct 21
No Free Email With Her Domain
What happened
At launch, hello@fabri-k-tions.com didn’t work. GoDaddy, where her domain lived, no longer included free email.
How we solved it
I priced two options with a recommendation. She chose moving the domain to Shopify, which keeps shop, domain and email in one place with a single account to manage.
The Schedule
Why It Finished 10 Weeks Early
I was confident from the start that we would beat January 1. Kathy sells handmade gifts, so I planned for the shop to open before the holiday season.
The main reason it finished early was Kathy. She was responsive, organized and quick to send what I needed. She approved the proposal the night she got it and cleared her account blockers within hours.
My part was making that easy to keep doing. Every request came with a reason, a recommendation and a clear place to put the answer.
For Agencies and Hiring Managers
What This Means on a Team Project
I built this store alone, but most of my work is leading website projects with designers, developers, writers and SEO specialists. Having done each of those jobs makes me better at managing the people who do them.
Scopes Built on Real Effort
I know how long product entry, page builds and content actually take, so estimates and timelines hold up instead of slipping.
Reviews That Catch Real Problems
I can review a designer’s layout, a developer’s build or a writer’s draft with an eye for what will break, convert or rank.
Systems That Scale
The intake sheet, punch list, pre-design audit and sample-first approvals work the same with a team of fifteen.
A Clear Line From Client to Team
I turn what an owner needs into tasks a team can act on, and the team’s questions into quick owner decisions.
After Launch
What We’ll Measure at 30 Days
This case study covers the build. The next update will cover results, using these numbers.
Shopify
Online Orders and Revenue
Orders that came through the website and what they added up to, compared with her festival sales.
Shopify
Conversion Rate
The share of visits that end in an order, and where shoppers drop out between product page and checkout.
Shopify
Personalization and Gift Cards
How often shoppers add a name for $5, and how many gift cards sell before Christmas.
Email
Custom Requests
How many requests the form brings in, and how many turn into paid orders.
Search Console
Search Visibility
Pages indexed, impressions and the local searches people use to find her.
Clarity
Shopper Behavior
Recordings and heatmaps that show where people scroll, click and hesitate on phones.
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