Handmade Monday Week 17 - A Nervous Commission

It has been a busy week for me this week and a rather nervous one.
I had a lovely surprise in my Folksy inbox last weekend when a lady messaged me saying that she had purchased a bag a couple of weeks ago and loves it so much that would now like one exactly the same but double the size and could i do that?





Yes of course i said, quoted a price and got to work on a pattern. I doubled the length and width of the bottom and straight away went into panic mode, it looked enormous!




But i continued and doubled the pelmet size too.





I cut and stitched the base.

Prepared the pelmet.

Sewed and attached longer ,wider straps.

Then panic set in more! It seemed enormous, what was i to do? So much easier when the customer sees and buys.

So i decided to take photos before doing the final sew and email the customer.

I felt that you still couldnt see just how big it was so i took another putting one of my bags beside to show the difference in size.

I nervously awaited a reply and PHEW she replied that it was perfect!!!!!

So i stitched it all together, added my famous trait of a flower.

Then listed and she bought straight away!

With that out the way i turned my attention to trying a new bag. A basic design but very pretty.

Little girls will love this one.

And now to turn my attention to preparing stock for this weekends fair. Held in the gardens of Castle Ashby in Northampton and organised by "The Anns" of Pennine fairs i am really looking forward to this one and hoping to do well.

Mobile phone cases are a good seller.

So i've cut out loads ready to sew.

These pen cases are also a good seller, ideal for your handbag.

So i've made loads of them and now need to attach the flowers to finish them off.

And finally my new bag charms are also proving to be really popular.

So i have flowers everywhere!!!! And also some butterflies too! I think there will be a real summery feel to my stall this time.

Thanks for taking time to pop by and if you want to see what other crafters have been up to this week pop along to 1stUniquegifts blog and follow the links.

Until next time

xxx

Craft Fairs - Pain Or Pleasure?

Welcome to Handmade Monday 13 organised by Wendy of 1stuniquegifts which welcomes crafters, each week, to share their week of crafting with fellow readers.
I missed last week as was busy preparing new stock for the long awaited and most anticipated Pennine Fairs first event of the year at Sywell Aerodrome, Hangar One in Northampton.
Over 60 exhibitors travelled this weekend to this well acclaimed fair with high expectations of a successful and profitable weekend.
Run by "The Anns" these fairs promote handmade crafts and all stalls are personally vetted to maintain a high quality fair.
I arrived rather late on Sunday morning and was pleasently suprised to be next to my lovely friend CJ from Curious Cat. I set up quickly and had a quick look around the fair.

As always the stalls were of a high standard and there was a lovely variation and a few faces i hadnt seen before as well as many that i had.

My favourite stall of the day was run by Irene Campsill with her gorgeous "handbags for individualists". These photos dont really do the bags justice but believe me they are beautifully made and very individual.

Irene spent a lot of time sitting sewing and i spent a lot of time observing, fascinated by her work and such attention to detail. You can find her designs on her website www.1-off-handbags.co.uk

As always the fair was well attended and had a high footfall.

I found myself, quite often, people watching.

I love to sit and watch as exhibitors explain their crafts in detail and the visitors keenly listen and take in everything being said.

Crafters at work are amazing to watch.

Even in quiet moments you will see stall holders chat, laugh,share experiences and knowledge and quite often good friendships are formed. And we all share with each other joy when our goods are purchased and dismay when the day is not so good.

But there is a downside to this crafting world. As i said you have high hopes that this fair will be your success story. You are passionate about what you do, it excites you and suddenly you have a bad day, few sales, and you start to question the worthwhileness of this journey that you are on.

I have witnessed today one stall holder at such a low point after not reaching their weekend goal that they were actually reduced to tears at the sheer frustration of spending hours creating something new and original
and not reaping the rewards that they truely deserve.

So does the GOOD outweigh the BAD?

And just for your amusement let me share with you 3 ignorant public remarks from this weekend, i'm sure you have heard plenty more in your time!

"Would you give me a discount on your bag as the straps are too long and i will be adjusting them myself?"

"I know this is cheeky but if i bought 5 pen cases would you give me a discount?" "I cant really as they are only £3"" Ok i thought i would ask, i wanted to sell them in my shop"

"These tooth fairy pillows are gorgeous, bit expensive though" "You wouldnt think £8 expensive if you had sat for 3 hours making them!"

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you enjoyed the read. For more interesting craft tales pop by Wendys blog and read what other crafters have been up to this week.

And incidently the lady bought the tooth fairy pillow!!!!!!

Until Next Time

xxx

Blooms Garden Centre Craft fair March 15th

On Tuesday i took a days holiday from work to attend another craft fair at Blooms Garden Centre in Rugby.
I had been told about the fair from a fellow crafter from the craft forum and, as it was local, decided it would be a great opportunity for me.
As usual it was a mad rush for me as i was one of the last to arrive but it didnt take me too long to set up.
Blooms runs a gardening club and on this particular day they were offering double points to their members so we knew there would be quite a few people around.
We didnt anticipate how many though!!
All morning there seemed to be people everywhere and quite often i found that there was quite a gathering around my table.
It was a lovely feeling having people looking at my table and an even better feeling when they started buying. And buy they did!
I managed to sell 4 out of the 6 bags that i had made plus orders for 3 more. The fabric flowers also went well as did the pen cases and mobile phone cases. Several of my cards were picked up plus an invite to attend fairs in Bourton on the Water.
It was a great day and a good morale boost plus great to catch up with fellow crafters that i havent seen for a while.
But now i need to retreat to my machine and get sewing. The next fair is a big one so lots to be done!!
Until next time
xxx

Handmade Monday Week 7 - Benn Hall Craft Fair

Welcome back for this weeks handmade Monday organised by Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts.
This week i have avoided the lure of the internet in order to get myself organised for my first fair of the year.
For those of you who dont know me i began attending fairs about a year and a half ago with my best friend. Unfortunately, due to personal differences, we went our seperate ways just before Christmas and i made the decision in the New Year that i was going to start my own solo journey.
So today was the first fair for the newly formed CottonsAndDreams.
There were plenty of things to organise this week so on my day off from my "proper job"on Friday i took a trip round the shops to get final bits and pieces.
I found a lovely haberdashery stall on Northampton market and bought a lovely selection of buttons and a lovely string of embroidered coloured flowers.


Then off to The Bramble Patch for MORE fabric! They will know me by my first name soon!

In Wilkinsons i found these cool black fruit baskets and thought they would go well on my stall.

Also in Willkinsons some cream bowls for smaller items.

And after a lovely pub lunch with my mum i went home and organised myself into bag making mode!

I managed 4 more bags for the collection.

I finally crashed into my bed at 1am last night and up again at 7 this morning to finish little bits, pack and head off for The Benn Hall in Rugby town center.

It was a decent sized fair and it was good to see a few familiar faces.

I used some long boxes at the back of the table to give me a bit of height and was overall pleased with my first attempt at setting up the stall. I know it takes a while to get your desired layout sorted. The photo below doesnt really do it justice as it looks a bit cramped and slightly cluttered.

So how did i do?

Well i didnt make a million and was a bit disappointed that there wasnt a lot of interest in the bags but i DID sell quite a few of my fabric flower brooches and a really good selection of everything else plus an order for a bolster cushion so i am a very happy and very tired lady this evening!

And i have another fair on Tuesday at Blooms garden center so fingers crossed for more sales.

Thanks for taking the time to pop by and if you have the time check out what the other participants of Handmade Monday have been up to this week by visiting Wendys blog and clicking on the links.

Until next time.

xxx

Milton Keynes Craft Fair

Well the time finally arrived and here is our stall at Milton Keynes craft fair. Set up right in the heart of the shopping center this is an ideal place to reach a massive audience. Apparently around 450,000 people use the shopping center in a week.

Our pot people.

The tooth fairy pillows.

And so the fair started. I'm a little confused as to what a "craft" fair is. I always thought handmade goods but our neighbouring stall buy all their bags, jewellery, scarves and ladies clothing wholesale. The Italian couple opposite are selling knives, cutlery, and needle threaders!! The man further down has wooden animals which are so definately imported. Then there's national trust, Phoenix cards, Forever living, to name but a few. but at least we know that we are the real deal.

Thursday apparently is known as "slit your throat day" , well if that's the case then i'm naming Friday as "hang yourself day!"

It's not the organisers fault, there are plenty of people but they just arent spending. Dont get me wrong we have managed to sell, just not enough yet. It's a long day and you are so tired at the end. You eat more coz you're bored and it's really cold despite being indoors.

Despite all this i would like to introduce you to a couple of stalls that i love.

First here's Muggins Pottery

I love all his items.

Secondly i call her the pot lady. Sherwood Garden Features have the gorgeous people made out of wood and flower pots. Apparently they are a very popular stall and always sell well at these events

So let's hope Saturday will not have to be labelled "shoot yourself Saturday!" and that the people come in their droves and spend spend spend!!!

Massive Disappointment. What now?!!

Was so excited this morning. Was so sure that we were going to be offered the lease on the shop and then Niki phoned at lunchtime with the soul destroying news that one of the company directors/partners had returned from his holiday and had said that he didn't want the shop to be used to sell food at all full stop. So that was that. Dream shattered. Again!!
So i spent lunchtime at work in silence instead of the usual jovial manner that i have. Couldn't even really discuss it with anyone, just mull it over in my head. It is a temptation just to have a gift shop. I know we could fill it with so many lovely things from all the talented people I've met on the craft forum, folksy and craft fairs but would it be enough. First would it raise enough capital to pay the bills plus 2 wages and secondly would we find it mind numbingly boring ? So hard to make a descision on something so important. My OH tells me there are 30 shop units to rent in Rugby, but would we get lost in a busier town? My head aches just thinking about it.
On a lighter note i have cracked on with the tooth fairy pillows tonight and forced myself to stay away from the craft forum. Until now!!! Have worked out if i make 35 and sell them all that will just cover the cost of the table in Milton Keynes! Must be easier ways to get rich! xx