Sunday, November 18, 2012

Craft Sale Recap


I made this ornament this morning.  It is the length of my seam ripper.
It was relaxing to make and therapeutic after craft sale preparation sewing.
It might be the one I  swap at the next guild meeting.

Yesterday, I took part in my first ever craft sale.  Hmm.  I completely forgot to take any pictures of my set up but I did have a rather inspired display rack.  I re-purposed a very battered and rustic wooden step ladder to display table runners and hang bags from.  I think it looked perfectly awesome.  The craft sale was not a typical one where a swack of crafters rent tables and tons of people come but rather a small and more intimate sale in the home of one of my buddies.  There were 5 of us flogging our wares.  A fire was burning in the fireplace and it actually worked quite nicely.  We had very steady traffic despite being a bit of a distance out in the country.

I took a variety of stuff.  Bags, runners, pillows, covered journals, quilts and doll bedding.  I sold stuff.  Not as much as I would have liked but definitely enough to make it worth the time.  I would say that the price mark that people were comfy with was about $40.  So no quilts were sold and I was not surprised by that.  I was quite stressed about the whole thing and have been sewing like a crazy person in order to have enough inventory to make it look like I was taking the whole thing seriously.

I have read other bloggers' reviews of their craft sale experiences of late and I think mine are quite in line with what they experienced.  Mostly that would be that, yes, stuff sells but not as much as one would like.  I don't know that I am a craft sale kind of a person.  I certainly don't even like having a garage sale and much prefer getting rid of junk by taking it to the thrift store rather than hosting a garage sale. Will I do this again?  I really don't think so.  Do I want to start selling some quilts?  I think I might.  Do I have some cash burning a hole in my pocket?  Yep!  Will I spend it on fabric?  Without a doubt!

The best parts of the day had to be being able to visit with some really nice people and I did enjoy speaking to shoppers about my quilting and my process.  I also managed to knit 2 dishcloths while I was at it.  Someone asked how much my knitted dishcloths were and I did have to say that they are not for sale.  They are far too prized by the family and it takes me too long to knit them to make it viable to sell them.  Anyone wish to buy a $25 dishcloth?  I don't think so!!!!

Don't forget!  Blogathon Canada starts tomorrow right here!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. I used to do craft sales, way back in the 90's, not many, two or three a year for about 5 years -- it is way too much work for the return so now, I make what I want, when I want and sell a few things through my ETSY shop, which is way more fun!

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  2. It was nice to hear about your experience - I've got my first craft fair coming up a week on Sunday and I'm terrified! My main issue at the minute is that I don't have enough stock, and I work full time!

    As for dishcloths - I crochet them, takes about an hour! I admire you for knitting them, that would take me months.

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