Sunday 17 July 2011

TheFeminineTouch 1st craft fair

I have just completed my 1st craft fair at our local garden centre. Every few months they open the centre to around 20 craft stalls taking a "deposit" of £5 to secure the stall. The fair is open 4 hours , just enough time and cheap enough (free) for me to get a feel for how a craft fair would work for me.  They madly advertise the fair on posters and in local schools. I had found the fair on the Internet , so I knew that it had been well advertised.

In preparation for the fair I created some new cheaper items for my shop.

A range of new knitted hand warmers , I thought would do the trick.

I spent the day before pricing up all my accessories and making sure I had writing pads, scissors , bags, tape etc all at hand for the day. I used the list that my Craft Britannia friends had given me to ensure a successful craft fair.

This morning I was confident and felt self assured. Nothing could go wrong . Everything was in the car ready . Lunch and drinks were packed . I was dressed casually but prettily with one of my new brooches pinned on to my lovely feminine top (one with 2 big pockets to hold all my change etc). I felt good.

I arrived at the garden centre and made 4 trips back and forth between the car and the stall and then I realised my mistake !

Where do I put all this stuff on this little 6 foot stall. I had made the mistake of bringing everything I had crafted for the last 8 months and expected it to look oh so pretty on the table in front of me. I looked around me and saw some beautiful stalls, set out so professionally. Next to me was a stall with a smart box full of knitted phone cases , half a dozen lovely hand knitted bags and 5 knitted toys. You could easily see what she was selling and you could easily appreciate what she had.

And what did I do ..............I put every single item on to the stall , thinking that someone out there would be able to pick out something that they liked from this jumble of a stall. I knew no better.

Well I do now. I did get some people interested in some items , I did talk about recycling , knitting on big needles and how I had just learnt to crochet. I felt confident in talking about these things. A handful asked if they could have a business card (probably so that they could view items in a more professional setting). I hung ruffle scarves around my neck and wore one of the messenger bags so that they could see my goods.

But.....................not one sale.

So what did I get out of today?

1. I was confident and realised it was OK to talk about my craft

2. That I needed to plan my stall layout, find something to hang my scarves on , put my brooches in , hand my bags on etc

3. Not put all my items on the stall, pick items appropriate to the event

4. Wear my items (and I don't mean just at the craft fair). I really enjoyed doing this

5. I found out that there was another craft fair at the garden centre in November just in time for Xmas

6. I had 2 opportunities to join other craft fairs in the village. Yes I was head hunted.

7. This is all a learning curve and just to enjoy it.

Hope you enjoyed my day too.

Quick View of Woolly Goodies available on my web site

Quick View of Woolly Goodies available on my web site
Click on photo above to see detail / to purchase