1st Market stall wrap up

Well, I made it! After many hours sewing, organising, planning, spending and stressing, I arrived at my first market stall armed with a table full of goods and a huge sense of accomplishment. Really, I can't remember the last time I put this much effort into anything so I was happy to have made it in one piece with my sanity (mostly) in tact.

The weather conditions were not optimal- cold, miserable and rainy, but as the market stall was held indoors at St Michael's Primary School, we were well sheltered from the elements.

I arrived at the gate to be greeted by a group of parent helpers and strong kids who took my table and boxes and carried them inside for me.I could hear a seasoned marketeer (my fun invented word) telling her pal she wished she had this kind of help every time she worked a market.... a luxury no doubt!

I set up carefully laying out my tablecloths (pre pressed) and pinning on my bunting. I put out the boxes of pencil cases and make up bags and placed all my signs in their right spots. Then I changed into my dress and put one of my headbands on to show what they look like.

While this was all happening, experienced marketeers busily attended their stalls and wares, setting up and getting organised. As I looked around I felt a little nervous and out of place with my small table of goods, but before I could psych myself out, I took a deep breath and reminded myself I really had done all that I could.

Karl arrived shortly afterwards, bought me a glass of champagne and took some photos:

Market stall table set up

logo in frame

table shot of things for sale

coin purses, headbands and make up bags

framed logo and make up bags

cute hair accessories by a colleague, 'Love Willow'

pleated headbands

wearing a pleated headband

All together I sold 18 of my pieces and lots of hair accessories by my colleague Kristin. I was really happy with that for a first go. The most popular items were the pencil cases and coin purses in the prints for kids. I didn't sell any of my make up bags or cushions but those kinds of adult gifts may do better at a different market. I might put some thought into streaming products for kids and adults and maybe keep them separate. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Overall I am really glad I took the leap and booked myself on the market stall. It forced me to think seriously about doing the work as a 'job' and gave me an insight into the process right from daydream to market stall. I know now that I am capable of doing it and I have a good lot of stock which can form the basis of a possible future collection if I'd like to try it again sometime.

Watch this space!

First market stall - what I have learned so far

I have been super quiet on my blog in the last few weeks as I prepare for my first market stall coming up in 1 week + 1 day. I have learned a lot from the process and thought I'd reveal some of these things in order to perhaps help anyone else there thinking they're ready to have their own stall:

Things I have learned in preparing for my first market stall

1. Yes, booking yourself in for a market stall in 1.5 months will be a good motivator to get organised. However.....
2.  1.5 months is nowhere near as long as you think.... or enough time to build stock from scratch
3.  Faffing around making a logo for 3 weeks is not encouraged and should be considered before you even book a market stall
4.  Cutting fabric and ironing on interfacing will be the bane of your existence and takes 3 times longer than you expect it to
5. Deciding to do a market stall during a time when you have two away trips for work is not advised
6. Drinking wine while sewing at night is not a winning combination
7. Buying every pink piece of fabric you're attracted to will result in a very pink market stall, leaving you scrambling one week out to make things in blues, greens and purples
8. organising business cards and paper bags for your goods in advance will help you to stress less.

Ok so during this whole process I have taken things pretty much in my stride and things have been going pretty well. That is until I realised last night just how much pink I have in the collection and not a lot else. Eeep!

I have a little time left and some ideas, along with the support of my amazing husband who even offered to iron on interfacing for me which is so sweet (he has no idea how dull it is...).

So I better get back to it, here's some pics so you can see where I'm at so far (pink land, apparently!) Thanks go of course to Karl for taking pics and making my things look pretty!

cosmetic bags

vinyl covered coin purses

14" cushions

So that's most of what I have so far. I also have a few pencil cases and I'm trialling some headbands at the moment. Hopefully I can get everything done in time!

wish me luck!

Pencil cases/make up bags

Today I'm writing this post while away in Western Australia for work. With the market stall coming up in two weeks (argh!) the week long trip away wasn't exactly the best timing, however I have made good use of my spare time by spending 2 hours fusing interfacing to 17 sets of purse pieces. Now they're all ready to sew up when I get home. I love that the boring part is now out of the way and I get to sew! Hee hee.

Before I left I made some prototypes of the purse styles I'd like to make for the market and cut lots of fabric. I made a couple of pencil cases which could also be used as make up bags using elephant printed fabric I bought on my trip to Thailand. I also made one using some of my favourite kokka fabric which has framed ballerinas and cute Paris icons like the eiffel tower and arc de triumph.

Here is a pic of the front:

I'm pretty happy with this part but not as happy with the back. I thought it would be sweet to include one of the Paris icons on the back of the case. I found some sweet little heart eyelet lace and put r together. All was fine until I boxed the corners of the case and lost the bottom part of the eiffel tower. :(

Oh well, it was a fun experiment and I still love it overall. Ah the perils of experimental sewing! Fun.

Paris fabric cushions

I visited Paris over Christmas time about 8 years ago and simply loved the city. It's everything you dream it would be plus a magic you weren't counting on. There's a reason the cliche about falling in love in Paris exists, but no-one tells you the love you have is for the city itself. :)

Anyhoo luckily for me you can find all sorts of accessories and home wares to put a little bit of Par-ee into your life and there's plenty of French themed fabric out there too.

One of my favourites is a lovely Eiffel Tower fabric from Michael Miller. A while ago I used the red printed fabric to make some cushions for friends who really liked them. I decided to buy some more in red and black to make little cushions to sell at the market stall I have coming up at the end of the month. I backed each cushion with a plain black polka dot. Here's a pic:

Eiffel Tower fabric cushions

So far I have made 5 black and have cut fabric for 4 red cushions. If you'd like to make your own, I followed this great little video tutorial from Brett Bara's website the Manhattan Craft room. It was pretty easy and cushions would make nice gifts for Christmas I think. Brett also has a nice little book called 'Sewing in a straight line' which I'd like to check out too.

What French themed home wares do you have?