Good Morning, all! At least, I hope your morning is going well. Mine is fairly quiet and a lovely change from this last weekends bustle at the craft show. The rhubarb festival didn't go quite as planned, but it was a learning experience. I met a few nice people and got to try rhubarb soda, so not all was lost. But, enough about that! What I really wanted to share with you today is the apron I sewed myself for craft shows. I was getting a little tired of not having my money very accessible, not having pens and paper on person, and simply not being hands free! I looked for a few examples of 'vendor aprons' and 'utility aprons' online and came up with my own little pattern that fit my style and would show off my sewing and embroidery skills. The very first thing I did was to embroider my logo onto fabric. I chose a natural color muslin to do it. I like the sandy look and the fabric has lose enough fibers to create a small cross hatch which helped me keep things even. Here's the finished product below I actually had another vendor comment on my apron the day of the show. She liked it and I let her know I did it all myself with the embroidery done by hand. She was floored. I was floored that she was floored! She was surprised that it was done by hand and showed her husband, too, saying "You know that $1300 machine I just bought for embroider? Well, she did it herself by hand!" I admit, I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's not absolutely perfect, but it's well done. The next thing I did was picked out a couple other fabrics to compliment my logo and reflect my personality. I chose a cute pink polka dot pattern fabric that was as close to my color palette as possible and a neat gray wood pattern fabric to connect with my love of nature. For the rest, I knew I wanted a big pocket in the back and several little ones in the front. The large one would allow me to store larger items and the smaller pockets could hold pens, paper, and business cards. I backed the whole apron with the gray and used the pink to create a long ribbon tie. I found that this apron style to be very useful in addition to be attractive to wear. If you're someone who sells at craft shows or even farmers' markets you definitely need one of these! I am contemplating sewing more aprons in the future, so keep your eye out if you'd like one from me someday! :)
0 Comments
Hi All! I just wanted to quickly share a new product that I'm making especially for a craft show I'll be doing on June 6th. The show is at the 26th Annual Aledo (IL) Rhubarb Festival! So, I thought I'd make a special item to go with the rhubarb theme. At first I thought, 'Oh, it would be cool to crochet some actual stocks of rhubarb.' Then, I decided that was a bit too much work in pattern design. Instead, I modified a hot pad pattern to turn it into a rhubarb pie! I'll have two color variations. The one shown is a red filling, so I figured I'd call it 'Strawberry Rhubarb' and I will also be doing a light pink filling which will be plain 'Rhubarb.' Pretty cool, huh? These hot pads are made with 100% cotton and measure 5 inches in diameter. I attached a loop so that you can hang it up in the kitchen for decor or easy storage. This pie hot pad is definitely a great one! I love the way it turned out and hope you do, too. If you'd like one, come on over to the Aledo Rhubarb Festival on June 6th in Aledo, IL or special order one, since they won't be in shop due to being a special item. Hey All! This is just a quick post for today. I thought I'd share a little bit about how my show went last week. The show was held at a hotel convention center and had just over 20 booths at the show. Actually, a majority of the people showing were vendors (think Tupperware, 31, Pampered Chef, etc.). So, it was a bit competitive. It seemed to me that most the people who visited the show were going mostly for vendor products and not the crafters. There also wasn't a lot of advertisement, not even a sign outside the hotel letting the general public know of the show. I felt the numbers were low. It would have been nice to have more people there simply for the fact that the show was also a fundraiser. However, I still had quite a few people interested in my booth and came out ahead, even with the previous two shows. I was quite happy by the end of the day. Enjoy the few photos I took of my booth from the day! I have my first show of the year coming up this Saturday! I have been itching to get out for a month or so. I'm needing more 'in person' exposure. I know I have great stuff that makes me stand out, I just need to show it! Part of the 'showing' at craft shows are the displays. How you set up your items in your booth. This has been (and probably always will be) a process for me. My first show was a little chaotic. Second was a little better, but not completely to my liking. This next one I hope to be a LOT better. I have some great ideas on how to show some of my products that I personally have never seen at a show. It's fun, fitting, and creative. The idea is to display my flower/plant items in terra cotta pots as you see in the photo. Terra cotta pots act like slate and will allow you to write on it with chalk. I had thought of this idea a couple years ago for the garden. It's a cute way to label your garden pots, until it rains! So, I went and found my chalk pencil and started to doodle on the pots. Each pot displays the name of the item and the price. I will put the product inside making it seem like these flower inspired items were planted in the pot. Pretty cool, huh? I think it makes the preparation more efficient and adequately displays the price for buyers to see. If done right, it's also quite attractive. I have a feeling people will be commenting on these at the show and hopefully hook a sale! The first pot I did was the Zinnia. At first I wanted to put the name of the item on the rim like I did. However, to me the price so large below seemed a bit much. So, for the other I changed it up. Next, I worked on the Sunflower pot. I wanted to have a slightly different theme. So, I chose to do a scroll like script with some swirly decorations. It turned out pretty well. I like the name of the item larger down below, too. I think it makes it more decorative and welcoming. Finally, I had the Daisy one to do. I made this one a bit more nature-y. The drawn daisy flower and leaves I really like to draw, so I incorporated them in my design.
I also plan to make some pots for my flowered headbands and the leaf washcloths. I'll let you know how these worked for my show display. If they're a hit, I think I'll spray the pot with a sealer to keep the chalk from wiping off. Over the weekend I traveled to my college Alma mater, Waldorf College in Forest City Iowa. Never heard of it? That's OK. Have you heard of Winnebago? Yeah? Well, where they make those big campers is the same town my lovely little college is located. My visit there was two fold. First, my cousin Corey was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at the college. He already had his name up as an All-American athlete, which I would point out to anyone who would listen to me in my four years at Waldorf. Being inducted into the hall of fame was a perfect, humbling honor for him. Needless to say the whole family was proud and happy for him! The second purpose for my visit was the craft fair. Miss Niss Craftworks has now been open for an entire year. I felt it was time I pull my products into the real world. I figured the alumni craft fair was the perfect starting point. The location was one where I am known by my affiliation to Waldorf College. I could get my business name out to people I know and to those who 'know' me through Waldorf. Above is a picture of my booth at the craft fair. As you can see, I brought some of our Sheltering Woods items along with Miss Niss Craftworks'. Those items would be the grapevine wreaths and angels, pressed flower cards, and seeds.
A few things I learned from the craft show. 1. I need better organization. -The table was cluttered and I feel overwhelmed my customers. 2. I learned what items will sell well at a show. -Baby hats, baby booties, hair accessories, and toys in my case. 3. I need to offer a variety of sizes at the show. -The items that had most interest by customers weren't always the size that a customer wanted. Contacting me at a later date for a bigger or smaller size was inconvenient to them. 4. Smiling and engaging people at your booth is the best way to get people to come back. 5. People appreciate hearing/knowing that your product is made by YOU and created by you. -It makes their purchases special and unique compared to what you can find at 'the store.' Overall, I had a great experience. I have no other shows to compare it with, so I would say the show was successful for me. I'm hoping to hit a holiday show in my area at the end of November. So, if you read this and are in the Quad Cities keep an eye out for me! |
Author
My name is Annissa, owner of MissNissDesigns. I am a knitter, crocheter, sewer, and all around crafty lady. Archives
April 2023
|