r/CraftFairs

A month ago I posted after having my worst showing at a craft fair (2 buyers, both other vendors, and no one else). (Second picture was my set up that day)

I went ahead and took people's advice, changed up my set up, and had a great market today(new set up in first picture)! It does help that there was no major holiday today and the weather was good 😄 I had to actually move my stock around to fill up holes from people buying, which felt so gosh darn validating. But adding some more color, having a clear price list, and making my layout more dynamic felt like it all added up to my best show ever.

So thank you all for the advice and encouragement!

This site has a free booth layout planner if anyone needs help figuring out their setup. You can use it from your phone.

So I’ve painted myself into quite a corner - this wonderful monthly event in Denver I vend at offers us 10x10 spaces which I’ve happily filled up and sold very well at each time because I’ve borrowed my partner’s SUV and it all fit, we can’t afford to keep that car anymore so I only have my car now, a Honda accord and only about half of the booth fits in there. All the tables and fixtures fit, but I can’t bring any inventory of anything but my best sellers, and lately if I don’t have it - customers aren’t apt to buy online from me or accept delivery. Having everything meant sales. So now I have to consolidate and downsize.

I’ve been thinking about trailers that you pull behind the car but have no idea where to even shop for one of those. I guess for now downsizing is the only option, just crashing out

I managed to get a double wide indoor booth with set up the night prior. I am so stoked, and hope I have a great day. since I had extra space this time I was able to bring so much more than I normally can fit in a booth.

today's got some good storm chances, so hopefully by the end of the event its not pouring because it took me over 45 minutes to unpack the van. hope it doesn't all get soggy. Hopefully the rain doesn't keep people away, there's not much for close parking on this one.

I get so nervous before a show i am currently waiting for my alarm to go off and feeling a bit queasy. I am not new to this but still get queasy, sometimes very queasy.

I am trying a new system of when I feel queasy to tell myself that I am stoked and excited not anxious and sickly. I'm a mellow fellow, I don't actually know what I get anxious about.

This is without my overhead chain for hanging propagation stations and other artworks, this market was only 3 hours and I didnt want to haul all my fragiles for something so short and it was the first of this market. It was pretty slow, not sure if I could improve anything or if it was just the market/economy.

My sign that you cant read from the light reflection states method of payment, offers alterations if needed, free repairs, 10% of if you follow my IG and that customs are available.

Thanks for looking! This is my second year doing markets:)

Okay so I went down a rabbit hole last weekend looking for a half decent sleeve tutorial and somehow ended up finding this site called sewingwisdom.com. It's a massive pattern database with 155+ patterns covering basically everything: women's, men's, kids, costumes, crafts, you name it. What actually made me stay was that every pattern comes with proper step-by-step instructions AND video tutorials cross referenced to the tricky bits (zippers, princess seams, collars, the stuff most patterns just skip over).

I've abandoned so many projects mid sleeve because the instructions just assumed I already knew what I was doing. These feel more like a class than a pattern sheet. Not sure how else to describe it.

Been using it to chip away at my fabric stash and it's genuinely made sewing feel fun again instead of stressful. Figured I'd share in case anyone else is in the same boat. I've spent an embarrassing amount on individual patterns over the years, so getting 150+ for cheap felt like a real win 😅