Saturday 11 July 2009

Craft Fair! - Tunbridge Wells AEC





So I had my first craft fair - it was organised by Bev Russell from Tunbridge Wells Adult Education as a chance for students to learn how to sell and to promote the courses.

Was a bit daunting to start with as I didn't know anyone - was the only person from my Soft Furnishings course who exhibited.

Had few pieces pre-prepared, but when I realised just a few days beforehand that I had a whole table to fill on my own I panicked and spent every spare hour sewing - which was great fun - but slightly stressful.

Wasn't the busiest craft fair I have ever been to and halfway through after only selling three things I was feeling a little despondent but things did pick up towards the end.

The best part was meeting all the other sellers - such a lovely bunch of people.

Can't wait to do my next fair now!!

I made this! - Polka Dot Teacup Pincushion!




Another one for the craft fair - this is now the third teacup pincushion I have made - and I think this is my favourite! Loved the leaves on Dianes Teacup and was itching to add more colour and pattern so used one of my last remaining scraps of my vintage floral print cotton.

Have shown my work in progress as I often get asked how I make these. This latest one has a little lavender bag inside it also - just for the hell of it!!

I made this! - Lavender Birds!






Still love anything birdy - so was dying to make my own bird hangers. Thought they would be great for my very first craft fair - they went down a treat luckily - especially as they took much longer than expected to make!

I made this! - Doorstops!









Used a pattern from one of my favourite books - Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.

The largest one is from the actual pattern and the two smaller ones are a scaled down version as I found the original to be too large - and costly to fill!

I adapted the handle from Lotta's original specification as I prefer it to be the full width with the ends hidden in the seams - you just have to make sure that you really securely stitch the ends inside the seams as they are pretty heavy.

Pretty easy to make - just have to take it slow and be careful when you attach the top section as if you are slightly misaligned it will look pants.