Craft Fair

It was GREAT!!!  In all aspects! I made some money and I wrote a lot of things down for next time!!!

Of course, all the things I wrote down take money, and I need more shows to make money, so it will all happen one at a time.

The only problem with the fair was the WIND!!!  While we were setting up (late of course) the wind blew several tents over--one flying into the woman's windshield!!  She later told me that the tent was broken (thank goodness not her windshield) but she had borrowed it and now had to buy the person a new one.  Oops.

I want to do more fairs!  Especially next year.  Getting ready for the fair was A LOT of work.  And of course everything was on FULL here the last two weeks (husband's job, sick kids, sick dogs, busier than normal, etc).  But I somehow did and next time will only be easier, right???

I had a hard time guessing what sizes to make.  And I brought all my fabrics to take special orders... but only got USMC (and ARMY) dress requests... which, hey, I'll take!!!  So, I don't know if I will bring fabrics or not... but it seems an easy thing to do...

Another small problem I had were my homemade PVC garment racks kept falling over!!!  ha!!  Partly from wind but mostly from not being glued.  So I have to get those painted and glued before I do another show.  And if I have even ONE more dress than this time... I will need another rack!!!

This fair, the booth was shared with BonBonBows.  It was great having other people there--and Bows to accessorize with dresses... and if we do it again and are more organized, I will upsell more bows... but the down side was I only had 1/2 a booth.  So... I might either buy the bows from her or consign them or something.  Have a nice little bow rack in one corner, with her advertising, but have the whole booth to myself.  This time, however, I would have looked pretty silly.  I did not have NEARLY enough prepared for a whole booth.  And not even just dresses!  I want to have a photo board with the dresses modeled.  I want to have better displays.  Guest information cards.  Future products.  More products.

Anyway... overall it was a great success and I have so many people to thank for helping me.  If I leave you out just remind me (thank yourself in the comments!): Patience for always believing in me, without even knowing it she pushes me in the right direction; Meghan for coming over and helping, running errands, manning the show with me, offering suggestions and support; Liz who is my ironing professional and did an AWESOME banner that I could not hang due to wind; Nanna for coming in this weekend to help with kids; Abbey for always being my sounding board with all things crafty; Bonny for accessorizing the dresses; and all my local friends for coming out to support the booth!!!  And a HUGE thanks to all my fans and customers who love SewStella and advertise for me all the time!!!