Holidays and Crafting

Hi there, the school summer holidays here in the UK are really playing havoc with my routines especially blogging as again it's been a while since my last post.

So what have I been up to....well I've had a lovely holiday in Northumberland at Beadnell.  This area of the country is beautiful; gorgeous beaches, impressive scenery and quite importantly for us this year, relatively local. We were able to get there in about the time it takes for the kids to watch a DVD on the players in the car.....no 'are we nearly there yet' and no fighting, great.

Beadnell Beach

Lindisfarne Castle



Cragside

I've managed a small amount of crafting, thanks to my lovely mum, who has looked after my girls for a few days so that I could crack on with some 'makes' for a craft fair.  The craft fair in question was yesterday and was, I'm happy to say, all in all a good day.  I made some sales, met some lovely people and gained some valuable knowledge from some of the more experienced stallholders that were there.  It's lovely to meet people who are willing to pass on tips and help one another out.  I knew from Handmade Monday what a lovely bunch crafters can be!

My last couple of posts about craft fairs have been a little negative so it's nice to report some positives.  For this fair I decided to concentrate on having some lower ticket items, things that would be attractive to children.  I made some kids totes, pencil cases and coin purses and whilst these are probably not items I will be selling on my website they were good sellers on the stall.

I even got some free publicity at the craft fair.  A local radio station was reporting live and interviewing some of the stallholders, including me.  This was completely out of my comfort zone but hey it's free publicity.

It's time now for me to head over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been doing.  Why not check it out too?

Finding The Right Craft Fair

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my most recent experience of selling at a craft fair.

The fair was not successful to say the least but I had some lovely comments on my blog from my friends at Handmade Monday.  So firstly a big thank you to you all.

These comments helped me to pick myself up, dust myself down and plan my next move.  I learnt a very valuable lesson.....researching craft fairs before booking in is absolutely necessary to establish as much as possible whether it's the right event for me.

 

 

I've compiled this list of areas to look at and questions to ask yourself when researching whether a craft fair is the right event....

 

Location - where is the event? Is it close to public transport, does it have parking facilities? Will there be passers-by or will it be a location where potential customers need to make a specific intentional journey to go there (this will be an issue if the event has not been well publicised)?

Who is likely to attend - what is the demographic of the people attending?  Are your customers likely to go to this type  of event?  If possible get attendance figures from the organisers.  If it is a regular event they may be able to provide attendance figures from previous similar events. 

Frequency - is it a regular event? If it is and it's practical to, visit.  It is easier to make a decision if you've actually been to the event before.  You can see who goes, who exhibits and possibly talk to the organisers.  

Recently I've decided not to book into three fairs having visited them first and believe I have saved myself time and money.  The first I decided was too far away and not large enough to warrant the travel costs.  Another was mid-week, again small and had very low footfall.  It was market day and whilst the streets were busy with people, there was already plenty for them to see on the high street.  They were therefore not venturing off into the hotel where the fair was being held.  The last one again had a low turn-out.  Now all of these were recent and we have had some unusually warm summer weather which may have impacted on the number of visitors to these events...who knows.

Who else will be exhibiting - it will depend on each individual event organiser as to their booking policy and rules over duplicate sellers.  If possible find out who else is exhibiting and ask yourself - do my products fit in? If they do, how many sellers are also selling similar products?  A little competition isn't a bad thing but if there are several sellers all selling similar items it gets more difficult for everyone. 

An issue I had recently was that there were four of us selling handbags.  Myself and another lady were selling handmade handbags and two other stalls were selling mass produced bags they had purchased wholesale.  I won't go into the when is a craft fair not a craft fair issue now, but needless to say there were too many of us selling handbags and handmade lost out.  For some crafters it may be worth considering handmade only events, it's certainly something I will be looking at.

Promotion - ask the organiser what they will be doing to advertise the event.  Check online and in the press yourself to see how widely they have advertised.  If you have booked-in promote the event yourself via your own networks.  It may seem obvious but the more people who know about the event, the more are likely to go and that means a better chance of sales.

Now this isn't an exhaustive list and you may well have some tips you could add, please feel free to do so in the comments below.  I always love to hear about others experiences.

Now on to what I've been making....

My VW Camper Van Totes continue to be popular so I have been making some of those and I have also made these cute kids tote bags for my next fair....

I plan to sell these, along with some cute purses and pencil cases (yet to be made!) for kids too.

I have also finished this Owl print shoulder bag for a customer.

I'm off now to check out what everyone at Handmade Monday has been making.  Why not pop over too?
 

 

Craft Fairs - The Ups and Downs

It's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post and unfortunately I missed last weeks Handmade Monday.  Hello everyone, I hope you are well.

 

Since this blog is about my journey into running a small craft business I will be sharing with you the highs and the lows.  I'm sorry to say that this post will be mostly about the lows.

 

I spent the week before last making some new handbags in preparation for a craft fair last Sunday.  Unfortunately the fair was not very successful and left me feeling quite despondent.

 

I am trying hard to look at the reasons why it wasn't successful and turn those into positives that I can learn from, however I'm beginning to feel that the 'craft' in Craft Fair can be somewhat of a loose term. 

 

I must admit I was very prepared in terms of my stock and everything I would need for my stall for the day, however what was lacking was my research of the actual event.  Was this the right place for me to sell my handmade handbags?  In the cold light of day, no it probably wasn't.

 

This particular fair had a number of sellers selling items which they've purchased from a wholesaler and then are selling on.  I'm not saying there is anything necessarily wrong in that, however these are items which can be found on most market stalls in town centres these days and are certainly not individually handcrafted.  In my case in particular there was a stall selling bought in handbags at very low prices.  I could not possibly compete on price unless I was practically giving my handbags away. 

 

However, I can compete on quality.  I know my handbags are of good quality as I've had feedback which supports this.  So the next question is, of the few people who actually attended the craft fair would they a) like my handbags and appreciate the quality and handmade nature of them and b) having liked and appreciated would they buy at the price I ask?  On that particular day at that particular place the answer was a resounding no.

 

I will certainly be doing more research next time.  I'm looking at some upcoming Craft Fairs which advertise as being 'handcrafted only'  and where possible I will be attending as a buyer before committing as a seller.

 

I would be very interested to hear about other crafters' experiences.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

 

As I always like to include a picture or two in my posts here are some of the new handbags I made for the fair.

 

A VW Camper Van Tote Bag and Cross-Body Bag.  The tote bag is lined in the same taupe dotty fabric as can be seen in the photograph. 

 

 

 

I also made a smaller version of the cute owl cross-body bag I showed you a few weeks ago...

 

 

I'm off now to check out what everyone else has been up to over at Handmade Monday

 

Have a great week.

 

 

 

 

My First Guest Blog Post - Craft Fair Top Tips

When I set out on my journey into running a crafting business I read various articles and blogs online (in fact I still do) as well as a few books, one of which was Crafting a Successful Small Business by Joanne Dewberry.  I found this book to be particularly useful: it is broken down into clear chapters covering areas such as Pricing, Branding, How and Where to Sell, Marketing and PR.

Joanne set up her business, Charlie Moos in 2008, selling handmade party bags, quality party bag fillers, cards and wrapping paper. 

Joanne also runs her blog www.joannedewberry.co.uk providing professional business advice.

I had connected with Joanne via Twitter and Facebook and a little while ago she asked if I would like to write a guest post for her blog about my Craft Fair Top Tips.  I was really pleased to do this.  Follow the link to read my Craft Fair Tips for yourself.

My next craft fair is on Sunday, I think I should revisit this article to check I've covered everything.  Over the next week as I prepare I will be checking my stock levels, updating my stock list and making a few more items to add to the list. 

In other news.....

This last week I made a slightly larger cross body bag than my previous ones and included a zipped interior pocket and a recessed zip closure in the bag.  This is the first of my bags to have these features.  I posed a question on both Twitter and Facebook about what are the most important features in a bag and pockets ranked very highly in the responses.  Would you agree?  What features in a bag are most important to you?

I purchased this cute owl fabric a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for this bag.  I've teamed it with a chocolate brown cotton lining and cotton webbing for the adjustable  strap.

I also made a few more bags in the gorgeous Clarke & Clarke Retro Floral fabric and the Alfie Scottie Dog oilcloth, these can be seen on my website .

I hope you all have a great week.  It's now time for me to pop over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been doing this week.  Why not take a look.

My Lisa Lam Bucket Bag

For my last birthday I was given Lisa Lam's book, The Bag Making Bible .  I decided to make her bucket bag first and bought these gorgeous fabrics......

As often happens, time marched on and the fabrics stayed in my stash.  So this last week I decided finally to get them out & get going.  I thought you all might like to see how I got on, so I've included this series of photos I took as I went....

So far so good.  It was all going well until it was time to make the bias binding which is used to finish the top edge of the bag and form the handles.  It probably didn't help that I started that part in the evening.  I nervously started cutting my fabric into bias strips, joining them together and passing them through the tape maker. 

I then applied them to the bag.  I must admit I did find this quite tricky and am not entirely happy with the result but as with a lot of things in life I guess it gets better with practice.

And now for the finished bag..................

I really love this fabric combination and look forward to sporting this bag on my next shopping trip (weather permitting!). 

It's now time to pop over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone has been up to.  Why not come & take a peek too.

Sewing with oilcloth.....finally

Hope you've all had a good week.

Since my last blog post I have sewn with the Scottie Dog oilcloth and the black and white print fabric I showed you a couple of weeks ago.

After reading on the Internet about how tricky oilcloth can be to sew with I was actually becoming quite scared of picking it up & sewing with it. Silly really as it wasn't as tricky as I thought. Not trouble free either, I might add.

So here is my first attempt......

Since I hadn't sewn with this stuff before, I went for a basic tote.  I'm generally happy with it and have been using my new bag this week. 

I'm working on some new designs and am hoping to add oilcloth bags to my range on the website very soon.

I thought I would share with you some of the tips for sewing with oilcloth that I have found through my research online.....

• Purchase a roller or Teflon presser foot for your sewing machine as this will help the cloth move more freely as you sew, it will stick otherwise.  If you don't have one you could put masking tape onto your ordinary presser foot.
• Use paperclips, pegs or bag clips to hold fabrics in place as this avoids piercing the cloth with pins.  If you do use pins make sure you pin inside the seam allowance so any pin holes won't show.
• As much as possible when sewing 2 layers, sew with right sides together as the oilcloth tends to stick to the bed of the machine.  A piece of oilcloth right side down taped to the plastic part of the machine bed can help, but don't cover the feed dogs when doing this.
• I've read various opinions regarding what size needle to use.  I think generally a size 16 denim needle is considered to be the type to use, however it's probably best to experiment with some scraps of oilcloth as each machine will cope differently.
• If you are sewing over a number of layers, for example in bag-making; bag straps or side seams, use the hand wheel rather than the foot control if your machine labours at these points. 

I hope that you have found these useful and that if you haven't sewn with oilcloth before and would like to, I haven't put you off!

I also made a clutch bag using the Tempting Tonals black & white fabric.  This was the first time I'd sewn a bag with a front flap.  It was reasonably straight forward however the flap is basted to the body of the clutch by a scant 1/8th" and when I turned my bag back out I could see some the of basting stitches and then I couldn't get it back through the hole to re-do the seam.  A little more practice required I think! 

Anyway this is it.....

I really like this knot & loop fastener I found in a local haberdashery.

I think it's time for me to head over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone has been doing this week.  Why not join me? 

Loving the Floral

Hi there.

In my blog post last week I shared some new fabrics.  I would have liked to have had bags made up in them to show this week but between having a poorly child at home and a few other commitments sewing was a bit limited. 

I did however, make a start on 5 bags: 2 are finished and 1 well on it's way.  I've cut the fabric for the other 2 (the black & white fabric from last week) but they've not made it to the sewing machine yet.

So for the two already finished.....

I've had a small cross-body bag as my main handbag for years now.  It's great as it's large enough to hold my purse, keys and phone and a few other small things besides and it's not too bulky.  It's also been really practical whilst pushing the pushchair or holding the kids hands when out and about.  

My handbag became the inspiration for a new design of bag at Handbags Just 4u.  I've been working recently with some gorgeous fabrics from Clarke & Clarke so I decided to use them for this bag.

The main body of the bag is Clarke & Clarke Dotty in Taupe.  The pocket which runs across the front of the bag is their Retro Floral design also in Taupe and has been edged with piping.  The bag is lined in the dotty fabric and has an interior pocket in the floral fabric.  It has a magnetic closure and is the first of my bags to feature an adjustable strap.

The other bag to be completed is one of my tote bags, also in the Retro Floral and Dotty fabrics.

What do you think?

The plan for this incoming week is to complete the other three bags and make a start on the oilcloth I showed you last week. 

It's now time for me to go and check out what the other lovely crafters have been doing over at Handmade Monday. Why not take a look, I'm sure you'll find something you like.

Hope you have a great week.

Branching Out

This last week has been school half term holidays here.  I've had a great time with the kids and also some time away at Cherish 2013 women's conference but it has meant unfortunately there's been no time for sewing.

I did manage to keep up with a bit of paperwork and social media.  Last week I discovered and joined in with Handmade Monday and really enjoyed reading other crafter's blogs.

Although I didn't get to do any sewing last week I was able to arrange for some of my current bags to be available for sale in Had 2 Buy, a local shop on Bondgate in Darlington.  I'm quite excited about this new outlet for Handbags Just 4u . This is a lovely shop stocking a variety of handmade gifts, from jewellery, handbags and accessories to homeware and also exhibits Art work by local artists. They also have an online shop .

With the children back to school this week I'm hoping to get the sewing machine whirring again so that I can add some new bags to the website and build up my stock for my next craft fair, which is in early July.

And because there is aIways time to buy fabric....I bought this lovely oilcloth in Scottie Dog print....

....and also this black & white cotton print from Tempting Tonals by Freedom Fabrics.

I'm yet to finalise the bag designs for these fabrics but I'm sure I will be including some photos in a future blog post.

I'm off now to check out the other lovely blogs featured on Handmade Monday . Hope you have a great week.

More New Bags!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was making a handbag in Prestigious' gorgeous 'Sixpence' fabric.  I'm pleased to say that it's now finished and here it is......

It's lined with hot pink cotton and has feature buttons where the strap meets the bag, these are covered in the same lining fabric.

What do you think?

So, what else has been happening at Handbags Just 4u?  This last week I've been busy preparing for a craft fair (will blog about this very soon) and have made these beach bags in VW Camper Van fabric.....

These are lovely big bags which hold all the essentials for the beach.

In between making I have had some time for searching the internet for lovely things and came across Handmade Monday.  Here various crafters can link and share their blog posts with one another.  What a great way to make some new crafter friends.  Hello to everyone, I look forward to checking out your blogs.

My First Craft Stall

I haven't updated my blog over the last couple of weeks as I've gone into production mode & haven't had much time for writing.

I was given the opportunity to show my work at the ladies evening at my church. This was to be the first time I would 'set out my stall' so to speak. I really wasn't sure how many bags I would need to take so I spent much of the 3 weeks leading up to the night making as many as I could!

Here is a photo of the final layout.

Thank you to my husband, John who made the stands for me to hang some of the bags from.

This evening was a great experience as I am booked into my very first craft fair soon.

I recently read a blog post about falling sales at craft fairs and the writer was saying that the success of these events shouldn't just be judged by sales on the day as there are other factors to consider which, though not easy to quantify, should be seen as opportunities. 

Although it would always be great to sell lots of product there were some other benefits I experienced from the evening which would be difficult to quantify in a monetary sense but I'm sure are of great value.

Marketing, advertising and PR:
I was able to reach a different audience, showing my products, giving out business cards and promoting my website. In an earlier post I talked about using social media. I've found it great for networking and have achieved sales using it but I was conscious that not everyone uses Facebook or Twitter.

Feedback on my products:
It was lovely to hear the praises people had for my work which was a real boost for my confidence. What was also very useful was the feedback from people about the types of bags they would like to see. A handbag for a lady is a very personal thing and as I've found out women have some very definite ideas about what they like. I've been able to take that feedback away & use it to help me plan what products to be making next.

A gauge for prices:
Pricing is always a difficult thing to get right. There are many ways to calculate the price but ultimately I want a fair reward for the work I've put into making a handbag. One of the things I learnt whilst preparing for this first experience as a stall-holder was to stick with my price formula and to not lose confidence and undervalue my work. If the client feels the product is worth the price being asked (assuming firstly they want the product) then they will pay that price. This paid off and I sold my most expensive bag on the night.

There are other things I learnt from the evening, however I've covered the main things here & I now have some useful tweaks in mind for my next stall. I will let you know how it goes in a future blog post.

New Bags

Last week I promised to post some pictures of the bags I've been working on. 

I couldn't resist this fabric when I saw it....so fresh and vibrant.  It's by Clarke & Clarke and is called Energy.  I've got it here in the Smoke colourway.  With our British winter lasting longer than usual this is really helping to brighten things up a bit.

Here I've teamed it with lime green and cobalt blue cotton linings.

I've also made a handbag in the same fabrics.

Now I appreciate this might be a bit bright for some so I've also made a tote in this lovely navy fabric by Prestigious called 'Sixpence' and teamed it with a hot pink cotton lining.

I plan to also make a handbag in this fabric too and will post pictures when it's ready.

Great British Sewing Bee and Threads

I don't know about you but I've been really enjoying the Great British Sewing Bee (GBSB) on BBC2 over the last 3 weeks and am looking forward to the final.  I do however think the series is too short.....hope they'll be another series soon.

My favourite is Lauren,  I loved the jacket she made last week.  It's beyond my current skill level so I'll just admire from afar for now.  Lauren has a tutorial over on her blog www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk/blog for those lovely patch pockets which she made on the show.  I think I'll give those a go, they would look fabulous on a bag.  
 

It's been lovely to see a renaissance in sewing and after GBSB I bet they'll be an increase in sewing machine sales.
 

There was a time when practically every household had a sewing machine.  My grandmother made her family's clothes and taught my mum to sew.  My mother then sewed her own clothes up until about the time I was born by which time sewing was beginning to go out of fashion.  There was still, however a sewing machine in our house and I now sew on my mum's latest machine (on almost permanent loan).
 

Between my mum and I we have what is left of my grandmother's sewing thread collection.  Many of these threads hold memories....mum can still tell me what her mum made with them, now well over 50 years ago.  For example there is a reel of red cotton which was used to make a dress for my mum when she was 4! 

This photo is a selection of some of the older ones, I love the wooden cotton reels.

The reason we have so many is that my grandmother would buy two reels of each colour for what she was making.  I recently ran out of thread mid-project late on a Sunday when the shops were shut.....I wished I'd followed my grandmother's example.  So my top tip....make sure you have enough thread!

I'm working on some new bags for my website Handbags Just 4u this week and will put some photos on my blog next time.

Embracing Technology

When reading this post you will gather pretty quickly I am no tech expert.  I love making my bags, however if more people than just me are to see them I know I need to embrace technology. Here are a few things I've done to set up an online presence for my new business.  This isn't rocket science, so here goes.....

 

1) Social Networking
Like many I've used Facebook & Twitter for keeping in touch with friends, colleagues and acquaintances for quite a long time.  It's only recently I've started to use these social networking sites to reach an audience for business.  I'm amazed that my bags have reached people that I don't know simply by my posting a picture, a friend liking or commenting on it and then their friends liking/commenting.  I guess if we're honest we're all quite nosey....we like to see what others are up to.  If you haven't got a Facebook page for your business you could be missing out on sales (assuming your target customer use Facebook). So far, the majority of my sales have come via this route, and it's FREE advertising!

 

Check out Handbags Just 4u's page www.facebook.com/handbagsjust4u

I can also be followed on twitter www.twitter.com/handbagsjust4u

2) Blogging
Now as you can tell I'm really new to this. I enjoy reading blogs, they open up a whole world of writing on various subjects. In particular I love the sewing ones (well I would say that wouldn't I?), loads of lovely fabrics and ideas.

I've begun my blog to keep a record of my journey and to share any tips I might pick up along the way. And let's face it, a blog is another way to get your business name out there, and again it's FREE!

3) Website
The idea of setting up a website filled me with fear. I haven't a clue about web building and graphic design, however I found a company which enables you to build a website without the need to be know loads of technical stuff www.create.net. They have a range a templates to choose from and it's really quite simple to add your content. Now this isn't free but it is reasonably inexpensive depending on the options you choose.  A really good place to start.  Initially there is a free 30 day trial, which was enough time for me to create the first draft of my website and to make the decision to go ahead.

 

My website is www.handbagsjust4u.co.uk I'd love you to drop by and take a look.

 

Whilst none of these things were that complicated to do it has taken a lot of time and will continue to take time. Keeping content up to date, adding new content all takes dedication and effort but in a short space of time I've seen the benefits of this.

My next techy project is to start using Pinterest,  I'm always finding things I'd like to 'keep' online & this seems like the answer.  Does anyone have any experience of this they'd like to share?

How It All Began

Firstly who am I? Well, I'm Vicki, I'm a wife and a mother to 2 young girls and now owner of Handbags Just 4u, making handmade bags in beautiful fabrics.
 

I didn't really start out intending to set up a handmade handbag business. So how did I get here you might ask? It all began with some handmade children's aprons. My daughters both needed new ones and I thought I'd make them. I'd not used a sewing machine since I was a teenager but with some training from my mum I was up and 'stitching' in no time.

I made the girls aprons, then some for my niece & nephew too. I had bought way too much fabric (something which has become a bit of a recurring theme for me!) so continued and made some more. Along the way I'd also attended some card-making classes which I really enjoyed. Very quickly I'd got the crafty bug & had a collection of cards and fabric items, more than I could possibly use myself & thought how about selling my crafts?
 

I set up shop on an online marketplace and also a Facebook page.  Whilst I had positive comments about my products I didn't have any sales (not counting family!) over the first couple of months.  I know it can take time to get going but I wondered if it was all a bit haphazard. I was making a bit of this and a bit of that without much of a plan & to be honest my products were similar to many others available on such websites.
 

The turning point came with one simple tote bag. I posted a picture of a tote bag I'd made on Facebook and within a couple of hours I had orders for 3! 

I then made some more and also some shoulder bags, which again proved popular.
Going by my Facebook stats, my bags were my most popular products in terms of 'likes' and comments and were therefore reaching far more people than anything else. I love handbags, as many girls do. I've spent many an hour online looking at various styles, sizes, and fabrics and enjoy putting it all together to make something that others will love and enjoy too.
 

It became obvious handbags was the way forward for me.....
 

.....in my next post I'll talk about setting up my website.