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.