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.

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.