What I Learnt from my First Craft Fair.

My first ever fair is done! I worked incredibly hard getting ready, sat at my sewing machine every night getting ready, panicked the night before, slept like crap and then it all went pretty well. I met a lot of cool people and I actually sold some stuff! Best of all I learnt a lot! I know that next time I will be better prepared and a lot less stressed. So, here is what I learnt:

        - Test run my layout - I played around with everything the night before to give myself an idea of how I wanted it to look. There are a lot of people out there that have shared their stall lay-out pointers, the most repeated tip I saw was 'Add height!!'; I tried super hard to do this although I know I could have done better. I loved my chalk-board signs and my extremely DIY banner. I know now I'm going to always have my eyes open for things I could use as displays on my stalls.

       - And to be open to changing it - On the day I decided to not use a bottom sheet because I loved how the table I was given looked! And I added an extra sign suggesting people take a business card! As well as a basket of pouches to encourage people to have a flick through, which totally worked too. I guess you'll never 100% know where you're going to be positioned so its important to be flexible.

       - Bring along enough stock - What happens when someone buys something, is it going to leave a gap? On the first day I sold two tote bags which left a HUGE gap and made everything look pretty bare. I had to sew more that night when I really wanted to lay down after being on my feet all day. I should have already had a couple spare because they were such a prominent part of my set-up. Giving yourself enough prep-time leading up to a fair plays a huge part here too.

    - Make friends with other stall holders - Although I am incredibly uncomfortable talking to strangers, when I had the chance I had a look around at everyone else's stalls, said hi and picked up a few cards. I met some cool people! (I even bought a couple of things form a cool illustrator). I learnt about some other fairs coming up and some local suppliers too which was super useful. It also meant if I wanted to run for a coffee, to the toilet or to grab something to eat I could ask someone to keep an eye on things!

      - Take Notes and Notice - Everyone loved my knotted headbands and a couple of coin pouches too, so now I know to make more like those! I also noticed the first day that hardly anyone took a business card, so I moved things around and it totally worked. Keep an eye on what people like and what people say, its all useful! I added extra detail onto some price tags, things like "One of a Kind" and "Made with Vintage Fabric". they always got people talking and interested which was super cool to see!

       - Annnnddd, research the event - I should definitely have done this one. Is the event advertised well? Will there be similar stall holders there? The fair I went for was in the Cornexchange, a awesome building full of independently ran shops so I thought it would be perfect! But, the fair was advertised really really badly and there wasn't that many people visiting. I'd be surprised if anyone came specifically for the fair... And some of the other stall holders seemed to be selling for sellings sake, not because they loved the things they were selling, which was a bit of a bummer.

Overall, I had an amazing time, super thankful to everyone that came to see me and say hi and for everyone that bought something I made. I can't wait to do it again! I've enquired about two more later on in the year already. I definitely didn't need to be as nervous as I was. 

 _________________________