Mechandising My Stuff

So, yesterday was the first of three holiday shows I am participating in this season. I may have said before that craft shows are not my favorite thing to do. All the hustle and bustle to get ready and then staying behind the table the whole day not watching people touch my stuff and then not buy. I'm not good at garage sales or having a flea market table, either.

I agreed to participate in two of the three holiday shows only because I was invited by two lovely younger women whom I know through other shows. I thought that, one, it was nice to be invited and they both wanted to make sure I was the only embroiderer and home dec sewist of my type at the events, and, two, I knew it would be good exposure and a marketing opportunity to a new crowd. The third event is at my friend's home, so this one is very cozy and lots of fun. Tiffany decorates her entire house for Christmas with a tree in every room and places the vendors all around. She told me she already has the house ready to go - already - weeks before Thanksgiving! That girl is on top of it. I've got her scheduled to come decorate my house at the end of the month!



I arrived the night before the first holiday show with all my stuff and wondering, "How can I show this off on a table!" Right then, I got the bright idea to have Michael build me some sort of picket fence panel screens to hang my things from, so maybe next year. Luckily, Tiffany (mentioned above) was setting up her table for the same fair and said she would help. I just sat back and watched. She did a great job for me. The morning of the show, I came with more items and called Tiffany over, and this time Aimee was there, too, and came and worked her magic along with Tiffany, and I think I had one of the prettiest tables at the event. I owe them some treats! My sales were pretty good for a weekday at an elementary school, I met a lot of nice folks, and it was worth all the trouble of going and sitting just to have Tiffany and Aimee merchandise my goods for me. I just sat back and let them sell my items, too. They, along with Kiri - the gal next to me selling Usborne Books - brought all their friends over and showed off my goods and mentioned what items they already had. Next time, I think I'll hire one of them to sit behind my table, and I'll go home and work! When I cleared up at the end of the day, I didn't empty the baskets. I just made about 10 trips back and forth to the van and then just rolled those tablecloths up with the items pinned to them. Saturday, when I go to the next show, I'll just reverse the process and hopefully end up with as lovely a table as I had yesterday.



My quick selling items of the day were these coffee cup cozies and the tissue cozies. I've noticed how many craft bloggers have mentioned these, and they worked for me yesterday - especially the tissue cozies with the elementary school teachers! There was one young, male teacher - a coach - who came whizzing through and then stopped when he saw a cozy in a local university's color. He looked like he thought, "Wow! Here is something for a guy!" He bought it up.

Over the next couple of days, I hope to make some of the wine bottle covers as seen in Quilting Arts Holiday magazine to bring to the show on Saturday. We'll see, though, as I am still recovering from all the prep for yesterday.



One last item to show. A customer ordered a personalized pillowcase using specific fabrics. It turned out so pretty! I love the font, too. It is the Tork font in my flickr embroidery font set.