Sewing Mania and the Craft Fair

Before Sliz and I joined forces I'd been talking to friends and family, trying to gauge whether my sewing ambitions were sensible and if other people thought I might be able to make a living out of it.  One kind and supportive friend suggested I participate in the local fair she'd been helping to organise at our local toy library.  Preparations were underway at the time, but the fair was still months off and it seemed like a great motivator to kick start this little business.

And so our first deadline was set.

Teaming up with Sliz was great because it simultaneously gave the business focus, while broadening its horizons.  Now Sliz had other stuff to keep her busy, over and above caring for her family.  She was already sewing to supplement the household income, plus she was (and is still) managing a pile of duties for an exciting pop up restaurant at the Glastonbury Festival later in the summer.  So she offered to make a start to our partnership by helping out on the day of the market and manning the stall.  That didn't last for long because she was fabric shopping and assuming the sewing position behind her machine. 

Two weeks before the fair we were confident that we had enough time and stamina to get all our stock sewn and our stall looking good, but that's when the universe started throwing obstacles our way.

To begin with a nasty tummy bug hit Casa Sliz, leaving all of her family laid up in bed (including their visiting grandparents).  There were teething babies, explosive nappies and needy toddlers.  Both our husbands left town on pre-arranged business, while the volcanic ash from and Icelandic eruption threatened not to bring one back on time.  A great piece of marketing for the Glastonbury restaurant meant that Sliz' admin work mushroomed overnight.  Then the tummy bug came to my house.  Our fabric was delivered late.  My sewing machine broke down.  I cried.  All the while, our nights saw us sewing late, late into the night and our days were spent on short fuses for having gotten by on too little sleep.

The night before the craft fair we gathered around the kitchen table, amazed that we'd reached our goal of sewing 30 of our lovely little apron dresses (more about them in another post) and matching bloomers. 

The fair was a success!  We made a few sales, but more importantly, we'd been able to to talk directly to our customers and understand what they'd like from a label like ours.  So far, what we'd produced were pretty dresses for baby girls, which garnered lots of admiration.  What we found, though, were plenty of parents saying "What about something for boys?".  Then some said "I have an older daughter who would love to wear a dress like that" or "Do you have a website?".  Not so much food for thought, but more of a feast. 

After a week of intense sewing and stressing we decided to relax, or at least that was the intention.  We couldn't stop ourselves brains from whirring in fast forward though, so much to plan, so much to do!