The Made-It Market - the debrief

Now that I've had a whole day to recover I thought I would jot down some of my thoughts on my first ever craft market experience.

I'd been aware of the Made-it Market since a friend started having a stall there years ago and have always loved the styling and quality of the stalls. So when I decided in April to do my first craft fair, I thought I would aim high. I don't regret it one bit - admittedly the run up was painful. I really can't recommend sorting out your first craft fair in two months. However here goes my debrief ...


... the stalls ...

I was already quite aware of which stall holders were going to come and had earmarked a few that I wanted to visit. In no particular order some of the stall holders that had that extra wow factor for me were: 

Tokyo Textiles - I just love Bethany's style. I was also very impressed with her being there - she was heavily pregnant and looked amazing! This was her stall with some amazingly pretty baby dresses. I loved her little purses.  

 

Sew Me Happy - I have been lurking on the Sew Me Happy blog and shop  for a while now. I ogled her stall and lusted after a really pretty travel sewing kit she had made. I didn't take a picture unfortunately, but it was very similar to one that she blogged about ... one day one will be mine.

Emma Wood Textiles - Ooh, this stall was very satisfying to look at. I stalked her website today. Yet again, I didn't take any photos but you can see her fabrics here. Her fabrics were very striking in rich colours and almost Islamic geometric patterns.

 ... the haul ...

I had given myself a very strict talking to before going about purchases (basically DON'T!) and I was very good.

Luckily Mum came to the rescue and bought me a luh.huh.ver.ly skein from the The Sheep Shop stall: 100g of the scrumptious merino blend that is Sparkleduck Figgy Pudding Galaxy. She really couldn't have made a better choice. I think I will be using it to make a scarf for the Kid - who really deserves a massive dose of TLC for putting up with me during the preparations.

My Mum also splashed out at the one of the glassware stalls (stall name to follow) and bought some glass snowflake Christmas decorations. My sister indulged herself with a spindle kit from Boo's Attic and my niece bought a fab tartan skirt from one of the upcycling stalls (stall name to follow).

  ... my stall ...

I was really pleased with the way the stall turned out. In October, I had eyed up the window dressing props in New Look of all places and popped in to see whether they would be willing to give me any of the props once they had finished with them. Amazingly I was allowed to just have these two cardboard boxes and some "flooring" as well as some brick paper. I was really pleased with the look of it. 

As for my stock, I loved it all ... there just wasn't enough of the small stuff. Hey ho, lesson learnt.

 

I could have sold masses of the Christmas baubles and will be making a whole batch over the next week both for myself and the Etsy shop. Once I've done, I'll put up a step by step post of how to make them - so many crocheters came up to ask how they were made.

I had so many lovely, lovely people come to visit - some bought and some just for moral support. I felt much love for them all!!