The Comfy Crafting Cafe Challenge

simplydevine05

Hi all, and an extra hello to our new people :-)

Beccie - what a shame about the fairs. I definitely think it's a good idea to check them out first before paying.

Fairy - it does help me feel productive. Just making one thing in a day means at least I've done something. Quick makes I have found to be selling well at 99p are bracelets made from 4 pieces of coordinating fabric strips plaited together and glued at the ends to secure. Super quick to make and they're supposed to be a bit messy. Like this:


Or hair slides like these:

50p each and just 4 circles quartered and suck together with a fabric button glued in the middle. A single strip of fabric is glued to the back to slide a kirby grip in.

Hi Sketching - I am the same with spending. I really have to rein myself in some times. When I first started my business I bought everything in sight! Now I have lots of stock to make things with so that's a bonus, but I've definitely got more of a business head on these days!

Zeps - you must let us know about that class! Once I got to grips with cushions I made loads of different kinds. I'm working on a new style of cushion at the moment. It's nearly finished so I will share soon. This is a favourite of mine, made with curtain lining and appliques from a damaged pair of curtains. I hate waste!

Sky - good luck with the fair. Cute bunting and very original.

Water - you're in the right place! We don't cater for those seeking to get away from costly crafting habits, only encourage them haha! You have been warned, you will feel the need to spend more money on things you don't need! Seriously though, magazines are an investment! Have you tried selling on Etsy or Folksy at all?

Over and out :-)

Ps. My new blog post is up. For those who don't know, I put how to guides on there for different (generally fabric related) crafts. Link is on my profile page.

K x

watermelon88

No not yet. I'll check them out though.

I try and avoid eBay as the sellers fee's are a pain.

mummybearx

Well, I went to my cushion workshop today and made a whole cushion! :j

Made my own bias cut piping for the edging as well, chuffed to bits :T

Dont know how to add a pic from my iPad though.....

thistledome

sketchingkari wrote: »

Today I am mostly knitting little characters inspired by the Zingy EDF advert, my friends and family have gone mad for them, I need to knit and make up 22, so far i'm on number 10:D

My hubby loves that little thing, I think it's cute too. Any pics?

sketchingkari

Thank you, I do love making him

fairyclicks

My my how time disappears when crafting eh? :rotfl: I have to confess to completely freaking myself out about doing the craft fair and not having anything ready to sell. I don't know what happened me, i literally couldn't bring myself to finish anything - I think it is just too early for me to do them as i can't deal with putting myself under that sort of pressure. I ended up going to the fair with my friend but not selling my own stuff - She sold about £80 of stuff which i thought was great and made me wish i was closer to being able to do it myself - never mind, i did enjoy helping her out on the day and it takes me a wee step in the right direction anyway. For now i think i will stick at just making for fun and posting things i have made on my fb page - if i sell something then thats great if i don't well i will eventually get enough finished to do a fair

Now the pressure is off me i hopefully will be able to finish some things!!! lol!

Lovely to see all the new people on the thread :wave: and big well done to zepsgal on going to your workshop - it sounds like you had great fun

mummybearx

Oh Fairyclicks, that's not good that you freaked out abotu the crafting fair. Well, it's better to freak out before it than on the day :rotfl:

Don't put so much pressure on yourself, you will get there when you are ready

I really enjoyed my class on Saturday, so pleased I went! Started off doing some running stitches and backstitching on some scrap fabric, then I sewed (sewed, is that the right word??) a doily thing onto fabric, then I done an applique of my initial onto fabric. Oh, and I made a fabric covered button, who knew something so simple would be so satisfying!!! LOVE fabric covered buttons, I want to put them onto everything :rotfl:

Also learned how to do piping, ended up making my own bias cut binding/piping to go round my cushion, go me :j

I've saw another two courses at a fabric store in Glasgow, beginners knitting on Saturday and beginners crochet on the Sunday. Each class is about 2.5hours long, costs £30 and they give you needles/wool etc that you will need to make a knitted phone holder and something else on the crochet class (can't remember what). Not sure if it's worth it, really, how much knitting can they teach me in 2 hours?

Kepp

Not sure for the class Zepsgal - I did a beginners crochet course that was 2 hours long and didn't get far. Luckily that was only £6 though! I found a bit of patience and some Youtube video tutorials to be much more productive.

Well done everyone as well - sounds like you are being super productive :T

OH's Mum taught me how to use my sewing machine at the weekend - think a cushion cover will be my first mission

simplydevine05

Sketching - they are too cute! I love them! You are so talented making something like that!

Water - the thing with Ebay is, yes the fees are high, but you get advertising with it and the coverage they provide is for a lower price than you would pay going it alone. Most of my sales are on Ebay with no groundwork required. Since building my website I've spent a lot more on advertising to get a tiny fraction of the sales I get on Ebay. I personally believe it's a good starting place, but it still takes time. When I started selling in October last year I was lucky to get 5 sales in a month. Now I'm around the 60 a month mark, but it has taken 9 months to get this far and I have let some items go for a very low price in order to get coverage. Unfortunately you have to sacrifice a lot for self employment. Although my main income is from self employment so I'm heavily reliant on it.

Fairy - I think you have made a good decision to ease off the pressure. Even more so when you don't really know what your day to day achievements could be. It's best to take each day as it comes and I think you already know that anyway. Like you say, you will probably find it easier to finish things now x
Zepsgal - I discovered fabric covered buttons a few weeks ago and I put them everywhere now! Aren't they addictive?! And so easy! Do you use a proper kit or just normal buttons? I reckon the knitting class would be good. There's a lot of different stitches. I only ever learned one and said if I learn again I'll do as many different kinds as I can.

I have lots of things on the go (as per usual). I don't know why, but I seem to need lots of different projects to do all at once. I get bored easily so it breaks up my day. Today though is admin and marketing day. I will probably do more making tonight when I'm unwinding from the numbers.

mummybearx

It was a kit, only got to do one as a practice, but oh my! I love them!!

Was showing dh and his friend my cushion after the class, both were suitably impressed by my efforts. Then I showed them the bits and pieces I had made as practice bits, the applique, fabric buttons, and both were loving the buttons as well, literally gazing and saying Wow at the buttons :rotfl: