Craft Club?

partialycloudy

Hi All,

I am more of a lurker on the crafting boards, but do love crafting!
I am just finishing up a 14 week on clothes making and I have been looking for other things to fill my time up with. So I started looking for cfrating clubs in my error, but there aren't any I can find...unless I want on specific to one type of medium.

Any who, I thought, why not start one.:T Am I crazy?

I'm still in the planning/thoughts stages of it so not sure on the who, what, when, were yet. But the premiss would be for like minded crafty people to get together and share crafty ideas and skills.

I have sent out a mass Tweet on twitter to local twitter accounts set up as a public service, but not had a massive response from that.

How else do you think I could advertise such a club? Would you, as crafty types, be interested in a club if one was near by?

If you are in the Southend area, and you are interested then PM me. I am bit relunctant to put in to much effort if no one else would be interested.:cool:
Thanks

andymandy

What a good idea, I wish there was a craft club near where I live.

energize_2

partialycloudy wrote: »

Hi All,

I am more of a lurker on the crafting boards, but do love crafting!
I am just finishing up a 14 week on clothes making and I have been looking for other things to fill my time up with. So I started looking for cfrating clubs in my error, but there aren't any I can find...unless I want on specific to one type of medium.

Any who, I thought, why not start one.:T Am I crazy?

I'm still in the planning/thoughts stages of it so not sure on the who, what, when, were yet. But the premiss would be for like minded crafty people to get together and share crafty ideas and skills.

I have sent out a mass Tweet on twitter to local twitter accounts set up as a public service, but not had a massive response from that.

How else do you think I could advertise such a club? Would you, as crafty types, be interested in a club if one was near by?

If you are in the Southend area, and you are interested then PM me. I am bit relunctant to put in to much effort if no one else would be interested.:cool:
Thanks

Good for you! I would start by putting up a few notices on your local noticeboards. ie schools, village halls, sports clubs etc or even in your local shops and post office, just to get a few people interested and then hopefully you can grow it a bit from there. Me and a few friends have a knitty/crafty meet up once a month at each others houses and its really nice to have a bit of company for a change, instead of crafting on your own. Good luck, hope it goes well.

Chris25

good for you - can you put a sign up in the local library? Why not try an ad on Freegle/freecycle/Gumtree/Streetlife.

You could ask your local school & church if they would put a note in their respective newsletters & find out if anyone is interested.

Also, depending on what time of day you would hold it, if it were near a Playgroup or Nursery, perhaps some of the parents would be interested.

Do you know what classes are held at halls nearby? - often daytime classes have young mums orretired folk with time to do other things during the day. Perhaps flyers asking for comments might prove useful.

Might be an idea to contact local council just to see if there is anything to be aware of if you would be the hirer of a room or hall somewhere ? Also, they may have a website where you can put a notice about the club.

Another place to try could be a local haberdashery, wool, craft supplies or fabric shop - do they have space for notices?

Just thought - what about the other people on your dressmaking course, would any of them be interested.

partialycloudy

Thanks for your replies!
Its really encouraging

I think I will do a bit more planning. I was thinking of doing it at home then maybe once the group gets going we can alternate venues.
One of the responses I had on twiter was from someone who actually runs a craft online shop so hoping I can hit them up for a discount on supplies etc.

If you did attend a club would you expect there to be some structure to it or would you prefer it to be more free flowing where you can just crack on with your own project and have a chat?

Chris25

partialycloudy wrote: »

Thanks for your replies!
Its really encouraging

I think I will do a bit more planning. I was thinking of doing it at home then maybe once the group gets going we can alternate venues.
One of the responses I had on twiter was from someone who actually runs a craft online shop so hoping I can hit them up for a discount on supplies etc.

If you did attend a club would you expect there to be some structure to it or would you prefer it to be more free flowing where you can just crack on with your own project and have a chat?

I don't think it would matter as long as people knew what to expect from the outcome.

Our local library used to hold a craft & create club - just turn up & bring your own thing to do or look through books set aside for ideas & plan something with another person/people at the session & if enough folk want to do the same thing, then the organiser would get the materials & the costs split between who wants to participate.

Something that is done here sometimes, is an 'exchange a ball of wall for a cup of coffee' - you bring wool if you have some & join other people during a particular morning in the village hall, to knit or crochet squares to make into blankets, either to be sent abroad or taken to Homes. You can either spend however long it takes to make a square; or donate an hour of your time in knitting whatever you can get done in that time & then pass on any unfinished squares to someone else to complete; or you can help stitch the squares together; or you can make tea/coffee, serve cake etc.

It's amazing how much you can get done with several people coming in & out throughout the morning.

Anglea

Hi perhaps some of my experience may help you start your club.

I belong to a arts and craft club held in a church community centre room I have attended about 20 years and have also been to several others at times.

The reason I have stuck with this one as opposed to numerous others I tried is the mix of people, the room suits me and the way you are allowed to do as you please (even turning up for a natter if you are busy that day).

Because you are going to be advertising for strangers to join one thing to be aware is that you might get certain personality types that can ruin what you are setting out to accomplish.

eg the energy drainer who talks about their problems innappropriately non stop and wants attention. We had one member like this that caused half the group to stop attending until she was finally asked to leave.

Or the Know it all - will try and force you to do everything their way

I do hope you are successful as craft clubs can be very fulfilling to attend.

Occasionally one of the members who has a speciality may give demonstrations but you don't have to join in if you don't want. We used to have trips out and restaurant Christmas dinners, that hasn't happened for a few years but we still have an annual buffet.

Coxy11

Wow, this could be me talking! I have thought about trying to set up something similar in my area for the last couple years but have never had the courage

My problem is that no-one else I know really does any crafting. There is one lady that makes cards, but I find her really overbearing, and like Anglea says, this could ruin a small group. I like to cross stitch and also crochet.

There is a knit and stitch type club that meets weekly at our local charity shop. They make things to sell in the shop, which is a nice idea. I may give this a go in the coming weeks.

I hope you manage to set something up. Do let us know if you're successful. Good luck

Coxy

carolbee

Coxy11 wrote: »

Wow, this could be me talking! I have thought about trying to set up something similar in my area for the last couple years but have never had the courage

My problem is that no-one else I know really does any crafting. There is one lady that makes cards, but I find her really overbearing, and like Anglea says, this could ruin a small group. I like to cross stitch and also crochet.

There is a knit and stitch type club that meets weekly at our local charity shop. They make things to sell in the shop, which is a nice idea. I may give this a go in the coming weeks.

I hope you manage to set something up. Do let us know if you're successful. Good luck



Coxy

Hi there, let me know if you do set anything up, I'm in Thanet

Anglea

Coxy11 wrote: »

My problem is that no-one else I know really does any crafting. There is one lady that makes cards, but I find her really overbearing, and like Anglea says, this could ruin a small group. I like to cross stitch and also crochet.

Coxy

I think you need to be assertive or else have someone else in the group to deal with the difficult types.What makes me think about the lady I mentioned in my post is that everyone (including me) found her a strain to be with and she even caused to cry! yet one person mentioned to me that she thought her very easygoing to sit next to.

craftier

I have also been looking for a craft club, and decided to start one. I've put mine on www.meetup.com , where various groups from all over the country (and world) can advertise. There is a charge to be an organiser, about £8 a month, but if you start organising a group then stop before paying, they send you a half price voucher which makes the charge about £24 for six months (it's $36). You can charge members to attend the group to recoup the costs and you can run up to three groups for the same cost.
I was concerned about insurance. If you run a group you really should have group liablility insurance. So, I decided to run as 'classes', as I have insurance to teach classes in halls etc. from GM Imber. This means I can charge to cover hall hire, materials and the meetup fee, and hopefully get a few pounds profit for myself.