This past Saturday, I vended at my very first craft show, the Spring 2012 Sew Funky Market! It was a wonderful experience from start to finish and I’m so glad that I took this step for my business!
There was a long list of things for me to do to prepare for my first show. One of the things was to have James design a new business card for me. The old ones were in black & white and I wanted a touch of color to soften the look. Also, I didn’t like the Twin Towers looking buildings to the left of the card. We originally “OK-ed” it because the idea was that I’m from NYC and it sort of resembled that skyline.
I have been using the old business cards as hang tags for product description and pricing. I just punch a teardrop hole, lace it with ribbon, tie it, and safety pin it to the product.
Voila! My new business cards (a box of 1,000) with just a touch of color and a change of layout. We’re thinking about having different colors, but we’ll see how these work out first.
Then, of course, I had to stock up. Most of my clothing items are made to order and I only had bibs, burp cloths, and blankets on hand. So, I spent a ton of hours in the last month to stock up for the show.
I loved stocking up though! I like how it made me work efficiently.. ..and I loved how cute all the items looked bundled together! I had to use our couch to put all these skirts in size order for the show.
Our good friend Wuk got this poster-board printed and mounted for me! It means so much! Thanks Wuk!
..and behind it, Spaceship to Mars lounge pants that was new for the show!
The other fun thing about stocking up was that I could make whatever I wanted to make without having to worry about posting it and if I had enough fabric for multiple sizes. I found the last bit of this popular Owls & Apples fabric. I didn’t make these skirts back then and didn’t have enough fabric to make dresses, so I had put this piece to the side. As I was going through my fabrics, I found that I had enough material to make a 2T skirt! Cute!
I needed to tie up my bib & burp cloth sets since I offer them at a slightly reduced price when purchased together. I found this yellow fabric trimming that I had planned to use for something else, but it worked perfectly to tie up the sets.
This Hollywood print skirt is another “last one” available. I thought a brother tie bodysuit & sister skirt matching set would be cute! I want to work on posting matching sets in my shop to show shoppers that this can easily be done…. we’ll see when I can get around to it since I’m preparing for a few other shows and have lots of other new products in mind. ;D
……on to the show……
James and I had to wake up super early to get ready, pick up the van with all my display items and products, and drive an hour East to Riverside for the Spring 2012 Sew Funky Market. When we arrived, there were many vendors already there unloading their cars/trucks/vans and setting up their displays. I was excited to find my.. Alphabet City Studio’s space! =D
James and I thought for days about what my booth design should be. Space was limited, but I needed a lot of levels and separate spaces to separate out my different items. James tediously looked on Craigslist for days and he stumbled upon dollhouse bookshelves and we both thought that was a great idea! We had to go through a few listings and contact a few people before we finally found the dollhouse, trunk, and 2 small wooden chairs from a nice couple that had 2 dogs named Ziggy and Jimmyous. ;P The rest we had on hand. I love how the whole set up turned out!!! =D
James was sweet and made sure I got some photos of me in my booth.. .but it was tricky because the lighting was really bad and made everything look really yellow (I brought my little point and shoot).. and there were a lot of people walking around still setting things up. I like this photo (above) except that my eyes are closed.. oh well. =P
Close up of my hanging rack with reversible dresses, tie appliqued t-shirts, skirts, and lounge pants and trunk with more skirts and lounge pants.
Close up of the dollhouse with bibs and burp cloths and two small wooden chairs with blankies and appliqued bodysuits. See the blue clouds and sun behind the house? That was all James’ idea to make it cuter and to add some fun to my booth. Thanks Baby! ❤
I wish I was comfortable with leaving my booth for a longer period to go around to take photos of the show. There were many wonderful artists, crafters, and vendors, a few of which stopped by my booth to check out my stuff and say “Hi!” It was such a wonderful community and group of people who were so open and kind! Thank you Sew Funky Market vendors and shoppers!
I must give a BIG shout out to Ali from Amarilo Designs jewelry! Thanks Ali for recommended the Sew Funky Market to me!!! ..and it was great to see you there!!!
Alphabet City Studio 
I love the way your booth turned out, you did a good job! I learned a lot that I will change for next time as it was my first show too but it was a great experience!
Hey Edith!
Thanks for stopping by my booth and my blog! =D
…heading over to read your post on your experience!…