Buying a Craft Show Tent

The tent is the first important item you are buying for your craft show business. The right tent makes all the difference.

We made our first mistake when we looked all over the place for an 8x8 tent and found ONLY one. The wrong one! We found this one on sale for $80.00. It was in our price range and we thought we had it made. Unfortunately, the tent has slanted legs instead 
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New Towel Wrap Part III

As you can see we have added an Eiffel Tower to the bottom of the towel wrap. The Eiffel Tower was embroidered in black.

After we got the Eiffel Tower embroidered onto the towel wrap we felt there was something missing. We need to add something that links the Fleur de Lis design at the top of the towel to the Eiffel Tower at the bottom. We are not sure what exactly but we will figure something out, I'm sure. ;)

Up next Our First Completed Towel Wrap

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New Towel Wrap Part II

In our last posting we showed you the pink and black towel wrap we started making for our Portland Saturday Market product line. 
Now we are starting the embroidery. So far we have the Fleur De Lis at an angle in the upper corner. We are keeping to the black theme with the embroidery.

Up next is finishing the embroidery

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New Towel Wrap

We have been working on a towel wrap for the past two weeks. This is our first one for our new product line for Portland Saturday Market. As you can see this one is in dark pink and black. We are using a plush pink terry towel. So far we have black binding on each of the edges and a pretty ruffle ribbon for the top. The bottom is surged and hemmed. There is sewn in-cased elastic in the back to make this wearable for a few sizes. This one will fit a size 6 - 14. The towel wrap has a Velcro, hook and loop closure.

Up next is the embroidery

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Our First Craft Tent Setup

 

This was a test run of the craft show setup. We setup the tent in the front yard.

If you have never done a craft show whether inside or outside I would suggest doing a test setup the week before. This will help you decide what you may need and the best way to display your products. This will help on the day of the show by saving time on setting up your area. It also keeps the pressure down so you are not wondering around trying to figure things out at the last minute before the doors open for business.

  

  We are trying to make due on a very limited budget. We are using what we have around the house or making items as cheap as possible.

We bought our 8 x 8 tent. Unfortunately, we bought the wrong type of tent. We bought a tent used more for family recreation. We should have bought one for the serious craft vendor.

We made our weights from milk jugs.

We used clip on lamps that were laying around the house.

The navy blue back curtain that we are using was once used as dressing room wall at my moms store. We still had a few panels left. All we had to due is hem them for the tent. The navy blue back wall gives the tent some depth which we needed to make the tent look larger.

We setup our temporary cardboard displays for the tables to create a second viewing level.

The table cloths are large pieces of black fabric that we hemmed. 

We used our new cart for the second table. We arranged the lights to focus on the tables.

After we got the tent setup with the tables we wanted to figure out how we wanted to display our products. 

With this setup we hung the pillows from the top of the tent and displayed a few on the cart table on the right. The front table is displaying the iPad, messenger bag and pet supplies.

This tent setup has come a long way from the first time we sold at PSM. The first setup was the tent and one table with pillows sitting all over it at the same viewing level. We didn't have lights, so we were sitting in a darken cave on a rainy day. No one took notice of us. 

We are still making improvements to our tent and displays to make it more inviting to entice the public to stop and look at our products. 

One thing to remember when doing a show, you need to find things that break down (lay flat) and are easy to transport. 

The other thing to keep in mind is to make your tent a welcoming place. You want the customer to feel welcome to come and look at your wares.

 

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PSM Experience - Week #2

We made it to our second weekend out at Saturday Market. We didn't sell anything but we had a lot of interest in our products. I had seen an aqua plastic plate at the dollar store and thought it would make a great display for the cup cozy's. This new display of the cup cozies on the plates seemed to draw a lot of attention to them. We also had a lot of interest in the Purple Daisy and Cherry Blossom pillow covers.

We updated our tent display this week: The following are the numbers we worked on from our last PSM Blog.

 #1 We need lighting.

We brought two lights with us last weekend but the light wasn't enough. We need more lights and higher lumen. 

 #3 With the wind we need weights on the legs to hold the tent down.

We bought bags of sand and filled milk jugs. They each weigh 20 lbs each. 

 #5 Multi level products. Displaying the products at different levels is more appealing then all at one level.
Got boxes to create another level. Will place the boxes under the table cloth.

 #6 We need another table. Two tables in the space with more items to display.

Instead of buying another table we decided to use the cart with a peg board and table cloth draped over the top of it. 

 #7 We need a hand cart for packing and unpacking our tent and products.

Bought a garden cart from Lowe's. The cart will double as a table.

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Portland Saturday Market

Portland Saturday Market (PSM) is a Portland stop for many travelers. It is a sort of swap meet with all hand made items. Maybe it is more of an out door craft show that takes place every weekend. The artist must be in attendance at there booth to sell. In order to be a vendor at PSM you must go through two product juries.

I finally got approval by the first jury to be a vendor at the Portland Saturday Market (PSM). Not many have pasted this jury process that work in the art of embroidery. The second jury is the first day we sell.

My journey begun two years ago in April of 2009. I submitted three items that were all embroidered. I was declined because the embroidery designs were not my own. They were store bought commercial designs. In order to sell at PSM you must sell only your designs.

After that day I was declined, I thought it would be a good idea to make my own designs. I was finding that some of the store bought designs had a lot of problems. I wondered if these companies even tested their designs at all. I found myself spending $12 on an embroidery design and the design didn't stitch out properly and was usable. There was no refund. Instead of wasting my money on designs that didn't work I thought I would make my own. I would have more control over the design and no one would have my design out there.

I started to look into buying embroidery software and making my own lace and designs. I found out that there isn't a lot of information out there for embroidery design. There is even less on how to make it yourself.

After a year and half of learning to make simple designs I resubmitted my work to PSM.

I submitted my embroidery designs and was declined, again. I waited for a return call from PSM to find out why I was declined. The response I received is that they do not accept commercial embroidery designs. (Ah! that was a compliment) All designs must be original. I explained that I left a note stating that these are my designs and they are NOT store bought. The note was included with the products for the jury to review. I guess they didn't get the note. LOL! They explained that I would need to resubmit my work along with proof that these were indeed my embroidery designs. That was not an easy task to perform. I finally figured out a way to resubmit my work and at long last was APPROVED!!!! Now the only thing stopping me is the lack of inventory.

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