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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