I'm doing my first ever craft fair in December

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

It's not a big one, because I don't have the energy or interest for something huge and it would cut into my quilting time. It's one that the local church is running in the parish centre. My friend suggested that it would be a laugh, and she's always fun to spend time with so I agreed to share a table with her. So I've spent a few weeks so far making Christmas table runners and notebooks with quilted covers.

I was a bit worried that they weren't the kind of thing that would sell, but weirdly they seem to be hugely popular. I was going to use up some of my fabric, but I've had to buy in more Christmas fabric because I've already sold 10 table runners. Fortunately I have plenty of pretty non-Christmas fabric for the note books, but I've sold a few of those already too and will have to buy some more notebooks.

Actually it's a 'homemade market' rather than a 'craft fair', so I will probably be spending all of my profits on delicious cakes and bread.

Wow! Congratulations! I hope you are charging enough - not just for materials and your time but also the uniqueness and skill you bring to each work.
They look lovely and wish you continued success!

Thanks mondaytosunday. I've already made enough to cover the table cost from the pre-market sales. The table runners cost around €10 in materials and I'm planning to sell them for €15. The notebooks cost around €7 in materials and I'm planning to sell them for €10.

Hi OP, they look lovely! I have done a few Christmas and Summer church fairs with my sis and we never fail to be surprised at what sells. It's hard to predict. I would definitely add in all costs in pricing but in my experience you do have to have some flexibility too. Good luck and enjoy .

Thanks shadypines I’m also making some stars, but probably won’t do very many because of the amount of ironing needed. I think I’ll sell them for €5. If nothing sells then all of my friends and family will be getting a handcrafted item for Christmas. 😂

Quilting is skilful and intricate work, with a great history, and something I’d love to learn one day.

Unless the table runner takes you 20 minutes to make, and the notebook 15 minutes (which I’m sure they don’t) you are charging way, way below minimum wage for your time as well as ignoring all your other costs.

This is unfair on other makers and artists and is the reason I no longer do stalls at fairs, unless it’s a well curated event with quality control and great publicity. I’ve moved almost entirely online for selling and am lucky to have a big following, but I miss being involved in my local community events.

Are you calling me a bad person for damaging your business Wisterical? I have already given some of them away for FREE, so I must be destined to go straight to hell.

In fact how dare you try to gate keep MY hobby. It's my talent, my fabric, my hugely expensive sewing machine that I could never recoup the cost of, my friend that I'm going to have fun sharing a stall with, all of it MINE. You don't get to stop other people having fun just because you want make a business out of the same thing.

Schools aren't shamed by bakeries for having cake sales. People who volunteer for charity shops and food banks aren't shamed by retail workers. People sing for the fun of it in choirs and don't get shamed by professional singers. People form bands and get minuscule fees for playing but don't get shamed by the bands who chart. The place that the homemade market is being held is also a community cafe, everyone who works there is a volunteer and customers pay what they want into an honesty box, there has been absolutely zero baristas, chefs and cafe owners turning up to lambast them for ruining other cafes.

I used to be a statistical analyst for a big market research company. I ran a few surveys for the DC's school and analysed the (minimal) data for them. Did the professional statisticians come for me because I should have been paid and I was devaluing them? No they fucking did not!

(I have a virus, I'm in a cranky mood because of it, up until your post I was finding relief in making pretty things. Now I have stopped making things, and am crankier.)

Wow OP - please take a chill pill. @Wisterical 's post was short, polite and helpful to many people who perhaps try to turn a hobby into a business. Just look at all the cake threads. I used to do craft/other fairs - they are hard work and very low profits. Unless you are selling sweets. Do a few and then come back and comment.

I'm not going to do a few markets, I'm only doing this one because my friend fancied it. I'm doing it for fun.

However this is not how economic forces work. I'm sorry that markets are hard work and low profit for people trying to earn a living from it, but the solution surely is to find another, more profitable, outlet. Not to come here and call me 'unfair' when I can live my life however I want. I don't owe anyone a living, that's not being 'unfair' that's being realistic. This is not how the job market works, you don't pick the career that you fancy without checking whether it's worthwhile and then blame your lack of profit on other people. If data analysis had been full of people who were prepared to do the job for the fun of it, then I would have found a different career because I wanted to be paid for the job that I was doing.

Wisterical's post was indeed short and polite but I reject her right to tell me how to be a better me. I put other people before myself as much as anyone else, but other makers are not my family or friends, they are strangers and I am not obliged to promote their career above my own leisure time and creativity. If someone were to 'politely' tell me that a woman's place is in the kitchen, for instance, nobody on MN would blame me for getting annoyed by it.

Very much this.
Underpricing hobbyists undermine craftspeople trying to actually earn a living.

I quilt. I have only ever parted with ONE. It slmost had to be prized from my hands. I was looking at quilts in Zara and White stuff and being amazed to could be so cheap at £150.

Good luck OP. I do lots of craft fairs and markets ,take food and a thermos of tea /coffee. Make sure you have plenty of change. It's really worth buying a card reader,I make a lot of extra sales because of it and they're so cheap,I have Square. Sell your stuff for whatever you want to. It's a good idea to make somethings that are fast to make but can be sold with a high profit to make up for the bigger things that you really can't charge what they're actually worth as no one would buy them. Good luck! 😊

I've given away quite a few quilts as gifts, mostly baby quilts. I would never sell one. I've noticed that quilters who do sell their quilts mostly sell wallhangings. Probably for two reasons. Firstly if you hang it on the wall then it's art and not bedlinen and therefore worth more. Secondly they are smaller than bed quilts so cheaper to make.

I have only once made a quilt on request. It was for my friend and she caught me at just the right time during lockdown when I had finished a load of quilts without anyone to give them to (they are still sitting in a bag in my sewing room). It was a really fun process and we took around 2 months to decide on what to make. In the end she took a photo of some of her artwork and we had it printed so that I could make a kaleidoscope quilt (picture below). She paid all the material costs, including custom quilting and I think it turned out around €600-€700 and I made it for free. I would never, ever do it for someone that I didn't really like because all the creative collaboration that was fun with her would be tedious with someone who wasn't on my wavelength.

Oh, well done! These look beautiful! Good luck with the fair, I hope you enjoy it and sell loads.

Phew! I chose this thread as wanted to stick to positive vibes - glad you and other posters brought it back to being nice OP!

Wow wow wow! That quilt is gorgeous!

Thanks shadypines, it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone but it was fun to make.

Wow! That is beautiful! I joked with my son itvwould be cheaper to buy one in Liberty's than to buy one of mine at cost.

I always read on here that people don't like hand made gifts but my friend was genuinely delighted with hers. Good job too and I still miss it!