Self-Employment Update: 1 Year in with a Family

I've written and even spoken pretty openly in the past about my reality of being self-employed and  trying to make a living from my creative and sewing related endeavours. I've been meaning to write an update on the subject for ages. There's been a fair bit written in the sewing community of late about bloggers who make money from sewing, and whether or not their blogs should or shouldn't be used to promote their money-making activities. Sadly, I don't have a fraction of the time I'd like for reading blogs these days so I'm not fully versed in all aspects of the debate. However, reading Karen's fascinating recent post and all the interesting comments that followed, I found it surprising that there was such a clear opposition from some to sewing bloggers making money from their passion. 

I don't have the energy to wade in to the debate right now, but I'm certainly not about to stop mentioning things that are related to my income if I feel they may be of interest to some of my readers. For example, if I'm teaching a class on how to Copy Your Clothes (which I am, BTW), for you to decide that it's a class you'd like to take to expand your skills, you're going to need to know that it's happening. And if I've developed a sewing pattern to sell and you're into sewing, how can you decide if you want to buy it if I don't tell you about it and show you versions already made? I respect the emotional intelligence of my readers to engage with and/or enjoy the parts of my blog that interest them, and to click away when it doesn't feel relevant to them. 

Plus, I can't help but feel that a significant number of people would like to make at least part of their income from their hobby, so my assumption is that at least a handful of people who read my blog will be interested in me writing about my experience of this. Indeed, from the comments I've received from all those posts in the past, quite a few people are interested in that as a subject, and some even pondered how I'm going to juggle those things with a baby/child on the scene. So here goes...

The main reason that it's taken me so long to write a self-employment update since becoming a mum is that things have been in pretty constant flux. It's only after a year that I feel that things are starting to stabilise for long enough to have a status quo to write about. It's been a hell of a learning curve, in every respect, and it's been both the most amazing and the most difficult year of my life. The majority of the difficulty, I can now see, was perpetuated if not caused by my foolish assumption that I could achieve just as much with a baby as I could without one, with absolutely no additional childcare. That and a lack of sleep!

Childcare

Before Dolores was born, Pat (Mr So Zo) and I decided that we would undertake all childcare ourselves until she becomes eligible for the free 15 hours per week that all three year olds in the UK are entitled to. That decision was based on a mixture of what we felt would be best to create stability for her, as well as necessity as we live prohibitively far away from any family assistance, and we couldn't afford additional childcare even if we'd wanted it.  

This year has been a constant juggling act. We are always negotiating with each other about what time we need, work-wise, and when we can take the baby. At times Pat has had to work full time, so has been around very little during the week and I have had to cram everything I've needed to do into nap times, evenings and weekends. There has been very little family time, to be honest. But I have plans for that to change in the New Year. So what have I been working on?

Sewing Classes

The majority of the money I bring in is from teaching sewing classes. Which is fortunate because I LOVE teaching sewing stuff. I literally get paid to talk about my favourite subject for hours on end with lovely, engaging people who want to learn and enjoy themselves. The downside is travelling. For financial reasons, we had to move from Brighton to a cheaper town on the South Coast which has made it harder to get to the schools I teach in. But it's fine, time to myself sitting on trains is pretty welcome! 

Currently I'm teaching at:

Tilly and the Buttons HQ in West Dulwich, London. 

Currently I'm scheduled to teach a Coco workshop, a Francoise workshop and some Copy Your Clothes classes. Check out her workshops page for details here. 

The Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead, London. 

There are plans in the works for lots of classes next year, and currently scheduled are an Emery dress class, a Renfrew top class and a Sureau dress class. Check out their classes schedule here. 

Badger & Earl in Chiswick, London.

The new kids on the sewing-cafe block, I'll be teaching a beginner's dressmaking class for making a pair of child's PJ bottoms. Check out that and the rest of their range of classes here. 

Sew In Brighton in Brighton & Hove, East Sussex.

As soon as I moved away from Brighton, I picked up a job in Brighton. Genius! Anyway, I can sometimes be found here teaching beginner sewing classes and my very own 'Rework Your Wardrobe' class. Check their extensive list of class options here. 

Sewing Patterns

You may have noticed that I released a sewing pattern a couple of months ago! The Dolores batwing pattern has been selling steadily and it's been thoroughly wonderful to see other peoples' versions start to pop up on the internet. I currently have no plans to release any more patterns, but never say never! However, please remember that I have also designed two other sewing patterns which are available here FOR FREE.

Brighton Craftaganza

See the beautiful poster at the top of this post? That's the artwork advertising the latest craft market event which takes place at our usual location of Fabrica Gallery in Central Brighton THIS WEEKEND!!!! If you happen to be in the South East of England and at a loose end, this event won't disappoint. 

From a personal stand point, I've found this year's event much easier and more enjoyable to organise. After the ridiculousness of organising last year's double weekend market around the time I went into labour and then with a tiny baby, I decided more hands were needed on deck. This year I have shared the organisational responsibilities with my super talented friend/jewellery maker Kirstin, and brought in my event-organiser friend Claire to inject some energy and creativity into the decoration.

'Hey Baby Yeah'

For some unknown reason, when Dolores was about three months old, I decided to set up a little baby wear range. Actually I think my reasoning was that I wanted to be a seller at craft events, not just an organiser. Maybe I wanted to spend more time sitting down! (Not that I sit down as a seller, BTW.) Anyways,  I developed a simple range of three products: dribble bibs, jersey trousers based on the ones I'd been making for Dolores, and washable breast pads for boob-feeding mamas. Some of my products can be found in my Etsy shop and I've been really enjoying selling at a few craft fairs here and there. 

My Blog

I've met and 'e-met' some wonderful people through having this blog, it's my favourite outlet for self expression (aside from sewing itself) and it has opened up some great opportunities as well. It's been the source of so many good things for me, particularly since I became self-employed. I don't feel I currently have sufficient brain-space to write as often or as in depth on certain topics as I'd like to at the moment, but of course I'm not apologising for that!  I'm blogging when I can, and not feeling pressured to do so. Plus, FYI, I'm going to continue organising Me-Made-May for as long as the sewing community wants it to go ahead. 

Next Year...

As I mentioned above, it's taken me all year to figure out that I can't pile on the projects and plans like I used to. I used to get a real buzz from having my fingers in lots of metaphorical pies, and plotting and scheming new angles of income. Now I have a child though, I (perhaps unsurprisingly) find it very stressful having lots of things on the go at the same time. With limited attention and energy left for work, I'm worried I'll miss something or end up doing it half-arsed. 

So I have vowed to have a new approach next year. Looking after Dolores is my full-time job. Teaching sewing classes is my part-time job. Anything else is extra and must only be undertaken if I am sure it's not going to add unnecessary pressure. Let's see how that works...

Labour in Labour

I was wondering earlier today if I am merely naive, or actually slightly touched by madness. The reason being that, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to organise the biggest craft market that I've created to date at EXACTLY the point when I become a mother of a tiny baby for the first time. I had already booked the usual venue for not one but two weekends of festive contemporary crafty goodness before I became pregnant but instead of either cancelling the dates or passing the organisation over to someone else, I decided to go ahead with organising them myself. I thought that I'd be easily able to check my emails here and update the blog there during my final weeks of pregnancy and whilst wrangling a tiny infant. Pat has a photo of me answering Craftaganza emails during the 17 hours of labour that I spent at home before my contractions were close together enough to be allowed to head to the hospital (33 hours from breaking waters to baby, in case you were wondering!).

With over 110 sellers over the two weekends it's been a real challenge, and in hindsight I would not have taken it on, but I am proud of myself for having achieved this and goodness knows we could use the money at the moment. But I guess my actions do show the extent that self-employed people and those who work from home have trouble stepping away from their work. There's probably a more in-depth point to make from all this but I'm too tired to extract it at the moment.

So if you happen to be in the Brighton area, or at least South-East England and looking for something to check out this weekend and/or the following, you'll find some incredible designer-makers selling their wares at the Fabrica Gallery in Central Brighton. You'll be able to scoop up some phenom unique Christmas presents and with different sellers each weekend there's no reason not to visit twice! And there'll be mulled wine. Unless I drink it all.

Christmas Brighton Craftaganza: I can haz my lyf back now plz?

Ah I jest! Well, actually I only half-jest. For the last month I have thought about little else, whether awake or asleep. This past weekend's event was the fifth craft market I have either co- or sole- organised but each time round I seem to forget how much effort and energy it's going to take to get to the other side! Plus for the last week I've had a proper nasty cold. But moaning aside, I have to say it was totally worth it. If you'll forgive my crude vernacular, the event FUCKING ROCKED. 

Obvs, the excellent footfall we had can be attributed almost entirely to the festive season and gift-hungry population of Brighton, but it definitely wouldn't have been so good if Pat, Rehanon and I hadn't been outside pretty much all day on both days covering both the entrances hollering about the event and coaxing passing shoppers inside. Plus the seasonal decor, festive choons, beautiful historic venue and friendly chatty sellers created a lovely atmosphere once the punters came in. 

Plus a lot of effort went into selecting sellers who produce really great quality, interesting and contemporary products. The level of quality was thankfully noted by many of the visitors and sellers alike, which will hopefully draw both lots of visitors and new excellent sellers to future Brighton Craftaganza markets. I also hope it helps to set our events at a certain pitch within a pretty craft-saturated town like Brighton.

But as craft-saturated as it can feel at times for someone like myself who is involved pretty heavily in the local designer-maker/handmade/craft 'scene', I can't help but feel handmade products are still so thoroughly ignored by the majority of the population. I really want to see local designer-makers take a far larger slice of retail spending. Plus, as most of us in the sewing community are all too aware, 'handmade' and 'craft' still have so many negative connotations for many/most people (I was just telling a local journalist this very point a couple of hours ago when they phoned me up for a quote to go with their picture story - get me!). So by putting on lovely events full of wonderful, interesting and quality handmade products then almost literally scraping as many people off the street and through the doors as possible, hopefully I can help some people replace those negative connotations with positive ones. 

Watching people walk past the venue all day carrying Primark, BHS, M&S, Topman etc. carrier bags, the ubiquity began to feel so depressing. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir when discussing such things here on this blog, but I just cannot for the life of me see the appeal of mass-produced, cookie-cutter products that have had absolutely no love or passion put into them, over something so unique it may be literally the only one there is and that was made by someone you can physically meet and chat to. 

So anyway..... I know what you're thinking, 'What did you buy there, Zoe?!'. Well, excluding one Christmas gift that for obvious reasons I'm not going to photograph and upload here, all my purchases ended up being for myself!!! And largely all red. However, if you think that's super-shocking behaviour, you'll be pleased to know that I have order an additional five gifts from sellers at the event because they'd either sold out of what I wanted or I didn't  realise I wanted to buy them until the next day. 

So, in no particular order, I bought:

• A large red felt bow by Stamp & Stitch which I bought on the Saturday and rocked hard all day Sunday on my knitted hat. 
• Seagull Christmas cards by hello DODO. Actually, considering I'll actually be giving these away, I don't think they count as a selfish purchase.
• Red vintage buttons for awesome haberdasher The Polished Button all ready for a new sewing project I have in the pipeline. 
• Amazing playing card suit wrist warmers/mittens by her indoors. I actually bought these for someone else but got way too attached to them after only a matter of hours!
• Beautiful patchwork case to help stem the tide of my makeup as it endeavours to spread its way around our entire flat. Made by Lisa Jane. 

Who said a handmade Christmas had to be made entirely by yourself! 

Self-Employment Update

As you may already know, a bunch of months ago, I rather suddenly became self-employed. Some of my super-sweet readers have expressed an interest in hearing how life as a self-employed person is panning out. So here is a little update of where I find myself several months into it...

Brighton Craftaganza

This aspect of my self-employedness is currently at the forefront of my mind because our next craft and handmade market is looming close and I am eye-ball deep in the organising and promotion stages. My activities include:

• Writing and scheduling posts for the Brighton Craftaganza blog, in particular there are lots of 'Meet the Seller' interview posts at the moment to give visitors and other sellers an opportunity to learn more about the people who will be selling their work at the event.
• Co-promoting and co-hosting our new Craftaganza Live free creative meet-ups. These are monthly events (we just did our second) to provide opportunities for local creative types, very often designer-makers, to meet, have a drink and a chat. Each event starts with a talk by a member or members of the crafty/handmade scene about their work, business and inspiration. Past speakers have been Amy and Claire from Super+Super HQ and TheBigForest. 
• Pat and I have also created a workshop called 'Sales for People Who Hate Selling' which we have presented for a room full of designer-makers interested in improving their face-to-face sales technique in time for the festive selling period. The first date sold out of tickets super-quick so we lined up another which takes place this week. 

Teaching

You may well have seen before on this blog my announcements for the 'Introduction to Commercial Sewing Patterns' class and Vest Making sessions that I've been teaching at Super+Super HQ. Both have been going well, but some more attendees wouldn't hurt! I just freakin' LOVE teaching sewing and pattern related stuff. I get to talk to lovely people for a few hours at a time about the subject I am most interested in and get paid (a bit). In the New Year I plan to expand the range of classes I teach in Brighton at S+S, including a clothing alteration and mending class which there has been call for recently I've found. 

I have also begun assisting with a pattern cutting class at Sew Over It in London. In the New Year I will be teaching that Intro to Pattern Cutting class solo, alongside a 40s Tea Dress class (pictured above) and a Trouser Making class. It's pretty fabulous working at Sew Over It. It's a beautiful space with all the equipment you could possibly need, and cake in abundance. 

Hat-Making

The local sewing machine repair man Richard (who shared a heap of his knowledge in this post) who knows everyone in Sussex with a sewing machine, domestic or industrial, phoned me up shortly after the TRAIDremade studio closed down saying he knew a woman who was looking for a part-time machinist. When I became self-employed my income dropped to basically zilch so I contacted her with haste. 'That woman' was hatter Jill Corbett, I went for a trial and now I work for her between one and three days a week. 

Generally, I make her pork-pie (pictured above), fedora (AKA Snatch) or trilby styles in leather, canvas or moleskin using mental-looking industrial machines. It's been a real education learning how the pieces go together. I'm still getting used to making the leather ones: thick, tough leather really doesn't want to become a 3D shape! All her hats are made to order for specific customers across the globe. 

Random fact: milliners create hats for women, hatters create hats for men.

Making Stuff to Sell

This is quite a small category of activity because I'm not taking it super-seriously. Basically, I've been making lots more of the recycled wool mittens I made last Winter to sell at a couple of craft fairs on the lead-up to Christmas. I'll be sharing a stall with my mate Kirstin at this event and I'll be present (and hopefully festively tipsy) at this festive selling soiree at Super+Super HQ.

To be honest, I get a bit jealous of the sellers at all the craft fairs I visit and organise. Plus, having been thinking lots about selling due to the 'Sales for Peops...' event Pat and I have been working on, I thought I'd give selling a whirl this festive season. I won't, however, have a stall at my own event. I've learnt that at Brighton Craftaganza I need to be getting people inside the venue and checking all the sellers are ok (and eating sausage rolls), which doesn't fit well with trying to man your own stall and concentrating on making sales. I'm really excited to be the other side of the table and putting into practice the techniques I feel I've learnt. I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, and if I don't sell many, I'm all set for Christmas presents to give!!! 

Conclusion:

Being self-employed is wonderful but really hard work. I kind of imagined it would be both those things of course, but until I was actually living it, it is impossible to actually visualise how my new life will be. I thought I worked a lot when I had a full-time job and organised Brighton Craftaganza, blogged, sewed and made patterns on the side. But now I find myself working even longer hours; there is no cut-off between 'work' and 'being at home', especially after the acquisition of an iPhone, even though I have a desk space where I theoretically can walk away from. It's confusing knowing what task I should be concentrating on and when with no-one else to ask. Plus, taking time to plan for the future, even just a couple of weeks ahead, can kind of get forgotten. I'm trying to improve in these areas though. 

When I announced my self-employedness, lots of people left comments of their own experiences of redundancy and/or setting up on their own and their financial concerns. I can totally relate to many of these now. I'm making very little money right now, but I have two things I am very grateful for: 1) I live in a country that (currently, just about) has a welfare state that provided Pat and I with some housing benefit assistance that helped us out when we needed it most, and 2) Pat's recent book has been doing well, and he received a royalty cheque that meant we can keep a roof over our heads and food on the table for the foreseeable future. PHEW.

So, thanks masses to everyone who wished me well when I wrote about all this stuff previously. I'll get back to blogging about pretty dresses and refashioned T-shirts soon, promise!

Summer Brighton Craftaganza Celebration Giveaway!!!!

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED, THE WINNER HAS BEEN EMAILED

When I'm not sewing, blogging, working, eating flapjacks or drinking too much wine, I may be found organising a craft market called Brighton Craftaganza. There are three of these events a year held in my adopted city of Brighton, East Sussex, UK. Next weekend in UK is an extra long bank holiday to celebrate the Queen's jubilee, but more importantly the Summer Brighton Craftaganza will be taking place on the Monday AND Tuesday, so head down if you can at all! There are going to be heaps of phenomenal local designer-makers selling their work, as well some free crafty workshops to spread the joy of making stuff. There'll be food and drinks available and a cafe area to enjoy them in. Basically, it's going to be epic.

Now, I am fully aware that the vast majority of the visitors to my blog are not able to come along to the event itself no matter how much I beg due to simple geographical restrictions, so I've found another way to celebrate the event here on my blog: a giveaway!!!

As I've mentioned before, the Brighton Craftaganza crew has undergone a fair few shifts in it's year and a half-long life. It begun with myself, Lisa and Steph. Then Lisa had to drop out after our first event due to having a bun in the oven and another book to write. Then Steph dropped out after our second event due to too much on her plate. Then I organised the third event almost entirely on my own, which nearly killed me. On the run up to this fourth event, I have a solid crew of awesome creative people taking on various tasks which has been absolutely wonderful and an infinitely more enjoyable experience. Currently, the Brighton Craftaganza crew consists of myself, Kirstin, Sarah and Kathryn, with a very generous helping of support from Rehanon and Patty (amount others).

Kirstin and Sarah are both very talented designer-makers and will be selling their work at the event. Plus they have very generously given me an item each from their ranges to give away to one lucky reader of my blog! How very nice of them. Let's see what's up for grabs...

Kirstin is a creative force to be reckoned with. A craft fair organising veteran herself, her fair morphed into the much loved 'Handmade Co-op' shop which sadly closed earlier this year. Whilst the 'Handmade' brand is having a dormant phase she is busying herself making fantastic badges and necklaces from special shrinking plastic, having successfully tried her hand at all manner of creative expressions previously. Currently her two ranges inspired by antique books on birds and old school tattoos are available on her website and her Etsy shop. Kirstin is offering a 'Betty' pin-up badge in this giveaway pictured above and below.  

Sarah's crafty business is called Rock Cakes (check out her blog and Etsy shop) through which she sells a huge range of wonderful, whimsical jewellery. This is the lady who made my very special engagement ring. She is offering a fantastic laser cut acrylic 'Hello' necklace in silver mirror with silver coloured chain (pictured below). These are hugely popular round these parts, and you too could be sporting a friendly message without having to open your mouth!

The winner will receive BOTH the 'Betty' badge by Kirstin Stride and 'Hello' necklace by Rock Cakes. This giveaway is open to anyone, wherever you live, and will cost the winner absolutely nothing to receive them. The winner will be selected by random number generator after the closing date and then emailed to get their postal address. To enter, leave a comment with your name and someway to get in touch with you (so either your email address or a link to a blog/site where your email address is VERY easy to find), plus tell me what you would wear these items with if you won them. The last bit is because I'm nosey, your response won't effect your chance of winning in anyway!

The giveaway will close at the end of the event it is designed to celebrate (the Summer Brighton Craftaganza, remember?!) which is Tuesday 5th June, 5pm GMT. Good luck!!!

My Blog, Brighton Craftaganza and Me

I feel that I've been forced to neglect this little blog of mine a bit in recent months, and the sewing/blogging community in general, which massively pisses me off. I really love this blog: the ability it provides me to express myself and explore the things that are most important and interesting to me, and how I can communicate and interact with all you wonderful individuals who make this community so supportive and truly special. So don't be thinking that I've gone a bit quiet or unfocused for lack of interest, quite the opposite. The list of things I want to explore, discuss and share has never been bigger and it grows by the day.

There's a back-log of garments I've made that I wish to show you, and the latest developments on my wedding dress design and other sewing project updates. I have more tutorials and how-to's up my sleeve, plus some tips and tricks that I use at work that I'd like to share in the hope that they will help a sister out. I've also be developing and grading sewing patterns to share for free with y'all, but you're going to have to exercise some patience with that endeavour. Plus, I couldn't be more excited about the forthcoming Me-Made-May '12 if I tried! I've really missed that ever-evolving community of inspirational people since the last challenge in September, and CANNOT WAIT to see who's up for challenging themselves in less than two months time. AND there's the awesome OWOP! project which starts in less than two weeks time, on the very day in fact that is shared by the reason for my recent lack of attention: the Spring Brighton Craftaganza.

One of my 2012 New Year's Resolutions was to:

'Make the three Brighton Craftaganza events that are scheduled for 2012 better than the two events held in 2011. Improve the Craftaganza blog to make it more useful and enjoyable for crafters/designer-makers and provide more opportunities for sellers and local creative people to meet and get to know each other, online and in the flesh'.

I explained further in the post about last December's event some of the ways in which I planned to make those improvements and achieve those aims, and since I'm now solely responsible for its success, I've invested more time, energy and effort than is probably realistically advisable into it.

Which is not to say I've been tackling this alone. I've got a clutch of incredible volunteers. I met Kathryn IRL at the Brighton De-Stash Meet-Up and she told me she had some spare time on her hands and was happy to give me a hand with Craftaganza. She helped me update the Craftaganza blog by creating a list of sellers who will be at the March 24th event, as well as writing me a killer press release to publicise the event and found me some key people and organisations to send it to. Kate Butler, a Brighton-based jewellery designer and seller at the event, also used her local know-how and freelance-worker-enabled spare time to hunt down more promotional targets. My best mate Vic aided me in getting my head around twitter and did some further promotional donkey work for me. Patty (the soon-to-be Mr So Zo) helped me design the poster which included an awesome illustration by my ex-university flatmate Jennie. Patty also picked up more batches of promotional material from the printers than was strictly necessary, if only I'd stopped repeatedly under-estimating how many posters and flyers I would actually need to thoroughly coat this city. The irrepressible Rehanon has helped me hot-foot it across town, dispensing flyers and posters in locations that aren't covered by the poster distribution service I have paid for. There are surely others who have already provided invaluable assistance, and yet more lovely peops that will be there, armed and ready, on the day itself.

'So, with all this help, Zo, why have you been feeling so overwhelmed?,' you may ask. Well, it's all a bit of an experiment really, but I need to see what I can achieve with this whole Craftaganza thing if I give it my absolute all. For example, I decided to publish a post on the Brighton Craftaganza blog every single day, plus update the Brighton Craftaganza facebook page and get busy on twitter, from the beginning of March until the event itself. Most of those posts have been in the form of often-illuminating interviews with the local designer-makers who will be selling at the event. The 'Meet the Seller' interviews have been interspersed with some wonderful 'Product Highlight' posts arranged and written by the ever-helpful Kathryn, which focus on specific items that can be purchased on the day. I have also been trying to be as open, helpful and professional about all communication with sellers, potential sellers and everyone else, generally be on point with everything as well as starting to plan the Summer event which will be in early June.

I'll conclude these self-indulgent witterings by saying that it actually probably wouldn't be all that much work if I didn't have a full-time job, other projects (like P&C, Hem-isphere Project, MMM'12 blah blah) to devote time and brain-space to, a wedding to plan, a life etc etc. Plus no-one is making me do this, of course. However, I did want to explain what's up, because sharing what I'm involved in is the point of this blog, afterall. Thank you for your time, please come to the event if you can!

Laying it Down for 2012!

I hope everyone has had a lovely festive period, or simply a nice period if you don't celebrate anything in particular around this time of the year! But now that is over (with lots of mess and mince-pie assisted belly) and time to taking the ending of one year and beginning of another.

Of course there's always a lot of chat about how New Years' resolutions are rubbish and pointless, but I love the opportunity to take stock of the year that now lays behind us and look towards what we would like to achieve in the year ahead.

This time last year, I wrote a post detailing all the sewing/creativity related activites that occurred for me in 2010. 2011 has been a different fish. Much of my creative activity in 2011 was about expanding and furthering things that had begun the previous year (learning lots in my day job, getting a stronger sense of my personal style, continuing to host the me-made/self-stitched months, co-organising Brighton Craftaganza, developing and expressing my stance on matters like consumerism, sustainability and feminism, and so on). But some of my 2011 activities have been about building stronger ties between creative people (like the Poetry & Clothing project, hosting my first sewing blogger meet-up, organising meet-ups for the Craftaganza sellers).

It was good to take a look back at the aims I had for 2011 and to see which I managed to achieve, at least in part, and which I either over-looked or needed to alter or abort. I think the crux of why some people hate resolutions/aims for a new year, is that they'll feel bad if they don't succeed. I'm kind of innoculated against that because I've accepted that life takes unexpected twists and turns and that these aims are to be thought of as guidelines rather than self-prescribed commandments.

So, on to my creative aims for 2012:

• Make the three Brighton Craftaganza events that are scheduled for 2012 better than the two events held in 2011. Improve the Craftaganza blog to make it more useful and enjoyable for crafters/designer-makers and provide more opportunities for sellers and local creative people to meet and get to know each other, online and in the flesh.


• Host Me-Made-May 2012!!! As previously mentioned at the end of (Self-Stitched-) September 2011, there will only be one of these me-made/self-stitched months in 2012, so if you want to get on board, you know what to do!


• Develop my own little product lines, either my women's wear line (Blatant-Self-Promotion) or my baby wear line (Hey Baby).


• Teach a sewing class/workshop. The plans I had for this have had to be aborted, but hopefully an opportunity will present itself by the end of the year that will make it possible.


• Wrap up the first year of the Poetry & Clothing project and embark on a second year.


• Hopefully bring the discussion/forum into fruition with Tilly.


• Start an exciting and as-yet-undisclosed project with Cecile.


• Make some of my self-developed patterns available for free and make more tutorials/how-to's for the lovely readers of my blog.


• Continue to write longer and hopefully thought-provoking pieces about sustainability, consumption and feminisim.


• Oh, and sew a bunch of stuff!!!

What about you, do you have any creative plans for 2012? I wish you all a wonderful, creative and fruitful year ahead!!!!!

The Christmas Brighton Craftaganza!!!

(source)

Thanks Ryan, that would have been very helpful last Saturday when it was the Christmas Brighton Craftaganza!!! Actually, I have a 'Ryan' of my own who was incredibly helpful setting up tables, carrying boxes, handing out flyers, being 'official Craftaganza photographer', having banter with the stall-holders, furnishing me with hot chocolate to help me thaw-out when I needed it and much more besides.

If none of what I'm saying is making any sense to you, let me explain. For over a year now I've been the co-organiser of Brighton Craftaganza, a Brighton-based craft and handmade market. The aim is to promote the work of local creative peops and, more broadly, to show the non-crafting public that handmade products are just as good, if not far better, than their mass produced equivalents. What better time to do this than at Christmas, eh? Our first event was back in March, and our second event was last Saturday.

It's a very involved process, this craft-market lark, from the endless planning and organising all the elements that go into making an event like this happen, to the actual day itself: lugging tables, hustling punters into the venue, trouble shooting, trying to perpetuate a good vibe, and so on. I was meant to be co-running the TRAIDremade stall where we were selling a selection of the clothing, bags and accessories that my boss and I make for our day jobs, but that kind of went out the window and my boss and her friend Erica dealt with that on their own.

One of my favourite parts of all of this was selecting a great variety of high quality handmade product ranges to be sold at the event from all the applications we received. About a third of the sellers at this event had a stall with us last time, and the rest of the crafters/designer-makers were either previously unknown to us or new to selling their work at craft fairs/markets entirely. Picking who to assign stalls to wasn't an easy task: there's no way of knowing how attractively a seller will set out their stall on the day when all you've seen are some jpegs of individual products, but all the stalls looked wonderful last week.

When assigning the stall positions to the individual sellers, I really tried to create a mix of products, for example, no jewellery sellers next to each other, or knitwear producers and so on. Even though we tried to select designer-makers from each disciplines whose work was very different to each others', I wanted the public to be blown away by how varied and fascinating handmade products can be. It's about trying to rid the public of those preconceptions of what to expect from a craft fair in a drafty church hall (and our venue very much IS a drafty church hall!).

The other wonderful part about organising Craftaganza, and the main thing I was looking for when I agreed to get involved, is the ability it has given me to meet talented, interesting and creative people living in my local area. I'm pleased to say that almost everyone I've come into contact with through Craftaganza has been lovely. This seller even gave me a gift of several sets of AMAZING buttons to thank me for my hardwork and attentiveness! I've even met some great people who I now consider friends (especially if you define 'friends' as people you go for mulled wine and a gossip with!). I also get to meet lovely people who come to check out the market. Last week's event gave the opportunity to meet the gorgeous Alana from Lazy Stitching!

But it is pretty stressful as well, and you end up feeling really responsible for the outcome of all the stall holders' days. There are definately things that I need to focus on improving in the future to make these markets better for the sellers and more appealing to potential punters. And now that Steph and Lisa have both stepped away from their involvement in Craftaganza (for very good reasons, I may add, Steph's planning her wedding and doing a degree, and Lisa is writing a book and expecting a baby) it's going to be all on me for the future events.

I'm not concerned about taking it on single-handed. I don't think that it'll ended up feeling like that much more work. The time that was previously spent keeping each other updated about the various elements that go into planning these events can instead be spent just doing the stuff that needs to be done. Plus, there are a few changes I'd like to make. For example, I'd like to introduce a few more sellers that make very contemporary products to create a fuller spectrum of what 'handmade' can mean. Hopefully those sellers will cater more for the younger 'hipster' crowd (sing with me, 'I believe that children are our future..'!) and I'd like more sellers which create things for guys (call that the 'blue-pound' if you will).

The concept of a 'Spectrum of Handmade' really interests me. Facetiously put, that 'spectrum' might include moutasche badges at one end and hand-felted scarves at the other (no offence to anyone, there is a place for all!). The only criteria I have for what belongs at Craftaganza is that it is good quality and locally made. That local part is because I'd like to prevent lots of London-based sellers coming down for the day and monopolising the Brighton craft 'scene'. There are some incredible London-based creators of course, and a lot of excellent London-based markets for them to sell at (soem fo which I've sold at myself when I loved in London). Brighton is a popular destination for holidayers and day-trippers, and if they come along to Craftaganza, I'd like them to be able to buy something that represents this area. It would be depressing to attend a craft market in East London and another in Bristol and another in Brighton with the same sellers appearing at all three. That homogeny is the preserve of the High Street, and we are trying to create an alternative selling/buying set-up here.

Another hope I have for Craftaganza is that it can become somewhere that other crafters are drawn to visiting. This was actually one of our founding aims but I feel it got a bit lost somewhere along the lines during the actualisation of the last two events. Everyone knows that makers often go to shops, blogs and etsy for inspiration and to see what other creators are up to. Hopefully Textile Garden will choose to sell with us again (us? me? I'm not sure about the phrasing of this anymore) with their incredible selection of buttons and Japanese braids. If you are a crafter/sewer, what would you like to see at a craft market?

So, if you've read this far down into my witterings about this particular on-going project of mine, then you are a diamond and deserve lots of chocolate and/or wine. I cannot buy you all chocolate and/or wine to reward you, but let it be known that I would if I could. So instead, I'll pick your brains some more. If you visited any craft markets/fairs this year, please let me know what stood out to you about it. Maybe it was the layout, or a particular seller, or a table of free cakes, or live music, please share!!! Thanks in advance my friends.

Sales Techniques for People who Hate Selling: Free PDF

Maybees you are aware that when I'm not working for Traid, writing this blog or sewing stuff with anchors on, I also co-organise a Brighton-based craft market called Brighton Craftaganza. The first event was in March this year (see above and below), and maybe I'm biased but it kicked arse!!!! Well, the next event is THIS SATURDAY!!!! I'm not too panicked because I think all is in hand. Anyways, back to the point of this post....

Back at that first event in March, whilst Pat (Mr 'So, Zo...' and official Brighton Craftaganza photographer) was wandering around the stalls, he noticed some of the sellers had pretty killer sales techniques and were generating lots of interest in their products and yielding a lot of sales, whilst some sellers were almost off-putting in their passivity. Now, of course, not everyone likes to be approached when browsing at a craft fair or similar event, but the evidence of how many sales the more interactive sellers made in comparison to the others stood for itself. As a designer/maker/seller myself, I am more than aware of how difficult it can be to know how to act towards potential customers, where to position yourself and how to broach a conversation, if at all.

It’s no secret that most creative people hate selling. It can be awkward and embarrassing to sell in a face to face situation to people you don’t know. This is especially true when selling stuff you have made yourself. We are such critical ‘parents’ that we forget that the stuff we make is unique, handmade and therefore of great value. The paradox is that selling more stuff is brilliant for makers. The more you sell, the more time you can spend making more stuff. It is a positive cycle.

Pat, who has undertaken lots of sales technique training for his job, and read a lot about selling to improve his skills as a freelance copywriter, really felt that there are many simple-to-apply techniques that would help the crafting/handmade community generate more sales out the interest their work receives. We had several long discussions, also involving Anthony, an experienced Sales Trainer and then colleague of Pat's, where we figured out the most useful tips and tricks from a crafter's perspective. We turned this into the format for a symposium/discussion and hosted it at the Handmade shop back in September to a room full of crafters/designers/makers, many of whom will sell with us at the Christmas Craftaganza event. It was really great to be able to offer this event for free to local creatives, as Brighton Craftaganza is all about supporting creative talent AND proving that handmade products are just as good as, and in many ways much better than, their mass produced equivalents.

We received very positive feedback from that free event, but seeing as there was quite a lot of take on board, and many people who had wanted to attend but hadn't been able, we made a free downloadable PDF document (pictured above) covering the key points discussed in that symposium.

The document breaks down and analyses the structure or 'anatomy' of a sale. It discusses how to use basic selling theory to open communication, build rapport and communicate just how special and desireable your work is and, finally, some basic strategies to CLOSE THE SALE. If you are selling some of your work this Christmas, or know anyone else who is, feel free to download our document and see if it contains any tips that might help make the event even more of a success than it will already be!

Mariner T-shirt

Yep, I think I may have almost (but not quite) scraped the barrel for nautical-inspired names for my creations!!!! However, if you think it's therefore time for me to make a departure from this genre of style, I think you'd better get those thoughts in check because that isn't going to happen in the foreseeable!

So, here we have my very latest completed creation. I'm more than a little in love with it. With all the planning and prepping for Christmas present sewing that I've been obsessing over, it was a relief to make an off-the-cuff unplanned creation that resulted from the day's events. At work on Friday we had our usual bi-monthly delivery of old garments and unwanted fabric for us to create clothing from. Except this particular delivery was unusual in that it contained a wealth of lovely stretch jersey sample fabric from a fabric producing company. Lots of it came in the form of stripes, and in the kind of quantities that could easily sustain me making something for myself without making the slightest dent in it all.

I had already booked the afternoon off but planned to stay in the studio and work on my own projects. Pat is currently eye-ball deep in a copy writing deadline and I thought it best to keep away from the flat until the evening! So after I spent some time altering a pattern and cutting out a garment destined to be another Christmas present, with over an hour left before it was time to head home, I felt justified in turning my attentions to making something for myself.

Although it pains me to admit it, my stripey T-shirt is really starting to show some negative signs of repeated wear, so I decided that it made sense to make a replacement/addition. I chose a lovely medium weight red and white striped sample piece, but try as I might, I couldn't get those original stripey T-shirt pattern pieces to fit. That's when necessity became the mother of invention (as she so often does!). I realised the only way these pattern pieces were going to fit was by making it shorter in sleeve and body length OR but adding contrast yokes to squeeze the rest of the front and back pattern pieces out of the stripey fabric that by now I was determined I wanted to use.

So Mama Necessity gave birth to the idea that I could include this anchor jersey! My boss gave me an old and misshapen vintage 1970s top covered in anchors not long after I started my job and divulged to her my fixation with all things nautical. Since that time, so for about a year now, I've been hoarding that anchor-coated top with the obsessive mania of a particularly aggressive squirrel. But when I saw those stripes I just knew now was the moment to crack it out.

As I say, I used the same pattern that I developed for my original stripey top, save for making the neckline a tiny bit wider. The whole thing was constructed using an overlocker (serger), then I overlocked round the hem and sleeve hems and turned them back and stitched them down using a three-step zigzag stitch on my normal sewing machine.

The sleeves are a little long, but I'll wait until it's been laundered until I alter those to the correct length. I'm super-vibed it looks good with my red cardi because who needs a wardrobe-orphan that is only wearable for the limited number of warm days the UK weather feels it shall bestow on us?!

See the pic below? I have the lovely Santie to thank for photographing me after a sighting of one of our Brighton Craftaganza Christmas craft market posters in a pub. Shameless plug: it's next Saturday (December 10th) if you happen to find yourself in South East England with nowt to do!!!!

At ease, shipmates!!!!

Brighton Craftaganza: Update!

Lydia Crook

For a year now, give or take, I’ve been one of the organisers of Brighton Craftaganza. Our main activity is hosting craft markets in a fantastic central-Brighton location where local crafters/designer-makers can sell their wares and promote themselves and their work. Recently we have been venturing into other areas to support the local creative talent. For example, in conjunction with the Handmade Co-op shop, we hosted the recent ‘Sales for People who Hate Selling’ symposium for which we invited a couple of experts trained in the dark arts of sales techniques to share the specific parts of knowledge that could be applicable to a face-to-face sales situation like a craft market.

Amanda Tree Carrot

Although more of an experiment than anything, this event proved a great success and we had some excellent feedback from the crafts people and designer-makers who were in attendance. We have more events like this in the pipe-line, all of which are very exciting, but our main order of business is the craft markets themselves.

Cuttlefishlove

Our maiden Brighton Craftaganza craft market happened in March and it was soooo much fun, as well as pretty successful from most of the sellers’ points of view. Due to the popularity of the venue we've been forced to hold fire for much of the rest of this year until availability allows us to hold another. The second Brighton Craftaganza coincides nicely with the festive season and will happen on Saturday 10th December at Fabrica on the corner of Duke Street and Ship Street. If you are lucky (?) enough to live in or be visiting the South of England at that time, you could do worse than pop down to Brighton on that day and pay us a visit. We have already allocated all our stalls to over thirty carefully selected locally based designer-makers. It’ll be a fantastic opportunity to pick up some truly unique hand-crafted Christmas gifts that have been made with love. Craftaganza will provide an oasis of creativity and in a sea of bland high street ubiquity!

Little Things I Make

When choosing which of the many applicants to offer a stall to, we reminded ourselves of our original manifesto: to represent the spectrum of ‘craft’ and to show that handmade products are just as good as, and most often far better than, their mass-produced equivalents. By ‘spectrum of craft’ I mean everything from the type of products you might expect to see at a traditional craft fair right through to really avant-garde contemporary work and everything in between. I find it really encouraging to see patchwork cushions selling alongside quirky illustrated T-shirts. I love that balance, plus it engenders a supportive and inclusive environment in which to try and sell your handmade products.

Mary Fellows

The variety of work that we represent is really what sets Brighton Craftaganza aside from the other art and craft markets in this area. The nature of production methods is such that handmade products provide a variety as well as uniqueness that you just can’t find in the high street shops. But to represent this variety in the best possible light, we offer stalls to those creating excellent quality as well as distinctly original work.

Lizzie Lock

With over thirty sellers who will have their work on sale on December 10th, it’s really difficult to pick just a few of them to feature in this post. But these are a selection of what you can expect should you be able to make to the Christmas Craftaganza. Hope to see you there!