Where does the time go?

Two years ago today, I birthed a tiny potato child.


Who knew that only 730 days later, she'd be grown up enough to do this?


She's a marvel. Happy birthday my little hero!

Pin It

Tweet

It's conclusive

It's been clear to me for sometime that I need to get a life; it's probably been clear to you for longer. By 'get a life', I mean a proper one. When asked if I've seen anything good lately I should be able to describe the nuances of French cinema, not the interplay between Peppa and George. When I stay up to 2AM, I should be dancing or drinking margaritas, not tracing or serging. I think the clincher for me was a couple of weeks ago, when the first thing I said to Steven after he came home from work was, 'Listen, I think that they've changed the girl who does the voice of Dora!'. The shame.

And now, even Ebay is mocking me. Look at their choices for 'Cool stuff' for me:

Lots and lots of different rolls of paper for tracing. How very rock and roll.

Pin It

Tweet

Out, In or On?

I really need to update my various shops with all my ready-to-ship stock, but there is a lot to photograph and Maia only has a limited tolerance for modelling these days. So with haste in mind I photographed all of my shirred dresses last night (yes, now that the fair is over the weather is glorious) and was hoping for a bit of advice...

I've taken a full length pic and a bodice close up, which should be my main listing image?

Full

Bodice

Full

Bodice

In my own humble opinion, I don't think shirred dresses photo that well in full length without being on a model. What do you think? Or *shudder* do I need to get Maia to try on 20 dresses and get decent shots of each?!

Okay, your voting options:

• A: Full length is a better
• B: Bodice close up is better
• C: Mix it up
• D: Torment your daughter
  

Pin It

Tweet

Hey ho...

Do you like my commerorative t-shirt? Sitting around in the sub-artic, gale-force, typhoon conditions wreaked havoc with my body and I am now very poorly as well as depressed. And for the record, getting a bloody nose and hiding under your table until it stops will create a buzz about your space, but won't increase sales.

So it's back to business as usual for me... For the uninitiated, this means tracing patterns on the floor til 2AM. I have finished my 230m roll of paper and have ordered another. *Sigh*

Pin It

Tweet

Good news, Bad news

Day two of my own personal hell the fair. Notice anything odd about this picture I took on my sojourn to get lunch? Last year, when it wasn't raining and / or freezing, this picture would have had tens of thousands of people in it. This picture has one person in it, and they are wearing a shirt indicating that they are one of the fair's workers.

As I remembered my camera, I thought I'd share some pictures of my space.

The full monty

My rail

My t-shirts

Me and Friend Sarah

Although a fiscal disaster, today wasn't all bad:

• I got to hang out with Friend Sarah all day.
• I overheard a lady saying 'Oh, it's Kitschy Coo' to her friend, like you would say 'Oh, it's Marks and Spencer'.
• I saw not one, but two little girls wearing dresses that I made and sold last year.
• I met a someone who reads my blog. It blew my mind.
• I met a kindred spirit in one of the other sellers. She's also a North-American expat and has lived in Edinburgh for ten years. She's crafty. She likes cutting things out. She's shy. She stays up very late at night making things. She sent her Mom a picture of her hugging her guillotine to show her how much she loves it. Yay!

Pin It

Tweet

Correlation does not imply causation

I'm struggling to explain day one of my fair, so I'm resorting to dorkiness:

• Last year I did one big fair and was blown away by how much I sold.
• Last year I did 15 small fairs and was blown away by what a waste of time it was.
• Ergo, large fairs = success.
• Last year's successful fair was pitched at the general populace, this fair is targetted at people with children under 5.
• Target market this fair > target market last year's fair.
• Ergo, success at this fair > success at last year's fair.
• I sold 300+ items last year.
• Ergo, I need more than 300 items for this fair.

This is the thought process I have been blithely following as I've stayed up until 2AM practically every night for the last couple of weeks, churning out garment after garment after garment. Buying more supplies, to make more garments. Slicing and dicing my fabric stash to make more garments. Oh, how proud I was of the size of my stock! 195 t-shirts, 70 pairs of shoes, 38 dresses, 30 rompers, 24 peasant tops, 8 jackets and assorted trousers and skirts. I worried I might not have enough.

But, 'Wait!", I hear you say, 'correlation does not imply causation!'. Big does not necessarily equal success, there are many other variables. Like Scottish weather. Yesterday was blowing a gale. My newly-pretty-but-waxy-residued eyebrows threatened to collect the debris whipping down the street. After dark, the heavens opened to near-Biblical proportions. Arriving at the venue this morning, the marquee shuddered with the gale-force wind. My wheeled hanging rails kept making a break for it until I taped up the casters. Rain permeated the supposedly impermeable ceiling and dripped on my table. Would you believe the Portoloos (that's Portapotties for my US friends) actually blew over?! My rockin' apron was hidden under my winter jacket (and sweater and shirt). In the end, this didn't matter, because I sold five t-shirts all day long. Nothing else. And with the forecast predicting the same weather for the next two days, I despair. If things don't improve over the weekend, not only won't I remotely cover my hiring costs (remember big fairs= big table costs) but I will be laden with more than 300 ready made items and a very small fabric stash...

Pin It

Tweet

The final countdown...

It's the final 24 hours of manic cutting, sewing, tagging, bagging, ironing, labelling and packing. And waxing. Yep, waxing. I'm taking the holistic approach to preparing and have an appointment this morning to have my eyebrows shaped. I am confident this will increase my sales at least 200%. The stylist that I booked with was pleased that I am providing virgin brows for her to work with (the phrase 'grown wild' was used). If only she knew that I haven't had them professionally done since 2006. But nevermind, my source in the HMRC (who will remain nameless lest she get ostracised) has assured me that getting nice eyebrows is a business expense.

So no big long posts from me today, if you need a dose of my scintillating chat and wit, head over to the marvellous Nifty Knits's blog and read her interview with me. And then stay awhile and have a look around, because her blog is a lot of fun. Meerkats ahoy!

Pin It

Tweet