My sister and I had a booth at the craft show in Rose Hill, Kansas the 8th of October during their Fall Festival. She does embroidery by hand, which complements my tatting. She has been working on her stuff for months and months. I’ve not been so dedicated to the show items, getting sidetracked a lot. But it was a good show for both of us.
The craft show started later than we usually see, but we found out that was due to the big parade they had. There were some shoppers the first couple of hours but not a lot, we were somewhat concerned that the day would be slow. About noon one of the organizers went around announcing the parade was over, and the people familiar with the event understood things would get busier soon. Which it did. There was a steady flow of shoppers for most of the event after that. We spoke to a lot of people about our items during the course of the show.
There were a lot of people that looked at the tatting, a lot even knew what it was. There were a lot of “oh, my (insert older relative) did that but I never learned.” Some showed an interest in learning – I suggested to them if they would get a few people together I would be willing to come down to teach. One woman came by that actually did know how to tat! We had a lovely conversation about tatting and patterns. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her name. But it was enjoyable to speak to her.
One item that sold the best this weekend was my Hymnal Angel. I made them a bit smaller this year, cutting the paper three inches instead of five inches. And I used wooden beads for the heads.
Something else that drew a lot of attention was my button sunflowers.
These sunflowers are fun and easy to make. I mostly used 9/16-inch buttons with a few 13/16-inch. I love how the buttons look in the center. I found a package of brown buttons in different diameters made out of coconut shells that look great, much better than plastic.
I put together a quick pattern for the sunflowers. They are very easy. If you are interested in it you can find it on the My Patterns page.
Here are a few of the things that got me sidetracked prior to the craft show.
My granddaughter loves these. I put a magnet on the back as well as the hanger. I let her have the ones she wanted.
I was on vacation a week before the craft show, which is how I got so many of the angel wings and sunflowers made. I’ll be sharing a few of the pictures I took next post.
“Yellow is my favorite summer color – it makes me feel like a sunflower.” Bria Vinaite
Sounds like a really good event! Love your angel and sunflower. Thanks for the pattern, I’m going to bookmark it, I’d love to tat it but don’t have time right now.
Thanks, Jane. I’d love to see how the sunflower comes out for you whenever you get time to do it.
What fun! Neither of my sisters do any sort of crafting. One does minimal sewing, mostly repairs, and the other did a little bit of knitting and crocheting but gave it up years ago.
Mom and I did craft shows together about 40 years ago. After that, I did a few Christmas in the Village shows here in town, taking some of Mom’s items with me.
I always enjoyed my time at the shows, but I think my craft show days are over. They’re a lot of work!
Yes, it was fun. As both my sister and I are now retired we might have time to do a few again. If we can find some that are inside and not too far away.
Your business has grown from sitting in the lab teaching me and making gifts 🎁 to a business! Congratulations!
Hi Jamie! Thanks! Nice to hear from you! It is hard to believe how long ago that was. I found my original write-up for the angel, my very first original pattern that I wrote down, from 1990! I have a lot more patterns now and a much better way to write them out.
Sounds like you both had a good day, its nice to talk to people who are interested in tatting, hopefully yiou might have a few people wanting to learn.
I did a craft fair some years ago and this women came up to me and asked what kind of machine made the snowflakes, I tried to explain to her that I use my hands they are handmade, she looked at me as if I was talking double dutch, I even got the shuttle out and showed her a few stitches, She said thanks and walked away I should have charged her for the time I took trying to make her understand we use our hands. You lose some and gain some, she was definitely a lost cause
I do like your sunflowers, thank you for sharing your pattern
Yes, Margaret, I think there are always a few like that. I was surprised this time by all the people who did recognize it as tatting, though most said it was a lost art. I do enjoy talking to people and sharing it, proving there’s nothing lost about it.
So nice to have a sister to share your talents with! Sounds like a productive and enjoyable day. It’s lovely that you have some traditional items as well as some very clever and unusual ones to show people. Rose Hill and area have no clue how lucky they are to have such an amazing tatter showing a tiny bit of her capabilities!
Thank you, Sherry! Yes, it is great to have someone to share the fun and excitement of creating beautiful things with fiber.
I spoke to you at the craft show! My name is Natasha. Just sitting down to start my Christmas tatted snowflakes for my children this year, and I remembered your website. Loving it!
Hello, Natasha! Great to hear from you! I enjoyed talking to you at the craft show. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog. I’d love to see the snowflakes you make this year.