Craft Fayres 2025 and the future

 Looking forward to Crafting in 2026

Adding to my last post, here are some thoughts on my crafting for 2025, and looking forward to 2026.

Let me start by saying my sewing and card crafts are first and foremost a hobby. So although I read up on the do’s and don’ts of craft Fayres for layout and pricing, (see Made Urban for great advice if you are crafting to sell) it is often difficult to follow the good advice. I do not need to make a profit, and am not really looking to spend a lot on props for the table. I only do local church and village hall Fayres. This has an effect on the pricing of my items. 

My bags are from £4 to £10, so for example my Tote bags sell for £5 for the smaller Christmas totes and £6 for a larger tote. These are fully lined using a metre of fabric in total, as well as the handles. Compare these to Etsy at an average of £14 - £24 and I  realise my prices need to go up. Flat bags are simple and quick to make and I price these from £2.50 for purse size, £3.50 for std make-up bag, and £4 for larger ones. Again too cheap. 

My craft bags were the most expensive item I sold, until the napkin rings) at £9.50 with 4 pockets and lined these take over a metre in total of fabric to produce. 

Shopper bags are £6 and the Christmas shopper bags have a transfer patch on the front. Both are lined.

Over the past 3 years I have also made expanding bags, cross body bags, bottle bags, box bags, gift bag and drawstring bags. 

At Fayres I receive good comments on my bags although more interest is shown in the sewn gifts. Is this because they are cuter or more unusual?? Also bags are being sold everywhere and you can pick up pretty cheap bags in stores like B&M, as well as recycled plastic shopping bags in large sizes for £1.50 to £3.

So for 2026 I have decided to streamline the production and concentrate on 

Craft Bags - New Design 

Tote Bags - New Design

Flat bags - standardise the sizes and keep these at a great price

Cross Body - New Design

Drawstring gift and storage bags small stock and geared toward storage and craft bags.

So I have lots to think about and plan for next year. 

I would love to get other crafters reasons for making and/or selling their items and comments on my makes. If you would like to comment on my blog, please press the follow button at the top of the page, and let’s make a happy group of crafters on line that share ideas and their successes. 

Now for gifts and Cards

I started out doing craft Fayres selling my paper crafts. Cards, Boxes and gift bags as well as scrapbooks and memory albums. I also tried selling cards and scrapbooks on Ebay and Etsy, with a small amount of success. 

Isolation Journal posted Dec 2020

Folio Album posted Feb 2021

As you can see back in 2020 I was still concentrating on paper-crafts , it was not until my husband was diagnosed Oct 2021 I started sewing again. By 2023 cards and paper-crafts were getting difficult to sell as a lot of people had started crafting during lock-down and were making and selling cards, journals etc. It gave me an opportunity to try selling the bags instead, and it worked out well.

Then last year I started taking a few cards to the Fayres and they sold well, and this year I sold 19 Christmas cards at Fayres as well as 32 birthday cards and 5 commissioned cards (these are sold at a premium of £5 each). 

I will continue to make cards and those taken to the craft Fayres will be restricted to 3 styles so I can display and do point of sale info, as they are more unusual styles .

They will sit alongside the 3 gift items I will make. 

Cards I make for a Craft Fayre will be the more unusual styles so that people buying are getting something unique. I find they sell better and at a more realistic price. I sell my cards from £1.50 to £3.50 each.

Sometimes if I make a new design that is unique to me I will make them a limited edition of 12 and this helps lift the price to £3.50. I realise that if I was selling them in a gallery they would probably sell for £9.50 each but I do not live in an area where this sort of price structure would work. Commissioned cards I only make for friends as the time they take to make is not reflected in the price, they are usually elaborate multi-layered and have a lot of embellishment. They have included pop-up cards, 3 layered pop-open box cards, and open book cards 

These are a work of love not profit, and I enjoy making them as they stretch my imagination to come up with the designs to the recipients likes. 

So there you have it: what I have made in 2025 and what I am going to make in 2026 (always open to change and flexibility of course). 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Don’t forget to press the follow button - to comment , or if you wish to send an email my details are on the right hand side in post settings. 

Christmas Fayres 2025

Christmas Fayres 2025

As promised I will report on how I did this year at the Christmas Fayres.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the biggest one because of family illness. However this was compensated by the amount of sales I achieved at the village hall coffee morning in November, which tripled on last years sales, so I am grateful to all who attended and purchased from me.

Also I had made a conscious decision not to attend 3 Fayres in my local town, as the organisers had decided she would not allow me to sell the jewellery in gift bags, as I did not make the jewellery, only the bags. 

This left 2 Christmas Fayres and the coffee morning, as well as a few sales to friends and family throughout the year. 

So here is the final tally : 

First the items that did not sell.

Cross Body Bags - despite selling a couple at the coffee morning last year I sold non this year and did not take them to the other fairs. But I intend to alter the design and try again, as I have sold 5 from the eight made.

Box Bags - A new item and I was very disappointed that I did not sell them. I think one went to a friend to put christmas gifts in but that was it. So despite having made 8 leatherette and 6 fabric bags these were a bust, and I will not be making more. The stock I have will be given to another charitable cause. 

Alternative Selection box flat bags - I sold a few last year but non this year so these will not be made again.

Expanding Bags, Shoe Bags - Only one sold at the Fayres, I love these bags and find them so useful for my cruises, and use one regularly for line dancing. I have another 9 made and will keep them in stock, but not making any more at the moment.

What did sell 

Shopping Bags - 3 sold. Not many considering the size and they are lined and include Christmas bags that can be re-used year after year. However I will continue them in some format when I have some large bundle of fabric that suits the project and is cost effective.

Square Christmas Gift Bags - 4 sold. These are a good size and I only charge £4 for them. `I have sold quite a few over the 2 years at craft Fayres so I will try to sell the remaining 10 I stock and then rethink them.

Flat bags Including Christmas - 6 sold from makeup to nightdress case size.  These will always be a basic stock item and I look  forward to. Making them to match other bags in the range. There was also one set of matching makeup bags sold.

Tote Bags - 3 Christmas tote bags were sold and I only have 2 Christmas and 2 standard tote bags left in stock. I will be making a new range of tote bags.

Drawstring Bags - 2 Christmas drawstring bags sold. These were only taken to the last Fayre and so was an acceptable number, and among the other bags. 

This is a total of 19 bags 

Gifts 

Christmas Napkins rings in christmas fabric bag - 4 sold . New item. These was the most expensive item on the table and so to sell 3 at the last Fayre and one to a friend, brought in good revenue. I have 5 more in stock which will be taken to next years Christmas Fayres

Scissor/sewing bag - 4 sold New item this year and I may continue then for another year.

Christmas Coffee spoons - 6 sold. These make a great gift for a colleague or to say “Thank You” and I will add more for next year. I think I need a better way of showing them . 

Jewellery & Gift pouch. 32  sold across the 3 venues . Definitely the best seller. They seem to attract people to the table and are sold at £5. People often buy multiples. 

19 Cards were sold plus 2 packs of 8 cards.

So there we have it. I have only managed to do 2 Fayres and the table at the Coffee morning this year. Still I am able to donate £550 to Friends of Bridgwater Hospital, and have enjoyed the challenge of making new gifts and bags. 

I have also learnt that you need to concentrate on a few designs that are unique to you, and with this in mind I have decided to expand my fabric cards next year, and I have an idea to give me a USP for my bags. I will be working on these ideas in the new year. 

Thank you for dropping by my blog. 

Happy Christmas to all the crafters out there 

Dee

New Fabric Christmas Card

 Fabric Greeting Cards

I am old enough to remember padded fabric cards that used to be the posh cards you purchased for special people, they were usually boxed, and cost a great deal more than the other cards in the shop

I had a eureka moment a couple of weeks ago, which resulted in trying a new version  of the fabric cards. My cards updated the idea as the fabric had fun sayings .

These are 8” scalloped edge cards. 

I shall try them out at my last Fayre this year and I hope they sell well as I would really like to expand the idea. 

Pricing is one of the most difficult areas when selling your crafts. If you are a crafter making items to sell as a means of income then your prices have to reflect the materials used and the time you spend to make it, this is a a whole different area to my selling for charity. There is no pressure to make a profit, and yet, you have to consider pricing just as much. Price items too low and customer may underestimate the quality of the item, price too high and customers will walk away. These cards if purchased in a store would probably cost around £4  - £5 but I do not think they will fetch  that at the small fayres I attend. I am pricing them at £3.50, or 2 for £6. 

Once I have finished my last Fayre in December I will post the results for this years sales. I think I already know the best seller. 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Second Christmas Stall

 First Christmas Fayre

So my first stall, this Christmas was a table at the coffee morning while the table on Saturday was at a Christmas Fayre, run by the church and with bellringers and the choir entertaining shoppers throughout the morning. The Fayre ran from 10.30 until 1.30

My set up was similar to the coffee morning table. Christmas gift bags, tote bags and gifts.

I have sold at this Fayre for a couple of years, and whilst the takings are not great it is a lovely atmosphere, I meet other crafters that I know and its a pleasant way to spend a half day.

The stall costs £15 and you are asked to give an item for the raffle, which I think is a great idea, when the Fayre is run by a community group.

For this table I decided not to display my Box Bags or the Alternative Selection Box Bags as they had not sold at the previous sale, instead I tried some cards and some Napkins ring sets .

I would say the footfall was down a little this year, and although I thought I sold a little less than last year, it was actually £1 more. 

So what sold at this Fayre: 

Best seller was the jewellery gift and purse, which was 70% of the total sales.

Other items sold was Christmas gift bags, purse, and a couple of the reindeer spoons in a holder. 

The reindeer spoons in a holder make a great colleague gift or good for friends who love their tea and coffee, as they will  always have their own spoon. The large fun fabric cards did not sell but I will be taking them to my next Fayre. This is based on the fact that I took some items to sell at my November Women’s Institute meeting ( we have a trading stall for anyone wishing to sell excess grown fruit & veg, or home made items ) and sold 10 cards. I also sold one of my Scissor /sewing kit, I made 6 to try and after the 2 tables have sold 3, not huge but I will probably keep them in and tweak them in some way, as they seem to catch the eye of buyers, and are a pretty addition to the table.

Any craft Fayre takes a lot of preparation, and then there is the setting up and packing away after the show, but if you love your crafting and meeting other crafters, they are fun and and great way of distributing your makes,and getting funds to make next year.

As I pack away from this Fayre and prepare for the next and last Fayre on 9th December I am already starting to plan my makes for next year, I have a couple of different style bags I want to try and I want to look at what has sold over this year and plan my gift makes accordingly.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Update on Craft Fayres

 Set-Backs & Progress

Hi all you lovely crafters. I am sorry it has been a long time since my last post. Family issues have meant I have been tied up for the last 2 weeks of October and the first week of November, just as Craft Fair season started.

The season should have started with a stand at my local monthly coffee morning, followed by the largest Christmas Craft fair I do last Saturday (8th November).

Unfortunately with trips to hospital and a friend unable to help me on the day, I decided to cancel the large CHristmas Fair, in time for the organisers to give the 2 stalls I had booked, to another crafter. The decision was made on the basis that I could not work 2 stalls on my own and though I have friends I could ask to help, because the Craft Fair is an hours drive away, it meant leaving home at 7.30 and getting home about 5pm. Too long a day for anyone not as keen as me on crafty days, and quite honestly not as important as my dear family member in hospital. 

Having made the decision I sat down and considered what I was going to do with the mass of crafty goodies I had prepared and the future of my crafty makes. It really helped me to realise I needed to streamline my makes and make core products that would then require less items to be stored, less room on the stall and allow a better layout. 

It should be noted at this point, that I am not a business, I am a crafter who makes and sells for charity. 

I looked at my inventory and realised despite reading articles that suggested any crafters doing craft fairs should:

• Have a Core product range
• Limit the number of products sold at a fair 
• Leave space on the table to allow the buyers eye to clearly see the products
• Introduce new products one at a time to see how they fit in to base lines
• Build you table around your Key item/Best seller

I had never really worked this way.

1. I made new things all the time to try them, because they interested me rather than because they added to a product range.
2. I took too many items to a craft fair and tried to fit them all onto the table
3. Whilst I knew which bags I made sold best overall, I had not really discovered why other items were not selling as well as I thought they should or if it was what customers wanted. 

Hard though it was to accept these truths, looking at my stock list and stored bags I realised that by not changing my ways I was just making life harder. If I made a core product range of bags limited to 6 styles, and a core range of gifts limited to 4 products. This would make 

storage more manageable, 

stock movement easier, 

and set up quicker. 

If I managed to book to 2 tables at a fair, I would show my paper crafts on the other table and the same principles would be applied to list of products being shown on that table.

Next I set about reorganising my stock.

The bags I selected were

Shopping Bags - Christmas Shopper bags

Gift Bags - Christmas Gift Bags

Box Bags - NEW

Makeup bags & purses

Expandable bags 

Tote Bags 

Craft Bags - low on stock so not being taken to craft fairs this Christmas despite being my best selling bag

Gifts were:

Jewellery with purse - Best Seller 

Scissor - sewing purse

Christmas spoon in holder

Notebooks with reusable fabric covers

This left me with other items such as Cross Body bags, Drawstring Bags, Alternative selection box Bag, Nightdress Cases. 

So for my first craft table at the coffee morning I took the bags I had listed except the  

Craft Bag and gifts as listed above 

My trial run on the kitchen table easy to build and I was pleased with the look 

My very good friend and I set off with good spirit and set up at the coffee morning. The committee who run the village hall had kindly given me the table for free and placed on their facebook page to remind people that I would be attending as well as a stall for the Poppy collection. 

The coffee morning last about an hour and then a raffle and 1.5hrs later it’s all over. It started with a few of the helpers taking a look and then a few coffee morning attendees over the first hour. It built up quite well, and as the raffle was being done I was pleased to note we had probably doubled our sales from the previous year. The Chairman mentioned the stall during the raffle and then when it finished we had another rush . Despite the fact I couldn’t get my Sum-up machine to work we ended taking 3 times the amount of last year. I had brought a stock list and tried to tick what I was selling. My friend who it should be said is a much better seller than me, was so busy at the end we had to fill it the remembered sales after the event. It was an exceptional sales time, probably helped by the fact that those attending the coffee morning are locals and all the money was going to the local hospital. But I am very grateful to all who purchased from me, and for all the kind comments. 

I cannot imagine my other fairs being as profitable.

I will go through all the sales after the other 2 fairs have taken place. But the best sellers for this stall were the Christmas Gift Bags and way out in front the jewellery in gift pouches. 

I will be back after the next fair on Saturday 15th November when my friend will be helping again. 

Happy Crafting.

Dee

More Preparations and ‘finds in the cupboard”

 Making the Most of Your Stash

As I prepare my stock for the Christmas Craft Fayres, I naturally end up tidying the boxes that have been holding my makes.

Yesterday tidying another box of papers I made some more laminated folders. I did not need them,  but as I looked at the papers I realised they were perfect for the project, and I had a half hour spare so decide to make a half a dozen to use up the papers. Over the years I have finished off many paper pads this way. As a treasurer for my local W.I. I have lots of different pots of money to collect at meetings, so I allocate a folder for each project or event. I also use them to hold receipts, recipes etc in the home and to give money or small gifts.

So another little bundle of laminated folders.

I went to put them into one of my finished article boxes and came across a number of other items made over the last couple of years to use up the papers were perfect pads and fabric scraps.

I use up all the papers and fabric peices I can possibly find use for, and although I very rarely put them on my tables at craft fayres as I have little space,  I have a friend who sells them to neighbours and colleagues for Cancer Research, so nothing is wasted. 

As I have expanded to 2 tables for my fayres this year I decided to package up all these items for a stocking filler section.

These are envelopes that close onto a double front flap and I have added a card and tag

Here we have 2 laminated folders or wallets and the front blue one is a document wallet

This picture shows a set of three budget purses and a set of of 2 gift purses 

3 sets of a folder and matching bookmark made from pretty vellum papers

Lastly I found 8 tissue holders made from my fabric scraps. 

Altogether there were 46 bundles, all now labelled and ready to display . I have decided to charge one price and it will be just £1.50 an item. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Christmas Craft Fayre Report 2

 Marketing Paper-crafts

First Item for the Gift Table

The second table I have booked at the Fayres will be for Gifts and Paper-crafts. I have already decided the items that will be displayed and limited them to allow customers to see clearly the items available .

There will be 3 different single pack Christmas cards and a couple of 6-8 pack designs 

A selection of brooches and earrings  (Christmas and General) which are sold in a small fabric gift purse. 

Christmas napkin rings in a fabric gift bag 

And Blizzard books 

I have just finished making a few of each of the two sizes I make.

The small Blizzard book holds:

 Business card,   

Gift Card 

Supermarket & bank cards

While the standard Blizzard book is a lovely keepsake, you can have black card pages for a photo album or standard pages for a notebook, or water colour paper for a sketch or painting book. I add Black or white card.

Having finished a number of books, I started to write the packaging for selling. 

I am trying to standardise the point of sale paper-work. 

When selling at a fayre it is important to remember that customers need to be able to see your items, and their use, easily. That is the reason I want to keep the tables more sparse than usual with spaces on the table . The Blizzard books are packaged with a product description that includes my craft logo. I took some time to choose the lettering and layout of the product description. With my logo  - “Paper-crafts With Personality” centre stage and as these books were my own design I placed the word “Unique” before the logo.  

These are the small Blizzard Books that take business cards, Bank cards, Gift cards etc

I altered the description a little for the larger version that can be used as an album, art book etc. 

A sample of each size will be open on the table 

First item finished and packed away.

So now onto the next items. 

My choice of 3 Unique Christmas Cards 

Happy Crafting 

Dee