Thank you for not being perky » craft fairs

Minnie’s Cape Tutorials for Swap-O-Rama-Rama and Maker Faire

Minnie — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:42:47 +0000

Here are the two cape tutorials I have made for this years swap-o-rama-rama @ maker faire. wheee! I can’t wait!

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Packing light – Seattle Edition

Minnie — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:55:27 +0000

I’m off to Seattle tomorrow at 7am (gah!). I absolutely HAVE to pack light for this trip since my suitcase has to be stuffed with 50 pounds of conference programs. Even though there are a few glaring problems with it it still came out fairly cute.

What conference you ask? The Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs (<-- I NEVER spell that right) that I have been working on with Jamie Chan - http://www.urbanfaunastudio.com/, Lauren Venell – http://sweet-meats.com/, Kristen Rask – http://www.shmancytoys.com and Andrea Porter – http://www.matthewporterart.com/ for like, the last year.

So, I’m excited. I’ve never been to Seattle although I’m sure I will end up only seeing the conference rooms. That’s fine. It will be great to meet all the conference goers and spend time with the speakers, attend some sessions and spaz about various organization details. It has been weird to organize something happening in another state with people who live in that state. I’m not sure what the difference would be if we had organized it here. I’m hoping we do it again next year and have it here in the Bay Area.

Having just been to BlogHer I’m still basking in the warm glow that is meeting people in person and having fun and talking about things that interest us with strangers who quickly become something more. It’s a dynamic that I’m actually not really that good at and that makes me TIRED. But tired in a good way and i’m not good at it because I’m an introvert so what r u going to do?

Anyway, I value it and enjoy it and am so happy to have opportunities to do it with a bunch of bloggers and with a bunch of kick ass crafty business women.

Back to packing… really truly packing light is very difficult. I mean, my hotel has a pool and a fitness center and so clearly I need to bring workout clothes and a swimsuit. amiright? I can eliminate bringing ear plugs since I am rooming alone. so there’s that… It’s only three days so I can get away with one pair of pants, one skirt and one dress and one pair of shoes (two pairs since I’ll need workout shoes). + 50 pounds of conference guides. I can do it!

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The penny trick

Minnie — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:51:14 +0000

I had a craftastic weekend, starting on Thursday.

I went to the Etsy craft Lab hosted by MOCFA and sponsored by Giant Robot and Britex Fabrics in downtown SF. This months was hosted outside in a little craft corral and there were two main activities: making a plush robot or make a fabric flower. We opted to make a robot and did manage to finish it between 3 grown-ups and one kid.

Friday night I had a small table set up at the Oakland Art Murmur with a friend who runs the East Bay Church of Craft chapter. We had a borrowed button maker and a bunch of colored circles and pens, old magazines, and church of craft logos on paper, and a one inch circle cutter.

I love doing demos and having interactive activities like this. We were more popular that I expected. It was also unexpected (but great!) that most people opted to design their own button, next time I ill have a wider arrayof pens and markers. We had a donation jar set up and made like 50 bucks!?!

A woman came up to us and told about this event happening in the East Bay in October called the Mini Maker Faire! I am unreasonably excited about this event. It’s sponsored by Maker Faire and they are encouraging people to start up mini maker faires all over the place! woot! So we might have a button making or craft demo booth. I’m not an official Church of Craft rep but I hope to work on this. You can follow them on twitter here and check out their blog here. They are currently taking apps for Makers and Crafters now.

Oh and a guy made a button and then taught us the penny trick. This works with a one inch button. Instead of using the wire pin back insert you can use a penny. just sandwich your fabric between a penny and the button and TA-DA, your button stays put.

On Saturday I went to the craft sale at Oakland’s Knit-One-One. Lots of nice vendors, I talked to people about CCE – Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs (which BTW has extended it’s Early Bird Pricing!) and Bazaar Bizarre. I bought a couple of nice things. Some cards from Blockhead Press, a wrist strap from blissful and some bacon chocolates from Socola Chocolates. Italked with the woman from Cut Throat Sewing about making swimwear and underwear and I was inspired by that and by Em to come home and make my first pair of underwear! Which came out fantastic BTW. I do not want to take them off!

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Maker Faire! Over again!

Minnie — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:38:20 +0000

I always forget how LONG the days at Maker Faire seem when you are a vendor. VERY LONG. Ones eyes and nose start to hurt for some reason.

Despite the long days I enjoyed Maker Faire again this year. Sunday morning I felt so sick I thought would die. A bit of food and a 45 minute nap in my car before the day started helped quite a bit as did getting to run around the fair looking at things.

If you would like to make your own pair of spats please download my free spats pdf pattern and have at it.

My Etsy shop is empty of spats for now but I am available for custom orders, please contact me through Etsy.

A big thanks to the Maker Faire organizers and all the organizers and vendors of Bazaar Bizarre! See you next year!

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My Sewing Machine – Sewing Machine Month at Sew,Mama,Sew!

Minnie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:17:14 +0000

It’s sewing machine month at Sew, Mama, Sew!. I love my machine but am not so secretly lusting after a serger so I’m looking forward to seeing what people have to say about their sergers.

What brand and model do you have?
Bernina Activia 230

How long have you had it?
6 months or so

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
1200.00ish

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
Mostly spats and some clothing, skirts and dresses and some baby items every once in a while. My husband made a quilt for our son recently and also likes to make rad complicated sock puppets.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
I don’t sew everyday but at least a couple times a week. It depends if I have a deadline for a craft show or a custom order or am motivated to get something done!

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
I like my machine. It’s a work horse and kicks ass all over the place. It’s so much better than my last machine, I take good care of it and have not crapped it up with stickers yet. YET.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?
The needle threader. OMG! What did I do with out it?!? Life was a desert, a crappy desert not one of those cool ones with lizards and shit.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
My machine is a quilting machine and I am not a quilter. It has a bunch of features for quilters that I don’t use. Also, It’s hella heavy.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!
Boringly, I can’t think of any good stories except that IT WORKS. Unlike my old machine. I did run around Maker Faire with it for like 20 minutes with my arm falling off and then I made Vim carry it AND Mr. Pants and run around Maker Faire for another 20 minutes. That sucked…

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
I would but I would tell them to shell out the extra couple hundred bucks for the one that has script lettering. Damn, I wish had!

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
It should be a machine that you can love and pet and fit in your pants (not literally).

Do you have a dream machine?
I have my work horse, now I want a fancy embroidery machine and a serger.

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Spats for Bazaar Bizarre @ Maker Faire 2009

Minnie — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:24:28 +0000

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Craft fairs and custom orders

Minnie — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:19:31 +0000

I’ve decided that I am too wishywashy to accept custom orders. Right now that is. I think in order to do so you have to lay out parameters and stick with them and you have to have a selection, on hand, of choices for the customer. It can’t just be all nebulous like the one I am working on right now. I said something like, “oh, I’ll put some black lace on it”. But really, I don’t have black lace on hand that is appropriate and whatever black lace is in my vision may not be what is in the customers vision AT ALL. There’s no way to know. Now, if I had had two kinds of black lace and had them photographed and sent them to the client for her to choose then that would have worked out fine. ALAS.

So yeah, it’s a learning process for me.

Craft fairs, what think ye? Is it just me or were there like 45,000 craft fairs this season? I didn’t make it to all of them and missed the stupid crucible one! wtf?! I had it on my calender and the day of I was all, “we’re going to the crucible fair!” and then we didn’t. I don’t know what that’s about.

I did well and had fun at the BB. It is an established fair that gets a good turn out. I also did a tiny craft fair at a bar on Sunday night last. The Okalnd DIY one. It was fun and I could tell that the organizer worked hard to do all the organizing. However, it was at a dumb time and while I loved the venue as a bar it might not attract the right crafty buying sort of crowd. With more and better advertising it could work though. For the most part I was thinking, “WHY am I freezing my ass off in the rain on a Sunday night with the scungiest 20 yr old boy (not quite) hipsters on the planet in this dive bar?!” aHhahahah

Anywho. I’m not sure how people end up making a living doing this or if they actually ever do. Especially with out getting burned out. I’m kind of finally sick of making spats!

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Booze, naughty elves and crafts

Minnie — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:36:18 +0000

I’ll be at the The Oakland DIY Holi-DIY Expo at the Stork Club in Oakland tomorrow night selling spats. I’m looking forward to being at least a little bit raunchy with some elves and having a few drinks and selling a few pairs of spats.

I’m kind of not prepared for it as I slacked off all week. I need to bring lighting of some sort…

Slacking off is good but I feel an ever increasing number of projects sneaking up behind me. Curtains for Jacks room, my dress(!), shirts for Jack and pants.. um… other stuff. Smoking jackets, hat making.

And before I do any of that I need to get cracking on my Christmas presents. I think I’ll make white chocolate cacao nib bark again and also spicy hot chocolate.

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Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco

Minnie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:52:22 +0000

Bazaar Bizarre was fun!

I went over to the county fair building on Saturday to help with general set up (btw, it’s great fun to volunteer at this sort of thing) and, because I am weird like that, had a satisfying time setting up a million tables.

I slacked a bit with my gigantic coffee and pondered setting up my table. I didn’t need much room and the stuff I bought fit on my table pretty well. I went with the taupe velvet curtain panel from Ikea and couple of cute pieces of luggage to use as display.

On Friday Vim took a special trip to work to make me a laser cut sign. and it’s his own design! It looks good no? I wonder if it would look good silk screened on to a t-shirt?

Sunday I picked up my friend G and she helped me arrange. I was very glad she could come with me in the morning as I needed her organizing, arranging mojo. With out her I would have been all dithery and annoying.

Sorry for the gross camera phone pics. I forgot the camera. Which I REALLY regret since I could have taken pictures for a good vendor round up post on the Bazaar Bizarre Blog. Darn it!

I had a moment of sudden realization that spats are pretty.. er… specialized. Mostly everyone wears jewelry but surely only a very few will be remotely interested in spats. But dammit, spats are so cheerful. I swear when I wear them it make my day. I like the casual split toes to wear everyday with jeans and at the fair I wore some fancier grey velvet with jet buttons ones with a skirt.

I sold about half of my spats (17 pairs about) and made enough money to feel pleased with myself. Enough money to feel like I DESERVE a present. hahahaha.

I am now moving on to Spats V3.0. These will be taller and the buttons will be more towards the front and in a curvier line. Also the under shoe elastic needs to be adjustable to accomodate platforms and heel-less boots. I need to create a whole new pattern and also, since I have lost the first one, make a new pattern for men’s spats. All of which, of course, will be posted here for free for NON COMMERCIAL use.

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Getting ready for Bazaar Bizarre this Sunday!

Minnie — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:38:36 +0000

I’ve been making spats and reading more crappy romance novels. Vim’s cat died and Jack has all his teeth (totally unrelated things).

The black and white spats have pink silk lining and velvet buttons. The other one is authentic Burberry raincoat fabric and has cheerful cloud lining (one cloud in there has a cute silver lining embroidered by me). I think I will use this neutral velvet curtain from Ikea as my tablecloth at the fair.

I go set up tomorrow!

I love the argyle ones with the star and flower buttons. OMG> I crack myself up. I also have an amusing pair that has silver ric rac. heh.

While Jack was napping the other day I whipped up a bunch of these lingerie bags out of the silk tie fabric samples that I got at East Bay Depot for Reuse. They are cute but nothing special. I kind of thought I needed a lower priced item to have displayed… I’m not sure how to price them.

Oh! and I did actually get approved to accept CC at the fair even though I waited until the very last second to unprocrastinate my ass and call them. Now I have to figure out how to take them…
a crayon and paper? Wha? To unprofessional you say?

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