Christmas Craft Fair & Etsy Gift Guide

A couple of week's ago I promised to share some of my handmade gift ideas from online marketplaces, so I'll start with Etsy - for many the go-to place for everything handmade.  To help you find that special gift, Etsy helpfully provide Gift Guides for everything from Gifts for Mum and Secret Santa Gifts to Gifts for Pets and Pet Lovers. While there are some truly quirky items on sale, there are also many beautifully crafted gifts that you will be hard pushed to find anywhere else.

The following items are all available from shops in the UK and are gifts for the creative people in your life, not things to make themselves, but items that reflect their love of craft;

Going clockwise from top left; Sewing Machine Blueprint Embroidery Hoop, Stitches of Anarchy, £21; Funny Craft Mug, The Mug Hermit, £7; Rainbow Hand Embroidery Hoop, PixieCraft Handmade, £43; Sewing Needlebook Set, Stitches & Stuff, £11; Material Girl Print, Red Postbox, £8; Vintage Sewing Fabric Pencil Case, Song of the Seam, £13; Compact Mirror, 2 Green Monkeys, £9.50; This is My Happy Place Print, Snowdon Prints, £12.

If you would rather something crafty for the creative in your life, such as a quilt or cushion kit, or maybe some gorgeous fabric, why not check out my Etsy shop. 

Prefer to shop in 'real life'? If you're local to the Teesside/North Yorkshire area, why not come and see me this Sunday at the Rainbow Plant Centre Christmas Fair? As well as my quilt and cushion kits, I'll be selling my collection of handmade gifts and homewares - the perfect opportunity to pick up a unique gift for someone special! I'll also have Christmas Special offers on some of my items, so come and say hello!

 
 

Big Stash and May is for Makers

In between designing, cutting, sewing and packing, I try my best to squeeze in some reading, particularly some of the wonderful quilting blogs from around the world. One of my favs is Yvonne Fuchs, aka Quilting JetGirl – not only do I love her style of quilt design, modern and simple yet so striking, but also her whole philosophy behind our craft. If I’m feeling in rut or just not happy with myself, her mantra “you are doing your best work right now” always seems to bring me up again.

Yvonne recently shared a fellow quilter’s blog, LR Stitched. Lindsey Rhodes is another fabulous quilter who shares my love of colour and designs some beautiful patterns. This month she launched a campaign called “May is for Makers” - you can read her full post here.

One thing that really resonated with me was the fact that I am terrible at buying other quilters’ patterns, or products come to that. I know I spout on about how great it is to give something handmade, but when it comes to me buying other people’s creations, I think to myself, “I could make that”, or “I could design that pattern” so why buy it? Now of course, I then go home, get distracted with my own work and never get round to making or designing anything of the sort.

And this is the point, why should I spend my own precious time doing something that someone else has already spent hours upon hours designing? Why shouldn’t I buy that quilter’s pattern and just make it?! Maybe this need to work everything out and design it myself comes from my own background. I have no formal training in this sewing lark, but rather am totally self-taught – I love working out “how did they do that?” However, I now realise this isn’t helping anyone, not me, and certainly not the quilter who has slogged their guts out to perfect their latest creation in the hope that someone will make a purchase.

In a world of free online tutorials (Lindsey’s and mine included) we need to do more to support those talented designers out there. As a quilt designer myself, I know the hard work over many hours that goes into writing a pattern, from designing the quilt, making it, possibly in various sizes, writing the instructions, drawing the illustrations, and that’s all before the actual marketing…

The patterns you see on sale on Etsy, Craftsy and quilters’ blogs really are worth every penny and I for one am going to make a concerted effort to invest. Afterall, as every quilter knows, that stash needs using, so why not treat yourself to a wonderful pattern from a talented quilter and just get stuck in!! Looking for ideas? Why not visit some of my favourite bloggers from My Blog List at the bottom of the column on the right?

So my first purchase was this beautiful block design, Triple Goosed by JeliQuilts – this girl really has a thing for flying geese!

This pattern was a joy to make, you do need to know your foundation piecing, and there are no fabric cutting instructions – I cut 3”, 2½” and 1½” strips and cut them down as I went.

I’m not sure how and even if, I’m going to quilt this, the thickness of the Essex linen is making the seams quite chunky, so I may just make it into a cushion panel… we’ll see!

Meanwhile at Sewmotion HQ

We’ve had yet another delivery! This gorgeous collection is American Patch by P&B Textiles – who knew red and pink could go so well together!

I’ve also tried to go a bit more boy-like having noticed how ‘pretty’ my recent purchases were, so we have this funky collection, Keep On Groovin' by Riley Blake.

Both of these ranges will be used in my growing collection of pre-cut quilt kits, so I best get designing!

Looking for more quilty fun and inspiration? Why not pop over to these wonderful Linky Parties and say hello;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles

Small Business Saturday Offer

How on earth did December come around so quickly!?! I guess I’ve been so busy lately concentrating on Stockton Sparkles Christmas Market, that I didn’t have time to think about what came after that! But then, before you know it, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon you, and suddenly it’s nearly Christmas.

I have to admit, I share many crafters’ and makers’ opinions on these two American phenomenons and feel I would be demeaning my handmade crafted items by offering discounts just to follow the crowd. I spend many hours designing and making, usually one-off items, that I think are worth the money I ask, I’ve often have very tight margins anyway due to the time it takes to make them. So I don’t think offering money off on big marketing days to people who think they’re getting a bargain would really show my handmade items the love their deserve.

However, having said that I do support another American invention, Small Business Saturday, which is happening this weekend.

This event is very different from those other two in that it is held to promote small businesses like Sewmotion and to encourage people to shop with us rather than with large multi-nationals on the high street. Thanks to E-shopping this event is larger than ever and is promoted on every social media platform imaginable. Of course, there are also bricks and mortar shops all over the UK taking part, to find shops local to you visit Small Business Saturday’s great search facility on their website.

To show my appreciation to you lovely people who do shop with us small businesses, Sewmotion is offering a 10% discount on everything across all three of our outlets – sewmotion; Folksy & Etsy. 

 

This offer will run from Saturday 5^th December to Monday 7^th December (midnight). Just enter the discount code SmallBizSat10 at the checkout. I have some different items in each shop, so it’s worth looking at all three. 

If you would like to take advantage of this offer to order one of my cushions in colours of your choice, contact me here.

 

There is also still FREE UK POSTAGE by 2^nd class Royal Mail – the last postage date for this service to be safe for Christmas, is Saturday 19^th December. If you wish to pay for 1^st class postage, the last date before Christmas is Monday 21^st (as recommended by Royal Mail).

On another note, I would just like to thank everyone who braved the weather last weekend and showed their support for Stockton Sparkles – I met some lovely people, many as addicted to quilting and fabric as I am, and others on the verge… with a little help from me of course! As requested I will be working on more pre-cut quilt kits and patterns in the New Year, I can’t wait to spread some quilting love.

Looking for some quilting inspiration and fun? Why not pop over to Sew Fresh Quilt’s Let's Bee Social and say hello to some very talented people.

Summer Sale

Sewmotion on Folksy is having a 15% off sale, running from Sunday 26^th July to Wednesday 29^thJuly (ends midnight). If you are one of those super organised people who have started thinking about Christmas already, or if there’s a special birthday on the horizon – this is a great opportunity to pick up something pretty. Simply enter the code SUMMER15 at checkout to get your discount.

 
One reason for me holding this sale is as a kind of apology… due to work commitments, as in the Festival of Quilts (!) followed by a much needed holiday, I’ve decided to close my Folksy shop for the month of August. While this probably isn’t great business sense, as I don’t have anyone to look after the shop, and I really can’t see me traipsing around Europe with my boxes of purses in hand, I think this is the sensible thing to do. So my Folksy shop will be closed from 1^st – 31^st August – I will be processing orders again on the 1^st September.

However, my PDF patterns will be still be available for instant download in my Etsy shop – so if you are looking for a summer project, maybe something to do with the kids, why not teach them - or learn together - the wonderful craft of patchwork and quilting. 
You could start with my free Beginner’s Quilt – this online tutorial takes you through the whole quilting process, from choosing and cutting fabric, and piecing your shapes, to quilting and attaching the binding. 

Based on simple squares, this quilt will teach you all the basics for you to then develop with my other free quilt tutorials – All Squared Up, Fox in the Nine Patch and Novelty Nine Patch.  

I will hopefully be blogging from the Festival of Quilts with lots of photos - probably taken on mad dashes to the loo. Even though it is a crazy week of hard work, I'm looking forward to being surrounded by gorgeous fabric, stunning quilts, and some wonderful people, if you are going and happen to be passing one of Doughty's stands, come and say hello - chocolate is always welcome!

Selling online is not as easy as it looks!

I love to quilt, I love reading, writing and eating everything quilty… well, maybe not eating… but you get the general idea. Sometimes however, I feel the need to set aside large quilting projects and pattern writing, and instead work on smaller items – not only do these come together quickly, but they’re also much more manageable in this muggy heat we’re currently enduring!

One of the greatest things about patchwork and quilting is that there are always new techniques to learn, new fabrics to use and new patterns to collect. It’s these techniques and fabrics that inspire me to create my handmade gift items – purses, glasses cases, cosmetic pouches, cushions and so on, many of which I sell through my Folksy and Etsy shops.

I have been a seller on Folksy since its Beta years and I have watched it grow

while selling the odd item now and again. However, it’s only recently that I’ve started  making an effort to learn more about selling online through marketplaces such as these, and let me tell you, there is a lot to learn!

There are many out there (I was one of them) that think selling through these outlets is simple - you just create a page, upload a few items, add a brief product description and a couple of photos, then sit back and wait for the orders to come flooding in! Well, I assure you, it’s not that easy at all!

Not only do you have to make quality products that people will want to buy, (let’s face it, not everyone is as obsessed with hexies as I am!) but you then have to think creatively about how to photograph it, how to describe it to make it attractive to a passing visitor, what tags to use to help buyers find you - and that’s after you’ve decided on an eye-grabbing name and the sensible price of the thing! (And don’t get me talking about pricing, that’s for another blog, let me just say – there is a HUGE difference between hobbyists just wanting to cover their costs to designers and crafters needing to make a living!)

Anyway, back to this blog… I have also recently opened an Etsy shop, mainly because I wanted to sell PDF patterns for instant downloads which Folksy doesn’t currently offer, but also to tap into the US market - quilting is so big over there. I have sold one item so far, with no marketing at all on my part, so we’ll see how that goes. I do have a lot of reading and learning still to do, and thankfully both Etsy and the lovely people at Folksy have amazing databases of useful articles and guides on everything, from taking great product photos (I'm getting the hang of cutouts now!), writing descriptions and using tags, and how to use blogs and social media to share your creations with the world. I’m not by any means intending to take over the world, but reaching more of it and spreading my obsession love of quilting would do nicely.

Finally, I have a little announcement… patchwork and quilting specialists Doughty’s of Hereford are now stocking all six of my quilt patterns – these are the printed versions, available in the shop or over the phone at £6.95 each.

This week I'm linking up with Late Night Quilter's Tips & Tutorials Tuesdays and Let's Bee Social over on Sew Fresh Quilts - come and visit some truly inspirational quilters.

Thank you for stopping by, as always your comments are very welcome.