This week has been mostly about building up to the craft fair, but I also finished an order for slippers. Most of the things I’ve made have been the same as in other weeks, so I thought I’d repeat something I did in a previous post and show you a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ work.
As I showed last week, I have made some lovely silver twinkly stars. They are really quick to make (around 10 minutes each), so ideal for craft fairs. The thread is a DMC one (no idea of the name as I lost the band) and because it is metallic it is really springy. This means that unfortunately spray starch did nothing when I blocked them. I did a spot of googling and decided to get tough, making up a mixture of PVA and water. The trial run was perhaps a bit thick, so I added a bit more water before I used it on the others. I squeezed out the excess glue/water mix and then pinned them out on my blocking mat.
I left them by the radiator, pinning them out last thing at night. By morning they were dry. I think the are perhaps a little too stiff, almost plasticky feeling, but at least they aren’t curling up. I’ve also made some white stars in cotton thread and they should be ok just with spray starch I think.
I also finished the slippers, and I was completely in love with the way the yarn worked up the scales. The rainbows worked so well, and the recipient was very pleased when I sent her a photo!
My orders are now all complete so I can focus my attention on the craft fair. My plan for the next day or so is to add the hanging loops to all of the decorations I have already made, and prepare bags and so on with stickers with my little business logo on so that I’m not having a last minute rush next Friday.
What have you been working on? Do you have any craft fair tips? (The lovely Mrs Cobs has already given me some excellent advice but I am completely new to craft fairs!)
No advice, but good luck with the fair 🙂
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Thank you 😊
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Love the slippers! They look amazing, love the wool! x
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Thanks, it’s a west yorkshire spinners sock yarn but it worked really nicely for these.
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Those snowflakes look great
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Thank you 😊
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I love those colourful slippers and the stars look very pretty 🙂
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Thank you 😊
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The slippers look like elf boots and are really cute. Good luck with the fair and do let us know how it goes.
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Thank you, I’m sure there will be a post about it! 😊
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The bootees …. Oh. My. Goodness!!! Knitted from the hair of a Unicorn who’s in charge of rainbows!! Totally amazing. LOVE those scales. …. or rather … the feathers around the ankles.
If I remember rightly (from my days of making ghosts out of muslin), I think it was one part PVA to three parts water. It’s the consistency of single cream. (so a teeny bit thicker than milk, but not as thick as double cream for your coffee).
I have another idea … but not sure if it will work. Do you have any stamps? Rubber stamps – like stamping a card – that sort of stamp? And if so … do you have any dye ink pads? Quick drying ink pads – like StazOn?
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Thank you! I do have ink pads (both types) and would love to hear your idea x
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I’ll email you today. ~ C x
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Thank you x
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I remember at a crochet class with stiffened and formed bowls with a sugar solution. I love the booties. Good luck with the craft stall.
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Thank you, I read about sugar too but I decided PVA was the way forward!
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Great projects. Slippers look fabulous
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Thank you 😊
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I went straight to PVA glue and water for my decorations, but that’s because I’m stingy and refused to buy starch when I had perfectly good glue at home :p
I looooove the slippers, the scales are brilliant in that yarn! You bet I’ll be digging out my skeins to make some dragon slippers for myself.
I’ve never done a craft fair, but I know a lot of people who have and the main advice seems to be – be prepared for rude people, but don’t let them ruin your day. I hope you only get lovely people worthy of your skills though 🙂
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I had starch from making snowflakes 4 years ago! It’s still fine lol. I’m hoping the fair will be busy but not too crowded. We will see, it’s only a little village hall affair.
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Those slippers turned out awesome! That rainbow yarn really suits that design!
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Thank you, I wasn’t sure how it would come out but was quite pleased in the end.
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Wow that rainbow yarn certainly picked up those scales perfectly.. And love what you did with your stars.. 🙂
I have been doing a little watercolour painting.. 🙂 xxx
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Thank you! Watercolours sound lovely, I cannot paint to save my life, but my grandad sells his watercolours and I clearly missed out on the art gene. X
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