Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Two more craft shows this month!

After a pretty lazy summer, I'm getting back in gear with two craft shows this month! First up: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. this Saturday (Oct. 1), the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church Juried Craft Show in northeast Minneapolis. I hear it is a pretty well-established show that is a cut above your usual church bazaar. I'm curious to see what kind of clientele stops by -- could be a big grandma crowd. The second one is the HandmadeMn Market, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Ballentine VFW on Lyndale Av. near Lake St., sponsored by HandmadeMn, the group for Minnesota Etsy sellers. It will be fun to meet a lot of fellow Etsy-ers. Since I still have a pretty healthy inventory, I have only made one new raincoat:

A turquoise, red and pink flowered coat with red-and-white polka dot hood lining and pocket trim. I had wanted to use that fabric for the cuffs, too, but Fabric.com messed up my order and I didn't get my new polka dot shipment until today! So I had to improvise. I probably will whip up a hat to match. If I make any sales this Saturday :), I will be doing some more sewing before the show on the 22nd. I bought some black-and-cream houndstooth laminate today at Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul, which I thought might pair nicely with the red-and-white.

In a previous post I mentioned trying to make my own laminated fabric. Well, I finally got around to doing it. It was definitely more hassle than I thought, and I'm thinking it is probably not worth it. To begin with, the vinyl isn't quite as pliable as I'd like... almost has a bit of a crackly feel. And it is TOUGH to get that laminate on the cotton with no wrinkles, little specks of fiber or, as I discovered to my chagrin halfway through the project, hair! I found a hair under the vinyl.... it wasn't super noticeable but once someone saw it, they'd be grossed out! Can't do that to a customer. So I had to redo a section of the bottom ruffle.

That coat isn't finished yet, and I'm not sure if I think it's worth it to continue:


I do like the underlying fabric. I'm a sucker for polka dots, which you might have noticed looking at my other designs. Any lining besides white will kind of change the look of it, though. I've got tons of the fabric left over... if you recall, I used a twin sheet set. When I get to designing regular little girl clothes, another dream of mine, I'll put that fabric to good use.

On that note, I figure the first requirement of making regular clothes (where the seams are exposed) is to acquire a serger. I found what I think is a pretty good one at amazon.com: http://amzn.to/oWqD13. Really good price and high user ratings. That just might be my next big purchase.

And finally, I can't resist introducing our new granddaughter! Laney Fae Royce, born Sept. 21. I've already knitted a baby hat for her and will be working on a sweater soon. And of course, there will be raincoats! She's just a little doll and we're all so excited.

(As usual I apologize for the photo quality... they're from my phone... and I'm no photographer!)