{Day 3} 31 Days of Craft Show Preparation – How Much Do I Make?

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Molly’s Day Three – How Much Inventory

You’ve decided to sell your crochet at a show. How much inventory will you need? What type of inventory will you need? How do you know what will sell and what won’t?

This is the topic in Molly’s 3rd day of 31 Days of Preparing for a Craft Show series. You’ll find more details at the end of this post if you’d like to join in.

Molly shares how she arrived at what to make and how much to make for her first craft show. She based her decision on the advice from others, the length of the show (3-days) and the shows history. Since her show was in Davis, the traffic is expected to be good and locals love buying from local artists she decided to make a number of different things. (aprons, capes, crayon portfolios and some hair accessories)

She had her math genius husband do a bit of calculating and figured she would need to sew 3 – 5 hours a day until the show date. That’s a lot of sewing. {smiles}

Photo credit:http://www.morguefile.com/creative/Grafixar

My Experience With Crochet at Craft Shows

Like I said in a previous post I’ve done a total of 3 craft shows – attending only 2 of the 3. My last show (the third) I sold 1 hat and a couple of scrubbies. The hat might have been a pity sale as it was the shop owners friend who bought it. {smiles}

As a frequent craft show attendee I can tell you what sells at the shows I frequent. I attend small shows usually hosted at schools, parks and recreation and local community centers. Please take what I say with a grain of salt as everything is subject to your community and the show you choose to sell at. 

It is hard to tell you exactly what will sell for your particular event but know that bazaar crafts are called that for a reason. First, they are quick to make. Second, they are cheap to sell. Finally, they cater to the largest audience for these type of shows.

For the small shows or for community shows that cater to families I wouldn’t put in a lot of time in extensive pieces. These rarely sell. What does sell is the small stuff. You know those crochet topped dish towels? Yes, for some reason they always sell. Little scrubbies or little crochet flowers or bows on barrettes, those sell. Baby stuff seems to sell well too – like baby blankets, booties and wee layettes.

This isn’t to say your elaborate pieces won’t sell but they are more for the art shows not family centered shows where  most people are there for the free rides, entertainment, and something to do.

I interviewed one lady who was selling crocheted topped towels. I questioned her because she was selling them at 2 for $3 and she had at least 5o sets.  I was blown away by the low price and the amount she had. I’m sure the towels alone cost at least $3 a piece if not more.

Photo credit:http://www.morguefile.com/creative/Penywise

She told me that she crochets all year and sells at holiday shows. She does it as a hobby, not a business. This is how she earns money for the holidays. Her husband said that if she made it a business, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. This was important information for me. It was this interview (and my last show) that made me decide against doing shows to sell my crochet work.

Note, this is my experience, your experience might be different. I did small shows, a bigger show or one geared toward showcasing makers might be different.

What to Consider When Building an Inventory for Your First Craft Show

1. Traffic to the show
2. Season – winter, summer, fall, spring (holidays)
3. What can you make in the amount of time you have
4. Are your items quick sales? A quick $5, $10, or more?
5. Variety – be sure to offer a variety and always make more than you think you need

Have you done a craft show? What was your experience? What sold the best? the least? Share in the comments below.

Join me in the 31 Days of Craft Show Preparation by Blogger Molly of http://mollyeleen.wordpress.com. Molly was inspired to do the 31 days challenge when her friends took on the challenge that The Nester hosts each year. (based on the 31 Days to build a better blog by ProBlogger)

 How You Can Participate

1. Visit Molly’s Blog post which has all 31 posts in the series
2. Blog about it. You can do one post for the entire week or one post per day. I’ll be doing one post a day. (31)
3. Chat about it either on the Crochet Business fanpage or in either the CBB Google+ community or CBB Fb group.