Return of the Christmas Market

The last face to face market I attended (I think) was in December 2019 and since then all of my display stands have been gathering dust in the studio. Although workshops returned, in controlled environments, the risk of exhibiting and selling at markets, fairs or events was just too high. Not least because of Covid-19 but also because the venues couldn't necessarily guarantee refunds on the cost of the stand if another lockdown was to happen, or if you yourself were suddenly unable to participate because of Covid. The bigger venues will charge at least £500 plus for the smallest stand in the smallest corner, all to be paid up front but, for small businesses like mine, it's a huge gamble in the first instance and when you have a global pandemic which can change situations in hours, it just wasn't worth it. 

But, very luckily for me, a local venue - Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre - which is in my hometown started back up their Craft & Artisan Markets at the end of 2021, as well as offering spaces for Late Night Shopping at Christmas. All were at a very reasonable price which wouldn't hurt the bank so much if there were any issues and I signed up straight away for the Christmas ones as I know that I do better at that time of year when people are looking for slightly unusual gifts for their loved ones. 

The first one was at the end of November 2021 and I was actually quite nervous, slightly concerned I'd forgotten how it all worked and went together, and how to smile and interact with people. There were lots of questions about whether anyone would actually come, if it was dangerous, would people wear their masks (we did have masks on, just not for these photos), would anyone actually buy anything as there are so many people now fallen on harder times?? But, I needn't have worried as we had a lovely day meeting lots of people and re-discovering customers who we hadn't seen in a couple of years, hearing everyone's stories about lockdown and what they'd been up to. 

My lovely man is absolutely amazing at these things. He has no interest in embroidery himself but he supports me and helps out and mans the stand whilst I nip to the toilet, brings drinks, fetches and carries and just sits and watches his Youtube videos on his photo to entertain himself, all whilst sitting next to me and smiling at people who walk past. For these events he did even more of the fetching and carrying as we are expecting Baby Dotty in April and my bump had just started to show so I wasn't allowed to carry anything too heavy. 

A week or so later and we were back at Bridge Cottage for the second market of our year, the town's Late Night Shopping event. The Cottage was looking absolutely gorgeous - it's a Wealden Hall House built in 1436 and I can remember parts of it being a sweet shop, an art gallery, a card shop....it's been flooded several times and more recently restored and now used for events like weddings, talks, exhibitions and markets. How homey does it look though with the giant Christmas tree outside and lights on in all of the windows? 

We were in the same space as before, right in front of the upstairs, right hand window (which gave us a great view of the courtyard in front which was also eventually filled with stands, and a brass band!)

To celebrate the triumphant return of Dotty Textiles to physical market places, I'd treated myself to a magnetic display board where I could present my shell and holly magnets. They get a little bit lost on the table but I sold quite a few from the board so it works which is brilliant! I'm hoping to cover it with something a little more in-keeping with my theme of natural wooden stands, wicker baskets and natural creamy fabrics but, as the board only arrived the afternoon of the show, there wasn't time and it doesn't look too bad as it is. 

I kept the display set up fairly similar to the previous week as it had worked well, although moved the card spinner off onto my little separate fold out table to make more room on the main table for baskets of kits. Kits are my absolute best selling items which is fair enough because I can't allow myself to sell my creations cheaply so, although my original hoop pieces get appreciated and talked about a lot, they are mostly out of everyone's budgets whereas the kits are more affordable if you are happy to create your own and have a go. 

It's for the same reason that I have cards and prints of my original pieces as a way to try and make the creation of them worthwhile. For some reason, creating art with fabric is viewed differently to creating art with paint (although in my opinion it takes much longer and can be much harder to achieve!) and whilst you get collectors of artwork and paintings on the walls everywhere you go, how often do you see embroidered pictures, or textile art? Painters can often put together a new piece in an afternoon, scan it in and have prints made up of it for sale within the week - Stitchscapes can take a week just to finish for the small ones. I'm not undervaluing the work of painters, I'm a collector myself and went to college with many of them, but some comments you overhear whilst behind a stand of embroidery work can be quite galling sometimes.

These photos, by the way, have all been snapped on my phone (and mostly edited in Instagram because it's fairly dark in Bridge Cottage thanks to the small windows and mood lighting) so apologies for the changes in colour. Look, there's my lovely chap again - this time in a matching Christmas shirt I bought for him and made him wear so he looks festive! He won't wear hats so I couldn't put him in a Santa hat, but the shirt is quite cool. Bless him, the late night shopping was on a Friday night so he had done a full day at work, driven home, changed and walked straight out to the Cottage to be with me and bring something to eat. What an absolute gem. (And also a shout out to my parents who had helped me carry everything from the car to set up that day.)

We had decided that we would stay on for the craft market that was happening the following day so it was quite easy for us to leave at 9pm on the Friday, just leaving everything as it was and wandering home, hand in hand in the chilly mist, to return for 10am the following day. It was nice not to have to pack up in the evening for sure. 

I did take a Stitchscape project with me just in case there were any lulls in punters wandering around. The day after late night shopping can often be a gamble. If everyone finished their shopping the night before then it would be a really quiet day, but if there were lots of people who couldn't make it in (there was a queue and 45 minute peak waiting time to get in the previous night!) then they might come back and it be really busy. 

As it was, it was a bit of both, with quiet and busy periods so I did get some time for some stitching on my project which was nice - especially in front of such a pretty window! Plus we had fish cake and chips for lunch - mmmm. 

This year I haven't yet signed up to any more markets or events as I don't know if I will be able to manage them with a 8-9 month old baby in tow, I'll have to see how it goes. Maybe a few little local ones will be the way to go again. I'm keeping my Etsy and web shops open throughout the year though so I'm not going anywhere, I'll just be a tad preoccupied on learning how to be a Mum!