The Heathfield Show

The end of May was a bit of a blur of frantic kit making as I tried to build up my stock of kits as much as possible for the Heathfield Show. I'd never had a stand at this event before and, with it only being one day, it was tricky to know whether my Stitchscapes would be well received in the Arts & Crafts tent, if people would be buying anything, if lots of people would come, and how much of anything I would need. 

I always take more than I need - even if I'm concentrating on kits I still take lots of examples to demonstrate and encourage people to the stand. You never know what might come up in conversation. 

We were allowed to set up early on the Friday from 8am, although Dad and I were there at 9am and still the earliest people there! Our preferred plan of action is to get to this kind of event early and set up, because then if anything goes wrong or you need additional items than you've got time to trouble shoot it. Also The Mother needed their big car back to get to work by 1pm so we were a little bit on a time restriction as she was babysitting Baby F for the morning only. 

We found the marquee with no problems but couldn't figure out how to get inside, as it was all still closed up with no one obvious around to ask, so sort of broke in through a couple of zips to find my little space and start unloading. We didn't break anything and no one seemed to mind so that was good!

I was very pleased and surprised to see that I'd been allocated a corner spot! I'd actually agreed to take a smaller spot than applied for because they were squeezing in more crafters/makers/artists than in previous years and they didn't quite have the right amount of space for everyone to have the same, so perhaps I'd been given the corner to make up for it? I don't know (usually corner spots are more expensive!). It totally threw out my plan for a front facing stand though and I didn't have enough of the right things to make a corner so Dad was dispatched back to the studio to get an extra grid wall and my A-frame so that I could pad the space out with more framed pieces and prints.

I love my framework. It's so easy to put up and gives you a real sense of a little home where you can hide things behind the table and curtains. I'd made the curtains myself when I bought the frame, inspired by my neighbours at the Kent County Show in 2018 who had a custom built one. For places like this where the ground isn't level, it is great at squaring things out. At the KCS I had grid wall on individual legs so when put next to each other they were at funny angles due to a dip right through the middle of my space and it didn't look quite right. The frame and shelves have been one of the best investments for me. 

My neighbours don't always love the frame and curtains. Depending on where you are and what the other stall holders have to display work on, sometimes they feel that the curtains get in the way of customers seeing 'through me' to them. Because of the shelves though I don't really want people to see through, I want the items to stay on the shelves if they're knocked, and also for there to be a background for the items to contrast against. At the Wealden Times show, I was again the first person to set up in my area and when I came in the following day, the two neighbours had embraced the set up and both strung things up against the frame to use them as their own walls! It gives you extra displaying space and maximises the use of that patch of grass because you can go up rather than just stick to the table.

In this case I only had one neighbour and she was fairly polite about the curtains, we agreed that I would push the one next to her back to the level of the shelves to create a sense of 'continuity' between stalls. Really, she was already in quite a good spot as she was nearly opposite the only door coming in to the tent so people could see her as they walked in. 

The risk of being outside in a marquee is fairly high with textile and paper products because of the change in temperature overnight. The tent fabric will often have condensation and drip so you do have to be a little bit careful. I like to try and set my whole stand up as much as possible so that I don't have to arrive at the crack of dawn on the actual show day to get everything out on display (we couldn't have this year anyway as we have a little person to think about) so I spent a little while playing around with the positioning of things and set up as it would be, then photographed it so I could remember how I'd done it. 

We also had to consider the floor because when Dad and I had walked in that morning the grass had been wet so, to avoid soggy bottomed curtains and wet stock boxes a tarpaulin was stretched out that Dad had brought (genius that he is!) and pegged into the ground to make it secure.

Dad had to pop back and leave me at the showground still finalising bits - he was returning the car back to The Mother and taking over babysitting - but Reece (Mr Dotty T) was already on his way with the boxes of kits to drop them off and pick me up. Planned like a well oiled machine!

Even by lunchtime not many people had been to set up, and those that had were only putting up tables unlike me, I must have seemed a bit alien.

Once I was happy with my layout I kind of put the inside to sleep - we put up curtains across the front of the stand and big sheets all pinned and grippered on the fourth side so it was fairly secure. Everything damageable was covered with bubble wrap and or additional sheeting and we were vaguely ready!

It is quite nervewracking leaving all of your carefully made artwork and produce in the middle of a random field overnight. There is security there but you have to rely on the honesty of your fellow exhibitors inside the tent not to push around or break in and steal anything, plus you have to hope for good weather and the weatherproof-ness of the marquee itself. Lots can go wrong!

Happily, when we got to the stand in the morning it was all still there and whilst Reece fed Baby F his breakfast, I was waking up all of my frames and taking the bubble wrap off everything, re-hanging pictures and setting out kits. I'm really pleased with how this looked and it seemed to generate quite a bit of interest during the show. Lots of business cards got taken and there were lots of lovely comments and sign-ups to my newsletter. Having that extra grid wall with frames either side was a good idea to showcase some of my bigger pieces of work and viewers could get up really close to see the details. 

My two wonderful helpers stayed pretty much all day on the stand smiling at people. Baby F was absolutely amazing because his routine was completely disrupted and he didn't nap very much but still stayed fairly chipper. We made him a little nest on the floor (we added blankets on top of the tarp to keep him warm and cosy) with toys and books and he was quite happy down there. Lots of family came to visit and the little ones joined him, or he got whisked away to look at tractors and eat naughty snacks with various Aunts and Grandparents. It's nice to have a place where family can base themselves and we can store bags for them or they can come and have a sit down for a minute if needed. 

Reece was excellent at fetching food and drinks when required, and even made some solo sales whilst I was off having a chat to another stallholder at the end of the day (see the bottom photo taken by Dad as evidence). I'm going to have to get family Dotty Textiles T-Shirts or something for us all to wear at these events. 

Overall it was an interesting show to visit and I probably would do it again because it's quite nice it only being the one day (although the pressure is then on to make your money back/profit all in one go) and it's not too far from us so the people you meet there are fairly local and would consider coming to workshops. 

It was a slow start to the day, no sales were made in the first two hours pretty much but then everyone seems to want to walk around the whole show several times before spending any money (unless on a food/drink item) and actually, all of the people who said they would come back later did which was fantastic. One lady came back just for a chat after buying something earlier in the day. 

There is a special shout out and thank you to Holly for organising such a successful craft marquee, Dad for being a chauffer and gopher, The Mother for helping create so many thread cards and having Baby F extra days so that I could concentrate on kit making, both of the parents for loaning their car (our one was recently written off after a crash and our borrowed one is tiny!) and helping to take down at the end, and Reece and Baby F for coming and helping on the stand and generally supporting me through everything! I am very grateful to you all for giving up your time and energy to my little business to help us grow.