Fibre Fest - All Things Textile

(Toddler F set out some of his favourite cars on my stand before I could unpack the frames!! I wonder if he'll set up a little car shop one day?)

This year is a year of trying out new events to try and find some that work better for me and my products. Stitchscape kits are actually quite difficult things to sell - people who buy them (or who they are bought for) tend to be those who actually like embroidery, don't mind the slow pace and are willing to have a go. My most regularly heard excuses for not buying kits are; I don't have time, I'm not at all creative, I only do cross stitch, I wouldn't have the patience, I can't see that sort of things anymore, my hands aren't that good at holding needles, it's not fast enough - I'm more a machine person. 

It's a fairly niche area - I often wish that I was actually a painter, or a potter perhaps, where more people would appreciate it and buy it just because it was pretty, or they understood how to use it, or it was considered practical. 

I was invited several months ago to have a stand at Fibre Fest - All Things Textile in Eastbourne Enterprise Centre. The organiser had come across me online, and I think I'd been recommended by another textile artist who regularly attends their events (but I'm not sure) so I had an email ping into my inbox inviting me to go along. 

The idea of an 'all things textile' event really appealed to me, and Eastbourne isn't far away so I jumped at the chance although, never having been in the Enterprise Centre before I wasn't sure how big it was going to be. When festival is used in the title it makes it sound really big and grand but, actually, it was surprisingly small! And held in an upstairs balcony corridor type place which was a bit strange. It was marketed very well and I felt really chuffed that so many people had come along because I had also advertised it and put it in my newsletter. There were lots of friendly faces saying hello. 

It was the first event where I also had a proper basket of fabric fat quarters/samosas, and had deliberately taken some haberdashery items. I took my IKEA peg board and propped it up at the back to give myself a little haberdashery wall. This was a great idea, although not particular sturdy but I think another trip to IKEA is in order to get another one and some other bits to make more walls. 

The building is an old train garage and has the original ceiling and features with lots of windows so it's beautifully bright and airy, it was just a bit strange being in this suspended corridor where you could look down into little shop streets below on either side. There was a very popular tattoo studio up there as well and we had several heavily tattooed people marching through the textile customers to squeeze another tattoo somewhere on their bodies. 

Other stalls included a fashion designer with clothing, crochet, felt hats, eco-printing with wildflowers, hand dyeing with natural dyes, sashiko, machine stitch textile artists, knitted creations...it was a good range!

The morning was fairly busy but then the afternoon just kind of dropped off and went very quiet. Luckily I had a project to sit and stitch and, I happened to notice that one of the yarn twists from Folkestone Harbour Yarn perfectly matched my hoop in colour so I spent some of my earnings on a little hand dyed hank of wool to play with. 

It was a very nice day, in a nice atmosphere - just a little on the quiet side customer wise (which seems to be happening more and more really) - and we can teach workshops so I think if it's on next year I would arrange to offer workshops on the day to keep more of a flow going. 

I managed to get a fair way with my little hoop too, all made with fabrics available in my web shop!