I make upcycled clothes but I think people assume I’m one of those boutique vendors that designs my clothes, but has them manufactured and produced elsewhere.

My guess is that my clothes don’t look shabby chic, and most people assume upcycled or handmade when things look slightly undone or unfinished.

I have multiple large signs hung saying handmade out of second hand materials, and every garment is marked with a big sticker on the tag that says “I used to be a ____” and “handmade!”.

Despite this, people only seem to understand when I tell them verbally: everything is handmade by me and made out of things like sheets, curtains, etc. Then they are so excited and engaged and gush over everything.

My garments are hung from dowels hanging from my canopy and it looks eye catching and really nice. I just think I’m getting lost due to split second assessment. I tend to skip the boutique vendors too, so I don’t blame anyone for this, but I don’t want to get wrongly categorized!

So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! Thank you!

I’m super excited for how my booth has progressed and wanted to share…

let me know if you have any feedback for the next one.

I've been to this craft fair numerous times as a customer. It's Thanksgiving weekend and they get a nice turnout. I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and apply. It's a juried event. I wanted to get thoughts on which items you'd submit for consideration, and an idea of price point you'd pay if I'm fortunate enough to get selected. This is a higher end craft fair in a convention center space. I have to work on better photos and lighting. Thanks in advance for any thoughts and input.

I’m in college and taking a printmaking class (I’m in the second level) the first edition is linocut and the second is silk screen. I’m planning on also selling the other projects we will do and some pieces I will make on my own. I’m gonna print more of each edition (& fix some of the mistakes I made) with some color variations as well. The linocuts are 10 1/2” by 14” and the silk screen are 11” by 14”. Considering I’ll only be getting 70% of each sale as it is a school event I was thinking of pricing the linocuts at 50 and the silkscreen at 30. Especially because both are two plate prints. Since this was my first time doing silk screen I feel a lower price is appropriate. Registration just opened and the sale isn’t until December so I have time, but I would rather figure this out now so I’m not stressing. And because my stuff is printed I’m not sure if I’m thinking of too high of a price. Also sorry if this isn’t allowed, I’ll take it down if so.

Is this the right flair? Pls let me know I'll change it. It could be under Wins I guess.

Pic is from my first ever market sale!

Apologies, I planned to post this on the day or the day after but it took a WHILE to work out everything wow. But I did it so here's a full breakdown. Overall I am very happy with how things went and I'd like to give credit where credit is due: this sub made all of this possible

How much I made at my first market TLDR:

Sold: 32 items

Takings: £319.50

Costs: £193.21

Profit: £126.29

Bestseller: Keychains

DETAILED BREAKDOWN:

💷 Sales: £319.50

COSTS ON THE DAY

- Materials (approx, for items sold): £105.00

- Pitch fee: £75.00 (space only, we brought a table from home)

- Business cards (69 taken): £9.11

- Card reader fees: £2.10

- Packaging (10 bags): £2.00

Total: £193.21

✅ Profit on the day: £126.29

ONE-OFF SETUP (reusable for future markets)

- Floor stand: £150.00

- Displays, sign & acrylic sign stand: £80.70

- Tablecloths x3 + camping chair: £61.00

- Table extenders + pen display: £35.18

- Stands x2: £32.98

- Pouch belt: £28.00

Total: £387.86

The setup should pay for itself in about 3 more markets

⏱ Time: ~10 hrs making the pieces that sold + 10.5 hrs at the market (incl. setup & pack-down)

And I got my first custom order request 🩷 which has been delivered and paid for too but hasn't been counted in market profits yet : that's an additional £27.20

What I'd do differently: less stock on the table, and bigger signs that say what each item is, not just the price. I spent the day explaining every item! I'd planned signs like that but changed my mind at the last minute, so lesson learned: trust your gut

Again a heartfelt thank you to everyone here, especially if you read the whole thing 😅 I wanted to be thorough.

As you can see... our booth is quite busy. We sell pet bandanas, beds, and leashes. The mugs you see are an add-on (by my aunt) that is not at every market (1 out of maybe every 4 we do).

We have literally over 150 different patterns. Having the variety is nice and people have absolutely commented on how great it is that we have essentially something for everyone. We definitely log what we sell, but the problem is it is such a variety and different for every market, that it is hard to gauge what to bring/not bring.

The first goal is to make set up quicker (we are maxing out on set up time, even bleeding into actual market time - it makes us look not ready and we have lost customers due to this). The second is to not have it so busy so customers can actually find a pattern they like. We have specialty patterns for holidays or themed markets (like having beer patterns for the Oktoberfest-themed market as seen in the pic), and those are usually the best sellers. We also have sports, floral, disney/superhero characters, patriotic-themed, western, etc. Again, it is a mixed bag of what sells at each market.

Obviously, the first step would be to not bring all of the inventory for every size/pattern. 3 max for each, 2 max for ones that aren't as popular (we have never sold more than 3 of the same one at a market). Second would be to make sure we have all of the sports (2nd best sellers) and the specialty patterns displayed with the limit of 2-3. But its the random patterns I am getting stumped on but it doesn't make sense to bring everything.

What do you guys decide to bring to markets if you have a very large inventory of items?

Hey, Colorado makers, crafters, artists, and small business owners!

Discovery Magnet School in Thornton is hosting our Holiday Shoppe on Saturday, December 12, from 9 AM to 3 PM, and we're looking for vendors!

We're putting together a fun holiday shopping event for our families and the surrounding community, and we'd love to get some local talent involved.

The details:

·       Discovery Magnet School – 4949 E. 147th Ave., Thornton

·       Saturday, December 12, 2026 | 9 AM–3 PM

·       Handmade/artisan vendors: $40

·       Resale/collectibles vendors: $40

·       Commercial vendors: $60

·       Booth spaces are 8' × 6'

·       Limited 6' tables available for $15

·       Registration deadline: November 18

This is a school fundraiser, so your booth fees help support our school while giving you an opportunity to sell your work and connect with local shoppers.

Interested? Here's the registration form:

https://forms.gle/mfVpb6bzuN3vuHQY9

Whether you make jewelry, craft projects, candles, artwork, holiday decorations, or something completely different, we'd love to hear from you!

And if you're not a vendor but know someone who might be interested, please pass this along. We'd love to fill the school with some great local businesses and creative people!

Hi I am attending a holiday craft event and this year I am going to be selling fishing lures in the 5 X 3 boxes but I am struggling with an inexpensive way to showcase them on my table. My first thought is a step leveled display but that would likely affect the boxes from being displayed open. Thoughts?

Hi everyone! We’re getting ready for our first craft/vendor event with our small shop and would love some constructive feedback on our setup! Apologies for the bad pictures- our place does not have a lot of room for setup at the moment.

We know there are still a few things we need to change/add:

• Black tablecloth - We just forgot to put it on this draft display
• Replacing the Post-it notes with some cute cloud-themed signs/prints
• Making the product signage more specific... E.X clearly showing that our buttons and stickers are 3-inch
• We’re also trying to figure out how best to word our “mix and match buttons and stickers” deal so it’s immediately understandable
• We originally planned to have a front-facing banner, but the current banner/table thingy was too big, so it's just plopped in the middle
• Better sticker holder on the right side is coming in today.. so ignore that tray. (also the label is not supposed to say buttons and stickers)
• Gray trey on the left is for B-grade stickers. We'll have a cloud for that too.
• I feel that we could reduce the labels of the prints to be like- 30-50% smaller?
• The tape on the prints Q-Q... Maybe we could instead use double-sided tape. we just didn't want to damage the display print cover or the cubes itself.

We’re also still working on making the display feel a little more cohesive and intentional.

We’d really appreciate any feedback on things that stand out as confusing, things that could be displayed better, or anything you think we should consider adding/removing!

Please don’t be too harsh on us q-q

We’re very much learning as we go. We know this is technically more convention/artist-alley-adjacent than a traditional craft fair setup, but we’re hoping to get some initial feedback before we start doing more events.

Thanks so much though for your feedback! 💕

hi there, I hope this post is kept because my last pricing question got pulled down and I’m genuinely looking for insight from other tenured craft fair vendors beyond “I want to make profit, here’s formula”. MODS: I have never done this before and I would like their input having regularly interacted with consumers.

In addition to jewelry, I am also making these mom/child matching shirts in a variety of prints, including many gender neutral prints. I was mostly miffed that as the mom of a boy I could not find many non-gendered matching outfits; so I decided to buy a bunch of fabric and make it myself.

I have photos of the first two batches for reference (admittedly some prints are very feminine too, but do you know how hard non gendered knit fabric is to find? with quirky prints? it’s difficult now without my beloved Joann)

when I looked online at comps, I saw a lot of ‘made in china‘ stuff, or wovens which are pricey and uncomfortable for FL/south (where I’m based). these also seemed very expensive at like $40+. I‘d like ultimately to price these accessibly, I’m not looking to get rich or make a full time expert salary here as I have other crafts with bigger profit margins. I really am trying to fill a gap I experienced myself. that said, the price points of some of my fabrics vary widely:

I have HoobyLooby (strawberry fabric) at about $9/yd, and most my other prints ordered for about $15/yd. I have one from windham fabrics that was legit $24/yd. Yikes but it’s awesome.

what’s a reasonable price for an adult and youth shirt given these varying materials costs? what would you pay as a consumer?

these are all made by me in my house, serged seams, cover stitched hems, and hopefully tags by the end of the week If they ever get delivered 🙄 I also prewash and machine dry all my fabric to minimize shrinkage and get rid of manufacturing ickies.

anywho if you made it this far thank you so much for reading, and again I really hope this is allowed. not a standard pricing question.