Pages

Friday, September 7, 2012

Flowers and Craft Shows

A few weeks ago, I posted about flower hair elastics that I was making for a craft show. (Earlier this year I shared how I made them into headbands.) Today I thought I would share how I make hair clips and hair elastics. ((Since this post has been languishing in my drafts, and I haven't had a chance to take pictures of the hair elastic process, I'll share that in a second installment))

The hair clips are a recent addition, and I am not sure how they will sell. I bought a 25 piece package of these clips from Hobby Lobby. I debated between these and the alligator clips, but I use this style more myself, and why would I sell something that I don't use? I got the 50mm size, which still had 25 pieces, whereas the next size up had fewer clips for the same price. They have lovely holes at the top, and these are what make them easy to attach.


After making the flower and cutting the yarn, I wove in one of the ends , and the other I moved so it was more toward the middle of the flower. (Note: I am only using what I have on-hand.) Because the holes in the clip were too small for my regular yarn needle, I found a different one, and then split the yarn. I make my flowers using worsted weight, which typically is a 4-ply. If you use something different, you may not need to split the yarn. The way you sew is entirely preference based, in my mind, but below are some pictures of how I do it.
This is the back of the flower
Halfway through sewing
Completely attached and ready to wear!
The reason I started the hair clips was due to having a number of flowers leftover (and having no inclination to make headbands. Bad Mary).

Several people asked what sort of craft shows I do. This first one is this weekend at a local apple farm. They've hosted a fall craft show for several years now. My lovely aunt does machine embroidery and applique on sweatshirts, and has turned it into her retirement job. I piggyback on her stall, giving her an extra pair of hands, as well as giving some lower price points to draw in more shoppers. I have been doing this for nearly 3 years now. Most of my products you've seen here: hats, scarves, shawls, and the variety of flowered hair accessories. I like keeping it to smaller items, as I can work on them nearly anywhere.
(PS: you can view more of my stuff at my Facebook page)
I will be helping my aunt at at least 2 other shows besides the apple farm one, one in early October put on at my university, and one in early November at my aunt's church.

Because I'm slow on the photos, the elastics will come around next week or so. And by then, the first craft show will be over, and I can share photos and stuff :)

2 comments:

  1. Good luck with the craft show, I'm sure it will be a huge success! I really love the hair clips, I'm sure that they will be sold out by the end of the day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your hair clips and I agree with Pumpkin - I bet you sell out! I think having inexpensive little items is a great idea. And these things make excellent stocking stuffers.
    I hope you have a great time. Can't wait to see your pictures.

    ReplyDelete

I love knowing that you stopped by!
~ Mary