Category: Textile projects

I’ve been interested in doing a craft fair for a long time. I also know a growing number of people around me who take part in them regularly, which has inspired me to finally take the plunge!

I initially helped a friend with her stall back in June, just to get some experience and to see if I would like it, and I really enjoyed it. She then very kindly asked if I would like to share her stall in November – I jumped at the chance. But then the nerves took over and the more practical questions began…’how much stock do I need?’, ‘what prices do I sell my items for?’, ‘how will I transport everything to the fair?’ etc etc

Luckily I had already decided WHAT I would sell, as over recent months I have received a lot of interest in my crochet wrist warmers. I personally love these and have made a few pairs for myself as my hands are ALWAYS cold! I wanted a simple design with a thumb hole so that I could still use my fingers while keeping my wrists and hands toasty warm. They have since been snapped up by other craft stall holders, artists and dog walkers and they make the perfect gift.

To compliment the wrist warmers I also made matching cowls, scarves and slouchy hats. These are a few of the items I had on display.

The display is a work in progress but for a first attempt I think it worked ok. I had varying heights, a space to stash my notebook and water bottle and a long table covering to hide everything under the table. I had also bought a Sumup machine to enable me to take card payments. It was sooo easy to use and accounted for about 90% of my sales on the day! Well worth the investment (in the initial purchase and in the time for setting up the stock items).

I’m now busy making new stock for my upcoming Christmas Craft Fairs, see dates below…

Upcoming craft fair dates where you can find me:

Sat 19 Nov – Christmas Eco Fayre at Leigh Road Baptist Church, SS9 1NN
Sat 10 Dec – Folk & Bespoke Artisan Craft Fair, Leigh Community Centre, SS9 1SP
Sat 17 Dec – Folk & Bespoke Artisan Craft Fair, Mill Arts & Events Centre, SS6 7ED

I also take commissions, so if you have any specific requirements please drop me an email at hello@jobund.co.uk, or pop along to one of the craft fairs above, and we can discuss them 🙂

The journey of a holiday postcard

In the pre-digital age, it was quite common to send a postcard home to friends and family, during your holiday. You’d pick out a selection of cards, write a brief message on the back and post them off. When they arrived at their destination, they would be read, put away in a drawer, and then probably forgotten about. At some point in the future, when the drawer is cleared out, the cards will either be given away or thrown in the bin.

Often, when you go to boot fairs or second hand book shops, you’ll find boxes of old photos and postcards that have been discarded.

So, what happens next?

It seems a shame to throw old postcards and photos away, as they are a piece of social history. But what can you do with them?

I’ve recently pondered this thought and came across a couple of artists who give old postcards a new lease of life by embroidering on to them:

FRANCESCA CRAMER – is an Italian textile artist and designer, based in North Wales. She describes her postcards as having “a conversation with the past, like lifting a layer of dust and letting the colour through, adding another chapter.”

Her technique varies from piece to piece where she either:

• adds something new;
• colours over a feature of the photograph; or
• erases something completely.

HAN CAO – is a self-taught artist, living in Palm Springs. She uses embroidery to create new narratives for long-forgotten photographs and postcards found at flea markets and antique shops from around the world.

Her aim with these examples is to bring life to lost images, telling new narratives from the past through thread and colour:

My workshop idea

I’d been asked to run a workshop at my local Embroiderer’s Guild and thought this would be an interesting idea to share with them. Being based in Southend-on-sea, thousands of postcards have been sent from here over the years. So I sourced some old postcards of Southend-on-sea, and the surrounding area, from the early 1900s to the 1970s.

I asked the group to choose a postcard each. The postcards themselves created an interesting discussion as the images brought back fond memories for people who had grown up in the area.

I wanted them to think about how they could change the image they had chosen and bring it to life…create their own story…

I suggested they keep their stitches simple – e.g. french knots, cross stitch, kantha stitch – for maximum effect. Stitching into card is very different to fabric – once the hole is pierced it’s permanent, and if you pierce holes too close together they can create one big hole!

TIP: I would always pierce holes in the card first before beginning to stitch and place a cork mat underneath the card for protection.

The results were quite varied especially as some found the idea of stitching into an old postcard a little troubling! But everyone did have a go.

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In March this year, I ran a workshop at the South East Essex Embroiderers’ Guild called ‘Celebrate with stitch and collage‘.

The idea was to make a greetings card using a mixture of paper and stitch to create a simple vase of flowers.

A mixture of patterned papers and text from old books were used to cut out simple flower and vase shapes. These were then glued to a greetings card and decorated using bold stitches using embroidery thread and embellished with buttons.

Here’s a small selection of the lovely pieces made…

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I ran a workshop at the South East Essex Embroiderers’ Guild called ‘Altered books: threads of thought‘. I love stitching on paper and wanted to share the idea of stitching in an altered book with the embroiderers. Not everyone in the group was comfortable with the idea of tearing pages out of a book – but most were willing to give it a try.

For me, the benefit of using an old book is to give something unloved a new lease of life rather than thinking you are ‘ruining’ it. Also, by using a page that already has content already on it, either images or text, can be a useful prompt and helps to remove the fear of the blank page.

I gave the group a couple of themes to play with: the first was an embroidered colouring book idea and the second was to embroider a spirograph. Each person took the idea and developed it in their own way, using collage, stitch, maps and even mirrors.

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