Goheen
  • Home
  • Pattern Shop
    • Shop Patterns
    • Shop Kits
    • Sizing Chart
    • Skill Levels Chart
    • Pattern Kit Instructions
    • Corrections
  • Green Graves
  • The Community
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
  • About
  • My Makes
  • Stockists
  • Search

My Craft Show Booth Setup

11/3/2016

0 Comments

 
irvington halloween festival blog post
A few weekends ago, I had my first big craft show! And by big, I mean that it involved a tent, a 10x10 foot area, and (rumor has it) about 56,000 attendees! For those of you out of towners, I thought I'd share some photos of my booth, and a little behind scenes look at my setup!
craft show booth example fall style
First things first: the tent. I borrowed the tent from a friend (thanks April!) It had a red cover, with the IU logo on it. So, I whipped up a cover for the cover in a burlap-y looking fabric I had laying around. This fixed the red and IU issues, so that the color worked with my business look, and I wasn't in any sort of violation of the rules as far as using IU's logo goes. (you never know) In order to keep the cover on the tent, I made button holes at each of the four corners, and we threaded the tent ropes through these holes to secure it. Glad we did because it was quite windy last weekend!

We also set up the tent on top of cinder blocks to give it extra height (because it was quite short. Anyone taller than me would have had to duck to get in!) and then used clamps to secure the tent to the blocks. (once again, necessary because of the wind. Our tent neighbors had to take their tent down because it kept trying to blow away!)
putting your craft show tent on blocks to raise it up
Under the tent, I had room to set up two 6 foot tables, a clothing rack, my dress mannequin, a trunk, and a hay bale. The hay bale isn't going to be a normal thing. It was just for the whole Halloween theme we had going on.
To give us some extra room, we also used our vertical space. Zip ties were used to put up a few curtain rods in the tent. The one I actually hung curtains on, for decoration. The other, I used those curtain rings with the clips on them to hold up several of my Indiana pillows! This did the double duty of giving me more space on the tables, and not having to worry about finding a way to stand all those pillows up to show them off. This pillow display really seemed to be the thing that caught people's eyes, and drew them into the tent!
hard to display products
More zip ties were used to hang up some framed images in the tent. This DIY kit sign was a last minute addition to my setup, but I am so glad that I made it! The photo (by Elise of course) and very straightforward message really caught people's attention the way that the kits themselves did not. I highly recommend signs!
using signs in your craft show booth to draw attention
I had lots of fun keeping to the Halloween theme for this show. I made sure to highlight my Halloween products by making a little graveyard section of my booth for the tombstones. I also used my fake trees, a battery operated crow, and our pumpkins :) Lucky for me that the basic style of my business screams fall!
tombstone pillow graveyard

st. luke's holiday bazaar booth set up
My second show this year was a Holiday Bazaar at St. Luke's, which was inside, and only a 6ft by 5ft area, so I really had to switch it up for this one. I decided that I really liked hanging the Indiana Pillows, it was a great attention grabber, and cleared a lot of space on the table for more products. So for this inside show, I decided to put up two big wooden posts that I could not only put a rod between to hold the pillows, but also string up my sign, and hang my picture frames from! It also let me put up a little extra light, to make it a little easier for my customers to see my products back in my little corner.
wooden posts help my hanging display
I used 4x4s for the posts and used L brackets and 1x4s to create a base at the bottom. This did not work out as well as I had hoped. I found out too late that the brackets were not exactly square, which means that my 8ft poles were not exactly sturdy.... but luckily I was right next to a wall, which gave some extra support. I definitely need to redo this construction before my next show. But the success of my poles was with the awesome homemade wood stain that I created! Some old rice vinegar from my cabinet, some rusty nails, and some black tea, and voila! the wood looks aged! I get such a nerdy kick out of this!
homemade wood stain made from vinegar and rusty nails
Other than the new posts, I used a lot of the same set up as my first show, but with more holiday decor than Halloween. Lots of burlap and garlands and christmas tree ornaments! And of course my Indiana stockings helped with the holiday spirit as well!
Indiana shaped state christmas stockings
I'm already thinking about my next show: Yelp's Totally Bazaar on Dec 8th, and how to adjust the setup to work in the Central Library!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    madeline stage

    creative business owner. designer. hoosier. crafter. runner. sewer. swing dancer. outdoor enthusiast. entrepreneur. wife.  material hoarder.


    Categories

    All
    Eddie Pattern
    Goals
    Inara
    Inspiration
    Madi Pattern
    My Makes
    News
    Products
    Sewalong
    Sewing Patterns
    Sewing Tips
    Sponsored


    Archives

    December 2021
    October 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015


    RSS Feed

    follow us in feedly
    My Instagram Feed:
    @GoheenDesigns

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required

Contact Me

Madeline Stage madeline.goheen@gmail.com
1-260-403-9348
Libertyville, IL

Weekly Mantra:

Right here. Right now.

Click here for the Privacy Policy

Quick Links

Blog
​About
Patterns
Sizing Chart
Kit Instructions
Sewing Level Chart
Handmade Products
© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Pattern Shop
    • Shop Patterns
    • Shop Kits
    • Sizing Chart
    • Skill Levels Chart
    • Pattern Kit Instructions
    • Corrections
  • Green Graves
  • The Community
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
  • About
  • My Makes
  • Stockists
  • Search