Tag Archives: pixie hats

Craft market Philadelphia

This morning we traded at the craft market in Philadelphia, a teeny farming village (actually more of a hamlet) about 30 minutes from Cape Town. What we didn’t know was that the market was timed to coincide with the Pedal Power Association’s annual MTB Fun Run. Suffice it to say there were a lot of sweaty cyclists around, which is all good and well, but they were there to do bike stuff, not market stuff. Consequently, it was not a busy day. I thought I’d chuck in a few random photos, so you can see that we at least had perfect weather, good food, and good company.

My sales weren’t too bad overall, and I was especially pleased that six of my pixie hats sold (three crocheted and three fabric ones) because I haven’t had a reply from the Langebaan shop woman and thought perhaps she thought the hats were revolting! Clearly they aren’t, and I now have Big Pixie Hat Plans.

And now it’s time for a rest – feet up, creamed coffee, crochet in hand, telly on, Rob in the kitchen cooking supper. Night all

fabric pixies

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There’s a very boho little shop in Langebaan called Sparrows & Baytraders, and the owner is keen to stock my pixie hats. The problem is that a crocheted pixie hat can take me up to four hours to make, and even the price I sell them at is low – to charge a retailer any less would not make it worth my while, and for a retailer to double the price I sell them at would be like shooting herself in the foot. BUT I do not like to turn away potential work, so I’ve spent a few days thinking and playing and sewing and fiddling, and eventually come up with a workable alternative: fabric pixies…

I used strips of stretch fabric, lace and ribbon, buttons, shiny thread, and beads. Being lined, they have a nice weight and hang. They look a lot better on a human head than on an empty coffee jar! :-)
Okay, I’m mailing her now, will let you know what she thinks of them….

National Arts Festival – coming up

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Every winter, Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape hosts the National Arts Festival for ten days.

And this year, Jam Tarts will be trading on the Village Green. I’m very very excited about getting accepted for this: everyone I know has told me what a brilliant market it is, and how many people attend from all over the country, and how cold it gets in July. (The colder it gets, the more people will want hats, right!?)

It will take us at least 9 hours to drive there, and we’ll be renting a trailer to carry all my stock. I have worked out how much money I need to make to cover the costs of the trip, the market fee (not insubstantial!), and miscellaneous expenses, before any income even goes directly into the bank account. To generate this amount, I need to sell 800 hats. Eight hundred. That’s a lot of hats.