{ Mathilda's Market @ Malvern }

Well I'm somewhat recovered from what was a hectic market day at Mathilda's yesterday after a 5am start and driving in the driveway at about 7pm last night - phew! I quickly decided yesterday that I would make a terrible hairdresser on my feet all day!

  

I am still constantly tweaking my stall set-up, seeing what works and what it best to display different things. Height is definitely the key so my display boards are great to catch peoples eye. Mr M made some great new shelves for me to put folded blankets, onesies, skirts and bibs in. The night before the market we came up with a genius idea to display bibs and skirts and signage on a clothesline style display...

 

I also added a rod to the display board to hang pinafores from. After some initial hesitation as to whether it would work due to it not lying the pinafores flat, I have labelled it a roaring success as people could flick through them easily and see the different designs clearly...

All in all it was a successful market (really my first ever!) so I was a happy little miss at the end of the day. My mum's bibs and my burp cloths were the hot items which was a surprise as at previous markets I haven't sold any! It amuses me what sells well versus what I think will sell - I hardly sold any pinafores or minky blankets which are my key products, but found people were keen to buy little $10-$15 items. My canvas's are an ongoing saga - lots of people comment on the canvas blocks and are keen to order but I really don't sell many of them, people like the idea of the peg boards and they are my #1 hit in my online shop but no follow through orders? Feedback from some of my lovely blog readers, facebook fans and return customers greatly appreciated!

As it was my first Mathilda's I was impressed to see the quality and the high level of handmade products and the merchandising that goes into it all (except some stalls which I didn't think were handmade or from a small production as stipulated in the Mathilda's ideal...there's my rant though!) It was fairly busy all day so I didn't get around to have a look many other stalls which I was quite sad about, but can't be sad about being busy! I wanted to go see Helen from ensparkle ceramics, Allison from Lark and just generally have a sticky beak at everyone's products and stall set ups. I did run into Naomi from Thula Thula and some blog readers which was nice/strange to know people have been actually reading this and I'm not just a mad woman talking to herself!

Lots to think about, display and products to keep evolving, I find markets to be so helpful because you automatically see what people pick up and are drawn to first which gives me the best feedback of all!

Hope you had a lovely time if you were at the market and didn't have too much pram rage on the corner I was on - massive pram jams at the height of it all!