Fashion Advice
I've just found Kathleen Fasanella's blog on fashion manufacturing,
Fashion-Incubator. By that I mean clothing, and not the retail end of it. Still it has a lot of useful info for us, and makes for great reading. Do not miss the comments, she's got a group of experienced, thoughful readers.
So I'm skipping over the posts on things like 'paper patterns, soft or hard' (what does that even mean?) but there's lots of useful info for us all in posts like "
How to get publicity":
If I were you, I would try to get as much local press as possible. Try to get local newspapers and publications to mention the fashion show to get better attendance. I would hire, or barter with, a photographer to take pictures of the show, and send those to local publications (along with a press kit) with the hopes that maybe it would fit in with a story they were running, or maybe they would be interested in doing a special piece on a local designer. In other words, crawl before you walk, walk before you run. If you're hand-making 42 pieces since January, you aren't even ready for the type of potential attention that editorial coverage from a publication like that could attract.
Another useful post is
Advertising 101: Part 1:
There is only one purpose for advertising, and that is to result in a sale. I’m painting it with a broad stroke, but realize this: Advertising is the vehicle in which you send your message to your customers.
It's a long post on advertising, and contains lots of useful info on what to analyze first and what the various terms mean (marketing vs PR vs advertising).
Labels: small biz
Friday's Opening
So our opening on Friday went really well. The show technically opened Wednesday, Friday was the official "opening" with all the artists there, munchies, etc.
EP and I arrived to find that we had each sold a piece prior to the "opening" which made us happy. I think we were both secretly scared that A) we would be the only people there for three hours and B) we wouldn't see anything. Okay, maybe EP is calmer than I am, but those were my secret fears.
Some of EP's stuff (and in the mirror, bits of me and EP):
This little framed piece is a study for something I wanted to do but ran out of time to do (and also failed to dye the fabric correctly...this is very pastel and I wanted something more vibrant).
The show was well done, the people doing the hanging really know what they're doing. I didn't take any pictures of the whole show because I felt weird about photographing other people's art. But I made sure to photo all of my stuff. Here's one where you can see that they arranged some of the like colors together.
Labels: opening
Opening Tonight
Tonight is the opening of the show EP and I are in. Come on down and see us, we'll be at the gallery in Canaan from 5 to 8 pm. Munchies and soda provided!
If you can't come tonight, the show runs through Oct 1st, W-Sa 10-6, Sun 10-4.
Labels: opening
Almost finished
What is this? Could it be Unfinished Business nearly finished? On the cutting table ready to be squared up? After all these months? Amazing.
The underside with some batting and the light shining through looks like a stained glass window. The camera doesn't capture it very well and I didn't have another pair of hands around to hold it up.
Labels: quilting