Domestic Skills Symposium – part 1 | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Domestic Skills Symposium – part 1

This weekend was the Genesee Country Village and Museum’s 5th Domestic Skills Symposium. Attendees from multiple states and Canada traveled to the Genesee Valley at the near peak of autumn color, for three days packed full of presentations, workshops, and period food.

While I needed to be at work on Friday, Saturday I decided to try something new.

For the first time, I put together a table of Fanciful Utility and FanU sewing items for sale and give attendees a sneak peek at the pieces I am offering in the Holiday Shop this year.

I had no idea how this little adventure was going to go. But, a coworker inspired me to give it a try and see what happened. It turned out to be a lot of fun because I got to talk with readers and fans. I was surprised by how many people already had Fanciful Utility. I even met a few blog and Etsy followers I didn’t know I had.

There were three groups of items I brought. Of course there was Fanciful Utility along with some starter kits and vintage needle packets. I also brought some of the mini-projects I share each year.

I brought an assortment of the pieces that will be going into the Etsy Holiday Shop this week.

There were some favorites. I only have two scissors cases left. I will need to make more. People loved the heart shaped velvet pin keeps that were inspired by a beautiful original at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. These feel so good in the hand.

I also brought an assortment of favorites from previous years. I was reminded how much people love the strawberries and seashells. I had one person who asked about shells with theorum. I would love to do those for sale as a workshop.

All in all, this was a lot of fun to do. I didn’t quite meet the passing thought of “hmmmm, I wonder if I could buy a washing machine?” sales wise. This was definitely for the experience and for just this event. It is not something I want to do regularly.

I will be adding pieces to my Etsy shop’s Holiday Shop section this week. I need to take photos and write all the listings. I did figure out the crazy bright lights in the hall bathroom are useful for photos. They are far to bright for regular use. Alas, the cloth has lots of wrinkles. It appears I need to buy a pn iron as well as a washer, dryer, and drill.