Craft fairs always look so lovely, all the beautiful handmade goodies laid out for your eye’s delight. As a shopper it’s great to have the chance to talk to the makers, find out the story behind their work, and to purchase something completely unique.

At Kitsch and Stitch on Saturday we had some amazing stall holders, a beautiful cafe selling homemade cakes and a gorgeous venue. Here are a few highlights:

Vintage Dawn with her mixture of handmade goods and carefully curated vintage treasures

Blazing Needles – all her makes are use 100% natural materials

Crafted by Joy with her keepsakes made from linen, cotton and liberty fabrics

Up the wooden stairs specialising in collectable teddies and dollies

Made in Pixieland with her beautifully illustrated cards, wrapping paper and stationery

Kevin Meakins (Bullseye Glass) with a range of kiln-fired glassware

Gillyflower with her vintage-inspired range of linens and her gorgeous French lavender

The next Kitsch and Stitch fair is October – and I will be selling my new Christmas dolls; including a mother and baby doll, a baby doll and an elf!

Next Saturday I will be at a craft fair in my village – featuring only high quality local makers from Staplehurst Makers. Looking forward to seeing you there!

NB I make all these posts about craft fairs sound amazing fun, but if you are thinking “she’s living the dream”, here’s a bit of gritty reality for you. At this time of year, for a dollmaker, craft fairs are actually quite hard. I get to chat to lots of lovely people about my dolls and possible Christmas orders – but not many customers are in the mood for buying. I understand – holidays are coming up, and there is no big festival looming. It is quite soul destroying to sit all day at a fair and hardly cover the cost of the table – it’s happened to the best of makers – but hopefully the people I meet will remember me when they do want a special dolly!