Crafts in Chelsea: A {New New} Event

When asked what I did over the weekend?....I whored myself out in the rain and 40 degree cold weather at the "Crafts in Chelsea" Fair. This weekend there was a weather advisory for coastal flooding , 90% chance of heavy rain and some snow, so when I found out the fair was still on , I was skeptical, but one thing that I can say about New Yorkers is that they come out, rain or shine!
This {New New} Team sponsored event was in conjunction with PS11 (local school) so in addition to the other vendors they had food and fun in the school for the kids as well as the adults....on a side note there was so much food that they were practically giving it away, bags of cookies and pastries for $.50. Not to mention the hot food they had, from fish, fries, macaroni & cheese to vegetables, pasta and more. Due to the weather they only had half the vendors, but the crowd was continuous, not just from advertising but from the normal New Yorkers who happened to walk by. More importantly they also came to buy.


For the most part, the fair went well and it was run well, with only a few sponsor organizational glitches. With a rainy day I was surprised that more people did not have up side walls on their canopies.Because I like to be able to see out of the sides of my canopy, I prefer clear walls, also it helps buyers see in the booth, which is important. Alot of times when they walk they only glance from side to side, so any opportunity they have to view the product unobstructed is great. Opaque walls does not let them see the product from far away, only when they get up to the booth and if there is a crowd...buyer lost.
I made my "rain" canopy walls from thick plastic clear shower curtains for a few dollars. but you can purchase side walls for canopies from a variety of places.

{SHOWER CURTAIN SIDE WALLS}

Materials:

• 8 clear or color of your choice shower curtains preferable with metal grommets for rings and weighted/magnets in bottom hem
• Clear Thread
• Sewing Machine
  
• Grommet Tool such as a Crop-A-Dile
  
• Shower Curtain Rings or Twine/Rope
• This is for a standard 10 x 10 tent
  

Construction:

After you unwrap all eight of the shower curtains, take two and lay them out ( we suggest the floor due to size). Take the last grommet ( at an edge) of one curtain and overlap it the other edge of the shower curtain and pin
so that both grommets of the two shower curtains will match up ( as pic).

Make sure shower curtains are flat and straight and pin down to the edge.
Then with your sewing machine use clear thread to sew (regular running stitch) the two curtains together on each side of the grommet closer to the edges of the overlaps. You can use regular colored thread, but I wanted it to be invisible.Repeat this step with the remaining curtains for the other three walls.

Once all of the walls are sewn together, you will need to put grommets down each side so that they can be attached to the four corners/poles of the canopy.

These grommets can easily be attached with a handy Crop-A Dile. If you have never heard or bought a Crop-A-Dile, it is an investment you need to make. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and are affordable grommet/eyelet setters (under $30). They can be purchased at Amazon or Ebay for less as well as a variety of other places. You can put as many grommets as you want down the sides but we suggest at least 4. We suggest marketing the curtain for the grommets with masking tape and then setting the grommets right on the tape for added strength, since you can't double up the sides..
Continue and finish both sides of each curtain and voilà ....four side walls for a fraction of the cost.

Attaching to canopy:
There are a variety of ways to attach your new side walls to your canopy. As you can see buy the picture, we used twine strung thru the grommets and attached to the frame. This was done since it was extremely windy and I wanted to make sure it was secure.

You can purchase curtain hooks ( these are small and very discreet from Target) and use them to attached the top of the canopy rails underneath the canopy.

You can then attached the sides to the frame legs with twin at each grommet.

Now there are two ways that you can create the wall for the opening of your booth. If you have followed the instructions in creating your side wall above then to attach the canopy so that buyers can freely come and go, just attached the top of the wall to the frame (leaving the sides loose/unattached). You can then roll up the bottom (creating a bundle) and tie to the frame at three places(side and the middle).

Or another option is to leave the two curtains loose/unsewn in the middle , but still set grommets in sides. That way you can attach the sides to the frame with twine and leave the middle loose for the buyers to push aside and come in....this is where a clear color curtain comes in handy as well as the show curtain hooks so that they can be pushed and moved freely.

Just Note:

• This is not the time to scrimp on the material, make sure that the curtain is a decent thickness, not the flimsy dollar store shower curtain liners (this is important). It needs to be the actual shower curtain, not the liner! You can purchase the clear shower curtains with metal grommets from any home store, like Bed Bath & Beyond , Target, Walmart or Kmart for $1-$2 each. You need to purchase 8 curtains ( 2 for each side). Most shower curtains are about 70 x 72 , so this gives you enough material for the next step.

• You can us this technique with other materials for different variety of side walls. Using this technique with canvas material is great for every day walls (three sides, open front). Canvas can be bought cheaply and in a variety of colors at any fabric store including Walmart. Just make sure to measure and account for hems
• This shower curtain side wall will be longer than you need, but it is easily tightened if you use rope/twine to attach to frame.