Etsy Made in Leiden Market Report

november 28, 2018januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

The Etsy Made in Leiden market is back for this year! Etsy Made is a worldwide Etsy market where Etsy sellers can meet their customers, sell live and meet other sellers. Last year I was part of the organization, this year I was only a visitor. It was in the same building of Scheltema, an old brewery, and I saw a couple of familiar faces from last year’s market too!

This time the market was a lot less cramped, and they added this greenhouse building to the layout.

The main hall had more neutral lighting. I attended in the final 30 minutes of the event but seeing everyone elses pictures it was absolutely BUSTLING during the day!

I wasn’t able to get pictures of every single seller, I apologize for that in advance. I only had about 30 minutes to say hi to everyone because I work on Sundays. Still, it was nice to see Etsy Leiden sellers again even though I did not have a stall this year.

Here is Margo from Margo Slingerland selling items with her own designs on them.

De Cartograaf with maps and map-related accessories.

Blanco Rosa Art selling wonderful prints and cards.

Lovely Inez makes the tiniest nut candles, and sells DIY kits too.

Wool & Bloom with items you just can’t resist to touch.

Fran with the Pen was there from day 1 and it’s so much fun to have seen her business grow!

Glas by Renske with some amazing glass jewellery.

And Het Bovenbuis with hangers from felt, perfect for the holidays.

Collected Gem with amazing gemstone jewellery.

More jewellery, these were made by Essie’s Jewels.

Houten Klaas and his Leiden maps.

Meester Maakt showing off one of her crocheted blankets.

Stitchonomy is also back with her embroidery and cross stitch kits & materials.

Studio Maas selling stamps and jewelry of her own design.

Kuukeluus with her art prints and postcards.

Rik Speel also sells prints of his beautiful artwork.

Paul Swinkels and his upcycled lamps. I especially like the telephone one!

Veronica Pock hand-weaves her own fabrics, isn’t that wonderful!

Studio Sus just launched her book, “Dat is nou een duif, denk ik” and also sold postcards.

Mippoos sold all kinds of items featuring their cute hippoes, or “mippo’s”.

Jessica Halmshaw (one of the organizers) selling paper cut cards and prints.

Nuts Knitwear (one of the organizers) and her hand-knitted items. So soft…

ManonDecoraties / Cultuurpixels (one of the organizers) selling a little bit of everything!

Cobalt + Corundum (one of the organizers) selling handmade gemstone jewelry.

The Art of Nata selling beautiful watercolour prints.

Made by Mirjam and Post from the Past, sharing a stall and selling glass jewelry and antique postcards.

Not pictures because it was either too dark or the pics became blurry:

Nature Cure Soaps
Xeinnata
Till & Dill
Beestenbries
Zoownatas
NF Designs NL

I did post every single stall in my Instagram Stories though!

Thank you again for reading,
~ Mardie

Japan Market with Stitchonomy & friends

mei 24, 2018januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

This year I attended the Japan Market again with my studio friend Alyssa from Stitchonomy! We’re sharing a studio space in Leiden so it was fun to come up with the products and stand design. We also did a collaboration in the form of a sushi embroidery kit! Here you can see the progress during the weeks leading up to the market, because we were so busy on the day itself that we barely took any pics!

The Japan Market commemorates the visit of Emperor Akihito in 2008 to Japanmuseum SieboldHuis. Every year during Pentecost the Rapenburg streets are transformed into a mini Japan festival with all kinds of stalls, activities and food. This year there were even more stalls than before, including a giant food court and martial arts demonstrations. We were really happy to have been selected for a stall!

This year I wanted even bigger stock than before. So I started sewing weeks in advance using my watercolour sushi fabric.

I also designed a kokeshi craft kit (I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened to the quality of this picture).

Here are the saskiko kits that Alyssa was working on, in modern colours like peach and petrol instead of the traditional blue and white.

The sushi embroidery kits were made using one of my sushi illustrations that you can also find on one of my fabrics.

Alyssa worked out the threads needed and wrote an instruction, but most importantly had the design printed on fabric.

There are two variations that you can make, the beginner stitching on the right and the more advanced satin stitch on the left. Alyssa made both of these samples and they looke really good!

Here we were packing all the planned embroidery kits. You can still purchase them here in Alyssa’s shop.

We decided to take things to the third dimension and cut some pegboards to size to make these wall displays. Overall I think that was the most major improvement from last year, when I felt that my items were overlooked because they were flat on the table. Now you could see everything clearly.

And a nice picture of all of us together, left to right Alyssa, Femke (back again like last year!), myself, Caro from HONoriginal and Saskia from LUREaLURE. Overall this was another great Japan Market with absolutely gorgeous weather and a great crowd moving past. We were right in front of the food court so I think we saw the most foot traffic right behind the food stalls themselves!

See you again soon!
~ Mardie

Instaswap – Eggplants for Safrana & Argana

mei 9, 2018januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

Hey everyone! So you’ve probably heard about the idea of doing an Instagram swap, and in The Netherlands we have a bi-annual InstaSwap organized by Lynda! I joined the Spring 2018 edition and was paired with Safrana & Argana, a food blogger. So of course I had to incorporate food into my gift for her.

I chose a fabric designed by Renee’s Illustrations, printed by Motiflow.com. You can find the fabric in question here. I also had gift wrap printed of the larger variation of the design.

I decided to do a “travel theme”kind of approach and made a matching set that she could use on her travels. Here is a public transport card holder to clip onto your bag or keys.

A small pouch for coins, lipstick or other small items.

Of course no travel set can be complete without a passport case. Did I mention how much I love this fabric??

A pencil case that could also double as a toothbrush case. I know I like to keep mine separate.

From a scrap I made a key fob, just because it’s fun!

And finally the make-up bag that took up most of the fabric. I made it nice and big so it would fit all travel necessities.

Safrana & Argana was very happy with her gift!

I also received a very nice swap gift in return from @poefjiep including tea, chocolate, a hand-illustrated notebook and a matching dish and mini vase. Thank you so much Poefjiep! I wish I had made a better picture of everything unwrapped but I was so excited I shared everything on Insta Stories instead.

Thanks so much for reading,
~ Mardie

Etsy Made in Leiden – Handmade Market

november 29, 2017januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

This year I organized the very first Etsy Made in Leiden! Etsy Made is an annual live shopping event held on (generally) the same weekend in cities all over the world, organized by Etsy Sellers. This year it was held in the last weekend of November and our version was held on the 26th. It’s an amazing way to get to know your customer and fellow sellers. I teamed up with Cartograaf, Megan McNulty and Stitchonomy to set up this market, which took roughly 6 months including all the workshops we planned.

During the day we welcomed almost 30 local sellers offering their handmade products, and held workshops, live music and Draw Leiden had a table where you could join in and get creative yourself. Below are pictures of most sellers although I am sure I missed a couple because I was quite busy helping out with last minute tasks.

The big surprise was a TV crew from Linda.tv reporting on the market, which you can see in the video above.

OK, enough talk for me, below is an overview of the Etsy Made in Leiden market!

Jessica Halmshaw sells papercut works of art, postcards, brooches etc.

Tex & Billy was my neighbour – she sells crocheted hats, headbands and scarves.

Here is the best overview I could photograph -it was really busy!

Margo Slingerland is a graphic designer selling all kinds of items she designed herself.

Draw Leiden is a drawing club that meets every Monday to draw, chat and help each other improve. During Etsy Made in Leiden the table was open to join.

Megan McNulty selling whimsical postcards, pins and prints.

Stitchonomy selling cross stitch kits and materials.

Here’s me in my own stand, selling some makeup bags from fabric I designed myself.

The location was Scheltema Leiden, an old brewery in the heart of Leiden turned into an event location.

The outside of the building really shows the old architecture.

Next to sellers we also had Fran with the Pen and Quiltblocks come in to do some workshops on hand lettering and working with Snappap vegan leather.

And we also had live guitar music!

Here we are taking all the stalls back down after the sellers left. I think we were home bu 10pm!

Overall it was a very fun but also quite exhausting market to organize. None of us 4 had ever done something of this size before so there were lots of challenges to overcome. There are definitely things we’d do better next time. The responses of both sellers and visitors were positive though.

Japan Market in Sunny Leiden

juni 8, 2017januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

On Sunday the 4th of Juny I attended the annual Japan Market organized by Japanmuseum SieboldHuis. I also attended last year and it was so much fun (albeit very cold because last year it fell on a cold early May Sunday)! So, of course I wanted to repeat it again this year.

I started preparing about a month in advance. Here is a new product I was making – Japanese cotton wallets.

This year I was very happy with the amount of stuff I was able to make. I did a quick test of the stall setup as I had double the amount as last year. I wanted to make sure the stall looked well-stocked but not too crowded.

And here is the result of the stall demo! In hindsight it was a bit of a flat setup and because of the huge crowd not everyone was able to take a good glance at my items. So that’s something to consider for next year.

My friend Femke helped me out during the market, so I could actually go pee and see a bit of the market myself. There were ton of really fun stalls, from bonsai to Japanese pottery. And of course the food stalls, which were all very busy right from the start.

Next to me was my studio friend Caro from Hon Original, selling her handmade notebooks, furoshiki and stamps. She shared her stall with a friend who also had the cutest accessories and was also a huge Pusheen fan like me!

Caro also had these amazing Japanese paper houses to wear as jewelry.

Another shot of the furoshiki, stamped with handmade stamps.

On the other side of my stall was Saskia from LureALure who made a selection of Japan-inspired tunics and her famous obi belts made from upcycled ties.

Overall I had another really fun Japan Market, and it definitely helped that the weather was way better than last year. See you again in 2018!

Bonus: after getting home we ate our homemade sushi that I prepared the night before (don’t worry it was all smoked salmon and vegetables).

Thank you for reading,
~ Mardie

Winter Market with Etsy Leiden

december 1, 2016januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

I’m very excited to share this report on the Winter Market with Etsy Leiden that I helped organize over the past few months! Right before I joined Etsy Leiden, a group of Etsy sellers had a small popup shop called “Even Open” in an old book store in Leiden’s main shopping street. When they had to move out they were looking for another popup store or possibly market to keep selling live instead of just online.

Right around this time I worked at Handwerkstudio Leiden at the Vollersgracht, a nice location in the centre of Leiden. So we joined forces and organized a 2-day mini market for those Etsy sellers! Below are some pictures of that Winter Market.

Not pictured because the pictures turned out too blurry (sorry!)

MO Jewellery selling gorgeous handmade jewelry.

Marjolein Coenrady is a graphic designer selling prints, cards and books.

SaKo & JaCi selling upcycled goodies, like these teapots turned pincushions.

My own corner (Hanabachi Creative)!

Crea Anja selling handmade fabric wreaths and accessories.

Megan McNulty selling cards, mugs, plushies and pins of her own design,

Meester Maakt crochets everything there is to crochet, from scarves to baby rattles.

Cobalt + Corundum designs beautiful gemstone jewellry.

Fran with the Pen creates handlettered posters and postcards illustrated with watercolours.

Mama’s Jurk sews new clothes from old materials, best known for creating children’s clothings out of the parents old clothing.

Brocante Tante sells a little but of everything, but each item is definitely unique.

Made by Mirjam sells handmade jewellry and glass art based on microbes.

Moos Tassen creates bags out of found materials like old couches on the side of the road.

Vliegende Hollander not only sells her crocheted plushies, she also has PDF patterns for the,.

MissMinoes sells cat-inspired items, and part of her profit supports the local cat shelter.

LUREaLURE sews skirts and tunics from upcycled materials like old embroidery.

Overall it was a really fun market to have helped organize. The Etsy Leiden community is amazing and I hope to see more people working together like this.

Thanks for reading,
~ Mardie

Japan Market Report (also first blog post!)

mei 22, 2016januari 22, 2019 | Sew Mardie

Hi everyone! So this is my first blog post on my new website for my soon-to-open Etsy shop, Hanabachi Handmade Fabric Treasures! I am Mardie, 25 years old and recently graduated as a Bachelor in Japanese. Besides Japan I have always loved sewing and I’ve made a lot of Japan-inspired gifts for friends and family over the years.

This year a friend suggested for me to hire a stall at the annual Japan Market in Leiden so I decided to take that chance to create a small webshop of sorts. So in this blog post I will be talking about that process and also report on the Japan Market of last week.

Here is a mock-up I did of the business cards I printed for the market. I have not yet opened an Etsy shop so it is pointing to this website instead (hi! 👋)

So for the stock I wanted to make I focused on bags and pouches.They showcase the gorgeous fabrics I got from a specialty store in Germany that imports fabric straight from Japan. Yet on this picture you’ll only see the lining, oops!

This vinyl fabric has to be one of my favorites as it’s water resistant so perfect for a makeup bag.

Another shot of some really cute My Melody fabric!

The Japan Market is always on the first Ascension day. but this year it was really cold and winy, especially because we were situated near the canals. But here is my stall!

The bento bags, make-up bags and so-called “bunny bags” I made for the market!

Close-up of the goods. Here you have a better look at the gorgeous Japanese cottons!

I also had some kokeshi and Japanese books for sale.

In the end it was a very fun first market experience, but I sure was happy my boyfriend was there to help me out ❤

Thanks for reading!
~ Mardie