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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Sewing pattern fun at the Small Press Expo!

Selling Cake sewing patterns and comics at SPX

With my cartoonist husband Masheka Wood at the Small Press Expo last weekend, selling sewing patterns, comics and my new children's book, Susan's Mess. (Note: Wearing the Tiramisu knit dress was a good sales move!)

Ok, I'm not sure if FUN is exactly the right way to describe sitting behind a table at a comics convention worrying that no one there will actually be vaguely interested in either children's books or sewing patterns and randomly yelling out "Hi there! Do you sew?" or "Hi there, are you interested in children's comics?" with a perky smile.

Luckily it turned out that many comics and cartooning enthusiasts DO sew, including a number who sew costumes for cosplay, and some of them were interested in learning to sew everyday clothes. They loved that I was wearing a dress that matched the Tiramisu pattern envelope, too.

As I suspected, the Bonny sailor knit top was the hottest seller. Here's Rachel, an illustrator who loves sewing and hockey (hence her hockey-fabric dress, made from a Simplicity Project Runway pattern):

Rachel, a happy @sewingcake customer @spxcomics. Love her hockey dress (Simplicity Project Runway pattern).

And there were a decent amount of small children about who were interested in my new children's book (more on that later when I have it properly and available for sale on Amazon!)

So despite all my nervousness, we had an amazing day at the convention, bringing in twice as many sales as I'd ever made in all my years of cartooning conventions, and actually more than covering the cost of the table and bus fare. And in the evening, I had the honor of presenting the Ignatz for Outstanding Series at the awards ceremony.

And it was great to hang with cartooning pals from way back like Matt Bors and Robert Kirby.

I even got a little time to finish sleeve one of my Delancey cardigan... the cartoonists around me found it very amusing ("That woman is knitting a sweater WHILE SHE IS WEARING IT!")

#knitting while selling comics and sewing patterns at @spxcomics with @whatmashekadid

3 comments:

  1. Glad the show went so well for you! I've got a crafting one coming up in November that I'm trying to prepare for...

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  2. Looks like fun! I'm glad to know there are some people who love both sewing AND comic books! I love how you wore the dress from the pattern too!

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