A few years ago, a little seed was planted in my creative brain and I became determined to find an easy way to vend my work at markets and artist shows. This is the story of that journey! However, like any good home makeover show, I’ll need to provide you with a bit of backstory before the big reveal. So here it goes.
My soul has been smitten with fiber arts for more than half of my life now. That is to say: Eight of my 15 years on this earth have been wholeheartedly devoted to exploring fiber. What began as a “give this a whirl” experience in a crochet class for homeschooled children at my local Joann fabric store drastically shaped my path forward.
Those initial endless chains of practice stitches eventually became headbands and washcloths of single and double crochet. I ventured into blankets and headed to YouTube to learn new stitch after new stitch. My collection of hooks grew, and I never went anywhere without a ball of yarn!
However, I am a very curious person. I think it goes along with the culture of homeschooling. We are taught to explore, ask questions and seek information. So, it seemed only natural that I started wondering if I could make my own yarn.
Elyse Myers is an online content creator who jokes that she was born with the “How hard could it be?” gene that makes her willing to try just about anything. I think I must have been born with it, too, because the next thing I knew I was sitting in a hotel conference room with a spinning wheel in front of me listening to fiber artist Julie Wilson discuss drafting fiber. I had a different chair than everyone else in the class so that I could reach the treadles, but I was determined. After all, how hard could it be? Right?
As my chunky, lumpy, uneven yarn evened out and my stash of handspun yarn grew, I needed to find a use for it. I loved spinning, but I didn’t love crocheting with handspun. What’s a fiber artist to do?
But then I discovered weaving! A fellow fiber lover invited me over and it was love at first pick. Over the next 18 months, I upgraded looms four times. Every time I thought I had found the one, I quickly found myself wishing my loom was wider and offered more design possibilities.
I have a very supportive family. They offer me love, advice and opportunities galore! However, I do not have a loom fairy or a spinning wheel fairy that delivers new equipment if I click my heels three times and repeat, “Oh, how I love fiber!” So, to help me accomplish my goals, I began selling handwoven items at local fairs and shows. And that is precisely how we circle back to the idea of a traveling weaving studio.
My painfully shy self began packing up my wares and heading to shows to open up more opportunities for myself as an artist. Into the car went folding tables, a 10-foot-by-10-foot tent, plus displays, signage, table covers, products to sell, my small floor loom for demonstrations, and so much more. Loading, unloading, setting up, breaking down and reloading the car week after week began to take a toll on my creative spirit.
Then there was this one show in Texas. It was a doozy! We lived in Hill Country for two years for my father’s job and the weather was extreme. One day I was sitting in my booth, happily weaving away, when out of nowhere the wind picked up, dust started flying, and then the rain came. Everyone in the section of the farmers market I was in lost their tents. We were all scrambling to save the handmade products that we’d spent hours creating.
When the weather died down and I replayed the scene in my head, I thought of my neighbor across the way lending a hand. He was free to do so because he had a food truck. When Mother Nature unleashed her fury, all he had to do was close his hatch before he so kindly ventured out to help others. At that moment, I decided I needed a new vendor setup … and my wheels began to turn.
The following six months were all about brainstorming and planning. There were some factors that I knew were “musts” for me. For budgetary reasons, I still needed to be able to fit into a 10-by-10 vending space. My dad transferred often for work, so I needed something that would fit into the garage if
I ended up in a strict HOA neighborhood. I wanted something like my neighbor’s mac and cheese food truck. Ideally, I’d be able to pull in, open a few small hatches with minimal setup, have a great day, and quickly fold up to head home!
My typical brainstorming resources, such as Google Images and Pinterest, weren’t much help because it appeared that not too many people were building mobile weaving shops on a supertight budget. Shocking, right? While not surprised, I was also not deterred. I was happy to pioneer the idea!
After many iterations of the concept, I decided that my ideal vision would be a small structure on a tiny utility trailer that exuded Old English cottagecore vibes. I planned to incorporate basic shelving to display functional items made with my handwoven fabric and, if a storm snuck up on me, there would be doors that simply closed over them to protect my work. There would also be a storage area where my small floor loom would safely live while shuttling from event to event.
My father is practically MacGyver and my brother is a talented woodworker, but none of us had ever done anything like this. We were a bit tentative and sought an expert who could take our idea from “Wow, that would be amazing!” to a road-safe, watertight structure.
Enter Stefon Holness. Stefon has been a presence in my life since I was a little peanut. My parents hired him, when he was just starting out as an entrepreneur, to do some work at our house. One day Stefon was working alone at the house and moved our sweet blind dog, Daisy, to another room to avoid scaring her with loud noises. Instantly, my mom saw the core of his character and he became a trusted and appreciated fixture at our house. Any time my mother had a wonky idea, he was always game to experiment and see what could become of it.
From painting stunning murals to custom built-ins, we learned that he could do anything. Did this mean he could also build a mobile weaving shop? Like all the harebrained ideas we’d put before Stefon previously, he was keen to take on the challenge!
Every step from that moment on was a beautiful collaboration. My brother, Aidan, created a 3D model to help me better illustrate to Stefon what was in my imagination. Stefon determined material needs, and we put our heads together to figure out how to create the desired aesthetic. I purchased an itty-bitty utility trailer at Harbor Freight for $400 and we were off and running.
We started building with a rough 3D sketch, tying our visions together, and no tested building plans. That meant a lot of trial and error! Thankfully, my mom volunteered as the “project gofer.” It took us about a week to build the mobile shop, and she made countless visits to Home Depot during that time. One day she went six times! She became an expert on wood screws, and buying non-warped 2-by-4s, by the time we were done. Her other essential job was feeding the crew, i.e., Aidan, Stefon, and myself. We were all grateful for that as well!
We incorporated pre-built bookshelves into the DIY concept. We saved time and money by purchasing inexpensive bookshelves, assembling them, and then attaching them to the frame of the mobile studio/shop. I later painted them a light, neutral color because the white laminate didn’t scream cottagecore to me. (But overall, they were ideal for displaying my items at events.)
Another element we incorporated to impart an English cottage look to the outside was 3D wall art panels that look like brick. They are waterproof for outdoor use and were easy to affix to the outer plywood walls with some caulk and a staple gun. (In 2023, I took my little shop to our town farmers market approximately 35 times — plus additional events around town in Charleston — and those faux bricks always looked as good as they did the day the Amazon truck delivered them!)
When we needed some extra support, there was always YouTube. Stefon is an amazing craftsman, and was the heart of this project, but he’d never installed a roof before. Thankfully, after a few tutorials, we were roofing ourselves silly!
One of my absolute favorite aspects of this project are the faux windows that Stefon painted. He’s an incredible painter (and muralist), and I am grateful that all it took was a “please, please, pretty please” and some fancy brushes to entice him to add a beautiful personal touch to complete the cottage look.
Soon, my shop on wheels was in action at many events around South Carolina’s Lowcountry and was quite the spectacle. Each week, I’d roll my loom down the back ramp at the farmers market and get to work. Market shoppers would ask questions about the mechanics of my loom, the types of fabric I make, and yes, the story behind my unique mobile shop. Weaving at markets was a great icebreaker for an introvert like me. I’d spend hours weaving at the market every weekend, and it was always so wonderful to share my passion for my work, as well as the story of how my mobile shop came to be.
From planning to budgeting to building, it was definitely a labor of love … and worth every single minute of the journey! I was so fortunate to have my brother and Stefon along for the ride to help bring my vision to life.
Throughout my childhood, we’ve moved a lot for my dad’s job. While I was in the middle of writing this story, I learned we would be embarking on another move. This time, it was international and, unfortunately, not possible to take my sweet little shop with me.
I ended up putting out a call for a new owner to my followers on social media and am absolutely thrilled that a pair of creative and kind weavers from Texas “adopted” my shop. Shannon and Karen will continue to spread knowledge about weaving — and the collective joy we share for fiber arts — with market shoppers. And it makes me so happy to know that it will still have a little Schacht floor loom neatly tucked away in the back for demonstrations.
When I packed up my shop to send it off to its new home, I did my best to transfer the love and passion that went into its creation, with the hopes that owning it will be as joyful for the new stewards as it was for me.
