A sour after taste of my first Made with Love Markets Stall.

I had my first stall at the Made with Love Markets yesterday. I went in with really no idea what to expect, and came away with mixed feelings on my day. 


I received a lot of positive feedback on my creations, however I had one incident that has left a very sour taste in my mouth.  I sold a boys nappy cover with matching tank top. The nappy cover was 100% hand made but the top was store bought plain and embellished with Applique to match the nappy cover. He  returned a while later and told me he had to return it because it "wasn't handmade". I inquired what he meant and he told me the top had a store label on it and so I didn't make it. He expected that I would have made it all. I gave him his money back. Left me feeling like I had done something wrong....... 


This has made me wonder where is the line in "Handmade"??


While I did not make the top itself, I did embellish it so that it matched the nappy cover. I have had suggestions I should label the top as "store bought hand embellished". and the nappy cover as "100% handmade".   But if we are going to get that picky, While I did 100% construct the nappy cover, I did not screen print the fabric, nor did I weave the fabric, ...... and neither did I grow the cotton to spin into a yarn to make the fabric!!! How far back do we need to go?


I sell my nappy covers alone for $15. When teamed with a matching top, I generally sell them for $22. that makes a difference of $7. Considering I paid $3 for the top at the store, and then there may be another $2 worth of materials applied to it (fabric, thread, heat'n'bond, electricity), I am charging a whole $2 for my time to put it together. Now if it took me 10mins to do the whole process of cutting the fabric, applying to the top with heat'n'bond, and then machine sewing it to the top, that equates to $12/hr for my time. What is the minimum wage here in Australia??    Do people not realize that making something like a top/singlet from scratch here in Australia is simply not financially viable?? The cost of the material alone loses all competitiveness with the store bought counterparts.




Obviously I do not do this to make a fortune. It is something I like to do as a hobby - as I enjoy the creative process. If I want to do something that pays for my time, I go to work as a Registered Nurse - where I get paid considerably more than $12/hr!!!


I reflect back on this incident and wish I had of thought quick enough to point this out to the man, although I suspect that he was so ignorant that it wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, Someone else will fall in love with the set (as I have) and buy it and be perfectly happy with it.