Any suggestions for displaying rugs?

[SpecificallyRandom]

I've been making upcycled t-shirt rag rugs that I'd love to bring with me to my craft fairs this year. They're not terribly huge (28" - 36" across) but large enough to take up a significant amount of space in a 10' x 10' booth.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to display them? I have one of those wooden, collapsible laundry racks but the rugs are too heavy for anything like that.

I'm also struggling with whether or not I'd be doing more harm than good by introducing such a different item to my booth. (My main item is fabric headbands.) Has anyone had any luck (good or bad) with selling two different types of product?

Thanks!

[jill2day]

is there a way you can hang them around the booth walls - or at least some of them, then have the rest available on a table.

If the management doesn't have any rules against it, I think it would work together... different audiences, but more people to the booth!

[SpecificallyRandom]

Thanks, Jill! I hadn't thought about hanging them on the walls. I've only done indoor shows to this point (no tent) and have never been against a wall, but I will be buying my own tent this year and could probably find a way to use that "wall" space.

[blissfulturtle]

How about using a small ladder? As long as it can fit in your car it might work.
I sell very different things at my craft booth and in my etsy shop ( yoga and meditation accessories and winter scarves and hats). I have found that if you keep them separated in your space you will do fine. Sometimes this means having to buy two spaces to avoid overcrowding.

[Former_Member]

If you had one of the rolling clothing racks, folding the rugs in 1/3rds lengthwise then draping them over a hanger would hold them with easy access to browse. You could put a sign/banner at the top of the rack with a photo of a rug in a room, a description and a price.

If you're booth is set up like a U you could have a display only one on the floor of your booth as well. As long as it is a color palette that doesn't show dirt very easily, it could be a nice display of one of them in use.

[SpecificallyRandom]

You guys are great! I love both the ladder and the rolling rack idea, although I think the ladder would match the look of my booth more.

I have been putting one table in the front of my booth to avoid people having to go inside a "U", but I think I will have to reconfigure as it would allow me double (or more) my usable space. And, I love the idea of putting one out for use - thanks, Amber!

[Former_Member]

A quilt rack comes to mind. You could display a couple and let folks know you have more if they are interested.

[Former_Member]

If you have some grid walls, you can pin them to those.

Grid walls are great! Not only do they increase your display space but they also add some sturdyness to your canopy.

[SpecificallyRandom]

I hadn't really thought of grid walls. That might work well for my headbands too. I like the idea of utilizing wall space.

[CarolBradley]

I'm thinking you could hang some 3-ft wooden dowels from your tent frame sides, then use clothespins to attach the rugs. Use swingset chain or rope to hang the dowels.

[Former_Member]

That drop down crib my son is slowly growing out of comes to mind. I know I'll eventually take it apart and use it for something, but it seems you could make a sort of collapsible A-frame stand out of the drop down sides, if you can find a rung style crib to take apart.

[SpecificallyRandom]

Wow! These are all such great ideas! Thanks so much for the help.

[TheSalvagedEdge]

PVC pipe makes a great sturdy rack that's easily portable. A lady in our circle sells puppets and she has an amazing rack her husband built out of PVC.

[Former_Member]

So far, you have received a lot of great ideas for when you have ample space to show them all. So I won't add to that. What I *will* do is give you an idea for those times when space is more limited.

For those times, I recommend getting a good photo of each rug. Then, for when space is limited, you can either fold up (or roll up) the rugs, and use the photo as a hang tag, but also to show what the entire rug looks like. If someone wants to see the full rug, you can unfold it or unfurl it. But at least the photo would give them an idea of what it looks like.

[krissyannedesigns]

I was basically going to say what Marie said. There was a lady near me at my last craft show of the year last year who sold quilts and her PVC set up totally blew mine out of the water (I use thin PVC and some bright pink shower curtains for my backdrop) -- she had a whole U-shape, with a top, bottom, and then a middle row. She had holes drilled into the PVC and she threaded rope through the holes. Then she used clothespins to hang the quilts on the ropes!

[SpecificallyRandom]

These are all such great ideas! I think at this point I need to set up my whole display in the house and play around with my different options.