Comments on: whiptips - help with organising a fair fabric swap

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:53:59 +0000

Martha Stewart Living had an article a few years back about how to organize a plant swap. As I recall, basically the people in charge need to set the point system. Then you are issued tickets for how much you brought, which you are allowed to spend at the tables.

The key, of course, is to not get trapped at your own table, and be able to spend before what you want is gone!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:04:05 +0000

I suggest checking out http://www.swaporamarama.org. Wendy Tremayne is the brilliant mind behind this huge community clothing swap, and she has lots of inspiring and helpful ideas on swapping. I organised a very successful Swap-o-rama-rama here in Vancouver with the help of this site.

By: janellepietrzak

janellepietrzak — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:12:43 +0000

hi!
sarah - the point system is something we were thinking about. . but were wondering if that would get to technical. That seems like a good way to be fair if someone brings in 2 yards of nice silk versus 10 yards of muslin. . it is tricky. . We will defiantely have moderators to help out though.
janelle

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:00:47 +0000

Depending on how you wanted it to work, you could allow just one-on-one swapping, and let the swappers decide what’s fair. The swappers could even work out more complex swaps (Person A’s fabric goes to person B, and person B’s goes to Person C, whose stuff goes to Person A) if they desire. But you leave everything up to the swappers themselves. Just like on swap boards, but IRL.

Or you could have people “check in” before entering the swap area with their stuff. Their stuff is assigned a certain number of points (maybe like 1 point per yard for cheap fabric, 2 points per yard for nicer fabric, 5 points per yard for super nice stuff, etc) and then they get a ticket for each point. You’d have to label each item with its point value, but then all the swap items sit out on a table, people shop, then check out, exchanging their tickets for items. Leftovers are donated at the end of the day. More of a hassle this way, for sure.

By: K

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:00:37 +0000

Hiya, at the clothes swap at the Melbourne Museum (coming up soon, check their website) the deal is that you hand over your items to swap and in return, get a token for each of them. You then can swap one token for any other one item.