Quilt Market Trends

Shopowners attend Quilt Market to learn about the latest trends.  They want to have the newest items in their shops.  Vendors also bring their newest designs and products.  The fabric that is showcased at Market won't be available in quilt shops until the Spring.

Each morning before the doors opened, I walked the aisles to get an overview and see the trends.  I noticed a few.  

1.  Cork - cork that can be used like leather was everywhere.  There were natural colors, colors and prints.

Cork was mainly used for accents on handbags and bags themselves.

2.  Blue & White

This is so exciting.  I love blue and white.  I have a collection of Willow Blue dishes.  My walls are painted blue.  Even my car is blue!  Blue has been on the outs for the past few years.  I'm so glad it's back.

3.  Brights

Bright, clear colors have been on the store's shelves and there is more coming.  Believe it or not, this is a Block of the Month (BOM) called Cadence Court, with instructions to create a wedge a month.  Pretty clever.  It was designed by Shayla Wolf of Sassafras Lane Designs with her fabbric line - Foundation.

4.  Clothing

There were a bunch of patterns to create clothing, plus knit fabric and double gauze.  It's interesting to see what we think of as quilting fabric appear as a shirt or skirt.Have you started making you own clothing?

Did you take a Quilting In America survey a few months back?  It showed up on many websites.  The results were presented at the beginning of Market.  

       Quilting is a $3.7 billion industry

       There are 7-10 million quilters in the US

       Each quilting household spends an average of $442 annually

       Dedicated quilters are defined as those spending more than $500 or more a year.  The demographics of the dedicated quilter is female, 63 years old, has been quilting for 19 years, is well educated (70% attended college), affluent with average household income of $95,900 and leans toward a preference of traditional quilting styles.

Not surprising, is there was almost a 40% increase in those who get information from quilting related websites, online classes and videos and participation in social media since 2014.

The good news is there is a growing group of Dedicated quilters under the age of 45.

In And Out

I never thought I would be a road warrior.  That was my husband when he was VP of International R&D at a major pharmaceutiical company.  I enjoyed staying at home.  So how did it happen that I returned home from the International Quilt Market in Houston on Tuesday and now I'm flying out of Philly at 5:30 AM Sunday morning, heading to Galveston, TX to teach on a quilting cruise?

I returned home, unpacked my bags and then had to repack to teach 3 workshops on that cruise.  I am the queen of making sure that my 2 bags that I'm allowed on Southwest Airllines weigh just under the allowed 50 Lbs.  It ain't easy.

I have so much to share about Quilt Market.  It's the largest trade show for the quilting industry.  This is my second year having a booth.  This year I focused on my Mini Mosaic Quilts.

I am on a tight budget and brought everything I needed for my booth in my suitcases.  I kept it simple to showcase the patterns and technique.  Here's a wall of my pattern covers:

I also set up an interactive mosaic for shopowners/teachers can try out the technique, complete with chiclets and tweezers.

There are 2 events that occur before the doors,open for Quilt Market.  My attitude is, if I've travelled to Houston and went to that expense, I was going to do it all.  During the entire day on Friday, there are Schoolhouses.  Basically they are Show & Tells.  Fabric companies debut their collections for the coming months.  People like me, share a technique and publishing companies share their new books and authors.

My Schoolhouse,

was a very short 15 minutes.  It was wild waiting for the prior group to leave the room, setting up and sharing all my Mini Mosaics in that short of a time!  Thanks to my friend and helper, Joyce Hughes, I did it.

I do have too share that I had a dream/nightmare a few days prior to Schoolhouse, that only 3 people showed up! Fortunately that wasn't the case.

Friday evening is an event called Sample Spree.  In many years past, the purpose was for shop owners to buy patterns and samples for their shops.  The purpose of the samples was to promote the patterns and fill classes.  Now, it's mainly an opportunity for them to purchase one or two of an item at wholesale prices.  I offered Mini Mosaic Kits so they could make their own samples.  It's also a great way to offset the cost of my booth.

Sample Spree opens at 7:00 PM.  We can start setting up at 5:00.  When we arrived to set up, there was already a crowd of shoppers waiting in line for the doors to open.  When the doors open, it's a mad dash to the fabric companies, especially Moda.  I know that I can relax for a bit because after people get their fill of fabric, that won't be available in the shops until Spring, they head to the other tables.  And I did happen to mention during my Schoolhouse that I would have kits at Sample Spree.  I sold out in a little over an hour and then was able to shop myself!

The next day Quilt Market opens.  In my next blog post (after the cruise), I will share some trends and videos from the floor.  You won't want to miss it.

Houston Happenings Continued

Houston is home of one of the most prestigious quilt shows in the world.  There are lots of quilts and lots of special exhibits.  Please forgive me for lack of artist attribution.  There were just too many quilts.

Enjoy!

Kathy York's view of Central Park

Side view.  It's 3-D.

3D House Exhibit by various quilters

Special Exhibit -  Doll Bed Quilts

Barbara Barick McKie

Melinda Bula

Close-up

Terry Kramzar

Pat Durbin

Marilyn Badger

Close Up

Sharon Shaumber

Close-up

My quilt, "Filigree Fantasy" among others

Barbara Persing

Houston Happenings

I returned from the wholesale quilt show in Houston last night.  It was certainly a whirlwind 2 days packed with tons of new ideas, inspiration and friends.  I was thrilled to meet many of the people from Martingale that I have worked with over the past few years working on my books.  It was so nice to put faces with names.  They also don't seem so intimidating now. 

I spent the first day checking out the vendors.  There were lots of fabric manufacturers with lots of booths and lots of tables for shops to order fabrics.  The fabrics will be out in the quilt shops in the Spring.  The booths were filled with samples of finished items from quilts to bags to iPad covers.

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Since it was a wholesale only show, there was not much to buy. Most companies were just taking orders. I was able to score a few freebies.  Lots of tote bags.

 There also were a bunch of independent designers selling their patterns.  Covers for techie gadgets were very popular.  I was able to connect with a few thread companies.  They were generous with their samples and one even wants me to make samples for their booth  next year in exchange for free thread.  Whoppee!

There were some new products there as well.  One of my favorites is for embroidery, which I do a bit of.  I really am a monogrammer.  About 2 years ago I was taught the beauty of using spray adhesive for positioning a towel to embroider.  I had been struggling with hooping due to the thickness.  Your hoop gets pretty grotty with all the spray adhesive and lint. They invented a plastic molded shield to keep the adhesive from gumming up the hoop.  The simplest things are the best.  What I also like is that she manufactures them in the US in her hometown.  The distributors want to know why she doesn't have it done in China because it would be so much cheaper.   Because her gadget is so popular, she has given the local factory a lot of work and is proud of it.  (www.econceptmall.com)

A bunch of publishers were there.  The magazines in particular are looking for projects to publish.  One even had a daily get together to encourage designers to contact them.  So......... if you ever had a desire - look for their submission guidelines in their magazine. 

Options was a great booth with lots of really cool products for storage.  (They also make tackle boxes for fishing -Plano).At 11 and 3 each day they gave away a bunch of stuff via a business card drawing.  I didn't win anything.  On the last day of the wholesale show they were going to hold a drawing and give away all the stuff in their booth!  Awesome. 

Elephants are hot.  Lots  and lots of fabric with elephants on it. 

 This stuffed elephant was in the booth of Valeri Wells.

The Olfa booth was giving away these rubber erasers.  And you ask for what?  They said it would remove any threads  and bits stuck in your rotary cutter mat.    What a great idea,  I tested it when I got home and YES! it really works. 

Tomorrow I'll share some photos of the most magnificent, meticulously constructed quilts exhibited at the show with many, many special exhibits.