The Sewing Expo was nice, not great, not as captivating as the ASG Expositions of old. I used to enter the exhibition hall and feel my pulse quicken. (now that I think about that, it might have been a bit odd.....) I had pre-registered for all the classes I wanted. That was day one. Day two was dedicated to cruising the vendor booths and carefully editing my purchases to suit my needs and my budget. Day three was a wrap up, a go-back sort of day. Catching the fashion shows, picking up an extra class or two, picking up the odds and ends. I would use vacation days, family understood. It was Sewtopia.
Years and years have passed. Now I make more quilts than clothes. I have every machine and tool I need and want. Our ASG gave up on the big shows. Very expensive to produce I hear. Hard to capture national teachers to this market. A couple independent producers tried to make a go, not so good. Last year this show came to town and it was good. This year not as good or I missed something. Some of the vendors from last year were present. Their patterns and fashions current, their passion rather off. With a smile and a idea of purchase in mind, I was greeted with apathy. No smile, no recommendations, absolutely bored to death with the show. Looking away when I asked a question. Please. Distracted. Moving on, a similar experience with another pattern maker, the samples were the same as last year, quite frankly looking a little ratty. Lots of miles on those babies! One other famous Pattern House had run out of their top sellers, it was early morning of day two! At their prices they missed a major opportunity. The old and odd (should be retired) patterns languished while customers were rather peeved. Me too. These were garment pattern designers. If I had been a beginning sewist the whole experience would have led me to paper crafting,.......not that there is anything wrong with that. So what's up? No idea.
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| the blue/greens |
Now the quilt shops, the sewing machine shops, the long-arm quilting companies , busy talking up their product, engaged.....that is the word I'm looking for, engaged. I was busy at our Guild booth and met some great ladies who quilt, want to learn quilting or just appreciate the art of the quilt. Many touching stories about Mother's and Grandmother's who were quilters and their legacy passed to family. Great fun.
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| the transition colors |
One of the vendors next to our booth, a Quilt Shop in Bedford, Pa., manned by a Mother/Daughter duo, had some stunning fabrics, batiks, classic prints. Interestingly, my companion in the booth, Pat, is considering borrowing an idea from them. They wore cute little chef's aprons made from a charm pack. We think it might be a good idea to copy for our annual show. An apron like this would identify Guild members to the public. I am going to make a sample using this batik charm pack of 40 squares.
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| pink, coral, reds |
- A well known on-line fabric store had a large booth with lots of bolt end fabrics, remnants. Not a natural fibre in the lot. Halloween is coming.
- I felt my first rayon batik, wonderful. I didn't buy any because I was not sure what to do with it but now I am thinking it would be a great blouse. The hand reminded me of a heavy silk.
- I felt sorry for the vendors at dead end East side of the hall. No-where land. The floor was staged better last year. I hope those people complained.
- The scissor man was not there.
- Somebody had a booth selling brassiere up lifter things, right next to a guy hawking stuff for cleaning your iron and a young woman selling acrylic neon nail files. Sewing expo? Filling up booths me thinks. Oh my.
- The food was worse than last year.
- Directly across from our booth was a Fabulous, I mean outstanding booth featuring Wool Felt and Primitve style quilts etc. They will get and rightfully deserve their own private post. I was so impressed.
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