Every spring, H+H Americas is held in Rosemont, near Chicago, IL and we decided late last year to jump into our first booth there. This week, it finally happened and it’s been a fabulous trade show. Pattern designers, fabric and yarn manufacturers, and notion companies from around the globe descend on the convention center to share their newest products with yarn, fabric and quilt shop owners.
This is my third year attending, but my first year having my own Crinkle Dreams booth–what a different experience it’s been! The first year I came just before I launched the Elemental Coat pattern. The second I helped out with the ByAnnie booth. This year, I had my own little booth to show off all the Crinkle Dreams patterns!
Hawke came with me (thank goodness!) to help out in the booth, as well as driving it all to Chicago for us. It was great to have someone else to talk to folks when I was taking an order and he was consistently a good sport about trying on jackets for people to see how they look on a body, rather than a hanger.
You might notice from the picture, the one thing that made our booth really stand out was that silly pole in the middle of it. Did we know it would be there? Yes. Did we know how big it was or that it was smack in the middle of the booth? No. But we were next to Moda Fabrics, which got a lot of people coming by the booth, so it was completely worth it! It did make for a little challenge, but we were ready for it and I think it worked out just fine.
We showed off four upcoming pateerns, including the Elemental Kids Coat, the Journeyman Jacket, the Sampler Quilt Quilted Elements, and the Lucid Quilt patterns. It was great to get the chance to talk with shops about them, see what the responses were and build some excitement for when they are released later this summer.
I also got to the opportunity to visit with some of my favorite brands including KAI Scissors, OLFA, Andover Fabrics, ODIF, Maywood Studio, Moda, Junebug & Darlin’, OLISO, and Shannon Fabrics. We were busy enough in our booth that I didn’t get to spend much time chatting with anyone, but it’s always such a treat to see familiar faces and talk with folks about this new venture.
We weren’t the only ones launching a product, of course! My friend, Carolina Moore was there, sharing her newest release: the Quilt Trading Cards and yours truly is one of them! The fun thing is that you get to find out about a bunch of different designers PLUS there’s a quilt block pattern on the back of each one. The cover cards tells you how to put it together to create a whole quilt! Super fun idea and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. Check them out here:
We had such a great time and already looking forward to next year when there will be a consumer event the week before! Maybe you’ll be able to join us at the Fiber & Fabric Craft Festival in Chicago on May 1-3, 2026. Until then we can’t wait to get these patterns done and out to you later this year.
Happy sewing,
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