Quilt Market was this past weekend and in case you’ve never heard of it (and I hadn’t until a couple years ago!), let me briefly explain: Twice yearly, the quilting industry gathers for a three-plus day convention to offer up a look at the new patterns, tools and fabrics. It’s for the trade, so it’s mostly suppliers setting up booths and shop owners roaming the expansive floor. They put in orders for most of the fabrics they’ll be along with a slew of patterns, gadgets, notions and tools. Let’s just say it is an incredibly vast array of quilting (and some apparel/craft sewing) stuff.
I went there as the editor of WebCents and to find out what’s coming down the pike so I can promote it to the trade association. Of course, I had to make new clothes for it, including this Simplicity 1652 dress. It’s the second one I made, so I promise to write up a review soon including how I tweaked it the second time around.
But check it out… it’s not a black or grey dress. That baby is PUMPKIN. I still can’t believe I’m wearing it (and in fact, I washed it and am wearing it again as I type). I am just not a pumpkin kind of girl, but Andi at work suggested it and I figured why the hell not?! I got some of the new Modern Solids from In The Beginning Fabrics after seeing them on the Pink Chalk Fabrics newsletter. I can happily report that it’s lovely fabric to work with, even for apparel. Kudos.
On Thursday I got a sneak peak at booths while they were setting up. I could smell the sod they were laying down in Heather Bailey‘s booth an aisle before I saw it and when I did I was awed. [Forgive the blurry pics.]
And Moda/United Notions had a stunning curtain of stitched die-cut leaves around their booths. I saw it and vowed to make window curtains for myself like this until I remembered that I’d have to cut them all out by hand. Yeah, nice idea but it’s not gonna happen. 
I ran into Luke Haynes and he filled me in on his amazing light-up jacket. I’m not gonna spill the beans, but you’re going to love it when he shares this one with the world. He’s so creative, it blows my mind.
I loved all the embroidery patterns, especially the over-sized ones. Heather did the huge yarn embroidery and Penguin & Fish had these awesome pillows. How freakin’ cute is that hedgehog? Need it, right? Yes, I do. She’s got a book coming out and while I doubt I’ll get to do much for-fun hand-stitching this year, I’m gonna buy it. It’s too lovely to pass up. 
Rashida Coleman-Hale had this awesome kid kimono in her booth. Gorgeous, eh? It’s using her new Koi line with Cloud9 Fabrics and I cannot wait to get some for myself and add it to my stack of Rashida fabrics. 
Then there was THE selvage dress–unbelievable and gorgeous. Jodi of Ric Rac was awesome and still happy to talk about this dress that has been all over the blogosphere and now in Portland. 🙂 
There was, of course, the after-parties and I made it to a couple. The PMQG and Modern Domestic joined forces and a fantabulous time was had by all. ModDom recently added another space onto the shop, which means more party space and more classroom space, too.
It was a fun conglomeration of folks from around the industry: folks from Threadbias and Craftsy, book publishers, quilt designers, fabric designers, longarm quilters, sewists, bloggers and teachers. 
There was so much more to see and do and I’ll be sure to throw some more in here and there for you, but I have to save the good fabric pics for work (sorry!).
So after four harried days of prep, dinners, Schoolhouses and Market, I’m done. My feed ache. My back is a mess and I’m overwhelmed by the number of people I met, hugged, exchanged cards with and chatted up. The introvert in me is ready to be back in control any time now.
Have you been to Market before? Worked it? I’d love to hear your take on it.
