Hello!
I've taken a week to recover and reflect on my first Quilt Market as a designer in the Moda Fabrics booth. It was so lovely to meet so many of you face to face! I've outlined a quick recap for you all here. Let's jump right in!
Here's what we were looking at when we arrived. My booth was slightly different than the others in the booth. All of the other designers in the booth had fabric lines they were promoting that were newly launched. Because I only had For My Boys to show, and it had been out for a while, Moda had asked me to focus on brand awareness. So, my main goal was to quickly tell my story, introduce people to my shop and connect with them in person.
Starting there - I designed these walls so that I could fill in with everything my shop has to offer. I sent the artwork to Moda and they were able to print on these 4' x 8' walls.
Ta-da! Here's the after. From left to right the booth follows my story. The quilt pattern shop came along first and then I've now added surface pattern design into my business on the right wall. I brought a little sampling of everything. Decoration wise I wanted everything to feel like a "home" since most of my inspiration comes from my interior design background.
In the very center of the pattern shop you'll spy a little surprise! I premiered a band new quilt pattern in my shop. Currently it is only available for wholesale shops, but starting November 7th it will be available for everyone! The Footpath Quilt Pattern is inspired by our latest trip to Barcelona and the sidewalks in Spain.
I brought a sampling of all the For My Boys projects. These fabrics are still available to order from Moda. It was so fun to connect with all the boy mamas out there. I cannot tell you the number of people who saw these and immediately remembered seeing them! It was fabulous to finally put a face to the names and see what shops are already making projects with these fabrics. It means the absolute world.
I also wanted to include an interactive component to my booth. I hand carved these little blocks and set up a little block printing station for people to stop and make their own art print to take home. I'm SO glad I did this! This allowed for so many great conversations. Plus I found that most people were overstimulated by the entire market and were happy to run across and little creative break in the day!
This was seriously such a great icebreaker. I'm going to start bringing these with me everywhere I go to speak or do trunk shows. They are so fun and easy to make! Some people used one of each block, others just did one simple stamp in the center and called it a day. It was so inspiring to see what everyone made!
You might also enjoy reading:
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Quilt Pattern Jumpsuit
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Quilt Coat Part I
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For My Boys Fabrics
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Five Projects For My Boys Fabrics
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Block Printing
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Sewn Home Series Living Room Quilt
These outfits were everything. Another great icebreaker! The Living Room Quilt Pattern turned Jumpsuit by Brylee Kaye was a crowd favorite! You can make your own and read more about the pattern here. Brylee has written a wonderful blog post with lots of tips on how to make one of your own. I want to wear this every day now!
The Playroom Quilt Pattern turned linen shirt was another comfy win. My mom, Janette Steinheimer, made it along with the Footpath Quilt Pattern Tunic Dress. The dress pattern is the Skipper Dress and Tunic by Matchy Matchy Sewing Club and the shirt is the JAS Basic Top Pattern from TRAMApatternstudio on Etsy.
Moda asked each of the designers in the booth to design a patch that we could trade with each other and handout to anyone who stopped by to chat for a bit. These patches were so fun! I was so surprised at how many people were excited to collect as many of these as possible.
Now I need to decide how I want to mount all of mine together as a token of my first ever quilt market! See all the designer patches I collected below!
So, many creatives in this little booth family. One these that totally surprised me was how nice and friendly everyone was. I was welcomed in with open arms! Coming from the interior design world where the environment was more competitive this was like a giant warm hug. I was so inspired by all the other artists in the Moda family and they were so willing to open and vulnerable with me about their journey into the fabric design world. It meant so much to me and gave me even more confidence to keep moving forward.
The Best in Sew Ribbons were another fun creation from Moda. Jessie on the Moda team made these adorable little ribbons for each of our booths. The front included the date we each started designing with Moda so it was fun to line up at the end and see all the veteran designers lined up with the newest designers. This is another great memento I'll treasure along with my patches.
As I mentioned - I released a brand new quilt pattern to the shop! The Footpath Quilt Pattern is currently available for all quilt shops. However it will be released to retail customers November 7th! Mark your calendars because there will be some beautiful quilt kits available as well.
Whew - ok that's the end of my recap. I'm sure there is more I could share but for now I'll stop here. This was really a wonderful experience. I'm normally very introverted so this took me out of my comfort zone. It brought me back to my college days of working in a retail shop and traveling for those markets which I loved. I can't wait for the next one! (After some rest!)