I just returned from my first Quilt Market…(I’m no longer a #QMVirgin)! It was completely inspiring, overwhelming, amazing, fun and EXHAUSTING…in a good way. Before I crash I wanted to share a couple hilights from my trip and I’ll be sharing more over the next week or two. First of all, let me tell you WHY I went to Houston. In August I was offered an opportunity to do some consulting to help launch a new brand product called FabricMaker! I won’t get totally into the details here because some of you read my blog for more organizing related stuff…others for the textile goodies. I’ll give you a bit of both.
Here’s our booth from the Market. I helped to design some of the pattern collections and was excited to be at the market for the official product launch!
So, what is FabricMaker? I think I’ve got this down after 3+ days of telling everyone…it’s the first Commercial Quality, Pigment Based Digital Fabric printing system available! What? That means you can use the matched system of special pigment based inks to PRINT YOUR OWN FABRIC’S…ON DEMAND and know that you will be able to wash them without them fading and they are fade resistant and archival! You no longer have to order your fabric printed through services like Spoonflower (although I have LOVED them for what they have brought to the market over the past 8+yrs). Parent company, Sawgrass Technologies has been working on the product development for this for about 18 months now due to demand in the market for lower priced options for digital fabric printing technology. We will have a lot to respond to in the market as we learn who and how this new tool will be used but it’s full of exciting potential and it’s affordable (prices start at $500 for the small system-including ink, fabric and printer). It’s crazy amazing, I’ve got one of my own I’ve been playing with and I can’t wait to see what other people make with them.
I’ll keep you posted on what develops with this…on to some other tools and treasures I found at market!
There were a few really cool digital tools but I think my favorite was the Slice Cordless Digital Die Cutter. So small and simple to use! Sizzix and Silhouette are great systems too!
Some of great new “analog” tools I learned about included the super strong, amazing selection of Tulip Artistic Needles…
…and Clover’s Weaving Sticks (as a weaver I love to see others begin weaving). I haven’t used the weaving sticks but there is a review over at The Zen of Making.
For my organizing readers here are a couple super great products I found and am excited to share! I don’t have a picture (so the one below is from their website) of the Reisenthel bags but they have a bunch of great models including the original Carrybag and are beautifully made!
Another very high quality bag I now love (along with the sassy owner of the company:) are Yazzii Mulit-Functional organizers.
And I’m saving the best of the organizing resources for last are these Fabric Organizers by DeNiece Designs. I love, love, love them and how did I not know about them before now? They remind me of my retail days folding tee shirts with folding boards.
Hopefully this gave you a small taste of some of the fun goodies at Quilt Market but I’ll be back with actual Textiles, designers, pattern makers and more inspiration!
