Sew Expo 2012

Two of the definitions for the word pleasure*  are:

Something or someone that provides a source of happiness

and

A stimulus with desirable consequences

Sew Expo

What’s interesting is that I can use these exact same phrases to describe Sew Expo.  (I can also use these phrases to cover something that happens in the privacy of our bedroom but that’s for a different blog).

Held in the Puyallup, Washington State Fairgrounds, Sew Expo is one of the largest sewing shows in the country, the largest show not devoted exclusively to quilting. Each year, over 25,000 beautiful women with sewing stars in their eyes visit the show’s hallowed halls.

The good news is that I get to go to this show every year. The bad news is that because I teach and have a booth, I don’t experience the show in the same way as most of the participants. The only classes I attend are the ones I teach. And while I do learn from my students, it’s not the same as attending class sessions as a student.  Because our booth is so busy (more good news!), I almost never leave get out to visit other booths. (Ask me about my trips to the ladies’ rooms. That story could rate its own blog.)

One thing I do get to see is the beauty that walks into my booth --all of our wonderful customers. We take pictures of those who come into our booth wearing garments with our embroidery designs.  They’ll go on the website, eventually, but you get to see them first, here.

Our Designs as Used by Our Customers / Friends

These designs are from our Cutting Edge set. It gets a lot of attention because of the cut edge designs as shown in the picture below which was featured in a Designs in Machine Embroidery article.

However, there are other fun designs in the set like these circles that Jean used.

And, in a totally different direction, our designs were used in a beautifully subtle way on the tee-shirt below.

It’s so much fun when I see a beautiful woman wearing our designs.  This is the Regency Design set on a purchased tee.

Another example of the designs on a purchased item is this jacket with our Fresh Cut Designs.

The designs on this jacket are tone-on-tone, a subtle and elegant addition.

Another drop-in was Naomi who just had fun with the Variations Design set.

Naomi is a Crystal of the Month Club member.  She received some of these designs in the Design of the Month (which is actually a mini-design set, not a single design). She calls the Design of the Month a Teaser which gets you hooked so that when the full design set comes out, you have to buy it. (Club members get a substantially reduced price).  These designs are from Variations.  Look how differently she used them than I did (below). They so match her personality, bright and funny and quirky.

We also were able to visit with Mia, with whom I worked last year in the Sew Expo mentor/mentee program. My apologies, Mia, that the only picture I took had your eyes closed.

The designs are Slow & Steady.

Mia is wearing the capelet she wore in this year’s fashion show.

We had more people come by to show us how they’ve worked with our designs. It must be that the camera gremlins came in and ate those as these were all I could find.

On Another Note – A Very Stable Note

Preparing for a show like Sew-Expo is quite a challenge. It’s important to have enough of each product for all of your customers and not so much that you’re overstocked when you get home.

Unfortunately, this year, we miscalculated. We came home with enough stabilizer to wall paper our house and our neighbors’. (That’s some thought, stabilizer wallpaper). We have the option of sending the stabilizer back to our supplier, but that’s rather expensive. Our solution is to sell our excess. Our ordering error is your gain. We’ve priced these stabilizers at ridiculously low prices. Order now before we get tired of tripping over the things and send them back.

So Now We’re Home

So now we’re home and back in our usual routine.  I’m looking forward to more sewing, and embroidering. I’ll keep you posted.

Bobbi