Grammie Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Any of you ever had your own booth at Quilt shows big and small. My husband is finally considering retiring for good and help me with my quilting goals. I am wanting to have my own booth and begin traveling more. Any tips that you could share would be great. I have too big a list of things I would like to have in my booth and they are guilting and piecing related. I have to narrow it down. lolol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhappy Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 don't narrow it down too much! the more things in my booth the longer people stay in it to look around!! The longer they look around the more they buy!! Been doing booths for 3+ years now. E-mail me for more info if you need it. LOVE LOVE LOVE doing shows!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grammie Posted March 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Thank you sew happy. I'll do that. Grammie Tammie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saundra Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 We both retired and now do quilt shows...been doing this for about 8 years now and really love it. I will be glad to answer questions also. Good luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonjaHammond Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Hi Grammie: I have been doing shows as a independent contractor for Quilter's Rule about 18 months now. I also did shows for myself for a year before this. My husband and I have a great time but there are some things we did not expect. If you want to send me a u2u I will be happy to answer any questions you have. Sonja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Sonja! You red-headed sweet heart---- I was just thinking about (and mostly missing) you and so glad you popped in! How R U??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 In the '90s when my doll patterns were popular, I showed at Portland International Quilt Market, and the Dallas HIA (Hobby Industry Association)... It's quite a bit of money for booths, but it can be quite rewarding for both the show experience and the residual sales... You really have to plan about a year in advance to go... At that time I used the large wooden boxes for display and lots of Americana fabric... my dolls were/are primitives and my booth look was the "tea" stained "old" look.... I was accepted to Paducah when my seperation/divorce happened, and I kinda lost all desire to design for about 5 years... Mostly, It was great fun, I did quite well, and it's really exhausting! Let me know if I can help at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoriasews Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Instead of all the u2u's for getting detail, I'd appreciate it if those ideas were actually posted so we can all benefit from them. I will have a very small booth at a local quilt show this year and would love to hear your suggestions as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Yeah!! This could be a "Me to Y'all" post instead of U2U!!:P:P:D:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallre Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Originally posted by victoriasews Instead of all the u2u's for getting detail, I'd appreciate it if those ideas were actually posted so we can all benefit from them. I will have a very small booth at a local quilt show this year and would love to hear your suggestions as well. I agree--please post for all to see. After baby #2 is born in May I hope to start doing some quilt shows as a vendor this fall. thanks for any advice ya'll can give!! Rose Hall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliagraves Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 I took Lenni to a quilt show (I'm a dealer) and here's my checklist of what I brought. I didn't sell any machines, but I got a lot of emails for my newsletter and handed out brochures for machine quilting and I've gotten some follow up business with that. It takes a while to get established and for people to come to you. Good luck! Julia Take to Shows: Paper Interest Sheets Clip boards pens Brochures > services APQS Order Form Loan application business cards Comparison Sheet for machines Show Special flyer APQS packets Machine Lenni Table Extension cord Surge protector Thread - various types Bobbins Side-winder Needles Oil Screwdriver - phillips and straight Pin Lint Brush Wrenches, allen, other Leveling bar Manual Other Table tablecloth Candy in dish Quilts method to hang quilts Sample of different threads stitched out Green Dream samples Zippers - marked Banner top, backing with zippers batting stool water bottle snacks/lunch book/hand work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonjaHammond Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Gosh I did not know that so many of you ladies wanted to know about booth space. But here goes: The most surprising thing for me was you can get trampled when they open the doors for set up. Usually there will be a line to get your trailer/car to the unloading area. If you park at the door/loading dock you must unload everything then go park your car. Take your own dollie. Some venues have them available for free, some charge and some just don't let you use theres. Phone lines for charge machines are expensive and so is wireless for computers. See if your charge machine will run in a store mode as an alternative. But in this mode you will not get approvals until you upload. There are occasional bad credit cards. (Thank heavens I have avoided that so far).Most shows charge for electricity. Check to see if your fee includes any tables or chairs and table size if included. This varies greatly from show to show. Be sure you have enough change for all your days at the show. Houston (so far for me) has been the only show that has the capability of making change. We usually don't get time to leave the booth for lunch so take something easy to eat. Take an ice chest w/ bottled water. Bring this in during setup you will need it. Most venues have it for $3.00 per bottle (just a tad high). I have a cash register and would not be without it. Breakdown is a zoo. What took everyone 4-6 hrs to put up is down and loaded in 2 -3 hrs. It appears that the first one who leaves wins. (What they win is still unknown). If you will have more quilting items in your booth then the Craft/Sewing Shows are not going to be your best shows. Standing for 8 hours for 3 days when it is really really slow is the PITS. There have been shows where the only people shopping the first and/or last day are the vendors. Some people cover their items when they leave at night, some rope off their booths and others just take their money and leave for the evening. Some shows have security others don't. I hope some of this is helpful. If not remember you asked for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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