Sew It Up

         

I am amazed that our very own "Martha's Sewing Market" is just around the corner! I have been working on my seminars, new kits and other goodies. We, that is, Sew It Up have been a vendor for Martha for 15 years now ~ yes, that is hard to believe! Every year has been so much fun! We get soooo excited getting ready for the show. It is always great to see those customers who travel far and wide just for this event. Our own local customers attend in great numbers and we meet lots of wonderful new sewists!

Last year was a bit of a disappointment in the number of vendors. Granted there was another big sewing venue premiering on the very same weekend on the east coast. Many vendors live in that part of the country so it just made sense that they not travel all the way to Texas. Still, we missed them and the show seemed so much smaller. Another reason that the show lacked its usual luster was that Martha's company had just been bought by another. Yes, Hoffman Media had purchased them about two years prior. Now, it is F & W Media who owns the magazine and company. They had not owned it long enough to orient themselves to the personality of the show. They did not know the vendors and were a little clueless as to what exactly Martha's Sewing Market had become over the years. I know that many attendees were disappointed in the show.

This year will be different! What is this about combining Sewing with Scrapbooking? Frankly it is a matter of simple economics. The show has evidently not done very well in the money department for quite some time. A big company like F & W Media is not going to support an event that generates little or  no profit. They have been producing this very same scrapbooking event for a number of years. So, we are actually quite lucky that they did not cancel OUR SEWING SHOW! So, they have combined the two. It just makes sense. There are fewer vendors interested in being a part of a small sewing show. So, here is the deal: if we do not support this show, it will likely be our very last one. Yes, we do have the Houston International Quilt Festival in the fall, but, for most of us, it isn't enough. We like having a sewing convention right here in our backyard! 

So, I am asking everyone a big favor. Please spread the word and attend the market this year. If we can make it work, we will not loose the show! I am confident that this show CAN be built back up to what it used to be! I know that the tickets are $15/day at the door, so, here is what I am offering to everyone: 

Shop with Sew It Up anytime between now and the event and I will give you a coupon worth $5 off of any purchase - made in our booths - at the show. This really means that Sew It Up is paying for one third of your ticket price! How about it? That sounds pretty good right? Well, here is one more "gift". If you come to the show and shop in our booths, you will receive a coupon worth $5 to spend anytime either in the shop or on-line! Now your ticket to get into the show is $5!

I am committed to making the show a success this year so that we can have it again next year! I hope that everyone else feels the same way that I do:)