Do You Know Any Quilters That Like To Travel?

Do you ever dream about visiting places that you read about in a book? When you travel, do you enjoy visiting quilt or other needleart shops ?  Do you know others that travel and like to visit such shops, or someone that is moving to a new area?  Or, do you know of a quilt or needlearts business that could use some great PR awareness?  If you answered yes, to one or more of these questions, I hope you'll enjoy the insights I want to share with you today.      

Fiber & Fabric Mania! A Travel Guide, by Needle Travel, is a great 2012 guide that shares insights on all speciality needlearts shops (quilting, knitting, needlepoint, crocheting, weaving, spinning and cross-stitch/embroidery)  in the United States. And, this issue has well over 3,000 businesses included in their 2012 issue!  Plus, these businesses are also available online at NeedleTravel.com.  Truly an excellent resource for travelers, those moving to new communities, as well as for PR opportunities for businesses! 

The mission of Needle Travel is to "help people find fiber & fabric-related specialty shops when they travel".   




 I had fun reading this travel guide and thinking about various travel opportunities and potential quilt shops I could visit.  Of course, it can influence how one may want to plan future trips (after all, isn't it fun to visit a "new" shop with treasures for our sewing room and to find things that can help with our future projects?).


Sample pages:
The maps in this guide are also very helpful. 

I started planning out quilt shops that I could visit, when I attend a workshop in Northern California with Cindy Needham this Fall.  Looks like I definitely need to visit Sew What Quilts in Redding, Ca.. along with many quilt shops in the area, when I make this trip. 

I'm dreaming of a roadtrip to Yellowstone National Park and, of course, want to be able to visit quilt shops in the area and along the way.  I was delighted to use their online store lookup to help plot out stores in the area, as well as use their book to help plan this future trip. 

I also love traveling to Hawaii and was delighted to find Quilt Passions, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii referenced.

Yeap, I'm definitely packing Fiber & Fabric Mania! A Travel Guide with me on ALL of my  future trips in the United  States.  And, I think you'll have fun traveling with a copy of this book too! 

While there are over 5,000 shops listed in this publication and available via NeedleTravel.com , I also wanted to understand how shops that are not included can get included.   This fits into the topic of "Sew Biz", which is how I categorize articles that may have helpful insights to those "in the business". And, is an opportunity that I hope ALL quilt shop owners take advantage of.  With your help to spread the word, lets try to get more quilt shop owners connected with this publication, so that they can be included, as well as more quilt shops carrying this book, so more quilters can be aware and take advantage of how helpful it can be.

In my investigation, I did learn that the publishing team uses several methods to add shops where they:

1. Attend Quilt Market twice a year,
2. Ask Guilds to tell them about stores in their area that are not in their book or listed online at NeedleTravel.com .
3. Ask Quilters you have registered at NeedleTravel.com to report missing shops.
4. Search the internet using several techniques which we regard as proprietary.

They also annually go thru a process to verify that all of these businesses are still in business, before they publish their next issue!  This helps to minimize the potential situation where you use their information to visit a shop that is no longer in business.

 For 2012, there were 6,000 copies printed.  It is free for shops to be included in this publication, but as publishers do need to make money, they do appreciate advertisers that pay a nominal fee for such advertisements.  Shops that sell this book also get their website included, for free, but a business could also pay a nominal advertisement fee to have their website included.  To clarify, basic business name, address & phone info is free to include in this annual publication.

For 2013, as well as with future years, this publisher is committed to adding more stores and continue to publish a quality issue  of "Fiber & Fabric Mania! A Travel Guide" that will continue to "help people find fiber & fabric-related specialty shops when they travel".

Overall, I am very impressed with the content and quality that I found in this book, as well as online.  But, most importantly, is the commitment by this publisher to include all speciality needlearts shops (quilting, knitting, needlepoint, crocheting, weaving, spinning and cross-stitch/embroidery) in the United States in future issues for free.  At the same time, I found their advertisement fees to be very reasonable and would encourage speciality needlearts shops to place an advertisement, for greater visibility. And, I definitely want to encourage ALL needlearts shops to offer this book for sale in their shops, as well as quilters and others interested in various needlearts, to check out this book and to consider it for any travel opportunity in the US, as well as for gift opportunities.  I'm already planning on sending a copy to a quilting friend that is moving to a new area, as a gift.

You can purchase a copy at your local quilt shop, or online at: 

http://www.maniaguide.com/
And, you can contact Needle Travel at:
www.needletravel.com
888-737-0847    
Michele Merin, Publisher
michele@directionpress.com

Ok, I'm curious to hear where you'd like to travel to in the US and how you learn about quilt shops and other needlearts shops that may be in the area that you are traveling to?