Going to Houston for Quilt Festival or Quilt Market?

What you need to know if you plan to go to Quilt Market or Quilt Festival in Houston. What should you pack? What is Houston like? How do I dress?

I just came back from my first ever Quilt Market, and here were the things I found important to know.

Hear all the tips from a market first timer! Although I was itching to see Quilt Festival this year, I knew it would be an expensive trip, by the time I stayed mulitple days, took classes, and bought more stuff for my stash.

I'll try to tell you what things cost, so you can get an idea of what your expenses might be.

Here are the answers to things you are wondering about your trip to Houston

First of all, if you are new to this, the website for Quilt Festival is a bit clunky. It took me far to long to figure out that this giant event in Houston each fall has 4 components.

1. The first weekend is Quilt Market, which is just for industry professionals like bloggers, designers, and quilt shop owners. Shop owners can purchase wholesale. Shop employees can attend, but will need to provide paystubs to prove they are employees. They offer lecture classes of interest to those in the industry.

2. The second weekend is Quilt Festival, which open to the public Thursday through Sunday. Quilt festival includes shopping in booths on the convention center floor, classes, lectures, and events like book signings and a fashion show. Preview night is Wednesday. The event does require a ticket. For 2024 tickets are $18 per day. Multi day passes are available. Special rates are available for large groups.

3. Classes are available Monday - Saturday of the week between Market and Festival. Offerings are well rounded, including quilting, hand sewing, long arm, and fun techniques. Class prices vary, but will cost a flat rate based on duration plus supplies. Expect to pay a minimum of $60 for a half day class. Classes that use sewing machines and long arms cost more. Registration for classes opens in June.

The Texas Quilt museum has award winning quilts on display throughout the entire

Market and Festival. Quilt Gallery is in a large hall beside the shopping area and does not require a separate ticket.

Getting There

Drive

If you are close by, do drive it, but be aware you will pay for parking. You will need to walk from a paid lot to the George R. Brown Convention center. It doesn’t have its own parking, according to my Uber driver. You should also ask your hotel’s valet parking rate. The convention center is in a busy downtown area, and parking will be an issue. The benefit of having a car is that you have a way to carry whatever you buy home, without lugging it through an airport.

Flights

I used Southwest points and flew to Houston. A couple of girls from my local quilt guild planned to fly in for just one day of Quilt Festival, which I thought was a good way to see it without the expense of a hotel.

Southwest flights will go through Houston Hobby airport. Depending on traffic it will be a 20-30 min. ride to travel the 9.5 miles to downtown. I hailed my Uber from Hobby at 7:47 on a Friday morning, and my fare was higher because it was a busy time, so I paid $48 for the ride to my downtown hotel. The cheapest public transportation route is bus line 040 and costs a couple of bucks, but it will take an hour.

From George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) to downtown is 21 miles, and also takes about 30 minutes, depending on traffic and construction.

Ride Share or Rental Car

If you stay far from downtown, a rental car would likely be the best solution. Both Uber and Lyft operate in Houston.

It was generally easy and quick to get an Uber, with one busy night time exception. I had to walk to the Hilton to be picked up most trips. The best part of ride share when going to the convention center is that they can drop you off in front of the building. Tell your driver to let you out somewhere between the water feature and Pappadeaux.

Caveat: if events are happening at downtown venues, ride shares will be trickier when they are over. One night I was leaving Pappadeaux as 3 nearby events were ending: a sports event, Halloween costume party, and a Kamala Harris rally Beyonce attended. It took me an hour to get back to my hotel!

Hotels

I snagged a last minute hotel discount on Booking, which I totally didn’t expect to find. I stayed at the historic Cambria Houston Downtown. The staff was very helpful. Not only were they willing to store my luggage, when I arrived early, they had a room available and I got to check in early. I loved their fireplace mantle.

The Hilton Americas - Houston hotel is connected via skybridge to the the convention center’s second floor. Many exhibitors stay here. Other hotels within walking distance really raise their rates.

The event website will have some recommended hotels, but I did not find those to be the budget friendly option. My goal was to stay inexpensively, because I figured that just leaves more money to buy fabric, right?

Hotel or Short Term Rental?

The struggle here is balancing your price point with convenience. Stay as close to the convention center as you can get. Expect busy big city traffic. If you stay farther away, you will waste time commuting to downtown. If you placed the entire Houston metro area over a map of Manhattan, Houston stretches from Queens to Newark east and west, and Hackensack to Staten Island north and south. It's geographically big.

What I really wanted to do was have the rv in Houston for the week. I wanted to experience everything, and that would have been way cheaper than a close downtown hotel. However, my sweet husband wouldn't have been so interested in a week at Quilt Festival, so that didn't happen. Maybe another year.

My deciding factor on a hotel (vs. short term rental) was that my flights did not coincide nicely with check in and checkout times, which left me with a large suitcase to deal with. I needed a hotel that could hold my luggage before check-in and after checkout.

George R Brown Convention Center

Everything takes place at the GRB Convention Center. When you are looking for hotels, it's easy to spot on a map because the park in front of it has a unique shape.

1st floor: start here to get a name badge (if needed). The show floor and gallery are here. There is a food concessions area on the show floor.

2nd floor: Starbucks

3rd floor: Classrooms and General Meeting Halls A, B, C. There is a small food kiosk near the classrooms. I had their chicken salad sandwich and iced tea.

There is a Pappadeaux Restaurant connected to the first floor of the Convention Center! Twice when the show closed I found seating at the bar and ate there. It was good and convenient.

The convention center is BIG. You will be walking, and chances are, carrying stuff around all day. Even though my hotel was within 6 or 7 blocks of the Convention center, I never walked it. In the mornings I was hurrying to get there for 8am classes, and in the darker evenings I had heavy bags.

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Rolling Cart or Backpack

Bring a rolling cart or carry on size suitcase to hold your stuff! This rolling cart folds up nicely, is available in several cute colors and patterns, and only weighs 5 lbs.

If you are able to carry a backpack, you can navigate a little easier. I have carried a hiking backpack all over the world because it is super functional.  It's not that cute, though.

A Vera Bradley quilted backpack  would be super cute and comes in all kinds of pretty fabric.

Here is a pattern for you to make your own backpack!

Limited Physical Ability

If you have mobility issues, the convention center does rent mobility scooters. There are ramps and elevators. The Quilt Market floor was never so crowded that it would have been truly problematic to move around. I would compare it to a busy grocery store kind of crowd. If you can manage that, you can handle market. I haven't experienced Quilt Festival, so I don't know about that.

What to avoid: Sample Spree at Quilt Market is packed with people all hurrying to get to the good deals. I did see one person on a scooter but it would be difficult. Shoppers are packed around vendors tables trying to get a hand on the products they want. This is definitely a dangerous place for anyone on a knee scooter or crutches. You could easily be accidentally bumped into. Sample Spree is only 1.5 hours, and it does get less crowded at the end.

Tip: I would take a person with you who can get into the front row of a table quicker if you need/want to attend Sample Spree with physical limitations.

Restaurants

For breakfast, I brought my protein mushroom coffee mix and granola bars to eat in my room. I got egg bites at the 2nd floor Starbucks one day.

There are food options on every floor at the convention center.

If you are a sushi fan, get a 5:30 reservation to eat at the sushi bar at Uchi. Happy hour is til 6. Leave the show at 5. Enjoy whatever the folks prepping the sushi recommend. It will be fabulous.

Packing

For Quilt Market, we were receiving papers and catalogs from all the vendors. I came home with a few (cough cough) jelly rolls and fat quarter bundles.

For Market, there was a sort of valet shipping option in the foyer if you wanted to pay for the service ($40+shipping). I opted to go buy a second medium size suitcase.

What I recommend if you know you will shop big is to arrive with nesting suitcases- an empty small one packed into your larger one. Ta-da! You won't have to make a run to Homegoods for an extra suitcase.

What to Wear

1.Comfortable Shoes. Your best walking shoes. Don't even think about the cute ones that hurt your feet.

I saw many people in jeans and t-shirts. Some who have designed quilt patterns or fabric wore clothing with their designs at Market and they were fabulous. I wore a t-shirt and bag with the Happy Quilty People logo on it.

The very best thing happened the day I wore a colorful shirt with my pink leopard purse strap. I was standing at Kaffe Fassett's booth looking at his new book Brilliant Little Patchwork Collection, when Brandon Mably leaned over my shoulder and commented on the contrast of the shirt fabric with the leopard strap. He asked for my phone to take a picture so I could see it.

Y'all. We had a lovely chat. We talked about his shirt, made with their fabric (and buttons, I think.). That's the designer's eye: to notice the contrast that makes things interesting.

I didn’t find the exact strap I have on Amazon, but here is a fun hot pink leopard strap!

Classes

Even as a last minute attendee, there were still classes open. I would have loved to have taken classes all week. There are so many offerings, on such varied projects, that I really think all sewists could find something they would benefit from.

I did sneak by the classrooms on Monday and they looked amazing. I was looking at buying one of the classroom model machines in use, so I slipped into a classroom and watched them in action.

Pro Tip: Bernina sells the demo classroom machines at a discount. After Festival, they go back to be inspected and serviced, then they are shipped to your local dealer for you. I bet other brands have a similar discount on classroom models.

Quilt Market was super helpful for me as a blogger and forum host. I heard several presenters talk about how building each other up helps the whole industry. I loved this supportive community.

I cannot wait to experience the classes next year. Let's book a big house and all go to a class every day!

I hope you have such a good experience in Houston!

Much Love,

Holly