Craft Focus - April/May 2020 (Issue 78)

43 STITCHES REVIEW Your say This year’s CHSI exhibitor highlights  Search Press “Although the visitor numbers were down on last year, we managed to have some great meetings with customers, partners and authors,” commented David Grant, sales and marketing director. “Stitches is a great show for us as we get invaluable feedback from customers new and old, but also have the chance to wander the aisles and gain inspiration for possible new books from other exhibitor’s displays. “And of course, collecting our Best Book Publisher 2020 (our seventh award in a row!) was an absolute highlight. It makes all the hard work everyone puts in to Search Press feel so worthwhile. “In terms of what our customers were interested in and bought in volume, our 20 to Make Series at just £4.99 remains ever popular. Mabel Bunny & Co from Dragon’s Den ’s Claire Gelder was flying off the shelves as was the long-awaited Crocheted Wreaths for the Home by Anna Nikipirowicz. Needle Felting for Beginners by Roz Dace & Judy Balchin was hugely popular, too. “We shared a stand this year with our good friends at David & Charles as we’re exclusive distributors for their books in the UK craft trade. Their Luna Lapin range was in massively in demand as was Marna Gilligan’s Cat Knits and Emma Congdon‘s wonderful Cross Stitch for the Soul. “This year Stitches was challenged with some extreme weather conditions. People that did make it, told of terrible driving conditions on the roads, delays on trains and such like, so thank you to our customers who braved the storm and came to see us. Again, many thanks to all our customers who managed to visit us and we look forward to seeing you all (and our many friends who didn’t make it), again next year.” +44 (0)1892 510 850 searchpress.com Cygnet Yarns “Stitches 2020 was a good show for us in terms of showcasing our recent pattern collection release with the superb Jenny Watson on the Stitches Catwalk. It’s always a great show to catch up with existing and meet new customers and show off our latest yarn releases including our new Cygnet Pure Anti- Pilling Baby yarn, super chunky and super fun Scrumpalicious Chenille yarn and new colourful Boho Chunky.” said Katie Stephenson, director at Cygnet yarns. “We enjoyed a full house on the Dreamcatcher workshop using our Boho range and it was great to see other workshops buzzing with keen crafters especially when it came to sewing.” +44 (0)1274 743 374 cygnetyarns.co.uk