The Vacuum and Sewing Dealers Trade Association has abruptly shut down. Known as VDTA/SDTA, the association hosted an annual wholesale trade show in addition to other conferences and events. Its membership was made up of vacuum and sewing machine dealers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and other industry professionals in the US and Canada. VDTA/SDTA events were rebranded in 2023 as Create + Clean.
The most recent trade show was held February 13-15, 2025, in Las Vegas. Exhibitors and attendees report that it was poorly attended. VDTA/SDTA’s owner, Cindy Cummins, has not released a statement about the closure and did not respond to a request for comment.
Association History
VDTA/SDTA was founded over 40 years ago by Charlie Dunham and Dick Beall to serve vacuum dealers. When Beall passed away shortly after, Judy Patterson took over as president of the organization and, under her direction, it expanded to include sewing machine dealers. After the February 2020 show, Patterson was looking to retire. In July 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, Cindy Cummins took over management of VDTA/SDTA. Cummins, who also runs DIY Style, a DIY craft blog, and is the inventor of a magnetic cutting system for sewists, had worked with Patterson previously.
Judy Patterson was president of VDTA/SDTA until 2020. She emceed the 2017 industry awards presentation at the show which took place at Westgate Resort in Las Vegas.
Attendance in Decline
The VDTA/SDTA trade shows ran without interruption, with an in-person show taking place in 2021 under Cummins ownership. Attendance was small, as expected at an event taking place while the pandemic was not yet resolved. Attendance at subsequent shows, however, doesn’t seem to have increased substantially.
“We heard for years that it was a fantastic show so we were eager to attend,” said July Luoma, owner of Off the Wall Quilt, a Florida-based custom template and ruler company that exhibited at the show in Las Vegas in 2023. “But honestly, it seemed like a lot of older men wearing ties walking around with no interest in marketing ideas or items, which is what we were selling.” Luoma attended the show in 2024 in Daytona as well. “We were literally the only ones there that were not vendors,” she said.
According to an independent contractor who worked for VDTA/SDTA on and off in 2023 and 2024 selling booth space and editing the digital version of the association’s magazine, Inspire, tickets for the February 2025 show didn’t open until just a few weeks before the show was scheduled, contributing to the low attendance. “It was embarrassing to be there,” the contractor said. Retailers who had trouble with the registration system and emailed customer service never got a response, the contractor said, leading to frustration.
Cindy Cummins took over leadership of VDTA/SDTA in July 2020.
Workers Left Unpaid
The contractor we spoke with had not been paid for the work she performed for VDTA/SDTA during the second half of January and February. Soon after the February show, the contractor said, Cummins blocked her on social media.
Some of the teachers and speakers who were hired to present at the 2025 show have also not been paid. “I taught at the last VDTA/SDTA show under contract for these services and fulfilled all contracted sessions. After the show, I requested routine post-event reconciliation and clarity on compensation,” says Cheryl Sleboda-Whited, owner of Muppin’s Sewing Emporium in Paducah, Kentucky. “Communication tapered off and, as of today, August 12, 2025, I still don’t have resolution on payment.”
Accountant Jacob Curtis, who taught two sessions at the February 2025 show, has also not been paid.
“Being a credible organization, the thought of not getting paid never crossed my mind,” said Michelle Umlauf, who also taught at the February show. “Cindy has not responded to any of my emails and has an unpaid invoice. I would have expected so much more from someone who is a woman, a business owner, and a ‘leader’ in the sewing industry. Just an honest response, even if she could not pay me, would have been more professional than ghosting me and the rest of the educators.” Recently, Umlauf saw that Cummins was selling some personal belongings on Facebook Marketplace. She reached out asking if Cummins would send her a few things. “I pointedly told her that she could ship them to me since she owes me and several other people a lot of money and has been ghosting us for months,” she said. Cummins subsequently blocked her on Facebook.
In an email Cummins sent to Sleboda on March 19 and shared with Craft Industry Alliance, Cummins wrote, “While you may think I’m ignoring all this, I am not. I am at an impasse, but trying every day to get things settled, and moving on from an underwater show…I’m doing my best to get necessary revenue in to cover the invoices from all 3 of you [referring to Sleboda, Umlauf, and another educator], as well as the other educators at this past show. I wish things were different. As you can imagine the stress is immense.”
In another email sent to Sleboda on March 25, Cummins wrote, “I should have canceled [the show] when I had the chance. I took a gamble because I believed in the program.”
On Monday, August 4, without warning or explanation, the VDTA/SDTA website went down, and the phone line was disconnected. The company’s Facebook page and Instagram account are still live, and Cummins’ LinkedIn page still shows her as executive director. As recently as June 24, Cummins had begun selling tickets to a fall business summit as well as booth space at the 2026 show.
The Status of Other Trade Shows
Other trade associations in the crafts industry have struggled or closed in the last five years. In April 2020, The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) ceased operation due to a decline in membership and attendance at its bi-annual trade shows. In June 2021, the Association for Creative Industries (AFCI), formerly known as the Craft and Hobby Association, merged into the National Art Materials Trade Association due to a decline in revenue and attendance at its annual Creativation trade show.
During the same period, a new craft industry trade show, h+h americas, entered the market with an annual spring trade show in Chicago. (Disclosure: Craft Industry Alliance is the strategic partner of h+h americas). That show has grown in both exhibitor numbers and attendance each year, with over 5,000 people attending in 2024.
VDTA/SDTA’s disappearance will reverberate in both the short and long term. “The lack of communication and unsettled compensation created additional real costs, such as time, unreimbursed travel, recovery efforts, and missed opportunities, that small businesses like mine absorb,” says Sleboda. “The abrupt shutdown of VDTA/SDTA, without transparent accounting or a plan to make educators whole, undermines trust across our industry.”
Abby Glassenberg
Co-founder
Abby co-founded Craft Industry Alliance and now serves as its president. She’s a sewing pattern designer, teacher, and journalist. She’s dedicated to creating an outstanding trade association for the crafts industry. Abby lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
