Diane Palmer asked:


If you love to sew, and quilt, then why not incorporate them into a business?

I find a great angle for a business like this, is to offer to finish other peoples quilts. I know you may prefer to make them from scratch and show them off at craft shows, but what happens is, many people will walk by your quilt, admire it, then say “Oh I have one I am trying to finish at home”

They feel too guilty to buy your quilt, because they have one they started years ago, and due to time, kids, stress and life, they just have not got it done, and it sits in a corner somewhere collecting dust.

Since quilting is your passion, then why not offer to finish off these quilts for a price?

Or, offer to start one from scratch with their fabrics and colors.

Another great quilt people like, since they are fairly quick, are the rag quilts. You could offer to create a rag quilt for your customer, using their fabrics, or fabric squares you have, and make a rag quilt in a weekend.

A rag quilt is much faster to make, there is not the fancy stitching afterwards, and these rag quilts actually get better the more times they are washed, so they make for a very useful quilt.

If you just want to make your own rag quilt, then there are many books on the subject, and you can purchase many fat quarters, or quilt squares online now. This is a great way to get some unique fabrics, as you are looking worldwide while on the internet.

Get quilting, and make some money.

how to make a rag quilt



Marc

Penny Halgren asked:


Have you ever looked at a box of memorabilia or trinkets and wondered what to do with it – other than close the lid and put it back on the shelf?

Maybe you have a collection of hankies from your grandmother. Or what about the bowl of buttons and the box of lace you’ve been saving for some project? Or maybe your husband, son, or boyfriend has a box of military medals.

You can easily share those treasures in a wall hanging style quilt.

Basic quilt blocks are the foundation for these memory quilts, and you will find an expression of creativity and soul as you develop the layout of your quilt and devise methods for attaching the objects.

Designing Your Quilt

Your collection should be the center of interest for your quilt or wall hanging. The first thing to do is pull your collection together and lay it out on a table.

Decide on a theme for your quilt. If you have a collection of gloves, your theme might be elegant parties. A collection of buttons might reflect memories of childhood. Those military medals might be to honor a soldier hero.

You might even want to make notes about your theme and thoughts to guide you as you make your quilt. Think, too, about keeping those notes as a journal for future generations to appreciate your creation.

Fabrics

Select fabrics that relate to the theme of your quilt – both in color and design. For example, you might not want to include a bright fabric with fire trucks in your memorabilia quilt with gloves representing elegant parties. However, that truck fabric might be perfect for a quilt with buttons from childhood.

Use a variety of lights, mediums and darks to give your quilt an interesting background, keeping in mind the mood of your quilt. A quilt with a somber mood might not be the place to put a wide selection of bright, fun fabrics.

Size of Your Quilt

Let your collection determine the size of your quilt or wall hanging. As you lay your collection out on the table, you will get a sense of how large your quilt needs to be in order to display your memorabilia in its best light. You may decide to add or remove some of the items; or even to make two quilts with your collection.

The Shape of the Quilt

Be open to a unique shape that might develop as you design your quilt. Your button quilt might be round; a quilt with military medals might take on the shape of a medal with the ribbon. Or, your collection may be perfect displayed on a traditional rectangular quilt. A hankie or collar quilt might have scalloped edges to echo the shape of the piece.

You may discover that the blocks within your quilt are different sizes, or even different shapes. For example, you may attach each glove to a block. You may place a short glove on a square block, while an elbow-length glove is better suited for a rectangular background. Be open to those different shapes, and know that you can always place strips of fabric around or between the blocks to piece the quilt.

Overall Look

As you design your quilt, keep in mind the idea of repetition in your quilt. By repeating themes, shapes and / or colors, your quilt or wall hanging will have the continuity of a traditional quilt while displaying the uniqueness of your collection.



Cindy

R.t. Markovsky asked:


What is machine quilting? It is using a machine to sew a quilt together. Think in terms of a very large sewing machine that is very flexible. If you have already been making quilts by hand and giving them to friends and relatives you may want to explore going a step further. You may want to take the plunge and start selling your wares.

So how does one transition from making quilts totally by hand to using a machine? For the small shop that does one quilt at a time and still wants to retain the more personal touch there are manual quilting machines. They allow you to create quilts that are very personal and still allow you to have the freedom to let your imagination run wild with your creations. In turn, going to a machine versus doing the work totally by hand will allow you to increase your production.

Looking further down the road, if your hobby/business keeps growing, you may want to look into getting a computerized quilting machine. With this, you can program in all the information about the quilt you are making and it will do the rest for you.

You can certainly count on there being manufacturers that create the machines to any level possible.

A good quality quilt is something that everyone loves and hands down from one generation to the next. Normally it would take a long time to make a quilt that people will want to pass on to their kids. With the use of quilting machines, you can dramatically increase the number of quilts you can make. With the manual quilting machine, you have greater control for the more personal touches that will make your quilts something that can be handed down.

There are websites and online forums that you can contact about your quilting machines and quilting business for futher advice. You don’t have be alone in the process of starting and building your business.

One of the best, and least expensive, ways for people to find out that you are there and what your product is to participate in local craft and hobby fairs or shows. There are probably a number of nearby craft shows where you can set up a table and be lucky enough to sell all the quilts you brought with you. That will let people see and touch your quilts so they can see the quality of the quilts for themselves.

This will give credibility to your quilts in ways that advertising and the internet can never do. Once people begin to know your quilts and their quality, they will begin to spread the word to their friends and relatives.

The principles of marketing and advertising will hold the same for quilting businesses as it does for any other type of hobby/craft business. You will need to define your target customers. Then figure out the best ways of reaching them while staying within your budget. Don’t underestimate the power of “word-of-mouth” advertising.

Many successful craft entrepreneurs have found that having parties at their own homes or those of friends or relatives provides more than enough business for them.



Willie