Meg Cox - Journalist, Author, Quilter, Traditions Expert

Quilt Journalist Tells All!
Meg Cox's e-News for Summer, 2010

I love summer and always look forward to my family's time at the beach, where my favorite activities are eating, walking, reading and quilting. I confess that while I took that Pulitzer-winning novel about the dying clockmaker on my vacation last month, the books I actually read were much breezier. One was a novel called A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick, a quilter and author new to me. It was a perfect summer read and I look forward to more in the series.

Here is one of the lines that proves Bostwick knows how a quilter thinks: "Buying broccoli or a blouse is just a transaction, but buying fabric for a quilt involves much more than just an exchange of money for goods: it is a commitment of time, an act of love, the opening paragraph of a story."

My Industry Rant

In case you missed it, the new report on America's quilting habits came out this spring. This Quilting in America survey for 2010 was released four years after the last one and the industry spin is all about how the quilt market grew to $3.6 billion from $3.3 billion. According to the study, presented by Quilters Newsletter in cooperation with International Quilt Market & Festival, the average quilter is spending about 27% more than she spent in 2006.

That's awesome news. But there hasn't been much buzz about a much less positive statistic. If this survey is correct, the population of quilters in this country plunged about 23%in the past four years to 21.3 million from 27.7 million. How on Earth did we manage to lose more than 6 million quilters?

I can imagine that some crafters think it's an expensive hobby in these tough times and that others get captivated by quilting for a while and then move on to knitting or weaving or whatever. But I've always assumed there is a natural cycle and other new quilters would replace the dropouts, especially at a time when quilting is so varied and exciting. Isn't someone, somewhere worried about this trend and spending time figuring out how to reverse it?

Here's what worries me: a great deal of the quilting business is already geared toward what the survey folks call "dedicated quilters," those who can afford $12,000 sewing machines, the quilters who buy an average of 93.6 yards of fabric a year. These gung-ho quilters don't blink at spending $8 for a spool of thread or $10 for a yard of fabric.

I'm cool with treating these folks like royalty and providing them with ever more gadgets for their high-tech needs. They have earned special consideration for helping to build the quilt industry into the sophisticated marketing machine that it is now.

But what about all the casual crafters and not-yet quilters who need a nudge? What about all the fallen-away quilters who have left the tribe? Who will speak to these people, show them what they are missing, lure them into our cozy community?

Why can't the quilting industry get together and collectively do something like the knitting crowd did to grow the audience, widen the tent? For knitters, events like the annual Knit in Public Day have been hugely successful in making knitting both hip and visible. The latest issue of Publishers Weekly had its annual feature on the craft market, and you wouldn't know quilting existed: it's all about knitting, jewelry, making "softies," and young DIY-ers with blogs and etsy shops.

I love all the campaigns and schemes to attract 20-somethings and 30-somethings to quilting. I think the outreach efforts are working and should be continued, even stepped up. But most of the people I run into who are "ripe prospects," ready to explore quilting after years of thinking about it, tend to be in their 50s and 60s. Or older. Who will tempt and then teach this crowd? I think our future quilters include a whole lot of folks, mostly women, who are aging baby boomers just about to retire.

All you companies out there who make sewing machines, fabric, notions and books, I'm begging you now -- please keep making things for the newer quilters AND the less-than-wealthy quilters. And find a way to multiply their numbers. Because these will be the dedicated quilters in surveys to come.

Is This The Future of Quilting Magazines?

There has been an explosion in quilt magazines in recent years, including the growth in luscsious imports like Quilt Mania from France (my personal favorite). But the latest wrinkle in quilting magazines can't be found at a newsstand or quilt shop near you. Suddenly, there is a wave of online quilt magazines.

Cruise maven Jim West of Sew Many Places started his quarterly online publication Quiltposium last September. The latest issue, out in June, boasted 230 pages (which to my taste is too much of offer onscreen). But West reports that more than 207,000 people have registered to view his publication, which is impressive. Quiltposium includes projects and travel articles, even recipes, mostly by quilt teachers and authors doing workshops on Sew Many Places tours. Despite the commercial aspect of promoting all the cruises, this publication is fun, filled with photos and side tangents like a "centerfold" interview with a famous quilter. And it's certainly worth the money: Quiltposium is free.

Unlike Quiltposium, new quilt e-zines Fat Quarterly and Quilting Arts in Stitches charge readers, costing as much as glossy paper magazines. I recently had an opportunity to review both these new publications and want to share my impressions. I'm sure there will be more online mags soon. One I know about is The Quilt Pattern Magazine, a monthly ezine that will cost $11.99 a year and debut early in 2011. The editor is Maria Hrabovsky of Maria Michaels Design and you can learn more at quiltpatternmagazine.com.

I've now seen two issues of Fat Quarterly. Issue 2 came out this week, following the debut issue in April. Each issue costs $8, which gets you 78 pages in the premiere issue and 90 in the second. A full year's subscription is $28. The publication is produced by 5 quiltmakers who met online, including 4 females and one guy quilter.

Each issue carries at least 6 patterns, with many offering more: there are 10 in the new issue. The look of FQ is the clean, so-called "modern" style, with updated traditional patterns, not horribly difficult, often bordered with loads of white fabric to show off the bright colors and bold prints. In addition to the projects, there are reviews, Q&A segments with popular fabric designers and authors like Valori Wells and Jane Brockett, and giveaways of fabric and books.

What I love about this fledgling publication is not just the projects, which are attractive and doable and include a nice mix of quilts and things like pillows and placemats, but the way this zine invites readers to participate. When there is a fabric giveaway, those who enter are asked to share how they would use the fabric. To get a book, the editors asked, "What types of books should we review here?" When the gaggle of editors take on a quilting challenge, they invite some readers to join them. Fat Quarterly is like a magazine/blog hybrid.

There were a few rough bits in the first issue, like spotlighting fabric designers and neglecting to give their actual names, only their studio name. But the quality took a leap in the second issue.I predict that Fat Quarterly will find a devoted audience and continue to improve in inventive ways. Get a peek by visiting their blog.

Then there is Quilting Arts in Stitches, which is in another league entirely, using all the latest tech tools in what I truly believe is a peek into the future of quilt magazines. It costs $14.99 to download and includes more than 60 minutes of video along with interviews, galleries, projects and still photos galore.

Publisher Interweave, which is already a multi-media player with properties that include its Quilting Arts tv show, hasn't yet said whether there will be subsequent issues of what they are calling their eMag, but the fact they trademarked that word tells you something. I would be shocked if they don't follow up on this soon, because it's just amazing.

Like Quilting Arts magazine, it delivers projects from noted art quilters with detailed how-tos, but there is so much more here. As a viewer, you can zoom in and study the entire surface of a quilt. You can view a gallery of other projects by artist if you choose. It feels similar to the paper magazine but is its own thing. It seems compact, but deep, like content is stacked in layers inside your computer. If you want to know more about the artist, you click on her photo and get a bio. Click on a vertical bar for a list of materials.

It can be difficult to pick up a technique demonstrated only in flat, static photos. But here you can click on a video tutorial, watch the artists' hands move under her sewing machine and hear her voice. It feels immediate and personal, an experience you create yourself as you decide what to see next. The navigation tools are intuitive and effective. I learned so much about topics like machine satin stitch and I felt truly pulled into these women's studios. There is such a feeling of muchness here: like the 9 different mini videos from Leah Day demonstrating her free-motion quilting designs.

That said, there are some downsides. I wasn't able to view this publication until I replaced my 5-year-old iMac with one boasting Apple's new operating system (which I need to do in any case). Being cutting-edge excludes a large potential audience for now. Then there is the issue of portability and archivability: many readers of Quilting Arts save and treasure back issues. Is it the same when the issue is just another computer file?

Publishing geeks say we are close to merging text and visuals online seamlessly and instantly and I believe this technology is perfect for quilting. Amazon.com just hit the milestone of selling more e-books than hardcovers, and the next generation of e-books will embed video in books as well as magazines. I think Quilting Arts in Stitches gives us a first thrilling taste of how quilters will benefit from the coming e-publishing revolution.

News Flash from the Alliance for American Quilts

There is loads going on at the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts and I cannot believe my first year as president is winding down already. I was voted president at our board meeting last August in Lincoln, Nebraska and we're meeting again in a few weeks in Vermont.

Here are three things I feel compelled to share:

ONE The first interview I ever conducted for our oral history project, Quilters' S.O.S.- Save Our Stories, was with Ricky Tims' father, Richard, who also quilts. He isn't a big talker, very modest, but I love a chance to spotlight an unexpected quilter. My interview was just posted at the AAQ website. His quilt is a stunner and it will be one of about 10 QSOS quilts at Quilt Festival this fall in an exhibition called "If These Quilts Could Talk."

TWO While on the homepage, click on the item about our summer membership drive. Every person who joins by the end of August, for as little as $25, gets entered into a drawing to win some great stuff. Prizes include Moda fabric, an AccuQuilt "Go" cutter and a great big stash of Guttermann thread. Come support the most amazing archive of quilts, from four centuries, and be part of something big and important. Trust me, this is one happening organization and you will be hearing a lot of exciting plans in the near future.

THREE One more thing to do on the homepage: check out the 117 quilts contributed for our New From Old contest. There are many gems here. Fall auction dates on eBay are posted now too. Stay tuned for news about next year's theme!

One Quilter's Bold Idea for Raising Funds

I love watching to see what brash young quilter Luke Haynes will do next. He is ambitious, fearless, innovative and not shy about seeking attention. His quilts are exciting too. Now he is using a hot new website that creative types use to raise money called Kickstarter.com. Through Kickstarter.com, Luke is inviting people to donate money to buy supplies for the super large quilts he is making for his upcoming quilt show in New York. Just go to the Kickstarter.com site and type his name into the search box, or go via his website, LukeHaynes.com. One of the fun aspects is that each donor is getting something back from Luke, from a small memento to a whole customized quilt.

Well, I'm taking off August and I'll be back in your in-box in September. I hope that if you found my e-news illuminating or entertaining, you will forward it to friends, colleagues or fellow guild members. New subscribers can join the fun by sending a blank e-mail to quilters-join@megcox.com.

Quilt on!

love, Meg
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