The Modern Quilter/Sewist Speaks, Part I

What a bunch of accomplished, impassioned, prolific, dedicated needle-jockeys! We’re talking about you, Q-Bie. And our information is unimpeachable, because it came from straight from you in the Modern Quilting & Sewing Survey that Generation Q conducted during the latter months of 2011.

We wanted to begin quantifying the whos, whys and wherefores of the modern/contemporary quilting and sewing niche, so we launched our first survey early last fall. And nearly 700 of you took the time to spill your heart and soul onto Survey Monkey, for which we are deeply grateful.

We learned tons in the process, not only about you and your stitchy habits, but also developed a snapshot—if you will—of this market niche in general. Thanks for  sharing so much with us, and we think it’s only fair to re-share the results with you, our faithful readers. Are you ready for your close-up?

How you learned to sew

More than 73.8% of you are self-taught. Congrats, baby! What a testament to your desire to learn. You got to pick more than one answer on this one. Here’s more detail:

• Family—57.3%
• Classes—52.5%
• Books—46.7%
• YouTube videos—18.5%
• Friend—17.5%
• Other videos—5.7%

What you like to sew

No surprise here…98% of you like to make quilts. But you also turn out other sewn goodies.

• Purses/Totes/Bags—64.9%
• Home Dec items—55.7%
• Clothing—42.9%
• Other Accessories—41.2%

Your needles are smokin’!

More than 35% of you have made 9 or more quilts in the past 12 months. (We’re so proud!) But the rest of you certainly weren’t sitting on your hands.

• 0-2 quilts—10.5%
• 3-5 quilts—30.4%
• 6-8 quilts—23.6%

Quilty things you want to learn

No surprise here. More than 70% of you want to learn more about machine quilting. (Uh, same here!) But you also want to learn soooo much more. (This was another of those “check all that apply” questions.)

• Designing quilts—62.3%
• Paper piecing—46.4%
• Machine appliqué—40.7%
• Machine piecing—34%
• Hand quilting—30.1%
• Fusible appliqué—29.6%
• Strip piecing—29.5%
• Hand embroidery—24.2%
• Hand appliqué—23.3%
• String piecing—21.9%
• Machine embroidery—13.7%
• Beading—12.6%

How you get your stitch on

Several questions asked about your social sew-ness. Almost 45% of you hang out with other stitchers in a real-time mini-group or sewing bee. And 37.5% of you belong to a quilting/sewing guild. Some of you—nearly 13%–belong to more than one guild.

Online is far more important, it seems, with 55.6% participating in an online sewing/quilting/crafting group or message
board.

To pattern—or not

Not clear-cut, this. Roughly 62% of you sometimes use a pattern when making a quilt. About 14% of you never resort to someone else’s vision, while 23.4% find patterns a good option.

Now, if you’re going to use a pattern, it probably comes from a magazine or a book. Here’s the full breakdown:

• Magazines/Books—42.6%
• Blog tutorials—23.2%
• Brick-and-mortar shops—12.7%
• PDF downloads—11.4%
• Online shops—5.5%
• Quilt shows—2.9%
• Friends—1.7%

Style is a moving concept

We are not surprised here, either. Almost 48% call their style “eclectic,” meaning it’s all over the place. (And we concur. There are so many great styles…why be locked into a narrow definition?) Here’s how it shakes out:

• Modern—20.8%
• Contemporary—10.5%
• Traditional—8.3%
• Art—7%
• Primitive–.5%
• Other—5.1%

Your sewing machine’s BFF…

…Is your computer. Predictably, this machine shares pride of place with your sewing machine. More than 76% use it for finding tutorials for projects. But the bytes don’t stop there.

• Sourcing fabric or tools—74.4%
• Connecting with other quilters/sewists—72%
• Downloadable PDF patterns—66.4%
• Finding out about quilt shows and events—56.7%
• Designing quilts—39.6%

Other chit-chat

• You’re kinda evenly split on the subject of taking classes, with 53.3% saying “Yes!” and the rest of you saying “Meh.”
• Nearly 70% of you feel pretty solid about your sewing skills, with the rest feeling like beginners (13.9) and some who know it all (17.1)
• Quilty-wise, things are slightly different. Just over 63% of you feel intermediate, but strong; almost 17% still feel like novices, and almost 20% of you are totally experts.
• Shout-out to all those companies who are working on quilty/stitchy apps. More than 81% do NOT currently use apps on your smart phones. Now, maybe that’s just a question of the apps’ effectiveness, and we all know how time affects technology. It’ll be interesting to see how this question changes in the months to come.

There’s more to share, but your—and our—eyes are probably glazing over at this point. Tune in next week, when we share more details from the 2011 survey.