Results from the Quilters Community Survey
Key Takeaways from our quilters survey.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Quilters Community Survey. 104 of you took part and completed the survey for me, and I was so pleased with the response to the survey.
It is a really exciting time to be part of the quilting community and I wanted to create this survey to see what I can do to grow myself and our community.
I asked you 14 questions and below are the responses to those answers.
The first question I asked you was how long you had been quilting, and we have roughly an even split of 1 - 3 years, 4 - 10 years and over 10 years, with just a few of you that have been quilting for less than a year.
The next question was around what level of quilter are you? 60% of you are intermediate, and 25% consider yourself to be a beginner quilter.
Question 3 was asking you how often do you have time to quilt? 16% of you quilt and sew on a daily basis, and a huge 52% of you are able to sew weekly.
When I asked what techniques you like to use most often, a whopping 96 of you like patchworking, followed by 75 of you machine quilting. I was really pleased to see that 48 of you like to applique, and watch this space as I am working on some applique patterns for 2025.
English paper piecing and foundation paper piecing were neck and neck, followed by hand quilting. And 8 of you longarm, which I think is a big number out of 104 surveyers.
I asked you what type of items you like making the most and we have a huge variety of items that we like to make, with bed quilts being the most popular, and the runner up is bags and pouches.
Our favourite quilting tools are quilting rulers and rotary cutters. With seam rollers, clappers and the Stripology ruler that were favourites in the “other” section.
41% of you purchase your quilting supplies on-line, and 25% of you grab your supplies from your local quilt shop.
84 of you learn new techniques online, from YouTube, Blogs, Newsletters etc. 25% of you attend in person classes, and I can see that will be growing in the future.
It was interesting to see where you get your inspiration from, with Facebook being the top one, followed closely by Instagram and YouTube. I was surprised by these results as I would of thought that Pinterest would of been one of the top places to get inspiration from.
It was nearly a 50 50 split on if you were a member of a quilting group or guild.
The majority of you connect with other quilters in Facebook Groups, and I do find this encouraging as I have personally been working in my own Facebook Group to build our community of quilters. If you want to join us I have posted the link below, and our group is called Made on the Cut.
(1) Made on the Cut, quilting and sewing group | Facebook
YouTube is also a growing place to connect with other quilters, and if you have a favourite quilter that you follow on YouTube you will see that there is a place called “community” on their channel, it is always worth going and exploring that to see what they and their community are up to.
A question that I wanted to ask you was “what challenges do you face as a quilter”. A large number of you have difficulty finding time to sew or quilt. Around 40% of you have the challenge of finishing projects, and I wonder if that is because we all love starting something new, and are then eager to get onto the next thing.
I was interested to see that around 40 of you found choosing fabrics a struggle, and I must admit I seem to spend an age just pulling fabric from my stash and then letting it sit on the side as a sort of audition for my next project.
I wanted to know what type of content you would like me to include in the newsletters going forward, with tutorials and sewing tips being at the top, along with project ideas and inspiration. Watch out for more tutorials and sewing and quilting tips.
I finally asked you to write any other comments , and below are a few of my favourites:-
Would love more scrap busting quilt ideas.
I wish I could get to in person classes or events, the Quilters Showtime helps me feel connected.
I love all your patterns and I would love you to do a sew a long on you tube or Instagram. I find full length videos really helpful as a beginner.
I really like buying kits. It means I know that the fabrics go together and work for the pattern. It also gives me access to fabric that's not available in my local shop.
Thanks for being here!
This one made me cry - in a good way.
Thank you so much for participating in this survey, you have all given me a lot to think about, and how I can better serve my community of quilters. If you wanted to join our Facebook Community here is the link
(1) Made on the Cut, quilting and sewing group | Facebook
I also have a YouTube channel, where you can subscribe to see tutorials, vlogs, and join the community over there.
Welcome aboard my floating sewing studio on The Grand Union Canal, by Tracy Perks Quilt Pattern Des.
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Look out for my next blog on Finding Time to Sew!
