The State of the Quilt Industry
Sailing on Narragansett Bay, RI, photo by James Cummings. “We can’t change the course of the winds; we can only adjust the sails.”
This is an inside view of recent happenings in the quilt industry and its current state of affairs. Cranston Printworks in Webster, Massachusetts no longer prints fabrics. They were the last holdout for American printed fabrics, as far as I know.
Fabrics are being produced overseas, as are most printed books with color pages. Why? One reason is that the United States has environmental laws that control manufacturers’ pollutants. I am told that in China and other places, rivers run red with dye. Another reason is “cheap labor.”
Thinking that “more” is always better, companies who produce books churn them out by the dozens. Quilt book manufacturers cater to those quilters who still demand new patterns. The result is little or no inclusion of quilt history. These companies are basically all competing for the same market.
Long arm machines and machine quilters rule the day. Long arm, room size machines now sell for up to $50,000, with the average costing about $30,000. Bernina sewing machines sell for about $10,000. and are computerized.
“Fast” and “done” are the two operative words for machine work. Hand-piecers and hand-quilters are seen as dull and boring people, mainly because their craft/art is not making big bucks for the dealers, or teachers of long-arm techniques.
On the other hand, long arm quilting is a cottage industry. Done well, long arm quilting is as beautiful as any other quilting. The operative words are “done well.” Personally, I do not care for the overall, pantograph look that overlays piecework. That’s what we see, in show after show.
Recently, there was a huge take-over in the magazine industry with one money company buying out a number of magazine titles; one major one was in an 11th hour situation, facing bankruptcy.
Due to the economy, advertisers are not paying their bills to any of the magazines. This has resulted in some designers not being paid at all, or getting an “I owe you,” and others who work for magazines experiencing a long delay before being paid.
One by one, quilt shops all over the country are calling it quits altogether and closing their doors forever. They simply cannot juggle all the costs of staying in business as a store-front entity. Some former shop owners now sell their wares on the Internet, not an ideal situation, given rising postage costs.
Quilters have been hit by the recession and everyone who has anything to do with quilting, on a professional level, seems to be suffering. I did not go to Quilt Market, where business owners buy fabrics, etc. to stock their shelves. I heard that it was a dismal turnout a few months ago.
So, like a row of Dominoes, everything seems to be falling. The stash of quilting fabrics that quilters like to accumulate because we love fabric, is not helping the shops to stay in business. However, our stashes will keep us going with projects for a long time to come, and so will the hundreds of books, patterns, and other quilt-related items that most quilters acquire.
Those who don’t know better can dream that we are all still in a boom time in the quilting industry. Not so at all, from what I can determine. The energy is still there, and the interest, but right now, I fear for the lasting effects of this recession.
Patricia Cummings, nationally-certified master craftsman in quilting, and professional quilt historian and writer, lecturer, designer, and quilt judge
Quilter’s Muse Publications
August 1st, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Found you from the twitter. Disturbing isn’t it? I’ve been shocked that knockoff internet t.v. shows are copying Alex Anderson and ricky Timms. Including the one with Mark what’s his name. I thought we were supposed to be the CREATIVE people!
Thanks for the comments about hand quilting. I am tired of being treated like a bore for enjoying it–or like I must be 100 years old! I love it. Machine quilting is not as soul-feeding for me, though I know it is for others. Maybe if I had a long-arm I could get into it…
Thanks for the thoughts.
August 1st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Yes, the alternate Internet show claims to have acquired an entire library of almost all the quilt teachers’ videos who have ever taught on television. These monopolies in the quilt world, and the BIG MONEY that quilting has become is rather disturbing to me.
I don’t want a long arm machine. I’ll poke along with my Singer Featherweight, or old Bernina, for some machine piecing, and for the most part, I’ll stick to hand piecing, hand quilting, hand embroidery, and hand beading. It’s very relaxing. Thanks for writing, Kevin.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:59 pm
WOW…….. ! I deeply admire Pat and all the work she has done on the historical end of quilting. She is knowledgeable, researches her subject well and has her photographer husband at her side to document all that matters. As the founder of Machine Quilters Exposition, Pat has been an ardent supporter of not only the show (she’s reviewed it three times) but of me personally for which I will always be grateful. Having attended a lecture (maybe two) with Pat and consider her a friend, I hope that she will appreciate some differing thoughts. I would like to address some of the subjects she has brought forth…………
It is very sad that Cranston is no longer manufacturing fabric in this country and in New England. They held out as long as they possibly could but probably succumbed to economic pressures in rising labor costs and retail pricing.
I wish the world would fall into line with environmental practices as the United States has done and is continuing to do. As the winds blow eastward, our own air may well be tainted by this lack of respect for the environment in far eastern countries. Although fresh water may well seem to be in infinite supply, rest assured it is not and we may all pay the price one day.
With regard to the pricing of longarm quilting machines, the pricing mentioned is not quite accurate. There are smaller home systems that go for as low as $6K, longarm machines probably average about $15K and the high end computerized systems (yes, still for home use) may run as high as $32K. I’ve not seen a system that goes for $50K unless it is used in the industrial end of the industry for those cheapo comforters seen in Wal-Mart and JC Penney for $50 or $100.
The “overall look” can be done well or it can be done poorly. There’s poor quality hand quilting out there too. Granted, not as much but it is there. In any industry there is poor quality and there’s high quality so I certainly hope that overall (aka pantograph or edge-to-edge) quilting isn’t lumped all together as being poor quality. Poor quality machine quilting gives all machine quilters that strive to improve our craft a bad name. The overall look may not be pleasing to everyone but it does serve a purpose…. again, if done well.
You will likely see poor quality machine quilting at smaller quilt shows and possibly guild shows. I know that I joined one of the four guilds I belong to because the machine quilting was unbelievably poor. Attending their guild show horrified me and made me rush to the membership desk to sign up. It was a good thing because the quality of quilts being shown in this particular guild has improved dramatically.
On the “fast and done” comment, I’ve addressed the poor quality aspect of it above but let’s view this from a slightly different perspective. We are a society of instant gratification. Most of us won’t live long enough to hand quilt all the unfinished quilt tops in our possession. So, do we leave behind a cedar chest full of quilt tops for our children to wonder what to do with or should we figure out how to get them finished so they can be enjoyed by ourselves, family and friends?
As a professional machine quilter for the last 10 years, I have finished some antique quilts that should NOT have been finished by me. Even my insistance that I help find a hand quilter fell on deaf ears. So what do I do? I finished them to the best of my ability allowing these people to enjoy grandma’s quilt every day. Thankfully, there have only been two or three instances this has occurred….. I cringe to even mention them!
OK, sorry, I digress. Back to the “fast and done.” My take on this is that the machine quilting industry may well have prolonged the life of some quilt shops. Let’s face it, the more people buy fabric, make quilts and get them finished the quicker that cycle of buy, make, finish will be repeated. Doesn’t that make sense? Quilts are being used for interior decorating, holiday decorating, gifts (baby, holiday, graduation, wedding, to name a few), charity, comfort, etc. There are more quilts out there
BECAUSE of the speed of machine quilting.
Economic struggles will highlight the poorly run quilt shops and they will go by the wayside. The shops that are proactive about developing and retaining a customer base will survive. These same shops exhibit flexibility, and a willingness to adjust have not only survived but flourished. Whether we like it or not, we are seekers of bargains and couple that with a struggling economy will force many to buy online at less expensive prices. Economic stresses and the ever-evolving internet have forced many shops to close their brick and mortar store to sell exclusively online.
I did not attend Houston this past fall so I cannot speak to what happened there. In 2007 I was there helping a friend who is a fabric designer for both Market and Festival as a vendor. The quilts were wonderful but I cannot say that the vending experience was positive at all. (Let me say that I developed a new found respect for my own show’s vendors with that experience.) Near the end of Market as I yawned and a show executive came by on a motorized thing-a-ma-jig her comment to me was, “now that isn’t very productive” left a sour taste in my mouth.
At Festival, the going-out-of-business toy store booth that was across from us with beanie babies, puzzles and toys at 50% off certainly wasn’t quilt related at all which left me wondering. That wasn’t the only booth of that kind either.
In closing, none of us knows where the chips will fall for the quilting industry. Maybe the big quilt publishing houses, big quilt shows will become smaller, leaner and ultimately operate better. Who knows? I personally believe that it is up to us in our own special way to do the best we can.
Kevin and Pat, I applaud you both for remaining steadfast in your beliefs about hand quilting. You are to be admired since many of us are not blessed with the time and talent it takes to do beautiful hand quilting.
The internet shows, I’ll refrain from commenting since I just recently took part in one. OK, so I’m shameless in promoting machine quilting….. what can I say?
Now I’m really ducking for cover!
Janet-Lee Santeusanio
Founder, Machine Quilters Exposition http://www.MQXShow.com
Machine Quilter, http://www.woodlandmanorquilting.com
August 1st, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Hi Janet-Lee,
Yes, I knows ya and I luvs ya. Thanks for the correction on the amount of money long-arm machines are currently sold. So much for listening to hearsay.
My experience with having a quilt machine-quilted by someone else consists of one time only. I had paper pieced a gorgeous scene of a covered bridge in autumn from a delightful pattern by that Vermont couple (I never hear of them any more).
This was to be a gift for my niece, and the quilt top came out just beautiful! I was not quite sure how to proceed to hand quilt something that had been paper-pieced, so I took it to a shop (no longer in business).
She (the owner) farmed out the project to someone who quilted in on a regular sewing machine. Ay, Caramba. When I got it back, all kinds of threads were hanging off the back in one big massive tangle.
I thought I’d save time, but the quilter had just had a baby and also was a Jehovah’s Witness who still had to “witness,” and had other children.
I gave the quilt away, telling the recipient to just enjoy the beautiful front and to never look at the back. Since then, I have not wanted to have anyone else finish my work. If I drop dead before a quilt is done, then someone, somewhere might want to finish it. If not, I don’t care. I’ll be too busy pushing up the daisies.
As always, I enjoyed your thoughts, Janet-Lee. No need to duck for cover on my account. You’ve always been a good friend and I don’t see that ever changing. You’re also one of the best in the machine quilting field, and I applaud you!
Peace and piece,
Pat
August 1st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Oh gosh Pat, I’m so sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience. Makes me ill….. especially that it happened to you. Did we not know each other then? If (and I know that is a huge “if”) there is another time you need a quilt quilted, you know where to find me or I will point you in the direction of someone that won’t ruin your quilt.
Enjoy these few nice days……… I may have to quit quilting and take up woodworking to build an ARK!
Janet-Lee
August 8th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
A lively and timely topic. I read every word with great interest, and I too worry about the future of quilting arts in America.
As a quilter & optimist at heart, I choose to hope & pray our industry weathers the recession and responds/emerges with a renewed sense of its roots: creating frugal and beautiful solutions to everyday, practical needs (which includes both functional pieces & art), and secondly: to nourish the community of souls who call themselves quilters and support the industry. I’ve attended several fairly large quilting shows this year (expo-center size), and all were extremely well attended and the cash registers at the vendors were busy. I did notice that the busy vendors were the ones that had something special to offer: discounted fabrics were a big draw, another was hard to find or uncommon notions. The vendors that didn’t differentiate themselves in some appealing or functionally useful way were not as busy.
I, too, relish the diversity of quilting and quilters, and I come from a long line of hand quilters. I can do both hand and machine quilting, and choose the technique appropriate to the project and the schedule. Usually the item is to be given away for a certain event and to get it done on time usually means that I machine quilt it. I’m a firm believer that all types of quilting and related techniques can live in harmony. I resonate with the idea that the more publicity quilting gets, even quirky, non-traditional ones, the more accessible it becomes and the more new people we will welcome to the quilting community. Like everything else, a person has to start somewhere, and the image of a world full of quilters is a very pleasing and peaceful one to me.
The last thing I wanted to share was related to offshore fabric manufacture. I’ve just noticed in the last month the Connecting Threads ads in the quilting magazines have been highlighting their commitment to selling fabrics where the cotton is grown in the U.S. and printed in North America. This applies to their new collections. While most of their fabric collections generally don’t appeal to me, personally, I do applaud their commitment to bring manufacture back to this continent, and that action does motivate me to take a closer look at what they are offering.
Thank you for raising this very important topic and given us an opportunity to share our thoughts. I hadn’t seen your blog before but will definitely seek it out again.
All the best,
Dorothy
August 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I’ved enjoyed reading the comments, and I always learn something when connecting with another quilter. I certainly agree with the comments on the “edge to edge” or pantograph quilting not being desirable. My term for it is “mattress pad quilting” and typically I will make a negative comment on it when judging. However, that said, I DO admire good machine quilting, whether on a home sewing machine or long-arm machine. A friend of mine, Gail Belmont, of Valley Springs, CA, does some of the best long-arm quilting I’ve had the privilege of seeing. I don’t want a long-arm machine, however, although hubby would love to have one! — I prefer hand-quilting, and that is the only quilting skill I teach. I do quilt my own quilts on a home machine, and have several different ones that I use for different types of quilt work. I do teach how to make your quilt an award winner, what appraisers consider and why you should have your quilt appraised, and my travel programs geared to quilting — but I don’t teach piecing or special techniques. I have a waiting list for my hand-quilting classes……so, you see, it’s not a dead skill, yet.
August 8th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Thanks for your thoughts, Dorothy.
I don’t know where you live, but in New England, we see all kinds of housing … from brand new developments to stately older homes, old farmhouses, and even shacks by the side of the road. By the way, have you ever heard the expression that a shack with flowers out front is really a “cottage?”
If you’ll allow me to make this analogy to quilting, I think we can see similarities between houses and quilts. Some are built with love and care and a lot of money; some are thrown together, sometimes with recycled materials. All serve a purpose.
Some quilters just plug along with needle and thread, sewing by hand, in time honored tradition. Others have to have every new gadget and machine, under the sun.
Nothing much as changed over the centuries. To own a sewing machine at all was to be on the cutting edge of the latest, in the mid-19th century. We see quilts from that time that are now called, “Baltimore Beauties.” In contrast, if they’ve lasted, we may see what some would consider to be “rags,” although the later tend to get thrown away much more quickly, while the well-made quilts are preserved in museums. Even some “rags” reside in museums, perhaps collected at a time when a museum would take anything given them. I’ve seen some, personally.
What I am saying exactly reiterates your idea that there is room for everyone. People can choose what type of quilt to make and how they want to make it. That’s what makes quilting, as a field, dynamic and invigorating. If we did not bring new concepts to the process, and if quilting were not a vehicle for expression, it would soon be a tired-out and tiresome occupation.
A Log Cabin quilt, made in the same way, with the same fabrics, would always be the same old thing. Instead of “off to make the donuts,” like the guy in the commercial, it would be “off to make the quilts,” delivered in a bored and boring fashion.
We have come along way since the quilt revival started in the 1960s and 70s. In fact, we have come too far to go backward. The idea of quilts has revived the American spirit, and we don’t have too look far to see what quilting means to thousands of quilters and quilt appreciators.
Patricia Cummings