Sunday 14 April 2013

A Question for You

Hello again! I'm like buses - silent for ages then 3 posts in quick succession!

I have a question for our members following a mention of modern quilting and young adults taking up quilting on the Yahoo group for the Quilters Guild Contemporary Group. A newly elected Trustee of the Quilters Guild has emailed me to ask:

What you think The Guild might do to make itself more attractive to this age/interest group?

I'd really welcome your input on this so please  leave a comment below if you have any suggestions or comments or email me (quilthaze at gmail dot com).

Just to be clear - some of us in YMQG are members of the Quilters Guild but we don't mind at all if you're not . If you're not a member of the Guild you could take a look at their website to find out more: http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/



4 comments:

  1. I think there's something needed from thoise at the top to suggest that the guild would actually welcome links with groups such as the Modern Quilt Groups - more often the comments heard tend to be the "who do they think they are" kind (as on several discussions on various Yahoo groups recently including those involving QG members). So far the Guild - publicly at any rate - seems to be turning its back on the newer groups which tend to attract younger people. For example there hasn't been an article in The Quilter on MQGs which amazes me!

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  2. I think Hilary Beattie summed up the problem in her comment on the CQ site. Quilting isn't something that is high on the agenda for most youngsters. It!'s only when you get a bit older that you start taking an interest in making things rather than in having a good time with your friends etc and I don't think there is much the guild can do to attract youngsters who have better things to do. However, for the ones who are interested I think the guild should have better publicity and run local workshops events etc where youngsters can have a go at making the sort of things they like, e.g. iPad covers etc. The guild does have a fuddy duddy image to overcome whether they like it or not and as recent comments have shown this is nothing to do with age. So putting adverts in quilting magazines etc would be a waste of time but there are local radio stations, papers, sites like Facebook and twitter that might reach a younger audience to tell them about upcoming events. It might also be worth contacting local schools and colleges. It might take a while and it will involve a lot of effort. Depends really whether the guild are up for it! Hope this helps.
    Penny

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    Replies
    1. I think the Quilters Guild needs to recognisethat charging non members 50% more than the members e.g. recently £37.50 for a 6 hour session is never going to be a winner with younger quilters (or potential quilters) when they can go to You Tube and blogs and with tutorials they can access free.

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  3. Maybe the question is why would young people want to join? I am not a member but I quilt in my own way and am teaching my 14 year old daughter who is very excited about making quilts, in her own way. I once approached a member of the QG at a show in Manchester and asked her if there was any other way to make the lone star pattern. In a haughty voice she told me you HAVE to paper piece it. There was no discussion about why it was the best way or why to wouldn't work any other way. No discussion, no education, just do it this way. Explains why I don't join groups.
    PS. I had the same experience with rag rugging. Maybe it's endemic in some groups.

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