Focus on Quilting
Quilting has been around for centuries, and it is a way in which material is used in patchwork sections sewn together to make another item. These items can range from a traditional bedspread through to quilted table runners and coasters. There are a number of ways that you can establish yourself as a quilter and for some people this may include moving into the sale of your finished items. You may be wondering what the answer to questions such as Do you need public liability insurance for a craft stall? is and it is important that you explore all of these important business requirements when you first start looking at producing items for sale.
As a craft, quilting has made a spectacular return over the last couple of years. This has been in part been due to the rise in a number of high-profile crafters that have shared their knowledge and skills with wider audiences. One such example is the late Melanie Ham.
Melanie was an avid crafter from a very young age, and it was in fact her mother who taught her how to quilt. With her husband away in the forces in America and Melanie bringing up two young children, she turned to crafting to help her build connections with others and she founded her You Tube channel. As well as sharing step by step guides on how to make a number of quilted items, Melanie also shared tips and instructions for other crafts such as crochet and macrame. Over time her You Tube channel grew to 800,000 and she regularly shared updates across all of her social media channels. In 2020 Melanie was diagnosed with an aggressive, rare cancer and she passed away in January 2022. Her You Tube channel still remains for people to learn the art of quilting.
Quilting can be traced back as far as medieval times and there are examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum of items from Europe, the Far East and India. This textile method of sewing layers of material together come from the Latin word ‘culcita’ which means cushion or bolster. It is thought that this referred to the padded texture of the items that were created.
The earliest forms of quilting were used to make bed covers, and this remains a popular quilting option today. Many of these items would be passed down through the generations and would become family heirlooms. Today people often make smaller items using quilting that can then be sold at craft fairs and through other platforms. When looking to sell your items at fairs you need to be sure you know what the requirements are in relation to questions such as Do you need public liability insurance for a craft stall? and whether you need to have any particular labelling on your items. It is important that your items are advertised as home ware and that they are not marketed as toys, unless you have the appropriate safety certificates.
In medieval times items of clothing were also made using quilting and the most popular items were jackets and overcoats. These would be worn on special occasions or used for wear underneath armour to help provide some protection from the metal against the body.
Quilting can be undertaken using a sewing machine or completed by hand. In the case of English Paper Quilting, individual sections of material are taken and tacked around a small hexagonal, triangular or square piece of paper. These pieces are then sewn together by hand. Once the pattern has been completed the entire piece is then machine sewn onto a backing material and batting and wadding may be used as a middle layer to provide some padding.
When quilting by machine it is possible to not only join together each element of the quilt but to also combine the batting, wadding, and backing material together with ease. Once the quilt is completed, some sewers like to sew intricate designs onto the right side of the quilt. This topstitching helps to add an element of design to the quilt.
If you are looking to find a way to sell your quilted items, it is important that you think about the cost of each item that you make. Smaller items for example may be quicker to make but you may sell them for a lower price. Large items such as bedcovers will take longer for you to make and will cost more for people to buy. Be sure when you look at pricing to include your materials, times and sundries. At Craft Insurance we can help you up to answer the question “Do you know the answer to Do you need public liability insurance for a craft stall?” Then you can factor in any costs associated with insurance and marketing your stall or other costs linked to items that you buy for displaying your items on your stand and packaging them up for people to take home.
Popular items that people like to buy that are quilted include bags and purses, coasters and table runners as well as small clothing items like skirts. Seasonal items such as Christmas stockings and even easter bunting and other decorations can be made using a quilting technique. It is important to ensure that you pick the material that is most appropriate for the final item that you are going to be creating. If your material is delicate make sure that you give your customers information on how to care for and wash their items to help avoid damage occurring. This also gives an added element of customer care that will help to keep your customers coming back time and time again and will also encourage them to recommend your business to others.