A lot of moms groups create smaller hobby groups within their group. If scrapbooking or book clubs aren't your thing and you like to sew in the company of other moms, try establishing a quilting circle. Recently, I had the honor of interviewing Bradie Sparrow, quilting guru and co-founder of Quiltcetera with her husband, Matt. I was so grateful that she took the time to answer my questions and I hope you enjoy her insight as much as I do.
Jessica: How do you connect with other moms?
Bradie: I meet a lot of moms locally. Having Seven kids in all sorts of activities, I'm exposed to New Moms everyday. Lately I have been connecting with old friends on facebook, as well as meeting other women through other online efforts.
I have recently become a blogging mommy
at themattandbradiebunch.blogspot
I also try to keep a profile at most social networks to make it easy to connect with new quilters and Mom's alike.
Bradie: I've taken a number of quilting classes locally and was always disappointed that the support ends the minute the class ends. If you didn't pick up everything in that time frame you find yourself out of luck.
I wanted to create a place that new and and experienced quilters could come to learn quilting basics at their own pace.
I love the idea of photo and video tutorials, as they are so easy to refer back to as you learn. I have to say though that I have really enjoyed streaming live the most of all. My husband Matt (known as @OCanaDad on twitter) has spent the last decade perfecting the art that is SEO, site design and site management. This is a project that needs both of our total commitment.
He convinced me that we needed to create our content slowly and introduce it across various platforms like Twitter, Cre8buzz, Youtube and UStream among others.
After reading Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin, we decided to build our brand, content and our audience concurrently, engaging them for their their feedback and turning their questions and concerns into user generated content.
After a short few months, that seemed like years, what we quickly learned was that the global quilting conversation we initiated would soon develop a life of it's own. We are constantly answering questions from new quilters and literally have dozens of tutorials planned thanks to all the great input.
Bradie: I am assuming that the group is to be conducted online, so I think setting up a Yahoo! group is ideal. Any activities, lessons, photos, etc, can be stored in the group for easy access by all members. Sure Yahoo! Groups are archaic but they offer ease of use and I'm almost certain that everyone on the planet has a Yahoo! id.
I have found the best part to be the mail management system. I'm always surprised at how reliable this service is. I like that you can set it up, so that new messages go out to the entire group. I can even upload files and have them delivered by email to all the groups members, on a set schedule.
Another great feature is that the groups owner has complete control over moderators and members, as well as permissions to all of the groups features.
Bradie: Absolutely! That has been our focus right from the start, teaching new quilters quilting basics. Here are several beginner projects that we have made tutorials for.
The TagAlong Baby Quilt Tutorial
Pretty Quilted Placemat Instructions
Fabric Origami Purse Pattern
Jessica: How often should a quilting circle (is that what it is called?) meet?
Bradie: If you love quilting as much as we do, you'll want to meet everyday. But seriously, it depends on the groups objective. I'm the vice president of a large guild that meets monthly and The founder of a jr guild that meets weekly, it seems the smaller the group the easier getting together will be.
You should also consider if you are meeting to discuss quilting or actually sew together.
Bradie: Here are the four essentials to get started. Rotary cutter, Cutting Mat, Ruler, Sewing Machine. You can usually find a beginner kit containg the first three on the list. These kits will be just fine to get you started.
Funny you should ask about the tools! We felt this was the first thing a new quilter should know so we created tutorials to introduce them to what we see as essential quilting tools. These are the first videos we created and the quality is a little embarrassing. We also filmed all our videos using Ustream which caused a delay because of the live stream. We are not happy with this delay and as a result we will be using Imovie to capture future videos.
Bradie: I can honestly say that my hubby has learned right along side me, I literally have two or three days more experience than him. As for the 7 kids, My two oldest daughters have been quilting for at least a year and they helped me start a junior quilt guild by recruiting a bunch of their friends. Now Monday nights the girls gather at our house for two hours of quilting fun. I can't wait till the rest of my little girls are old enough to join too.
Over the past year that the guild has met, we have learned and completed a number of projects, including an origami purse where family friend Joan Smith came over to demonstrate, A nine patch quilt that I designed and the girls picked their own fabrics, Halloween tote bags, and quilted pockets for their jeans.
At the end of the year, we acquired a Long Arm quilting machine and these spoiled girls have been finishing up their 9 patches on our machine.
Bradie: I had an instructer tell me once that it's easier to teach quilting to someone who doesn't know how to sew, than to retrain a sewer to quilt. Sewers tend to have a way of doing things and don't like to change for quiltings sake. There is alot more attention to detail in quilting that the regular sewer has trouble adjusting to. This creates sloppy corners and unsquare quilts. Then again maybe she just said this to make me feel better. I also took a seamstress/dressmaking diploma program only to find myself starting all over again learning the basics of precision quilting.
So my advice to someone who has never quilted is to take a beginner basics class where you can learn hands on and have your questions answered as you learn. I am currently working on a Dvd packed full of beginner tutorials. This will be ideal for those of you that would rather watch it on their tv's as this is often easier to have in your sewing room.
Bradie: Despite hundreds if not thousands of hours devoted to creating our brand we have yet to reap any return on our investment. We are focusing on permission based marketing, developing an extensive mailing list where we can introduce tried and trusted brands to our audience. We are currently seeking sponsorship from a few select companies who understand the importance and the power of the community we have created. We are offering branding opportunities to these selected companies where they can overlay their logo and links directly into our videos, which will live forever online.
Bradie: I don't wan't to let the cat out of the bag but, anything for you Jessica. I am really excited to announce that I have been looking for some retail space where I can set up shop and run our live Quilting Show as well as teach locals to quilt.
My
intention is to have a number of domestic and long arm machines
available to rent and have for use in classes that I will be teaching.
I'm sure this will also become the home of the jr. quilt guild.
The vision is so clear in my head and we have created so much momentum that I can't help but make it happen.
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