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
