Every year for the past 10 years, Premiere Needle Arts conducts an industry survey on quilting. The survey went out in February 2021 and the results are in....
Drum roll, please....
As you may have suspected, quilters are spending more time quilting than in previous years. It is difficult to tell whether this is solely due to COVID or if it was a growing trend all along. From personal experience, I can attest to this increase. Members of our quilting community are churning out the projects. Our open sew days are packed and classes are at full capacity. We are quilting, quite feverishly, in fact!
In addition, quilters overwhelmingly state that they prefer to frequent their independent quilt shops for their supplies. In fact, approximately 65% of the respondents stated so. The next most popular source of supplies came in at about 12% for Amazon.com. Speaking for all IQS owners, I thank you for your patronage. Your investment in independent quilt shops ensures their survival. Most IQSs are far more than just shops, as you well know. They are destinations and communities. They are hang-outs, which leads to the next finding.
Over 50% of the respondents can be found--probably as you read this--at their local IQS! I know that we have frequent hanger outers and even squatters in our hang-out. It is awesome to see how our community has become such a vibrant place to be. Husbands may or may not be too keen on this fact, but we love the friendship and comradery we have at the Nest.
Moreover, but not so surprisingly, there has been a shift from seeking in-person resources to seeking on-line resources for instruction, tutorials, and classes. The realities of COVID will linger for some time. Our classes cannot be as packed as days of yore. We can only comfortably accommodate half capacity--our new full capacity. But, we offer Zoom classes and YouTube videos to fill in and share our expertise with people at home or far away.
Finally, nearly 50% of the respondents are spending more time online checking out a shop's inventory and seeing what is going on in the industry. Our website traffic has increased substantially since its beginning in August 2020. Be sure to keep up-to-date with what's going on at the Nest on our website, videos, newsletters, social media, etc. We are striving to be your source of information and inspiration to keep you creating.