Quilters' Guild Blog

Discover our internationally recognised Quilt Judging Course and train to become an accredited quilt judge. Open to experienced quilters worldwide.

Join The Loft, The Quilters' Guild's online events platform, featuring international quilting speakers, inspiring talks and creative learning opportunities for members and non-members alike.

Visit The Quilters' Guild in York for a free Heritage Open Days exhibition exploring the everyday lives of quiltmakers through historic quilts from the Collection. 11–19 September 2026.

our regular coffee morning with membership chair Carol Bowden

meet geraldine our new YQ officer

contemporary quilts becomes contemporary textiles

meet Carol, the new Chair for Membership services at the Quilters Guild

Region 8 Regional Day - 11th October 2025 Stock Village Hall, Stock Essex. Join us for a talk and workshop with Gilli Theokritoff.

Who is Melanie Williams, and how did she get to her position as President of the Quilters' Guild? Let's find out!

Region 8 Blog - Welcome

The Sapphire Street Quilt Project Key points For Regions from Katy Jones

The Quilters Guild celebrate their 45th anniversary with a host of Sapphire themed challenges and celebrations!

We talk to Leah Higgins about her quilting journey, favourite techniques, inspirations and proudest moment. You can read a full interview with Leah in the winter edition of 'The Quilter', our membership magazine.

Share a typical day with Helen Riddle, a textile artist based in West Yorkshire. In the Winter issue of The Quilter magazine we will delve deeper into her work, and the quilt she created as part of a broader spectrum of work exploring memory and ageing.

The Terry Higgins Memorial Quilt was unveiled at The Festival of Quilts this summer. We spoke to Terry's lover Rupert Whitaker, and Terry's close friend Martyn Butler at FOQ about their feelings and experiences in making this quilt.

“Please don't touch the quilts” is an instruction visitors to quilt shows are all too familiar with. Sara Sullivan of Romsey Quilters talks to us about her experience of the process of creating an accessible quilt exhibition.

Deborah McGuire, historian and hand sewer, reflects on a recent project which partners The Quilters’ Guild with the Royal College of Surgeons; two organisations bought together in a project by the Universities of Oxford Brookes and Lancaster.

If you’ve been following along with us since 2022, you will be familiar with the collaborative project we are partnering on led by Terrence Higgins Trust. Our dedicated quilting community members have been tirelessly working to produce something truly amazing.

Historic technique, darling of the 80s fashion scene but now rarely found in daily clothing. In this fascinating article guest blogger Fran Woodgate poses the question, 'Whatever Happened to Smocking?'. 

For those visiting The Festival of Quilts this August, we’re thrilled to offer a series of short gallery talks on our Collections stand this year. The Exhibition, A Diverse Patchwork, celebrates the diversity of our patchwork and quilting community.

We love using our Collection to make connections with people who have not necessarily encountered quilts before, which inspired our collaboration with York St John University.

So, what exactly is The Quilters’ Guild, and what can it do for me? You may have have asked yourself this question before, or you may have only just discovered The Guild; in either case, let us tell you more about ourselves!

We are delighted to reveal the design for our 2023 Souvenir Badge for the 20th Anniversary of The Festival of Quilts, 3-6 August at Birmingham NEC!

Get to know The Guild by meeting our talented members! We have interesting and inspiring members all over the country and further afield, and we want you to be able to share their work.

Sarah Humphreys talks to us about International Women's Day, feminism and the quilting community.

We are delighted to invite you to our FREE exhibition featuring new Collection acquisitions, running from 1- 29 of March 2023 at St Anthony’s Hall, York, YO1 7PW.

We all know that quilters have big hearts, valuable skills and a desire to share the craft with others.

Do you need a little nudge to increase your sewing time in 2023? Just for you, here are ten reasons why doing more sewing is the best resolution you could make.

Angela Daymond reflects on how stitching has helped her adapt to life with a spinal cord injury. This feature first appeared in the Autumn 2020 (issue 164) of ‘The Quilter’, the quarterly member only publication of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles.

Get to know The Guild by meeting our talented members! We have interesting and inspiring members all over the country and further afield, and we want you to be able to share their work.

Exciting volunteer role The Quilters' Guild's commercial subsidiary, Festival of Quilts Ltd (FOQ Ltd) is seeking a commercial director.

Find out more about this project organised by Bernina and The Quilters’ Guild.

What is the Quilters’ Guild? This is a question which we hear surprisingly often and one to which it’s difficult to give a simple answer as we have so much to offer.

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle is holding North Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions until 9 January 2022.

We are delighted to announce that the 2021 Sue Belton Memorial Prize of £600 has been awarded to member Madeline Hibbins-Cline!

This is the fifth in our six part series on the quilts submitted from around the UK for our special anniversary gallery at FOQ in 2019: Spotlight @ 40.

From 14 – 16 May 2021 join in with the Crafts Council’s nationwide festival of craft participation, Hey Craft!

The Festival of Quilts and The Quilters’ Guild are opening up their annual competition to first-time quilters with a brand new Complete Beginners category.

We are looking forward to celebrating the 2021 Festival of Quilts by showcasing our forthcoming exhibition ‘Quilts and their makers’, taking 10 historic quilts and 10 pieces from our contemporary works.

Get to know The Guild by meeting our talented members! Meet Guild member, Pascale Michalski.

We are looking forward to celebrating the 2021 Festival of Quilts by showcasing our forthcoming exhibition ‘Quilts and their makers’, taking 10 historic quilts and 10 pieces from our contemporary works.

Did you know that Guild membership gives you access to many Bursaries & Awards? Let’s take a look at three upcoming bursaries open to applications now, as well as some work from past winners.

This interesting piece from our Contemporary Collection perfectly showcases the maker’s iconic, signature style, using words and language to provide visual design and deeper meaning.

We are pleased to announce that The Quilters’ Guild will be hosting its first ever Virtual Conference!

The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles will be holding its online AGM at 09.00 am on Saturday, 17 April 2021.

We are looking forward to celebrating the 2021 Festival of Quilts by showcasing our forthcoming exhibition ‘Quilts and their makers’, taking 10 historic quilts and 10 pieces from our contemporary works

We are looking forward to celebrating the 2021 Festival of Quilts by showcasing our forthcoming exhibition ‘Quilts and their makers’, taking 10 historic quilts and 10 pieces from our contemporary works.

We are looking forward to celebrating the 2021 Festival of Quilts by showcasing our forthcoming exhibition ‘Quilts and their makers’, taking 10 historic quilts and 10 pieces from our contemporary works. Newsletter readers can take a sneak peek in advance, as over the coming months we explore the variety and skill of our makers both past and present, and celebrate their creativity in a selection of the quilts which will be on display.

We could all do with a bit of festive cheer right now, and how better to achieve this than to put our sewing skills to use?

The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection is fortunate to have a number of interesting and unusual pieces of patchwork and quilted clothing which date from the 18th and 19th centuries, including two pockets.

From times gone by to the modern day, quilting remains a pastime that still prides itself on paying homage to the history of the hobby through the traditional patterns and techniques passed on from generation to generation.

As we head into November, the month of Remembrance, let’s take a moment to focus on a piece from our collection which comments on the effects of the First and Second World Wars on rural life.

Did you know that being a member of The Quilters’ Guild can give you access to funds to further your passion? An Award of £1,000 is given once every two years to a Guild member to help meet the cost of attending an international quilt event.

News of the new competition organised by the team at Beyond Knitting and Stitching Show.

We are delighted to announce that The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles has been awarded substantial financial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

During lockdown our usual round of Guild events and those with our local sewing groups were put on hold.

An unusual theme, but one that popped into our curator’s head whilst coming up with new ideas for how to share The Collection. She has found five quilts that feature fish, so, here we go!

The AA2A project (Artists Access to Art Colleges) offers placements at Higher and FE institutions across England, giving artists and designer-makers the opportunity to undertake a period of research or realise a project using art design facilities.

During lockdown our usual round of Guild events and those with our local sewing groups were put on hold.

We are delighted to share this article from Guild member Sarah Hibbert about her work, The Festival of Quilts, and her wonderful new Log Cabin design for The Guild’s Pattern Box collection.

We invited expert quilter, designer and author Carolyn Forster to take a piece from our Collection that inspired her and to create a new pattern so that we can all enjoy a little bit of the heritage that the Collection has to offer in our homes

Guild member Jenni Smith introduces a new quilting course for beginners that supports The Quilters’ Guild

June 1st to 7th 2020 is Volunteers’ week. As a national charity we are almost entirely reliant on the efforts of our volunteers. Without them we would not exist. Thank you

The Quilters' Guild Collection has two travelling collections of quilts, which can be hired by groups for their meetings. There are two themes - Textile Traditions and Textile Treasures.

Everyone has a slightly different perception of a crazy quilt but usually we think of such quilts as being very colourful, heavily embellished with applique, embroidery and other stitching all on top of a fabric base.

A project to connect Quilters’ Guild members whilst in isolation. The last few months have seen us in a situation none of us have experienced before.

Join The Quilters' Guild Museum Collection as we take a look at how people celebrated V.E. day with with textiles of the time and a wider look at patchwork and quilting.

When we see a beautiful quilt, either contemporary or historic, we are often keen to see what’s on the back.

a-n The Artists Information Company would like to share with you the final report from our recent Covid-19 impact survey.

This is the fourth in our six part series on the quilts submitted from around the UK for our special anniversary gallery at FOQ in 2019: Spotlight @ 40

This is the final in our six part series on the quilts submitted from around the UK for our special anniversary gallery at FOQ in 2019: Spotlight @ 40.

Spotlight@40, Festival of Quilts 2019, Part 1 of 6: Regions 1-4. The quilts in this gallery were made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles.

This is the third in our six part series on the quilts submitted from around the UK for our special anniversary gallery at FOQ in 2019: Spotlight @ 40.

This is the second in our 6 part series on the quilts submitted from around the UK for our special anniversary gallery at FOQ in 2019: Spotlight @ 40.

We invited Appliqué lover and expert, Jo Avery to take a piece from our Museum Collection that inspired her and to create a new pattern so that we can all enjoy a little bit of the heritage The Collection has to offer in our homes.

The good news is that if you have given us your email address, we'll send your membership renewal notification by email. If we don't have a current email address, we'll still send you a letter by post.

How do we define appliqué? Basically it is applying a shaped piece of fabric to a base fabric.

Get to know The Guild better by meeting our talented members! Meet Guild member, Kerry Keeble...

Due to Covid-19 restrictions our staff are now involved in remote working so we would be very grateful if you would email any urgent enquiries rather than calling York.

Ahead of the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this summer, Upper Street Events talk to Carolyn Ducey at the International Quilt Museum about their planned exhibition of historic Amish quilts.

In February, lucky Guild members from across the UK had the opportunity to attend a free and exclusive Liberty launch event held at Winterbourne House and Garden, University of Birmingham.

The Quilters’ Guild relies on volunteers to deliver Guild activities both nationally and locally. To find out more about the many benefits to be gained from volunteering with the Guild, click here.

Often when people volunteer, they are aiming to help others and give back to the community without looking for any material or financial gain while doing so. It is often purely altruistic, with the intention of the volunteer simply being to improve the quality of life for others.

We are thrilled to have recently acquired the contemporary wholecloth quilt ‘Slip 1, Knit 1’, made by Sandie Lush for The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles’ 7th National juried exhibition in 1999, which was held at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

The Modern Quilt Group is one of five special interest groups within The Quilters’ Guild. The group was born in 2014 through the endeavours of Helen Howes.

At first glance, wholecloth quilts may not seem to provide much in the way of resources for research – two pieces of fabric stitched together with a filling between.

The simplest definition of a wholecloth quilt is a quilt made of a single piece of fabric and quilted, making the quilting itself the design. There is no patchwork or appliqué work on a traditional wholecloth quilt.

‘Hey Mum (a Quilters’ Guild member), guess what? I’m going to work for The Quilters’ Guild’. ‘Finally’ – she rejoiced – ‘my daughter has seen the quilting light’!

Unless you’ve had your head wrapped in a quilt this year, you’ll be aware that it’s our 40th Birthday!

We are pleased to announce that fifteen pieces from The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection will be on show at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2020.

Upper Street Events Supports our Young Quilter Fundraiser at the Knitting and Stitching Shows. In our 40th birthday year The Quilters’ Guild is reprising one of our most successful fundraising ventures to support Young Quilters.

We are thrilled to reveal the design for The Festival of Quilts 2019 souvenir badge!

If you’ve been following along with our newsletter for a while, you’ll know this year is our 40th Birthday and we have decided to give away a birthday present to one of our newsletter readers each quarter. Each gift has a connection to a piece from The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection, collected during one of the four decades of our existence.

One of the many benefits of being a Quilters' Guild member is the opportunity to apply for one of the bursaries.

Love is a cup of tea brought to you in bed in the morning, and that is how most of my days begin. As the newly appointed Lead Trustee for Education within the Guild, I check my emails there, just in case something needs urgent attention. My life has quite a lot of ‘departments’ and I try to spin them all, so that none of the plates falls. We live in the middle of nowhere, in a very old house. There are few unexpected visitors, so housework takes a back seat to gardening, stitching, book arts, Guild work, C&G tutoring and family.

If you’ve been following along with our newsletter for a while, you’ll know this year is our 40th Birthday and we have decided to give away a birthday present to one of our newsletter readers each quarter. Each gift has a connection to a piece from The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection, collected during one of the four decades of our existence.

At The Festival of Quilts this year we have so many exciting Birthday celebrations for you to enjoy!

Upper Street Events are delighted to announce the launch of the Vlieseline Fine Art Textiles Award, an international juried exhibition open to both amateur and professional artists using textiles as their medium. Our ultimate aim is to elevate and support the recognition and profile textile artists receive within the UK and globally.

This year’s show is all set to be bigger than ever, at least in my humble opinion because we have 400 workshops this year as well as trunk shows daily by Jenny Doan of Missouri Quilts.

Another Collection piece we have chosen to share with you to represent the second decade of The Guild this issue, is the Billings Coverlet.

Following the success of last year’s nationwide Get Creative festival which hosted over 1,400 events, we would like to encourage all local quilting groups to consider hosting their own event in this year’s festival.

Get to know The Guild better by meeting our talented members! We have interesting and inspiring members all over the country doing amazing sewing and we want you to be able to share their work.

My name is Karen Pearce and I am the person who organises the children’s workshops at The Festival of Quilts.

Learn more about the Miniature Group, one of The Guild’s five Specialist Groups with the group’s co-ordinator, Arlene McLeish.

The Guild's Block of the Month project was inspired by our Red Manor House Coverlet!

The most common question fielded on our Contemporary Textiles (was Contemporary Quilt) stand at Festival of Quilts is, ‘What is contemporary quilting?’.

The Collection piece we have chosen to share with you to represent the second decade of The Guild is the Jubilee Quilt. This marvel of silks and velvets was donated to The Guild in 1992.

Ask any crafter and they will tell you that crafting is good for the soul. It has long been thought that craft based activities can help people improve their health.

The British Quilt Study Group is the eldest of the specialist groups of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles. Formed in 1998, BQSG has celebrated its twentieth year this year and celebration is not an exaggeration.

Bernina’s modern quilting expert, Nicholas Ball, shows you how to create a beautiful modern style quilt for a baby. He uses the Patchwork Foot #97 for piecing and the Quilting Foot #29 for free motion quilting and lettering.

In our 40th anniversary year, we reminisced about some of the early items which found their way into The Quilters’ Guild Collection.

My name is Hilary Jackson, and I am the coordinator for Region 10 (The East Midlands) covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

We talk to author Kassia St Clair about the inspiration for her new book, The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History, and offer readers the chance to win one of five copies!

Whether it is printed floral fabrics or a decorative patchwork or applique design, the beauty of flowers and birds can be found in many of our Collection pieces. This exhibition explores the variety of different ways that nature and the garden have inspired makers.

Some of the many benefits of being a member of The Guild are the various bursaries and awards that are available. Guild member Sara Cook was the recipient of the Teacher’s Travel and Education Bursary in January of this year.

Angela Seabrook, past Bursary & Awards Officer for The Guild, introduces us to a day in her life as a Guild volunteer.

Meet Guild member Jenni Smith, a quilting and dressmaking designer.

This week we invite you to join with us in giving a special welcome to Guild member Kate Percival. Kate has been a member of The Guild for many years and has contributed significantly to so many aspects of the Guild’s life.

Meet Guild member Carolyn Gibbs, a member of the Traditional Group and The British Quilt Study Group.

This week meet new member Sarah Ashford who runs the online #greatbritishquilter event and sews for many of your favourite quilting magazines!

The Quilters’ Guild is delighted to be welcoming the Magna Carta Quilts to their new forever home in the Guild Collection.

Meet Guild member Annie Henderson-Begg, who won the City & Guilds Award at Festival of Quilts in 2017.

Meet Guild member Phillipa Naylor, who won two prizes at Festival of Quilts in 2017, The Best in Show, sponsored by Mettler and the winner in the Miniature Quilt Category.

Get to know The Guild better by meeting our talented members! We have interesting and inspiring members all over the country doing amazing sewing and we want you to be able to share their work. We are asking Members to tell us a bit about their sewing life using five simple questions.

Have you ever come across an old quilt and wondered – where did it come from? Who made it? How? Why? How old are these fabrics?

What happens when you cross a 300 year old patchwork and illustration students? Well, we weren’t sure either so we got together with York St. John University to find out.

The Quilters’ Guild is dedicated to preserving patchwork and quilting heritage, and the objects within The Quilters’ Guild Collection require dedicated care and handling to ensure they are preserved for as long as possible.

Our first Friends of the Collection mini exhibition took a look at how patchwork and quilting have been used through the centuries in clothing.

The Quilters’ Guild Collection is home to both historical and contemporary quilts and we’re delighted to welcome Pauline’s Honesty Skyline into our collection as one of our newest additions.