I am interested in getting a group together to sew in my local church and not really sure how to get one going. I'd love it if we could get going good enough to quilt a quilt as a group and donate it for charity to auction, etc. Any ideas?? If you go to a group-how did you get it together and then work together? And what exactly do you do and how often?? And, if you work up blocks individually, who puts them together?? Thanks! Skeat

google starting a quilt guild. lots of sites with suggestions. you wouldn't necessarily have to be as formal as an official guild, but the ideas are good anyway.

Since you'd like to hold the meetings at your church be sure that once you decide a date, have them list it in the church bulletin so that you can get the word out to others as well.

The local guild in my area meets once a month, with spin off groups that met at other times. So between the spin off groups and the main group there is something going on about three times a month, you can join them all or just some of them.

I did this with a group of friends and friends of friends...

it lasted for a while, then people stopped coming one by one..

Just set a date and time and start meeting, word will get around..

and if its not too far from me, I would be happy to join you...
I have a friend or two that might also come along..

Once you have a group going, then you can decide on what kind of projects you want to do and how to get them done...

Judy

I did this and we now have a group of 12 that meet twice a month. I first asked permission to use the church social rooms for quilting. Then I put it in the bulletin and soon, friends and their friends joined. We do not "hand quilt" per sae at church. We all bring our own projects and work on them. Occasionally we make a charity quilt if there is a family in need. but we do make baby quilts so that any baby or small child that is baptized in the church gets a quilt. Sharing of ideas etc. is fun. we also take turns in bringing lunch. Usually two people do that together. there are no dues, rules, etc. but at the present we aree doing a row by row. We are in the eighth month of that and I am anxious to see what my quilt is like. Marge

In the St. Louis area, there are several groups that quilt at churches. I hand quilt with a group that has been meeting for more years than any current member knows! We quilt on Mondays and Thursdays from 9 til 3. We bring our own sack lunches and the group furnishes coffee. We quilt for others and turn the moneys over to the pastor twice a year. We also do a raffle quilt for a Soup N Salad twice a year. Our ladies are all retired and the two oldest members, 95 and 98 passed this last year. At present, I am the one who makes the quilts for our raffles(since I am the baby), but any member can. Most of the church groups meet only once a week, but since all our ladies are widows, they like the fellowship and being out of the house, so we meet 2 times a week. :P
Hope this is some help.

All great suggestions!!:)I do have some more homework to work on:)I think anytime you can get a group of quilters together, it is a good thing!! Is there anyone out there that started with a small group of quilters in their living room?? To have turned into more and years later, still together?Thanks!! Skeat

Yes skeat the group I go to started over 25 years ago in a living room and grew so much they had to find a church for their meetings now it is split in to 2 groups a day one and a night one that each one meets once a month
and then there are small groups within the large group and by this I mean an applique group a scrap group etc then we moved over here and a friend ran an add in the paper and now over 100 in that group so all you need to do is contact quilters sounds like you will soon have one going
Good Luck

Besides the church bulletin, also put flyers in the community. Grocery store bulletin board. Post office. Make them bright so they stand out.

My friend Janice and I started a quilting class at our church last February.
1. I got permission from our pastor to use our classroom area.
2. I had the announcement printed in the church bulletin, with the date
the classes would start and also had flyers inserted.
3. I put a a sign-up sheet in the foyer along with a picture of the
first quilt that we would be making. About 20 ladies and 3 girls
ages 7,8, & 9. signed up for the class. Our class size ended up at 15.
4. Once everyone signed up, I gave them a basic sewing supply
list (rotary cutter, matt, machine, electrical cord, etc.) along with the
supply list for the first quilt.
5. We met twice a month for the first couple of months and then
we met once a month thereafter.

In lieu of payment for the quilting classes, each person taking the class was asked to donate their first quilt to a children's hospice that we had pre-selected. We ended up sending 25 quilts to the hospice in 2008. Plus three more for auction. We sent the first batch of quilts in May and the second in September.
After the first quilt was donated many of the new quilters wanted to make more to send to the hospice so we continued with another, this time making a different pattern.
The first was a "square in a square"/"nine patch" quilt.
The second quilt was a "log cabin" quilt.
If I were to teach a beginning class again I think that I would start with the log cabin first, it was much easier for them to grasp. Not much squaring up to do.
Each girl that signed up worked with their mothers as a mother/daughter team. It was a wonderful bonding experience for them. My daughter-in-law, Missy, and my grand-daughter, Maya, have even made one on their own and donated to the local cancer society for auction. It auctioned for $225.00 in November.
What a blessing it is to teach these ladies and young girls. It's even a greater blessing to see them be so generous with their time and efforts.

I have to tell you that most of these ladies had little or no knowledge of sewing. In fact a lot of them came to our first class with their brand new sewing machines still in an un-opened box, not knowing how to thread the machine or what a presser foot was. But, they do have willing hearts and that's all you need to learn.
We didn't meet in Oct., Nov., Dec., but we are in the process of starting up again in February. This time Janice will be teaching the class and she's decided on teaching a "Tossed Nine-patch".
I would suggest that you team up with someone, just in case you can't make it to one or more classes.
I wish you the very best of luck!

this is an awesome idea. I wish we had something like this near me. I understand there are some groups but one is over an hour away and the other one is too "highfalutin" for me.

Thanks for some great ideas!! Everyone has been really helpful, I am sure to many others besides myself. To have a positive group w/no control freaks would be my ultimate group:))There is so much to always to learn and gain from others!:0)If anyone else has anymore to add, I do hope you do so too:))Thanks -Skeat

skeat, keep up/me posted on how it goes. I've thought of doing the same thing at my church - membership of 6000 but no quilting ministry!

At my previous church, the ladies met each week and worked exclusively on charity quilts from donated fabrics, and tied instead of quilted. All the quilts went to Lutheran Social Services. Each year, there was a blessing of the quilts service during regular church and all the quilts made that year were draped over the backs of the pews, the pastors/congregation blessed the quilts to be used for God's glory, then they were taken over to LSS. A very moving and visually stunning service!

For quite a few years we were in transition with pastors and each new pastor knew that he needed to sit and have coffee and pastries with the quilting ladies in order to earn credibility!

Best of luck and keep us posted!