Tiffany

Right now Scrappy is in! It's starting to really sweep the nation and I would bet you will see more and more people jumping onto the craze. Instead of offering a kit filled with scrappy colors, which may come across quite messy, I would sell fifty 10-inch squares. One way to present them which is very attractive is to keep all the colors the same, but vary the pattern. For example, a stack of 10-inch squares all in various shades of brown or green or blue. Not only will this appeal to those who are doing scrappy quilts, but you will also appeal to those who are building their stash and need a particular color. You can do the same thing with fat quarters, have a stack of four or five of them bundled together by color. Just a thought. And if you want an example, it shouldn't take hardly any time at all to do up something like a tablerunner in the French Braid pattern, which lends itself well to the scrappy look.

This year the "in" color is turquoise, which seems to be very popular. If I understand the art world, yellow is fading as a popular color, though we quilters will always need a splash of yellow in our quilts. ;)

My suggestion would be to set up a kit in two different color-ways, such as one in brights and one in calmer colors. It always surprises me how many people will decide they like a quilt based not on the pattern but on the colors. Someone will hate a quilt, but change the colors of it on them and they will suddenly like it and want to make it for themselves. Not everyone is like this but enough that it might make it worthwhile to go to the extra trouble.

I bet you've already guessed that I usually buy fabric over anything else. I have never purchased a kit. There are two reasons. Most kits cost around $65-$150, which is usually outside of my price range, and I have friends who love kits but often they encounter the problem of not having enough fabric provided in the kit to complete it. When I buy a particular fabric for a project, I always buy at least 1/4 yd extra because I know I will mess up somewhere. I would hate to buy a kit only to discover I botched up a cut and now don't have enough fabric to finish. :shock: :( :cry: So I have avoided kits, but I have a ton of friends who absolutely love them and will buy several every year. I recently saw a quilt and when I found out it had been a kit, I swear I would have done just about anything to be able to get it!!!!! Unfortunately the quilt was a UFO and the quilt shop had closed. I guess what I'm saying is that I think kits will do very well but that you should also have a variety of things for those of us who can't afford a kit. Long way to get to that statement. :roll: :lol: