Originally Posted by
judy5cents
I am gathering information for a presentation for my quilt guild. I thought it would be interesting to look at how quilting has changed in recent years. I chose to focus on the last 40 years as the Rotary Cutter was invented in 1979 and I think that invention really changed the way that we quilt. Can you imagine having to trace shapes onto fabric and cut with scissors.
I looked for recent history on the internet and to my surprise was not able to find much information. Here is what I have gathered so far.
I thought you might be interested and perhaps could add dates or items that you think have changed quilting over the last 40 years.
1979- rotary cutter
1980s fabric....Laura Ashley florals, dusty rose and dusty blue. Pre-printed panels, cheater quilts
1980- long arm quilting machines
1980s- Quilting TV shows- Eleanor Burns, Georgia Bonisteel, Kaye Woods, Sewing with Nancy
1985- machine quilting
1985-singer computerized machines
1991- internet starts
1994-Amazon starts
1994- First digital camera
Mid 90's smart phones ( used for taking pictures, calculating yardage , pricing etc)
90s fabrics- civil war, Kim Diehl, JoMorton, Robert Kaufman
Early 2000s- modern quilting
2002- disappearing nine patch
2005-Youtube starts
2008- Missouri Star/Jenny Doan
2008-JellyRolls
2009- Pinterest starts
2011-Craftsy
2012-505 spray baste
2019- Bluprint
I remember in 1954 we used a machine to slide the fabric through, the dial would reach the 2 yards we wanted, and you pushed a button and it would cut a slit in the fabric, take it out of the machine and tear the fabric the rest of the way.
Price of fabric too.
20 to 25 cents a yard.
In the late eightys it was 1.98 to 2.98. Now the same fabric it 5.98 to 10.98 depending on the store.