I was just looking at a picture here on the board about someone's 5 or 6 year old niece wanting to sew. I'm wondering if quilting will go by the wayside with today's youth? They all seem so preoccupied with all the electronic gadgets: Ipones, Ipads, Ipods, tablets, laptops, Hi-def TV, video games. I know that I got my interest in sewing and quilting by watching my mother and my great aunt but I have never had any friends that sewed or quilted. It seems to be the trend for young people today to do everything as fast as you can and if some gadget will do it for you, that's even better!

I don't think it will die as an art. We have lots of young folks on here who are quilters, like you say, as young as 5 or 6. Crafts seem to be cyclical, but art is not. I have a 25 yo niece who has started sewing making pillow case dresses for her daughter. If (and I think she will) she asks me to help her learn to quilt, I will sooooo gladly do that. My 6 yo grandson likes to help me, so when he's a little older I think he may be interested (if his dad will keep out of it!). :-D :-D

Obviously you haven't looked at the membership numbers here, or at the attendance at the big quilt festivals. That would answer your question immediately. And the answer is No.

LOL about the dad! I wish people would realize that sewing and quilting, like everything else in the world is not gender specific anymore!!! I have tried to educate my friends on the wonders of sewing and quilting but they think quilts are just to be put on beds and don't appreciate the skill, work and time involved in making one. They also think that sewing is useful only when they need something made or fixed and then they appreciate that I am capable and willing to do it!!!

I guess I am drawing from my own environment. I am the only one in a large group of people who sews or quilts and has any appreciation for these skills. I have read the posts and seen the pictures on this site and I know that there are young and old members alike and members are involving their young children, but this is also a specific purpose driven site.

For me it's a hobby, craft, or art, and as in any form of relaxation, there will always be an interest from folks to acquire the skill. What has died is the necessity. It was a skill acquired out of need years ago, therefore, possibly more people with the skill of sewing, quilting, etc. When I was in elementary school all of my school clothes were hand sewn, nothing purchased from a store until I entered high school. Only because it was more economical. Now you can't make a shirt yourself any cheaper than you can purchase a ready made shirt, and truth be known, it'll probably cost a lot more than the store bought one, just for the cost of fabric. Possibly why its not as common as it once was?

no not dying-many young ones are getting into it.look at all the fabric choices we have,quilting is a huge industry now.that may change if the economy drops -maybe.but we have large stashes and can sew for ever :lol: :lol: :lol:

I think the art of quilting and the enjoyment it brings will not die.
It was my niece who wanted to sew. She has been wanting for years now since she was 3 or so. We played around with it before but this is her first project. I think this is going to start something in her and now she is going to want to do a project every week! I would be thrilled if she did.

I dont want to push it on her. My mom was a sewer (seamstress, alterations) She pushed sewing on me hard and for years I didn't want anything to do with it. I hated sewing and sewing machines. When I had to sew it was by hand.
So I am going slow and let her guide me and not the other way around.
I am only 27 so I am young in the quilting world so I have hope that it will stick around

It is an outlet for creativity. Potholders, placements, pillows, lap quilts, wall hangings, curtains. Anything can be made a quilt. As a gift to a friend or relative, nothing beats the love that's in it.

Besides sewing quilts is easier than sewing clothing since you don't have to fit the flat fabric to bodily curves.

Me too!!!!

No! I think it is evolving as a craft into more of an art form, certainly here in the UK. There are a lot of young textile artists using the craft of patchwork and quilting in their work and I believe that this is where the future lies. Evolve or die. :-D

Oh I hope not because I'm just getting warmed up!!!

:thumbup:

see...the wording of the Title "dying breed" had me yelling YES>>....we LOVE to DYE......

as for Dieing..I doubt it...way too many cool gadgets to keep the "get it done NOW" generation interested!
The day they are told to do anything the REAL way...they will drop it in a heartbeat...

NOW will it die in the traditional quilting sense..NO...this is a HUGE industrial craft...it branches into so many different venues now that there will always be room for the traditional. Even now with more of the GREENIE movement you find more traditional means of sewing/quilting, etc popping up in blogs!

Thanks to technology the younger generation will always have instant how to make anything at their fingertips if they do get interested.

I don`t think it will die.It will evolve I think.I have been into quilting for 25+ years and I personally have changed from how I started.A lot of the new technology has made a lot of quilting ways better.I still do some hand work and I think a lot will continue with it.Quilting is more than just an art form or craft.I think for most of us it becomes a passion and sometimes a life saver.
I just finished a shop hop with 13 shops involved and saw alot of younger people,also men.

It's a multi million dollar business so unlikely

ditto where i live. i know very few people who quilt that aren't using it as a medium for their art.

they are artists first and just happen to work with fabric.

I think its surviving quite nicely - in fact there are numbers of 20-something quilters out there that are designing fabrics and making traditional patterns modern - plus its big business - I think quilting will be around for a very long time...

I believe it goes in cycles. I actually interested my mother and mother-in-law in quilting. Both had sewn, my mother-in-law out of necessity and my mother had actually majored in Home ecnomics in the couple of years she went to college. Both of them started quilting in their late sixties. I have been quilting since I was 16 and am now 60. My daughter, step-daughter, daughters-in law and my three grand daughters have shown absolutely no interest.
I live in the mid-Atlantic region and am able to go to quilt shows in the PA area where there are still healthy Amish and Mennonite communities. The quilt shows in those areas are well attended but I see few people there under forty. As a former member of a professonal quilting group, all of the members were of my vintage give or take 10 years. Our modern version of quilting can be a very expensive hobby. Many of our children don't have that kind of money to spend after they keep up with the latest electronic gadgets etc. My kids spend a lot of money on their elaborate cellphone plans that I put into quilting. I hope I live long enough for one of my daughters or granddaughters to ask me to teach them to quilt.

I'm 25 and just started quilting last year. I love it! Found myself a Featherweight and piecing's a breeze. I have so much to learn.

That being said, I also love video games, laptops, iPods, etc. ;)

We're a varied bunch!

Quilting has changed so much over the last 20-30 yrs & it will continue to change. Might not be the type of quilting we do now, but it will survive.
In many cases, it's not until kids are grown that we have the time & money to put into a personal hobby.
My feeling is,quilting will really take off into unknown areas if/when the economy gets back to normal.Who knows? The world, it is a changing :)

I'm considered a young one at guild meetings, I'm only 30. but I'm also the guild's president. So it's out there still.

Actually, "dying" is the more frequently accepted spelling. Although both may be used, traditionalists certainly prefer "dying."

As for a dying art, I don't think that it is, but it would help if older generations did their part to make it more accessible to the younger generations, if they want to pass down the tradition. I've had a lot of very discouraging encounters with ladies who feel that I, as a young person, must be doing something wrong or have some sort of weird motivation for being in a quilt shop.

I hope not! I think that if we all are able to exposs one child to quilting it will live on forever. Us adults need to take the time to show what we know and make it fun for kids instead of all the electronic they are growing up with. My 4yr old GD already wants to "learn to stitch" so i will teach her all i can.

Earlier this year my grandaughter and family visited with her mother (one of my daughter's...and then came to visit
us (her greatgrandmother & greatgrandfather. Her little girl 5, while
at her grandmothers embrodiered a quilt block..it was the
cross stitch embrodiery. My daughter said she watched intensely while she showed her how to do it...picked right up on it and did a great job. Her mother ( my granddaughter)
not being one to do any sewing or hand work was so pleased
that when she got to our town she took it down to the Gallery and had it framed. We are all hoping she got hooked on the needle, ha. When anybody would remark on it
she was quick to say "my grandma teached me how". Sometimes
it just takes someone that will take time to introduce them
to it. Here's hopeing!

My DIL has an embrodiery machine and loves to make things. For the new baby (born June 25, 2011), she made curtains, bed ruffles, pads, sheets, covers. Her mother embrodiered burp cloths. Her grandmother embroiders by hand. They are creative people! I think my granddaughters will grow up enjoying making things also!

I actually think that quilting is picking up. Seems to me like more people are quilting today than in say the 80's and 90's.

I don't think so either!!!!

My granddaughter sews in 4-H. I am her helper. I have to watch her. We both have Bernina's and she always wants me to bring all my attachments. I always have to take inventory of my feet or they migrate to her box. For birthdays and holidays, I let her choose her new foot.

You have to get them started early and make sure it is fun. I try to teach her the newest techniques (thanks Nancy Zieman). I haven't showed her my embroidery attachment. I know she will want to swap machines once she ever learns how to use it.

You know I don't think so. I'm 50 and just learning to quilt. My grandson enjoys watching me quilt when he is here. I hope someday he will want to give it a try. We he gets a little older and a little less bouncy (he's 4 and doesn't stand still long) I will ask him if he would like to try.

I think there are enough of us out there who will pass on what we know and enough kids out there who will see the value in knowing some of the old world crafts.

No, I don't think quilters are a dying breed.

[

It's not dying in my house!! I started quilting last year when I was 17. When I was little my mom quilted all the time, I used to sew scraps together and try to quilt "just like mommy" on my play sewing machine, I don't know what happened to them though, but she had/has a lot of fabric in boxes. But when her and my dad started a lawncare business, she didn't have time to quilt. There was a period of about 10 years of no quilting, but using quilts in my house.

I was bored last summer and decided that I would make a quilt, and since I had no idea where her sewing machine went when we moved, I pieced it by hand, never again with little pieces, I don't mind big pieces, but little ones are no, but I finished it, it's as big as a pillowcase, but I'm proud of it. But at the end of the month I'll have been quilting for a year (I'm thinking a shopping trip is necessary to celebrate).

Sorry bout the rambling, but I'm not the only one, my school has a crafts class, and they embroider, sew, and make a quilt. Everyone makes the same quilt but with all the different colors, they're so pretty, and I'm told every year that they need to turn people out of the class because there's not enough room. But I honestly hope quilting will carry on. And yes, I have a laptop, iPod, and cell phone, but the phone is only because I can drive.

I think with all the gadgets, electronic machines, cutting machines etc. there'll be enought to spark their interest.

I think with all the gadgets, electronic machines, cutting machines etc. there'll be enought to spark their interest.

I know exactly what you mean. Growing up my mom always sewed. Now she won't touch her sewing maching or serger because she says it is quicker and cheaper to buy thing than make them. I pulled out a quilt my grandma made a few years ago and asked her about binding. She just said she doesn't do that stuff anymore.

Nope. There are probably more quilters now than ever before!

Chiming in here too because no...I don't think so. One of my grandaughters has all of the gadgets you mentioned but...the one thing she doesn't have and wants so bad is a sewing machine. If I bite the bullet next spring and buy myself a new machine...I will give her the one I use now. It's a great machine but I want a machine more geared to quilting...lol

Actually what really got me back to sewing is a series of books I have been reading. Author is/was Amish and she writes a lot of different "series" books. I ordered her first book and couldn't put it down. Just finished the second...and the final book will be out in the fall. Amish equals a lot of quilting. The more I read I thought...Linda...it's time to drag out your quilting supplies and get back into it. Plus one of the main characters in the book left the faith and married an "Englishman". But now she has moved back home because the "English" ways seem too modern for her daughter. But she is torn between her husband and her heritage. She works in a quilt shop and talks about all of the gorgeous fabrics. So...lol...it grabbed me.

I don't think it will die out. The big fabric houses are leaning toward younger people all the time. Just check out All People Quilts, Amy Butler, etc. Quilting is a multi-billion dollar a year industry - it's not about to lose customers any time soon. Thank goodness.