Quilting group
 

I am seriously considering starting a quilting group in our church that would just make donation quilts. I am envisioning others donating unwanted fabrics, scraps, leftover batting, and unwanted sewing supplies. I would like for these quilts to be made for no cost, or at least very little cost. Any ideas on this? Have any of you belonged to a group like this. Positives and negatives to this idea. I know it would take a lot of coordination and organization to get started. All who would be involved would have to bring their own machine and equipment and would have to have some knowledge about sewing.

I'm a member of a couple of groups of quilters who do this. The biggest cost is batting. We get plenty of donated fabric, plenty of tops, plenty of people who are willing to piece and tie the quilts. But we very rarely get donated or at-cost batting. So to help with this, we do some fundraising, such as auctioning off a few quilts. We also pitch in a few bucks ourselves.

our group is the same as Peckish

Bbet, my group does this. We solely exist to make donation quilts for primarily 3 local charities. There are about 12 of us who are active, yet in the 11 years we have existed we have given away 2739 quilts, to date. The members pay for their own materials or use their stashes, but we do have fabric donated every so often. The church buys us two rolls of batting per year, and after that's gone we pay for it ourselves.

Maybe your church could budget to support you with some batting, yearly. You will have to get the group established first, and produce some quilts out of your own pockets. It's worthwhile.

I also encourage you to find local charities to support, so there is no mailing involved. I believe in supporting our local communities.

ours is a small church and there is a group that is helping a larger organization to make quilts (all sizes) for foster kids. they get fabrics and some bat from the larger group. But I am the only long arm quilter in church and so I get asked to do the quilting. This is ok, but I can't keep up with them and with my own and others too. So seems like I always have about 10 to work on for them.

We have 1 lady that does the piecing at our church. Although, I think her daughter helps make tops occassionaly. I know others have offered to do piecing but this seems to be her calling. She says she receives donated fabrics of all types from those who know she quilts. I don't know if she buys the batting. She brings the tops and backs to church once a month and a ladies circle in the church helps tie the quilts together. I believe most of our quilts are donated through our church Synod which sends them overseas.

She also makes quilts for all the high school seniors each year to have a quilt from the church to take to college.

We use a small SS classroom with tables setup to assemble the quilts and store quilting items. You may want to see if your church has space available that can be dedicated to quilting so you could lock the room.

There was a church across town that had a group making quilts. I was the square cutting lady... hundreds, thousands... Millions of squares! Their quilts were donated overseas, also, thru the Synod. They did a bunch for local organizations too. They had a dedicated group of ladies and a few hubbies that worked together for years, once a week, but eventually they dwindled in numbers and it disbanded. All fabric was donated, but the batting had to be bought. They auctioned off a few quilts a year to church members to pay for it.

I tried to start a group at my church when several ladies approached me to teach them to quilt baby quilts for Crisis Pregnancy Centers. I set a date, gathered materials, etc. and only two ladies showed up... one to help me with the teaching and one who wanted to learn to make bibs for babies. We showed her a couple of ways and had fun, but that was the end of our church quilting group! :(

I wish you better success! It's hard, but well worth the efforts. It helps folks receiving the quilts and it helps the quilters keep active and have a social good time.

We started our group 7 years ago making comfort quilts for cancer patients. We started in a member's house but eventually moved to a room at our local cancer support center. We have used our own fabric as well as generous donations of fabric and money from families who have lost loved ones to cancer. The Support Center has also donated money to buy our batting. We started out putting $5 a week in the kitty and have had as many as 20 people in our group. We now put in $1 a week, which gives us enough money to buy emergency supplies. It was a slow process getting started. We have fairly strict guidelines on the quality of the quilts we donate, i.e., "if it's not good enough to give to your mother, it's not good enough for a cancer patient". All of our quilts are machine quilted. There is a local person who will long arm a few for us every year. We still have most of the original group but if new people want to join us it's wonderful. Only requirement is they must have some experience with quilting as we don't have time to teach. And we have had to talk to people about the quality of their work, too.

One church group here has quilt group and they have an annual fund raising barbecue at the church once a year to buy needed supplies.

This sounds like a wonderful idea. I suggest getting the word out to the church members (quilters & non quilters) via the weekly bulletin or a stand up announcement before your church service & make it known that donations would be what keeps the group going & ask for donations at that time. Occasional gift cards from Jo-Ann's or Walmart would even be nice to allow you buy the supplies you need at particular times. Maybe even specify the most needed items like batting or whatever is needed most. Maybe others in the church would be willing to help even if they aren't a part of the group. Sometimes batting manufacturers will donate some batting for charity groups. Sometimes in cases where funds are very limited you may just have to make quilts as donations come in and that might not allow you to make quilts all year round but just when supplies are available. Thrift stores (Salvation Army - Goodwill - etc) are a good source for fabrics & even sewing machines at times. If your church is involved in Home Schooling it might be a way for making the quilts to be included in the curriculum. The more people involved, the more likely you will have the supplies needed to carry this project for little or no money.
I wish you the best with this endeavor.

Our group has been going at church for six years now. We sell at church bazaar twice a year, and those Joann's 50% off coupons are used for batting purchases. We've had an amazing amount of thread, fabric, and sewing machines donated and the scrap quilts go to Board of Childcare (foster care facility) comfort quilts for congregational members, and since one of our sewers has been diagnosed with breast cancer, items (pillows. tote bags) are starting to be made with the oncology center in mind.
Storage space anywhere is always at a premium.There is a fairly large conference room at church with a storage alcove that we've curtained off where ironing board/iron , fabric storage bins, rolls of batting are tucked out of sight when not in use.
About a year after start up, two of us group members privately purchased a used longarm with frame setup. For better or worse, it resides at my house so I'm the quilter and I pray that just a fraction of the longarm talent shown by QB members somehow transmits itself to me.
Like any church group, 10% of the people do 90% of the work and that's been the biggest drawback. Why join a quilting group if you don't like/want to sew? Answer: the social aspects can't be beat!!!

Talk to church council about getting into the budget next year. Even a small amount helps.
Announce the quilt group in your newsletter so it’s known you accept donated fabric, thread, crochet thread for tying, cotton men’s shirts, helpers, sewing supplies, even money. Possibly hold a soup supper to raise funds and instead of setting a price, have a free will offering. People are generous.

Hauling sewing machines can be a hassle - so my home church ladies make their tops at home & every Spring they bring tops to church (and a few machines) and they tie and finish the edges. They work 2 days and they’re done. The ladies that don’t sew buy sheets on sale during the year to use as top & bottom to make a comforter/quilt. Food is a potluck. It’s a fun 2 days.

They put 2 folding tables together on bed risers (or gallon cans) and use clamps to hold the quilt for tying. I know another church who sets up a quilting frame and ties their quilts using that. I’d rather use tables for donation quilts.

My friend at another church rotary cuts all the squares for her church 8.5”. She assembles a kit in a plastic bag for the sewers to pick up and take home.

Good of luck and let know your progress.

I have donated about 200 yards of fabric to a group at a church that does cancer patient quilts. They have a very active group in their church that do all the work. They actively seek out donations from various stores like JAF. they are able to use the church's 501c3 certificate so they can accept such donations for the church and provide a receipt for tax deductions purposes. I ask a lot of questions about their group. I had 3 women come to my home and raid my stash for pieces that would work for their charity quilting. They were more than tickled to walk out with so much fabric! It was all my pleasure.
Their group consisted of 5-10 people that met every 2 months on a Saturday and they made as many lap quilts as they could. They used the same pattern for all the quilts and worked together to get maybe 20 quilts done in the day. She said it depended on the number of people that showed up. They also listed the sewing day in their church bulletin for a couple weeks in advanced and made an announcement of the upcoming event. They told me that doing their 'sew for cancer victims' they got better participation doing it ever 2 months. They also made sure that they informed LQS and JAF of their mission. That is how I found them. LQS gave me a name and number to call to donate fabric and I got the call back and the connection. I hope this helps you a bit.

Sometimes groups just come together and sometimes it's like pulling teeth.

I would suggest you figure out some basic tops and what the yardage/cutting requirements are. That way you can hand a ruler and stack of fabric to someone without a lot of skills and tell them to "cut this all down to 6.5" squares or whatever measurement like 2.5" jelly roll strips. Of course it helps to give them a 6.5" ruler. Then kit out the cuts with a print out of the top in question and put them in a large ziplock bag. I just love the dollar store!

The guild I used to belong with had an every month thing. Sometimes we had 3 people, sometimes 20...

The guild bought the rolls of batting, we had donated materials but the big issue was usually the backs. Lots of donated tops, very few with backs.

As the others have said, put a notice in the church bulletin, maybe put up a flyer at a local fabric store as well. Have an introductory meeting or way to contact you to see what if any interest. Then come with a project or two for you to work on, with maybe a bag of fabric to cut, and/or batting and backings. It may just be you, typically in things like this I just bring my own stuff but I have a bunch of backup in the car I can get if I have someone who needs something to do.

There is a lot of good suggestions and advice above. So I will add just a bit. If you accept fabric donations be prepared for some not appropriate or quilts or small pieces of odd colors that are hard to coordinate. The quilt ministry I work with make it known those pieces may be passed on or used in other ways. We have probably received hundreds of yard of 60-70's poly double knits. Yes I know some people are going to tell me those are perfectly useable in quilts. But the decision was made not to use them. Home dec fabric, canvas, bridal material, all kinds of stuff. Everything is passed on to another group that uses everything. The scraps, small pieces of useable fabric is stored in separate bins. Those are used to make favors for various events at the church.

I make quilts for foster kids in my county. I supply all the fabrics, battings, threads and everything.

For years I have been doing charity quilts on my own or with other groups. One Sunday a shy friend at church said she needed a group to be involved with at church. I told her I was wanting to start a sewing group, so the two of us tied a few quilts that I had put together. Then we added 2 more people, and then 2 more. I talked to the pastor about it and he was somewhat encouraging, but the problem was and still is that there is no space during the week in the church building for us to meet (we have a pre-school and day care ministry). We meet in the sanctuary once/month, pushing chairs forward and hauling in tables. There are 2 electrical outlets!

We named ourselves "Loose Threads of Hope Lutheran". We do a variety of sewing projects. Our two main ones are Lutheran World Relief quilts (mostly tied) and Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits for overseas. After 18 months our average attendance is now 10 people. Since we seldom sew at our monthly sessions; I bring a big plastic tub to the fellowship hall every Sunday with "homework". Several people in the group do not sew, but they do other things. It has become a place where ladies "belong" and meaningfully contribute in a church that has its main focus on children.

We developed a mission statement, and I made a list of operational guidelines. Communication is so important - both with the "powers/church leadership/pastors" and within the group. Supplies are not a problem. Prayer and teamwork are solutions. Although not required, I believe in accountability and submitted a report at the end of the year to the church board. I think that has given us respect as a viable and producing group.

My challenges are the space issue, storing stuff at home and members' homes, hauling things, and doing quality control without hurting peoples' feelings.

It continues to be very rewarding!

Our guild uses flannel blankets that we get at Walmart for anywhere from 5 to 8 dollars to use as batting. That way we can either tie or do not have to worry about how close the quilting needs to be. It works very well for our charity quilts.

We have a quilt group at church. It's been in place for 9 years. We now get part of the church budget. This has morphed into also making dresses for Africa, duffel bags for foster kids, pocket prayer quilts, and anything else anyone wants to do. It's like herding cats. During the year, we show the dresses (oh, that's morphed, too, into shorts for boys and sani-pads) and have one Sunday with a special offering envelope for money to buy batting or whatever is needed. Most everything else is donated. Each person seems to adopt a "cause" and that is fine. I just stick to quilts and do about 1 or 2 a year. Then I try to get 1 or 2 done for myself.

quiltingshorttimer ----- we have a group at our church that also does donation quilts. I have a longarm, but I do not do any quilting on these charity quilts. Our ladies tie the quilts and it gives those that don't sew a job to do. We do have two quilting frames, so that does help. I think the ladies are expecting a lot from you if they ask you to quilt all their quilts. That's just my opinion.

thanks Waal--I'm mulling over how to deal with this. One complication is that there are only about 3-4 adults involved in this, the rest are young girls that are just learning how to sew. I'm considering inviting them out to my house and putting quilts on the frame and having them do the actual work--that way they can see how involved it is. But then I worry that will backfire and they will want to do it all the time! My time schedule is very tight between part time work and doing others quilts on the side. Sooo....think I'll just drag my heels on these stack of charity quilts and hope that they get the hint that it's a big time consumer!

If someone had an Accuquilt and didn’t mind you using it the squares would all be uniformly cut. Maybe one of those rulers with slits in them for making strips and you could make strip quilts