For those of us who are new to quilting we really like the YouTube quilting videos that people have uploaded and are willing to share with everyone. Some of these people even make money with these videos by participating in the Google Adsense program and linking their Youtube user account with the Adsense account. Every time that someone views their video with advertising and clicks on the “ad appropriate” content the video make gets a few pennies. Eventually they will add up to enough money to buy more materials for more quilts. Now you may not have the creative skills or equipment to make these kinds of movies but if you do you can go to different sites to learn about making your own video.quilting

Essential Quilting Skills & Techniques by Missouri Star Quilt Company Quilting Tutorials. They have 12 videos in the series and are FREE to view over and over again. Great for the beginner or even as a refresher for the long-time quilter. http://www.youtube.com/user/MissouriQuiltCo?feature=watch

For those who would like to start their own business with their quilts we have found a business startup funding source that you might want to consider. It is a Flexible funding account that takes advantage of the campaigners social media followers and friends. If you don’t have a Facebook and Twitter account yet then now would be the time to start. They are a great way to find other quilters out there, show off your work and encourage others to buy from you once you decide to sell your stuff. Anyway, IndieGoGo.com is a crowdfunding website that helps business owners get funding for the business start-ups. They charge a small fee of what you collect and with the Flexible funding option you get to keep what you get as opposed to some of the other “All-or-Nothing” Crowdfunding sites. They have terrific tools for you to use and have some very quick and interesting tutorials on how to help your campaign be a success. Let’s face it we all need help finding funding for our projects and whether you are needing funds for a business or are sponsoring a special civic project this might be the place for you to get started. Read through their materials and share it with your friends and relatives. It may be the answer for a project that you are passionate about that needs a little help getting off the ground. More information on this website

If this article has opened your eyes a little to the money-making possibilities in this business, you’ll definitely love the next part! I started this business working entirely from home, gaining customers not only from my website but also from spreading the word among the people in my town. Anybody with common sense and ambition can do the same, replicating the system I used to become successful. It required very little technical skill.core media san antonio

Once you have all your basic equipment set up and you’ve learned how to use it (this should take no longer than a couple of hours), you can begin advertising your services. I got my first local customers by writing a short letter to introduce my business and hand delivering it to as many business owners as I could find in the town centre. Delivering the letters by hand gave me the opportunity to speak to people in person, so they were more likely to remember me than just a letter. I visited bakeries, garages, boutiques, bars, beauty salons, web designers, accountants and many other types of business. Many of them weren’t interested, or they already had a supplier they were happy with, but some placed an order right there and then. I kept re-investing my profits into the business, getting flyers printed and buying better equipment. The more word got around that there was a new t-shirt printing guy in town, the more business I attracted. Young people with awesome design talents would come to me to get their artwork printed onto t-shirts and hoodies which they would then sell to clothing stores. Sports teams, charities, event organisers, churches and clubs would come to me for whatever t-shirt printing they needed doing.

I believe anybody with a basic understanding of how to use computer software and an ability to communicate (i.e talk to people) effectively can be successful in this business. My design skills aren’t great. Most customers only want text or their own artwork printed, so my lack of artistic talents has never held me back.core media world

If you think you could do the same (or even better), then let me show you all the tips and tricks of becoming successful in the t-shirt printing business. You don’t need loads of money or a big warehouse full of stock. You can either do it from home or rent a small shop in your neighbourhood. As long as you spread the word and do a good job, you’ll keep getting customers and making money.

So many people have written asking how I manage to get a quilt made a week. So here’s my top ten hints on how I get quilts done!

1. I have a room just for sewing, right next to the kitchen and away from the bedrooms. I can dash in there and sew a few seams whenever I find (literally) a minute. I bound a quilt during the commercials on a movie on Sunday night – the TV was on in the kitchen, so I knew when to go back.

2. Put your sewing pressing on the ironing board at the end of each sewing session, alongside your clothes ironing. When you iron some clothes, get your sewing pressing done too.

3. Put a small table next to your favourite comfortable chair and ALWAYS have some hand-sewing on it. So if you sit down for even a few minutes you can get a little hand-sewing done without having to hunt for something to do first.

4. Make up an attractive bag with a full sewing kit and a small hand-sewn project in it. This is your “take anywhere” project, and you pick it up whenever you think there is any possibility that you could be stuck somewhere and can get some hand-sewing done. I keep mine on my small table next to my chair, so that I only have one hand-sewing project to worry about at a time.

5. Keep all your sewing tools (scissors, rotary cutter, etc) in a central place like a basket (I use a big pencil case). And keep this basket next to you as you sew so that you always put the tools back in it. That way you will never have to waste time searching for tools. Also, you can grab this quickly as you rush out the door late for a class! Also, I keep my bobbins in three separate bobbin cases – marked polyester, cotton and quilting. The plastic bobbins have p’s, c’s or q’s written on them too, so I always know what I have in my hand.

Quilting - sewing tips

6. Use zip-lock bags to store all the bits and pieces of each project. Even if you have to pack it all away at the end of the day, you won’t waste time searching for anything. If you are using any special threads, trims, etc, put these in the zip lock bag too.

7. Binding can be almost completely sewn on by machine (sew on the front as normal, fold it to the back so that the binding overlaps the first seam by about a quarter of an inch, pin well, then ditch-stitch from the front). It doesn’t give as neat a finish as hand-sewing, and you might have to finish off the corners by hand, but it is quick.

8. When you buy the fabric for the quilt top, or when you start a project from stash fabrics, buy or set aside the fabric for the backing and the batting as well. Store these with the top while it is in progress. When the top is finished, the next step – without stopping for breath! – is to baste the quilt and then start quilting. If you pack the top away because you have to go out and get batting and backing you might never get back to it. A quilt is not a quilt until it is a quilt – it is a quilt top and, unless you want to use it for a tablecloth, it is not finished!

9. Keep your tools in good condition. When you put a new blade in your rotary cutter, buy the next one. Nothing slows you down like a blunt cutter (two cuts instead of one). Have your scissors sharpened regularly. Keep your different types of pins in different containers so you don’t have to hunt through one big pin tin for the right sort of pin. Change your sewing machine needles regularly (I use a new piecing needle and a new quilting needle for every second quilt). Clean the fluff out of your sewing machine after every quilt.

10. Look after your patterns. The small zip-lock bag most patterns come in are seldom large enough to keep it all in after you have opened it up and pored over it, and never big enough to hold all the templates and little scraps of paper you add when it is an applique pattern. Put the pattern in a large zip-lock bag and keep it all together, rather than trying to squeeze it all back in the original bag (trust me – it’s hard enough for me to fit my paper-hungry patterns in the original bag before you buy it, let alone after you have opened it up! ). If you can’t fit all the bits and pieces in the bag you might leave some out and then that wastes time in looking for them later.