Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 | By Lisa Swenson Ruble | 1 Comment

In the Closet

Are you in the quilting closet? Or are any of your friends? When I first started quilting, I was 23. I was a year out of college, living on my own, and needed a hobby to fill all the time I used to spend doing homework. Those first two years I quilted, I completed two lap-size quilts and a wall hanging. I was hooked—I scouted out Chicago-area fabric stores and stopped on my way home from work.

But I didn’t tell anyone (besides my mom, who helped me get started) that I was quilting. I was in the quilting closet. Think about a 23-year-old woman having this conversation with coworkers:

Coworkers: Let’s go out for happy hour tonight.

Me: I’m sorry, I have plans to go home and sew.

Coworkers: Oh. Maybe next time. (While thinking…wow, does this dork have 20 cats too?)

Yeah. You can see why I stayed in the closet. But it’s amazing what a difference 10 years makes—both in the quilting world and in my attitude.

Simply put, quilting and sewing has become cool for the younger set. Fabric and pattern companies have started catering to a younger generation—more contemporary colors and designs, trendy ideas, and more. A ”Modern” quilting movement has emerged—you’ll find sewing and quilting blogs all over the Internet, and many are written by teenagers and 20-somethings. As a young-ish quilter, I am so excited for the future of sewing and quilting with these inspired bloggers and sewists leading the charge.

As for me, my attitude changed slowly. When I first started working for a quilting magazine and people asked what I did, I’d say, ”I’m a magazine editor,” hoping to dodge the inevitable follow-up questions. When pressed, explain that it was a quilting magazine, not necessarily ”People” or ”Real Simple” or ”Sports Illustrated.” Which led to: ”do you quilt?” a question I learned to answer with pride. Yes, I am a quilter!

Lisa Swenson Ruble