Keep a Quilter's Journal

A quilt in progress can consume all your time and creative energy. But once the quilt is finished, it’s all too easy to forget exactly how you brought it to life. Keeping a journal of your quilting inspirations, projects, and ideas helps you hold on to those elusive particulars, and makes it easier to duplicate a favorite block or quilt, months or even years after you made the original one.

Popular Journal Formats

You can buy ready-made quilter’s journals with preprinted pages, or make your own from a three-ring binder, a child’s blank school workbook, a blank book from a stationery store, or any handy book with pages big enough to write and sketch on. One advantage of three-ring binders is that you can insert a clear plastic pencil case or a page with a pocket to hold fabric swatches or other small items. (You can also staple or glue swatches or magazine clippings directly to the relevant page.)

Blank paper or lined paper both work fine for sketching, but graph paper with a ¼” grid will make it a little easier to draw blocks to scale. If you like to sketch or jot down ideas in your journal, make sure you choose a size that’s small enough to tuck in a purse or backpack and carry with you. If you like, dress up your journal by embellishing the cover with fabric or scrapbooking supplies. The journals pictured in the photo below, from C&T Publishing, have quilted covers.

Things to Record in Your Journal

Anything and everything that interests and inspires you is fair game for your journal. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Sketches and photos of things and places that inspire you.
2. Sketches of quilt or block designs you’d like to try.
3. Photos of interesting quilts from magazines or newspapers.
4. Records of who sent what to whom for block swaps or round robins.
5. Key facts about quilts you’ve made:

• Photo of the finished quilt
• Fabric swatches
• Names and manufacturers of fabrics, batting, threads, and embellishments
• Name of the quilt’s recipient
• History of what inspired the quilt and what was happening in your life while you were creating it
• Block designs with measurements in case you want to reproduce the quilt later
• Techniques you used to create the quilt—construction methods, borders, bindings, labels, etc.
• Notes on anything you’d do differently next time
• How much time you spent making the quilt, with dates started and finished
• Expenses connected with the quilt. This is useful if you sell the quilt and need to record expenses for tax puposes
• Shows or contests entered and awards won

Snippets of Personal and Social History

You may not think about it much as you jot down notes about fabric costs and dimensions, but keeping a record of your quilting can make a real contribution to the social history of this venerable craft. When your children or grandchildren wonder what really mattered to you, part of the answer will be right there between the covers of your journal.

Quilter's journals with quilt blocks on the front

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