Quilt Business Tips – Finding Your Niche

Do you have something special you make in the world of fabric/fiber art?  Do you have a technique that’s unique?

With so many quilters, what makes those stand out who are getting name recognition and orders for their work?  This is not to say there isn’t a market for any quilting, but finding something that is your specialty may help you develop your place in the quilting world.

As I evolved along the quiltmaking trail, I discovered quilted and appliqued vests for children.  (I made them for adults only on special order because I didn’t find themarkets for them in stores.) 

Actually I sort of inherited this business from Jan, another quilter.  i wrote a story about her vest business for the local newspaper and then a quilting magazine.  However, Jan decided she wanted to go back to teaching now that her children were in school.  She said she’d refer me to her markets if I was interested.  Jan had seen my work and was confident I’d produce quality products.

So Jan let me “pick her brains” and I began my venture.  I also found additional markets for these vests and developed my own designs.  I continued with this business until I had to decide whether to grow it larger (investing in more expensive equipment and possibly hiring others to help me) or stay small, but being consumed by the work.  At that time, I had the opportunity for a full time writing position and decided that was the way I wanted to go…writing about quilting and continuing to work on small projects as I had time.

But the niche I found in the quilting world for several years was very enjoyable.