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Back in the day...a long, long time ago, I loved to read quilt magazines! I subscribed to almost all of them and I was lucky enough to be published in many of them.
Changes
Then things started to change. A few of the magazines went out of business one by one. Then it seemed all of the magazines that were left in the US were bought up and published by one company. This resulted (in my opinion) that they all began to look the same. They were almost all geared to beginner quilters with fast and easy projects.
And now
The current state of quilting magazines in the US is definitely in flux. The buy out and the sale and purchase of the magazine publishing houses in the US (for quilting magazines at least) seems to in a constant state of upheaval. I'm not even sure which magazines are still publishing and which ones are gone. I do know that when I look at the options at the local magazine seller, I'm usually disappointed. I never seem to find any US published magazines that have anything interesting to offer.
There's hope
International magazines seem to be a different story. Currently, I subscribe to Quiltmania and Quiltmania's Simply Moderne, and I also subscribe to the UK publication Today's Quilter. When I see the current issues of Quilt Now and Love Patchwork and Quilting I will often purchase them.
The only US magazines I subscribe to at the moment are QuiltFolk (so gorgeous!) and I am still a faithful reader of American Patchwork and Quilting even though I miss the good old days when they had projects that were featured step by step over a year or so because they were so complex and needed to be done in a series. And I really love Primitive Quilts and Projects even though it's very genre specific, I always find inspiration and fun tidbits by the contributors.
I would love to know what you are reading and what magazines inspire you these days? I would love to find out about some secret gems that I am missing. Please share your suggestions or preferences in the comments.
Enjoy every stitch!
Diane
I seem to be reading the same ones! I only have one subscription and pick up the others when it looks good.
ReplyDeleteI am not happy with any quilt magazines these days...I always subscribed to Quilter's Newsletter back in the day, but since then I find that i do better looking around online, youtube, and blogs...Even quilting books have pretty much disappointed me...I don't want to buy a book for just one quilt pattern...I would rather buy the specific pattern...
ReplyDeleteI think it's a pretty sad state of affairs...hugs, Julierose
P.S. Frankly I think $10 and more for a magazine is outrageous...just sayin'
ReplyDeleteI dropped all my quilt magazine subscriptions a few years ago, though a friend signed me up for a free year of Love of Quilting which I still like to look at, though find less and less of interest anymore. Love Quiltmania but not the price of a subscription. What I do now when I need a 'quilting pattern fix' is go on Amazon and find books that interest me or other bloggers are recommending, and if they look really good I'll buy an inexpensive used copy. They've always arrived in good condition and better than the magazines since there's no advertising filling 75% of the pages! Generally even with shipping I only pay $6 to $10 for a great book. I do still have my library of older Love of Quilting and a few other magazines to go through when scouting out a new pattern.
ReplyDeletei no longer have any subscriptions. I pick them up at the free table when they look good.
ReplyDeleteI don't subscribe to any.
ReplyDeleteI started quilting in 1987 and subscribed to everything I could over the years. I still get Quiltmaker, but that is the only one. I will occasionally pick up another magazine at the grocery store, but I have never seen the Quiltmania ones you mentioned. I have since gotten rid of most of my older copies of magazines with so much available on the internet now.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to Primitive Quilts and occasionally pick up Quiltmania. They are all overpriced and don't have much content. Just pretty pictures and projects. No articles.
ReplyDeleteAs part of the wave of Boomers who likely helped propel magazines into the glory days of the 1970’s -1990’s, I’ve now reached a saturation point. I want fewer things, not more, so first to go (and least likely to be purchased) is paper “clutter”. Truthfully, I peruse the magazines on our regular books store “dates”, but only buy one occasionally. My purchase is guided by content - a project, technique or article that speaks to me in some way that I can’t find on FB, IG, YouTube, blogs, etc.
ReplyDeleteI began quilting in 2013 and subscribed to several US magazines for many years. Last year I ended all subscriptions as the magazines began to seem repetitive, and subscribed to Today's Quilter for a year, which ends soon and I probably won't renew. I've saved most all the magazines, sorted by the four seasons. On days I wish I had found something interesting in the mail I grab a couple from the current season.
ReplyDeleteI currently subscribe to Quiltmaker and Quiltfolk (got a good deal on subscription), but confess I haven't made anything from Quiltmaker in ages. There's so much easily (and usually free) on the Internet, that I'll never make everything on my wishlist.
ReplyDeletePat
I'm a magazine lover too. I'm a regular subscriber of the Quiltmania magazines. Australian magazines (I live in New Zealand) have suffered the same fate as the ones you mentioned but one still going strong is Quilters Companion (and its mate Australian Homespun, more general sewing/crafting) which I love and also subscribe to. Don't know if it's available in the US but it's well worth a look at if you do happen across a copy.
ReplyDeleteLike many here, I love magazines and used to subscribe to a lot of them. Now, the only one I get in the mail is American Quilter and only because it's part of the AQS membership. I do like APQ, Prim Quilts and Quiltmania but only buy an occasional issue here and there when there is a particular project I'm interested in. I've always loved back issues so if I can pick them up cheap and it has something interesting in it, it doesn't matter that it's from five or even ten years ago. In fact, I often thumb through the magazine issues I still have and always find something of interest that I didn't remember seeing or liking the first time around since over time my quilt tastes, interests and skills have changed!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, quilter magazines. Back in the 70's I devoured everything quilty I could get my new quilter hands on. But after so many years, they became boring to me. Maybe my appetite was sated? And then the prices went so high and the ad content increased to an obnoxious level. Phooey, I would rather spend my $$ on fabric. The internet blossomed and I have never looked back. Frankly, the quilt books are like glorified magazines, with just a few more pages. I no longer buy them either. I have beautiful quilt books I would like to give away, but no one wants them. Far easier and faster to look on the web. Now the big issue is power; when the power goes out (yes, I live in CA), I could still look at the books maybe.
ReplyDeleteI don't currently subscribe to any. I almost always end up buying American Patchwork and Quilting, so probably should subscribe to that, and I am considering buying the archive for it. I pick up Love of Quilting about half the time. QuiltFolk - gorgeous magazine, but the price makes me wince. I pick up other magazines, but usually put them back due to not enough patterns or lessons that I want to make or use.
ReplyDeleteI pick up Quilter's Newsletter any time I find them at garage & estate sales or book resellers, especially ones from the early years.
I only subscribe to QuiltFolk magazine now, living in Australia it is a fairly expensive subscription but I enjoy reading it because there are no ads. I was subscribing to Curated Quilts but it ended up being too expensive. My local library has a lot of digital magazines available which makes it very affordable to view a lot of magazines for nothing.
ReplyDelete