Let’s face it- quilting is almost always a solitary activity. Most of our work occurs alone in front of the sewing machine, design wall, or ironing table.
It’s rewarding to share our work with local groups and guilds, but there are moments when we seek to advance our work, move beyond casual responses, and receive professional feedback on our quilting. The value of such feedback is significant, but opportunities to receive it are limited.
Occasionally, quilt shows offer written comments from the judges. These assessments have a wide range of usefulness, and they are frequently brief and need more specific insight.
This year, The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show offered judges comments, but instead of including them with each quilt, entrants had the option to pay an additional $10 per quilt to get this written feedback.
I was curious- Would paying for judging comments mean that you would get more in-depth feedback?
I decided to try it with the two quilts I entered so you can determine if you would like to pay for judging feedback in the future.
What It Cost
At just $10 per entry, The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is one of the most affordable quilt shows to enter. An additional $10 per quilt to receive judging comments takes the total entry fee to $20 each, which is still on the lower end of entry fees for national quilt shows. You must also include a self-addressed stamped envelope to mail the judging sheets.
The Quilts
The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is juried, so entries are submitted early, reviewed by the jury, and the show organizers send acceptances or rejections to all entrants. This year, I decided to submit two quilts for the show.
Below, I’m sharing the images I submitted for the jurying process, along with the sign displayed next to each quilt containing the description I provided during the entry process. A full quilt photo and a detail of each quilt are required for entry. Finally, I’m including a scan of the original judging sheet so you can see what they had to say.
Where We Connect
Where We Connect is a hand appliqué quilt made from two fabrics, reverse appliquéd and quilted before I cut a circular section from the quilt’s center. I then bound both interior edges, rotated the circle to a new position, and hand-stitched it into place.
The Jury Photos and Descriptions
The Judging Comment Sheet
My Thoughts on the Judging Comments
- How is the quilt design both successful and flat?
- I’m not surprised by this feedback. This quilt is exciting to many Modern Quilters but doesn’t resonate with traditionally focused quilters.
Water, Land, and Sky
I originally made Water, Land, and Sky as a challenge quilt and hand-dyed all the fabrics to add texture to the design. I have only entered this quilt in a couple of shows, and it is about to age out of quilt shows entirely, so I decided to get a few more eyes on it while I still can!
The Jury Photos and Descriptions
The Judging Comment Sheet
My Thoughts on the Judging Comments
- My longarm and I were fighting during the quilting of this piece, and I pulled out quite a few lines of stitching because of tension issues. I thought I got them all, but I must have missed at least one. (Judges always find the single spot that you missed!)
- I expected them to comment on the occasional skipped stitch. (I replaced the encoders on the longarm immediately after this quilt- I wasn’t having that nonsense on anything else!)
- I am also confused by the edge finish being excellent on one quilt and very good on the other. I used the same method on both, so I would have liked a bit more information on that.
Was It Worthwhile to Pay for Feedback?
Since only some of the quilts received written feedback, I hoped that the judges’ input would be more attuned to the quilt’s specific attributes. These comments were less vague than some feedback I received, but they could have been more helpful.
When people explicitly pay for feedback, I believe that along with any overarching comments, any area not categorized as excellent should have specific feedback related to that area. The judge obviously finds something lacking in those areas, but we are left to guess what it is.
I will not pay to receive judging comments on every quilt I send out in the future. However, if feedback is helpful, I may selectively request it on an occasional quilt.
When is feedback more likely to be helpful?
- If you are new to entering shows, judging feedback may give you a better idea of what discussions happen in the judging room.
- At the beginning of a series, judging feedback could point out a pitfall you may have missed and could correct in future pieces.
- When you think a quilt is an excellent example of your work. Most feedback forms include excellent features as well as areas to improve. When a quilt is particularly good, there is less room for the judge to make an offhand comment, so you may get something insightful if the overall work is close to perfect.
What do you think? Would you pay for this type of feedback when you enter a show?
Thinking of Entering a Quilt Show?
If you are interested in entering a quilt show, check out these posts:
2 Comments
Mary J Puckett
October 11, 2024 at 7:28 amI’ve always heard that judge’s ratings and comments are “just that particular judge’s opinion on that particular day” and I’ve found that to be the case. E.g., at one show I was sitting with others waiting for quilt return and overhearing their comments–all had to do with binding, so obviously that was this judge’s particular “thing”. I once held quilts for judging at a local show, and it reinforced this belief. Also, there’s some variability between morning and afternoon comments! Yikes! I think it would be more useful to form a supportive critique group with friends. And I certainly agree that I wouldn’t pay extra for judge’s comments. BTW, I saw your quilts at AQS-Lancaster and they showed well.
Pamela Meyers Arbour
October 11, 2024 at 7:35 amIt looks like I get to leave the first reply. I got my first experience from the Houston International Quilt Festival over 40 years ago when it was still in the Shamrock Hilton Hotel in Houston. I went every year until 2016. I entered a couple of my grandmother’s quilts and my sister-in-law entered her first ever quilt. My grandmother’s quilts were harshly judged and did not include any compliments, I thought, but I didn’t include her age. She wanted to be competitive. Everything was hand pieced and hand quilted. This was at a time when they were pretty strict to having things being done by hand. No machine work at that time. My sister-in-law was the only entry in her category. She broke absolutely quilting rule there was. LOL She make large embroidered blocks with dinosaurs alternating with a calico print. She used DMC embroidery floss and stitched all the way through to the back. All stitches were showing. The squares for the embroidery was a white, polyester poofy type of fabric. The hand quilting was large stitches. They chose to give her a First Place Ribbon and went on the talk about her originality in each specific case. For the other quilt, I don’t particularly care for blue quilts and I’m not that much on modern, but I was impressed with your design and quilting. I guess I would have given you the same ratings. I can see that you put a lot of work into that.
Oh well, I don’t know if you wanted that much feed back! LOL I think you got your money’s worth. It might be interesting to put the same quilts in other shows that offer feedbacks for comparison.
My take-away from that was:
1. All judges have their own experiences and opinions.
2. The quilting world has come a long way since then.
3. There can be only one First Place in each category, most people will not get one. I decided that I cared more about what my quilt recipients thought and I already know my mistakes. I am my best/worst critic. I do my best with everything I do which might not be prize-worthy some time.
4. I have thought about entering some of my quilts at some county fairs, but I still believe that even the general public will choose what they like at that particular time.
On your quilts, I think they should have been more specific on their comments. I would have given you excellent in all categories on Water, Land, and Sky. I love how you actually were able to separate the three with such subtle shades.