How to Plan for a Quilt Show

Quilters spend months creating beautiful works of art, and while most are given as gifts or kept as personal heirlooms, displaying and selling your quilts, and those of your friends, can be fun and exciting. Belonging to a quilting guild is not necessary to host a quilt show, but asking for help from local groups can be beneficial.

Six to twelve months prior

1. Start marketing your show. Write out a news release and send it to quilting guilds and clubs, quilting shops, newspapers and quilting newsletters within a 100 mile radius. Radio stations and newspapers have community sections where functions are listed for free.


2. Locate vendors. Ask local craft and quilting stores if they would like a space for their merchandise. Food vendors are another good source of revenue. Prepare contracts for the vendors outlining the requirements and rules relating to your show. Make sure you have adequate space for the quilts and vendors. Charge reasonable rates of vendors, especially if it is your first show.


3. Design flyers and posters advertising the quilt show. Print them yourself, or have them professionally printed. 

Three to six months prior

1. Search out quilt makers to display their work. Put entry forms in quilt shops and distribute to the same guilds you marketed. Mail entry forms to any quilters you know who might be interested.


2. Find volunteers to help. Look for reliable people who will come when they are scheduled.


3. Ask for volunteers to demonstrate quilting techniques at the show. Verify that your volunteers are proficient at the craft they volunteered for.

One to three months prior

1. Brainstorm a list of items to be auctioned. A silent auction that runs the course of the show is an easy way to sell goods. Ask local stores to donate.


2. Plan the show's layout. Decide where the silent auction will be set up, where the quilts will be hanging, and where the vendors will be set up.

Final month and day of show

1. Arrange for tables and displays. 


2. Prepare display labels in advance.


3. As they arrive, arrange and display the quilts per your layout.


4. Photograph the quilts to display in a photo album. You can also create inexpensive photo books and resell as keepsakes.