This monthly report highlights social media platform changes that rolled out or surfaced in December 2025, to help quilt pattern designers, quilt teachers, and longarm service providers prepare their marketing strategies for January. Social platforms often test features quietly at the end of the year, then expand or adjust them in the new year. This post breaks down what changed in December, why it matters for creative businesses, and what you can thoughtfully test or plan f

There is a lot of information right now. A lot of predictions. A lot of noise about how you should be showing up everywhere, doing everything, adapting instantly, and keeping up at all costs. And I want to start by saying this clearly: You do not need to do all the things and definitely not all the things at once. Online marketing is shifting. Trends are shifting. Search is shifting.

AI tools are everywhere right now - and if you’re a quilt pattern designer, teacher, or service provider, you’ve probably wondered: Where is my information going when I use these tools? Is this safe for my ideas, my teaching frameworks, or my business assets? That hesitation is healthy. I had the same concerns. This post is not about hype or fear, it’s about understanding how popular AI tools are designed to work, what their stated policies say, and how to use them intenti

If you’re a quilt business owner running things mostly on your own - a pattern designer, teacher, or service provider - YouTube can feel like the most sustainable place to show up. And it is! The Quilters Survey, presented every year at h+h Americas, showed that YouTube was the number 1 platform quilters turn to when looking up information about quilting in 2024. You can teach, explain, model, inspire, connect, and you can build trust without dancing for an algorithm.

If you’ve ever poured your heart into writing a blog post and then thought, “Okay… now what?” You’re not alone. Many creative business owners write a blog, hit publish, and let it sit there like a beautiful quilt folded up in a closet. It exists, but it’s not doing any of the work it could be doing for your marketing.

When I first started teaching quilting workshops and designing patterns, every day felt like drowning. I’d wake up, care for my then 1-year-old, and the moment nap time began, I’d sit at my desk and…freeze. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t have a plan. I was piecing my business together sporadically - like an improv quilt, but without the fun.

If keeping up with social media changes feels like trying to piece a king-size quilt from a scrap bin… you’re not alone. Each month I pull together the biggest platform updates through a quilting business lens  so you can spend less time doom-scrolling and more time quilting, teaching, or longarming. You’ll find: 5 quick platform updates (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube) A Trend Watch  section A summary table A short monthly action plan 1. Instagram: Recaps, R

Tori McElwain Disclaimer: This is a long blog post - but an important one. When many of our fellow quilters and craft-business owners launched their ventures in 2019-2020 (I was one in 2018, I was making quilts to sell - in 2019, I shifted to quilt pattern design and workshops!), something unusual was happening. Life slowed down. Travel stopped. Many of us had more time at home, more space for hobbies, and in some cases more “disposable” income because we weren’t going out,

Tori McElwain This update covers the platform changes we saw in October,  so you can use them as guideposts while planning your content and promotions for November and beyond . It’s written especially for quilting business owners - pattern designers, teachers, and longarm service providers - to help you make sense of the noise and pick one or two things to try next month. A lot is going on, so let’s dive in! Whether you’re sharing a new quilt pattern, teaching a live workshop

This post is inspired by her journey, the lessons I’ve learned from helping her and others like her, and the strategies we’ve both used successfully. If you’ve ever dreamed of stepping back from social media (or leaving it entirely) while still growing your quilting business - this is for you.

If you’re in the quilting industry - teaching classes, designing patterns, longarm quilting for hire, or selling quilting supplies - you probably know that visibility is important. But visibility online doesn’t happen by chance. One of the foundational building blocks is keywords: the words and phrases people type (or speak) when they search for what you offer.

Here’s the truth: marketing doesn’t have to consume your day. With the right system, you can move from scattered to organized in as little as fifteen minutes - and if you’ve got an hour, you can set yourself up for the entire week.

If you’ve been running your quilting or crafting business online for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is what helps your website show up when someone types into Google: “modern quilt pattern PDF” or “how to start free motion quilting.”

Tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity, are gaining popularity as preferred platforms for people to ask questions and perform online research, instead of traditional search engines like Bing or Google. These tools do more than just search websites; they summarize, recommend, and even generate clickable links for users. However, there are times when AI makes mistakes.

When you hear “SEO” (search engine optimization), you may think: keywords, backlinks, Google rankings. But a new sibling is emerging: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). This is shifting what it means for your website, your content, and how people find you via AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.). If you run a quilting business, teach classes, write patterns, or sell online, understanding both can give you a real edge.