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.

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.

Building a website can feel like a mountain you’ll never climb. There’s design, copywriting, branding, and tech setup - it’s enough to keep most quilting and crafting business owners stuck in “someday mode.” But here’s the good news: you don’t need to be tech-savvy to have an effective landing page. Your message matters more than how fancy your website looks.

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,

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.

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.”

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.

If you’ve ever wondered why your website isn’t bringing in more students, pattern sales, or longarm bookings—even though you’ve poured...