As many of us wait to hear whether our submissions will be accept for QuiltCon this year, I thought it’d be fun to share the judging feedback I received on my Geometry of Circles quilt. It was juried into the “Small Applique” category of the Quilts: A World of Beauty show (but did not win an award).
When I picked up my quilt at the end of the show, I also received a sealed envelope with three one-page feedback forms — one from each judge. I was actually a bit hesitant to open it. I am really proud of that quilt and the fact that it was juried into the show. What if the feedback was horrible?? But I took a deep breath and dove in, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
There were three main sections of the critique. (I’m not sure if there are any rules about posting judging forms, so to err on the side of caution I’ve decided not to post photos of them.)
The first section had a list of several criteria that covered pretty much every aspect of the quilting process from concept to finished quilt. Some examples are “visual impact,” “integration of all design elements,” and “execution of chosen construction techniques.” Each of these was graded as Excellent (+), Satisfactory (check) or Needs Improvement (-).
My feedback hovered between Satisfactory and Excellent! Judge #1 gave me all Excellents — wow! Judges #2 and #3 gave me a mix of Excellent, Satisfactory, and “check+” which I’ll interpret as somewhere between the two. (Ha.)
The second section covered items that the judges felt were the best features of the quilt. There was a list of quite a few things to choose from, and the judges simply circled the ones that they felt applied. Judge #1 circled 5 items, including “excellent visual impact” and “bindings full & well-applied.” (Given my pickiness about binding, I was happy to see that one!)
Judge #2 also complimented my binding, as well as “creative use of pattern.” And Judge #3 didn’t circle anything. (Shrug.)
The third and final section of the form covered items that the judges suggest would make a more competitive quilt. Some examples of items in this category were “quilting overpowers other design elements,” “more accuracy”, and “more unique design elements.” There were also a couple obvious things such as “use lint roller to remove pet hair, loose threads, etc” and “quilt should lay flat.” But I’m happy to report that none of the judges circled anything on this list for my quilt — hooray!
At the bottom of the form, there was room for “Other Comments.” For my quilt, Judge #1 wrote “Bias binding applied very well.” (Man, pat on the back to myself for the binding on this one, eh?)
Judge #2 didn’t write anything, and Judge #3 wrote “Nicely done. Pleasing appearance. Use of applique is convenient for construction but not a design element.”
That final comment about applique being convenient but not a design element was so interesting — I hadn’t thought about that at all, and entered this quilt in the applique category because that was the technique I used. But the judge’s comment is absolutely valid, and really got me thinking about technique vs. design. Both are absolutely vital to making a good quilt, but can work together in a lot of different ways.
I have a lot more half-formulated thoughts about this that I can’t quite put into words yet, but it will definitely be a factor in future quilt designs, I think!
p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blog writing challenge!
Thanks for sharing about your judging forms; opening them can definitely feel scary! It sounds like they have a nice setup and I like that each judge can provide feedback. Very interesting insight by the third judge. It does make me stop and think about how I’ve been viewing my work, too.
I was impressed by their overall setup! My only other datapoint for comparison is Quiltcon 2018, and I do think they were fairly similar. This judge’s form was more extensive than QuiltCon’s, but not by a huge amount.
It definitely makes me wish that judges would all write feedback! I understand their time is limited and there are SO many quilts that they view, but the personalized feedback is so valuable.
Thank you for sharing. After reading that last judges comment, do you think there was another category for the show that it would have been better suited for? Sometimes choosing the category is so hard.
I can’t remember exactly what all the categories were, but yes, I wondered if perhaps there was something else where it would have fit better based on the design rather than technique! This was only the second show I had ever entered, so I’m definitely still learning and I think you’re right — choosing the category can be difficult since many of them are so broad.