BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Quilting Quilt Judges Written Critique - Pros & Cons

Here in Australia, as far as I know, all quilt shows are judged visually by judges, and no critique is given either orally or by correspondence.

I know that in America, a lot of quilt shows offer written critique by judges as part of the judging process.

I'm very interested to know how this works, and if American quilters like it or not. Do you think it is helpful to the quilter or do you think it can be destructive to the creative journey for the quilter?

Looking forward to having a conversation on this subject.
Cheerio for now

HI Judie Interesting to me that there is no written critique for quilts entered in a judged show. I am most familiar with the quilt show my local group presents each July in conjunction with our local city celebration. I have been involved in everything from setting up quilts for display, accepting quilts from the quilters (or sometimes their family members), preparing for judging, tabulating the scores and even judging myself. Our show is designed to be a help to the quiltmaker so that she can see where she is doing a good job and where she needs improvements. Our score sheet is rather extensive compared to many but really gives the quilt the best critique in my opinion. We also take into account things like if the quilt is made from a kit or if the maker did all the work herself of picking the fabrics...is the quilting done by a professional quilter or on a home machine or by hand? is the design itself a commercial pattern or created by the maker? There are several more categories and if I can get a copy I would be glad to send you a scanned copy. Since we often have over 100 quilts to consider we make sure that all quilts in the same category are judged by the same judges ie machine quilted bed sized quilts I think as long as the notes from the judge (which we encourage) are kind and gentle then no on should be hurt when they can see their scores. Hope you get some more feedback.

Thank you so much Cathie D for your wonderful response. I'd be very interested to see a copy of your score sheet. I like your idea of making sure that all entries in each category are judged by the same people - an essential for consistency I think.

When critiquing - what are the criteria for making comments? Do you have a range of comments to choose from or does it simply come from the heart and mind of the judge? Do you have instances where the comments are taken in the wrong context?

We've just finished our quilt show, and unfortunately we had a quilt stolen, right at the beginning of day 1, just after the presentations. It was a first prize winner and the whole episode has shocked the quilt guild immensely.

Cathy, I do hope others comment on the subject of critiquing and thankyou once again for your response.

Good Morning from Washington State. Regarding critiques on quilts entered into a show. I had my first experience this fall when I submitted a quilt and it was accepted into an well known/respected Quilt Festival. I did not win but was thrilled to have the quilt even accepted for judging. A couple of weeks after the show I did receive a very brief, two lines of comments, critique. While flattering, it was not helpful to me as I know there were things I could have done or done better. Maybe I'm confused as to what the term 'critique' really means in the quilting world?

Thanks for your reply !glee59*, that's sort of what I find so intriguing. In your case you were basically told what you already know and I guess that's going to happen a lot. But I wonder if quilters find these critiques useful in their comments. Do judges take enough time to really offer some valuable advice? I heard a quilter once say that she'd pay $'s to have 5 minutes of the judges time to give her a verbal critique. I wonder if that would be more useful, as you could steer the conversation on the points that you feel you need help on. What do others think?

Cheerio for now