Tips for writing a quilt description

As we're all measuring up our quilts in preparation to fill out entry forms for the upcoming show I thought we could have some blog posts about entering quilts and filling out entry forms.

I know from chatting with others that a stumbling block when filling out the entry form for some people is the Description section. This is the blurb that is printed on the white card that hangs on the quilt that tells veiwers about the quilt. It can be hard to write about your own work or to think of what details to include. The simple trick is to remember what information you like to read when you see other peoples quilts.

Here are some suggestions of things you can include in your descriptions:

Inspiration - What inspired you to make the quilt? Was it a particular fabric? An antique quilt,  a photo or even a song?
Is the quilt the result of class/workshop or a special pattern.
Did you make the quilt for a special occasion  - to welcome a baby, celebrate an anniversary or birthday.
Did you design the quilt yourself? - once again what were you inspired by
Talk about the techniques you used to make the quilt.
Does the quilt feature a special element to look out for?
You can even get creative and write your description as a poem.

Once you have thought of the information you'd like to include in your description now the trick is to limit it to 275 characters. To save you counting each letter yourself you can use a free online charter counter such as this one. It will tell you the number of characters as you write and it's easy to edit. Once you are happy with your description you can simply copy and paste what you have written into the online form or write it onto a printed form.

Hopefully some of these tips will make it easier to write your descriptions. If you have any tricks or tips about writing quilt descriptions please share them with everyone by writing them in the comments.