Friends, we’re so happy to share more with you about our Declutter to Destash sponsor, PreQuilt. PreQuilt was created as a marriage of ideas from wife and husband, Laura Henneberry and Gar Liu.  It is an easy to use quilt design online application that helps users take their creative ideas and make them real. With PreQuilt, users can play with and discover new color combinations, customize quilt layouts, and design their own blocks and quilts.

Welcome, Laura & Gar! We are thrilled to have PreQuilt as a sponsor for the Declutter to Destash Challenge.

FGF: How did you come up with the idea for PreQuilt? 

PQ: In early 2018 I (Laura) was working on a quilt design I had rolling around in my head. I had a block I came up with while doodling during a work meeting and a Denyse Schmidt Free Spirit solids charm pack. I was having a really hard time visualizing it in my head and I was trying to figure out my color combinations in Illustrator (a very time consuming and painful process for me). One night, Gar walked by, looked over my shoulder, and then said, I could program something that could do that for you. 

A couple of months later, he had built our first prototype, a digital coloring page for my Circus Tent Quilt. We thought if it was useful for me, it might be useful for others. So I started reaching out to other quilt designers to see if they’d be interested in collaborating with us. We built them a custom digital coloring page and sold their pattern in our shop on consignment. With each new collaborator, we were able to push the development of the application, because we had to figure out how to build their quilt out as a digital coloring page using the PreQuilt software application. They were all such great puzzles and pushed the capabilities of what PreQuilt could do. I’m really grateful to all our collaborators and how they helped us. 

FGF: How long has PreQuilt been available to quilters? And how has it evolved since it first started? 

We had our first collaborator, Rebecca Burnett’s, digital coloring page for Horseshoes and Hand Granades live the summer of 2018. This side of PreQuilt allowed users to visualize a designer’s quilt design in their color choices. These digital coloring pages were especially helpful for quilt-alongs. We launched PreQuilt as a software service and the full design application, where quilters could design and visualize their quilts, in June of 2019. 

PreQuilt continues to evolve week by week. Over the last year and a half, we’ve added new features like: color randomizer, the HST fabric calculator, a block library, fabric swatch importer, and alternate grids. We’re always getting feedback from our customers that guides our development of new features or fixes features that are a bit cumbersome. 

I think one of the biggest evolutions was when we added the Market Plan, which enabled quilt designers to build their own digital coloring pages and direct users to buy their corresponding quilt pattern from their own shops. 

How can a program like PreQuilt help a quilter to use more of what they have in their own stash? 

Oh, PreQuilt is perfect for visualizing your quilt ideas with the stash you already have. I’ve bought printed fabrics for years and I literally have no clue how to use them in my quilts. I just can’t see it in my head. So, I’ve really leaned on PreQuilt to help me visualize what a printed fabric would look like cut up in my quilt ideas. I either import a digital image of the fabric or I take a picture of it (especially if it’s really old) and I can upload it into my quilt design. It’s almost like auditioning your stash. 

FGF: What would be the benefit of a subscription to PreQuilt over a program like EQ8?

PQ: EQ8 is a great and very powerful software, especially if you know how to use it, so I don’t want to disrespect it. But I think one of the main benefits of PreQuilt is that it’s online and saved to the cloud. You can use it on your tablet and computer (phone too, but it’s quite small). We have all the solid fabric lines pre-loaded, it’s easy to import printed fabric swatches, and we have features like color randomization that enable a more playful and serendipitous way to design your quilts. Plus, the price of PreQuilt is much cheaper than EQ8. 

FGF: Where do you hope to see PreQuilt go in the next year? 

PQ: I’d love to see more people using PreQuilt to help them visualize their next project! I’d also love to have more YouTube videos on our channel. As new features, I’d love to see: an upgraded fabric calculator, hexagon grid option, and the ability to preview your quilting design on top of your patchwork design.

For more with Laura & Gar, visit PreQuilt.com.  Find them on Instagram and follow along with all of Laura’s personal quilty endeavors on instagram at @commonwealthquilts.