No matter how long you’ve quilted, you quickly learn this artwork hooks you with more than gorgeous fabrics and threads. The sense of community as we learn and grow together inspires you to keep going.

Over time, our tools have evolved beyond the sharpest scissors and most efficient rulers. We tune into podcasts and webinars, sharing information across the nation and beyond. By looking at our craft differently, we move to new heights – in terms of networking and creativity.

Thanks to these three distinctly Canadian digital quilt companies, new solutions address what could hold us back. Instead, they find new ways forward using technology that connects us and solves problems more quickly.

FABCYCLE and SewJo

FABCYCLE started out as a Vancouver-based textile waste diversion business and online shop. It works with apparel manufacturers, designers, film productions and community donors to keep textiles and sewing supplies out of landfills.

Even better, it unleashes the potential in each fabric to become a quilt, jacket, bag or handmade garment.

“We see beyond waste,” founder Irina McKenzie said. “People see us as matchmakers. For quilters, there is something really natural about this conversation. They already understand saving scraps, using what you have and giving fabric a second life.”

“At FABCYCLE, we often receive materials from people who had beautiful plans for them,” she explained. “Somewhere along the way, life got busy, the plan got forgotten, the project felt overwhelming, or the materials just sat unused for years.”

Soon, Irina came up with a complementary idea that launched in August 2025.

“We asked, ‘How can we support people before a process breaks down and they don’t end up completing a project?’” Irina said. “We need a stronger, more connected community and tools that organize your stash.”

Along comes SewJo

The SewJo app helps sewists and quilters organize their fabric, patterns, projects, sewing plans and inspiration in one place. Irina calls it “a sewing room in your back pocket.”

Once sewists have better ways to organize, remember and use what they already have, they get back to stitching sooner.

For Irina, digital tools don’t replace real community. Rather, SewJo connects makers, shops, educators and guilds to keep them connected, learning and sewing.

“Our goal is not to keep you on the app but to use it for what you need,” she said.

She also aims to bridge generations.

“Many younger makers are looking for creativity, self-expression, sustainability, and real human connection,” she said. “Many older makers hold deep knowledge, skill, resourcefulness and traditions.”

By building tools and spaces that help those worlds meet, sewing knowledge, relationships and joy can continue moving forward.

“This is not about sewing; it’s about connection,” she concluded.

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PreQuilt

As the owner of a new charm pack, Laura Henneberry knew she could get the colours to work within her Circus Tent Pattern. However, her usual go-to tool – Adobe Illustrator – wasn’t cutting it. The tiny half-square triangles at the junction of larger tiny half-square triangles had too many colours.

Her husband Gar Liu offered to write a software application to offer more combinations to visualize and design quilts. Little did they know in 2018 that it would grow into a business that employs them both. Her goal remains building a quilter’s confidence so they can make or their own quilts with the fabrics that they love.

“We see PreQuilt as a tool to help you with your creativity,” the Toronto resident said. “There’s a lot of potential and an infinite number of ways to quilt.”

As a graduate of industrial design at the Ontario College of Art and Design, she applied those concepts to solve problems before they strike.

New features

Over time, they have added:

• Randomization to bring in orphan blocks
• A hexagon grid for English paper piecing
• A block maker
• Solid and printed fabric swatches for multiple manufacturers
• A fabric calculator
• Colouring pages
• Fabric calculations and cutting recommendations

All work remains in the cloud and available even if a quilter takes a break from their subscription. All sales are made in Canadian dollars within this country, thanks to geolocation software.

Any quilter can buy a basic membership while pattern designers use an upgrade to create digital colouring pages for their customers’ use.

These days, Laura uses the app more as a sketchbook as she quilts less and works on the business more. She and Gar collaborate with other designers to promote the app and feature others’ work, such as Ruby Star Society fabrics.

Next, they aim to work with more fabric manufacturers to give quilters more options.

Despite a long list of possible additions, the app evolves as customers request changes.

“That gives us a snapshot into other people’s processes,” Laura said. “Quilting always has a human touch.”

“We’re here to help and open to ideas,” Laura said. “Our users took this company from a home office to make it more of a part of the world that connects us.”

QuiltHub

Cozy in his Toronto apartment, Brandon Wulff had no idea when shows were coming up or if he missed a chance to enter one.

“I needed something to slap me in the face,” he said.

He decided to create a platform to suit people like him. Within a short time, the Quilt Hub began and has evolved since early 2026.

Brandon speaks, in part to half of Canada’s quilters who either do not join guilds or don’t use social media to network with others.

For example, he empathizes with parents staying home to care for their children, people with disabilities, elderly quilters and busy weekenders who can only quilt on weekday evenings. For that final group, he created After Dark, an online venue for late-night quilting with lectures, lounge nights and a replay vault for those who couldn’t stay awake.

Brandon discovered his passion for quilting when his sister Michaelanne opened Stache Fabric and Notions. He also runs B Wulff and Co.

He designed his new platform to connect the quilting community, particularly those under age 45.

‘Susan’ spices things up

Brandon and his chatbot Susan create “somewhat spicy” humorous educational content that encourages participation from all ages and regions. (It really resonates with Australians, he noted.)

He describes Susan as “part travel buddy, part pattern whisperer, part fabric enabler.” Visitors can turn to her for design advice, technical help and buying, selling or organizing fabric in a growing stash.

The Quilt Hub is free to surf – with anything users save (shops, shows, patterns and notes) living on their “quilt table.”

Coincidentally, Brandon recently ran a monthly block design challenge focused on wedding quilts with Pre-Quilt. Together, they had users create new patterns, proving that tech can bring the best out of people.

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