It was not often that Jim and Wilma Cogliantry took the day off, but when they did, it seemed that the conversation always turned to business. That day trip to Rhode Island was no different. As the couple struggled with ideas on ways to market their wide quilt backings, the conversation became animated. “Isn’t there a standard size? Couldn’t we just pre-cut the backings?”

When Jim asked, Wilma’s response was immediate. “No,” she told him, “quilt tops are all different sizes, quilters will want different sized backings.” But, a glimmer of an idea was born.

Many manufacturing businesses in New England have failed. Workers have faced layoffs, and factory closings. Wilma had worked for a paper products company for almost 19 years and as a buyer, she became more and more aware of her employer’s grim future. She said, “Jim and I had misgivings, but eventually, we purchased a longarm quilting machine and I started my business, Christian Lane Quilters.” She very quickly developed a reputation in Connecticut as a quality quilter. “I discovered, to my delight, that piecers really liked my work and were willing to wait for me to quilt their quilts.” When her work started competing in shows, her customer base grew to include piecers throughout New England. “Our home is just off a major highway, right in the middle of the state,” explained Wilma. “It’s easy to get to from surrounding areas.” She soon had a one year lead-time.

As a part of her growing business, Wilma began stocking bolts of wide backing fabrics for her quilting customers. “Many of my regular customers stopped preparing backings for their quilts as my selections increased. They knew they would most likely find something nice when they brought their tops in for quilting.” Wilma goes on to say, “When backings are purchased as parts of quilting orders, we wash and press them at no charge. It is a win-win situation. The customer pays less for a wide width backing than they would for an equivalent amount of 44” wide fabric, they do not have to wash, press, or piece it, and I always have a backing to work with that is the right size.”

A few months before the trip to Rhode Island, Jim lost his job. After 30 years in manufacturing as a Tool and Die Maker, he was faced with uncertainty. The couple decided to become partners.  “My five year old business was thriving.” Wilma recalls, “My only problem was capacity. I had more work than I could keep up with. We made the decision to buy a second longarm quilting machine and create a second studio for Jim.”

The couple also decided to expand their backings inventory and create a website to sell them. Jim soon found himself busier than he had ever been while working for others. CLQ’s Studio II was set up, the second machine was delivered, and he began learning how to work with fabric, instead of steel. His precision training has been rewarded. Many of his customers have collected ribbons in show competitions. Long time customer, Debbie Buehl, says, “The quilting from Christian Lane Quilters is instantly recognizable. Their quilting has a distinctive style and the quilts they work with always hang so beautifully!”

Jim spent countless hours developing the couple’s website, www.christianlanequilters.com. “We wanted to promote the web business by vending at quilt shows in New England,” Jim relates, “but we could not figure out how we were going to transport and sell the fabrics. The bolts are bulky and very heavy.”

As they drove toward Newport, Jim’s question about standard sizes kept turning over in Wilma’s mind. “I tried to imagine what our booth could look like, as I thought about the problem.”

The Cogliantrys were no strangers to quilt shows and the visual image of bins filled with brightly colored fat quarters kept popping up in Wilma’s thoughts. “You know,” she said slowly, “maybe we could figure out a reasonable size. If the backings were cut and folded, they would be easy to transport flat in bins and we could set them upright in the bins at the shows and they would look like giant fat quarters. People are fascinated by anything that is really small, or really big.” Her words started coming faster. “A queen sized batting is 90 inches wide by 108 inches long. Our backings are 108 to 115 inches wide. We want the backings that we work with to be eight inches wider and longer than the quilt tops. We could cut the backings at 116 inches, no, even better! We could cut them 117 inches long, which is three and one-quarter yards. That is a very workable size and if they’re pre-cut, we could offer them with that last quarter of a yard free. And wow! A perfect name! We can call them "FatBacks!®"

The backing inventory available from Christian Lane Quilters has grown to include over two hundred different pattern and color choices from top-of-the-line, quality, name brand manufacturers, such as Benartex, Andover, RJR, Moda-United Notions, Blank Textiles, Clearwater Fabrics, P & B, South Seas, Henry Glass, Marcus Brothers, and Chanteclaire. “I’m constantly searching for new lines,” Wilma commented.

“We just brought in wide cotton-sateens for quilters who like to mark and make their own original wholecloth quilts. We have Marcus Brother’s new Aunt Grace and Civil War lines coming in shortly. Timeless Treasures and RJR have some new backings that we are considering. We carry contemporary batiks, 30’s reproductions, country-style Thimbleberries, romantic Eleanor Burns, lush Moda’s, Kaye England’s new Travels in Time, and everything in between.” She adds, “Manufacturers are finally catching on that quilters want more than the same old tone-on-tones that they were producing.”

They also stock Benartex  pre-stenciled wholecloth quilt tops and kits in a range of sizes.  “I made my first quilt, a queen size wholecloth, in the late 1960’s. I did not know what I was doing. It had a cheap flannel backing, a fat poly batting, and I hand quilted it with doubled sewing thread. I may not have known anything about burying knots, but I knew that I loved quilting.” Wilma shook her head and laughed, “I have been hooked ever since then!” Her passion for wholecloth and her creativity using the stenciled tops is evident in her website gallery.

“We sell what I value as a quilter,” Wilma stated. “One of our best ideas was a design-your-own-wholecloth. A hand quilter can choose his or her favorite wholecloth top, a printed backing to make the quilt reversible, a poly, wool, cotton or cotton blend batting, and we will machine baste it.” She adds, “I know this is a fantastic service because I’ve crawled around on my kitchen floor basting more quilts than I can count, and I’ve never been able to hand baste a quilt as square and as flat as we can when we machine baste it.” The Cogliantry’s ship their basted wholecloth quilts all over the world.

“We have been so very fortunate,” Wilma says. “Self-employment certainly is not for the faint of heart. We work extremely hard, but the changes that began as disruptive and unwelcome, became rewarding opportunities. Now it is hard to imagine not quilting for a living!”

The couple says that something that really makes them smile is when they hear their word used in casual conversation.