[Inkscape-user] Patterns from Inkscape into the GIMP

I've been creating "Patterns" in Inkscape, but when I open the SVG file in The GIMP, the patterns are not visible. I wondered if anyone knows why this is or if there is anything I should be doing to the pattern first, before trying to open in the GIMP. My aim is infact to turn my image into a JPG eventually, but I seem to lose quality if I export as Bitmap first.Any suggestions?Thanks, Anna