After falling in love with a sampler quilt in the late 1990s, Kim impulsively purchased the pattern, taught herself the steps needed to make it and realized she was completely smitten with quiltmaking. With just her third quilt, she became the winner of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine's 1998 Pieces of the Past quilt challenge, turning her life down an unexpected path as her new-found hobby blossomed into a full-time career.
Kim's favorite quilts include traditionally-inspired patchwork designs, especially when combined with appliqué. She loves stitching her projects using modern techniques for an ideal blend of simplicity, ease and charm. The popularity of Kim's quiltmaking methods and her "Simple" series of books with Martingale & Co. led to an extensive teaching schedule for several years, until she retired from travel in 2015.
Spending her days at home once again has given Kim time for all of the things she loves most -- designing and stitching, gardening, cooking, antiquing and most especially, grandbabies
ALEXIA ABEGG
Alexia Abegg is one of those people with creativity in her genes; her mother is a seamstress and designer, her father, a musician and painter. “It was a very bohemian upbringing,” she recalls. “There was always kind of a bent toward the arts in our house, and it definitely influenced my meandering path toward fabric design.”
That path included photography, custom tailoring and even a stint doing wardrobe on film sets. But it was the sewing pattern company she began with her mom (Green Bee Patterns), that would become her entry into the quilt market world, and eventually fabric design. “I love textiles and the way that art changes once it gets printed onto fabric,” the Nashville-based designer says. “It’s fascinating how things look on paper as compared to cloth.”
Fabric design seems the perfect outlet for Alexia – a tidy mash-up of her interests in sewing and illustration. But when she talks about her love of the craft and the community surrounding it, there’s a deeper level of appreciation that shines through: “I love that it is really, truly collaborative in almost every sense of that word. Not just with the other designers, but with the people that are buying my fabric... We’re creating the raw material. It is a product, but then it’s ready to take on a new life with whoever uses it.
Rashida Coleman-Hale
From summers in Japan with her fashion model mother to publishing two sewing books born of a wildly successful blog, Bay Area-based designer Rashida Coleman-Hale has lived a life brimming with excitement and inspiration. After attending FIT in New York, she ended up trading the fashion world for design, teaching herself Photoshop and Illustrator and dabbling in freelance graphic design, but she can actually credit motherhood for her segue to fabric design. “I met my husband and we had our first baby. She was so easy that it gave me time to get back into sewing, and soon after, I began my blog.”
What began as a hobby for a stay-at-home mom turned into a successful business venture, and a magazine soon reached out to Rashida about creating sewing articles for them, which led to the opportunity to write a sewing book. But Rashida soon yearned for her next adventure – designing fabric. Before Ruby Star Society, Rashida designed collections with Timeless Treasures and Cloud 9 Fabrics, and she was a founding designer of Cotton+Steel. A full-fledged member of the sewing and quilt community, Rashida’s favorite thing about her industry is the connections she’s made with her fellow sewers and designers. “It’s the warmest, nicest community,” she says. “They’re so welcoming and supportive… I was so shy at my first market, and they instantly made me feel comfortable and included.”
Bee In My Bonnet
I’m a small town farm girl who spent her childhood playing in the sunshine on tractors and climbing trees. I grew up happily immersed in all things domestic. I’m the middle child of a large family and live closely surrounded by grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. My mom says that I was practically born with a needle in my hand. My earliest memories are of sitting underneath the quilting frames and threading needles for my grandma and great aunts until I eventually grew old enough to make stitches of my own. As a girl, I spent many happy hours designing and sewing clothes for my dolls, crocheting and doing embroidery. My deep love of all needle art comes from the early influence of my mother and grandmothers, who were my first teachers. Now I teach others to create and I find joy in using my creativity to make beautiful things. I draw inspiration for my designs from the beauty of the earth and from the love of God and family memories. I am drawn to stacks of colorful fabrics, pretty papers, aprons, buttons, embroidery, old dishes, gingham and polka dots, sprinkles and glitter and all things vintage. I am married to my best friend and childhood sweetheart and together we have 3 creative, intelligent children, and a new baby grandaughter. Life is good! I sew, draw, create, decorate and re-decorate on a daily basis. I think of myself as the luckiest girl in the world, because I get to do what I love everyday. I feel blessed to have my own company called, “Bee in my Bonnet,” which I began in 1994. My wish is that my designs in both patterns and fabric, will inspire others to create and will also instill the desire to pass down the valuable lessons of days gone by taught to us by our mothers and grandmothers.
Lori Holt
Bee in my Bonnet
Sandy Klop
American Jane
Sandy Klop of American Jane had her first exposure to the world of colorful patterns while watching Klompen dancers perform. Every year in May her hometown of Holland, Michigan, celebrated tulip time with a vast array of Dutch costumes.
She was first exposed to quilting in 1979 at her sister-in-laws when she returned from teaching in Iran. She went on to teach art in Saudi Arabia for the next four years. She loved the rich colors and patterns in the tiles and carpets of the Middle East. Back in California, Sandy began to make pattern samples for a local quilt store. From there she moved to machine quilting. She has worked at a local quilt shop and taught many quilt classes. In 2000 she published a series of quilt books with Jan Patek under the series title Folk Art Favorites before venturing out on her own as American Jane Patterns. In 2003 at Quilt Market she was approached her to see if she would like to capture her look in fabric. She has been designing fabric ever since.
Kimberbell
OUR BACKSTORY
Years ago, Kim Christopherson, then a fourth-grade teacher, decided to pause her career to stay home with her three young children. “When I made the switch, I found myself wanting a creative outlet,” Kim explains, “so I started designing and selling personalized name pillows on eBay.” As these pillows gained popularity with DIYers, Kim began expanding her designs to include quilting and machine embroidery projects as well.
Kim’s teaching background, creativity, and sewing know-how inspired stitching enthusiasts to try new projects and have joyful creative experiences. From the very beginning, those who purchased Kim’s designs learned that her step-by–step instructions were exceptionally detailed and easy to follow—almost as if Kim was sitting right there to guide them. As someone who values stress-free projects herself, Kim focused on fostering a successful creative experience for all who made a Kimberbell project.
THE KIMBERBELL EXPERIENCE
Building on that foundation, Kimberbell has since evolved into a dynamic leader in the machine embroidery industry. We’re known for highly creative in-the-hoop projects, bench pillows, and feature quilts, and we also delight in gathering machine embroiderers into a supportive Kimberbell community. We invite everyone to connect with us through live videos, online tutorials, and our Kimberbellas [and Fellas, Too!] Facebook group!
Kimberbell has something for every machine embroiderer, from darling designs to unique shop programs such as Digital Dealer Exclusives. We also provide machine embroidery subscriptions through our ME Time brand! Subscribe to The Bella Box®, Perfectly Pieced, Collectible Christmas, and Hoop Studio at metimedelivered.com and enjoy creative experiences delivered right to your doorstep.
Our (continually growing) product line also includes a wide variety of stabilizers and embellishments, as well as innovative tools such as Orange Pop Rulers® for visually centering quilt blocks and Clear Blue Tiles® for doing longarm-style background quilting on a home embroidery machine. With Kimberbell tools, stabilizers, and embellishments, your creativity will reach heights you’ve never imagined before!
Our project instructions are the best in the industry, with full-color pictures and directions to guide embroiderers every step of the way. Whether you’re a beginner who’s just starting out or someone who has stitched for years, you can count on our instructions to help you achieve results you’ll be proud of! Each project also includes our educational Resource Guide with the tips, tricks, and techniques every embroiderer should know.
As Kim Christopherson often says, “Kimberbell is not about me; it’s about we.” That “we” includes each one of our valued customers! So whether you attend a Kimberbell event at your favorite quilt shop, give one of our digital downloads a try, or simply watch Kim’s live broadcast of What’s New Wednesday each week, we invite every machine embroiderer to Experience the Joy of Creativity® with Kimberbell.
Color Principle
Color Principle is one of the lead designers for Henry Glass Fabrics, designing many of the classic looks for Basics, 108"s and lead collections. Color Principle is based in New York City.
P&B Textiles
We're an international fabric company based in Portsmouth, RI. P&B sells wholesale to independent quilt shops around the country, with international distributors who sell P&B around the globe. The company has been specializing in fabrics for quilters since 1980.
The company originally started in 1963 with two owners, Charles Prager and Irwin Bear, and it was called Prager & Bear. Irwin Bear bought out his partner in 1978, becoming the sole owner. The name was later changed to P&B Fabrics, doing business as P&B Textiles. The company was bought in 2008 by Edward and David Odessa, whose family has been in the textile industry for generations.
In the 1960s and 70s, P&B Textiles acted as a distributor for fabrics produced by other companies. It began designing and selling its own fabrics in 1980, and hired its first full-time fabric designer, Jennifer Sampou, in 1989. The company now has several in-house designers, who work on their own collections as well as working with guest artists to create a stunning array of fabrics to please any and all quilters.
As if it were yesterday, I remember creating my little colorful painting “masterpieces”in the backyard when I was 9 years old and then walking around the neighborhood convincing all of our neighbors to buy what I had created! I guess in looking back, you could say that both art and marketing have been in my blood since I was very young!
When we emigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1975, my dad literally had a few thousand dollars in his pocket, a desire to make a better home for his family and a passion for building his own small business. We are the classic immigrant story. My sister and I grew up working in the family business in one way or another until we moved away from home. Once I was an adult, my dad still loved to “talk shop”whenever there was an opportunity, except that it was my growing business, Fig Tree, that we were discussing! He was involved in every step of our business in the early days and I can see him in every part of Fig Tree now that he is gone. Even though Fig Tree is definitely “all me”, I see it as his legacy.
My desire to create something new, almost always starts with the color inspiration itself. There is something about color that draws me in and won’t let me go until I work it out. I always teach my students that unbelievable color combinations are everywhere if we can only train our eyes to see them. Certain colors or designs that we might see everyday, suddenly look fresh and totally new when put together into an unexpected combination. I love that!
My designs, both for fabric & for quilting, always start with the color palette. I work with vintage fabric swatches, my flower garden, wrapping paper, children’s illustrations from the early part of the last century, flea market finds, antique quilts to start finding color combinations that speak to me. The palette dictates the designs themselves and slowly a collection grows. When people ask me about my process, I usually call myself a “hybrid" fabric designer. I like to use many different mediums and techniques to create my designs including vintage fabrics, painting doodles, computer art, line drawings, just to name a few.
On a more personal note, I live with my husband Eric [who is my right hand man at all things Fig Tree] and we have three grown children…and we are just newly empty nesters so that is definitely a new adventure for us both! We share our cottage with our very old beagle, Simba the cat who thinks he owns the place and 4 backyard chickens. In all of our spare time we are slowly renovating a farm outside of Petaluma California for future workshops and special events.
We are growing all the time at Fig Tree and hope you will come and join us and see what we’re up to!
These days we are loving our annual Block-of-the-Month programs so much and have continual Sew Alongs happening in our Facebook Group. The community in the group is so wonderful and I love spending time with the “Fig Tree Friends” in the group. I would love to have you join us there, search for “Fig Tree Quilts Friends” and request an invitation.
out all of our fabrics and products at www.figtreeandcompany.com, and for the latest happenings and all my inspiration photos and videos follow my Instagram, I am @figtreeandco and that’s where you will find me most days.
For current pattern and fabric introductions, tutorials and detailed sew along info, check out my blog “Fresh Figs”at https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/
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KANSAS TROUBLES
ROBIN PICKENS
My life is a combination of work I love and am passionate about, my search for healthier living, being aware of the little gems in the days and weeks, growing a business while keeping my family a priority, managing my creative time at the office, enjoying every second of my days, and crafting a creative, happy life.
I’ve been in the corporate world of broadcast design, having worked for years designing and animating graphics for tv shows and managing others. It came with rewards and prestige but also came with stress, long days, and a nagging sense that I was not doing what I came here to do, both in my daily living and my art. I decided to pursue work that was more personal and artistic through illustration, textile and surface design and exploring ways of sharing my vision through licensing my artwork. My work now starts from my heart and blooms with color, happiness and inspiration. I love to create. Whether it is decorating our work-in-progress modern-ish home or making up a new recipe for friends and family, it is all part of the creative journey. My work projects range from greeting cards and calendars to collections for tabletop and entertaining, to rugs and home decor. My days at my studio help me create the space I come home to, with products to share and products for the home- ones with color, warmth, connection and stylish design.
It’s all a work in progress…and along the way I have met wonderful artists, my great agent, helpful manufacturers and good friends as I continue to learn new things everyday about the industries I create for.
The Original Morris & Co.
Lovingly Crafted products that uphold the legacy of William Morris.
As a political theorist, publisher, environmental campaigner, poet, as well as an outstanding designer, William Morris (1834–1896) was one of the single most influential figures of the nineteenth century. Under his direction Morris & Co. grew into a flourishing and fashionable Arts & Crafts decorating firm renowned for its wallpapers and textiles. Today, Sanderson Design Group build on that proud heritage with inventive reimaginations of Morris & Co. classics, ever upholding the impeccable standard of craftsmanship which has defined all Morris & Co. products since their inception.
Working across wallpaper, fabric and paint ranges as well as an array of licensed product, designs are inspired by artworks safely stored in our Morris & Co. archive. This treasure trove houses historical log books, samples of every wallpaper, printed and woven textiles and original wooden printing blocks.
IG: @WilliamMorrisandCo | IG: @wmorrisandco | Twitter: @Wmorrisandco | Website: https://morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com/
Kaffe Fassett
Kaffe Fassett is a leading textiles designer and practitioner of contemporary crafts. He has a loyal following of patchworkers, knitters and embroiderers all over the world. A Californian by birth, he moved to the UK in 1964 where through a series of collaborations, he built his name and reputation. He began by creating knitwear designs for Bill Gibb and Missoni. He became a leading light in the knitwear revival of the 80s.
Further explorations led him to needlepoint, mosaics, rug-making, tapestries, fabric design, theatre design and quilting. Kaffe Fassett’s first needlepoint design was commissioned by Pamela Lady Harlech for Lord Harlech. His work has been collected by Barbra Streisand, the late Lauren Bacall, Ali McGraw, Shirley Maclaine and H.R.H. Princess Michael of Kent.
In 1988 he became the first living textile artist to have a one man show at the V&A Museum. He has exhibited in countries including Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Canada, the USA and Iceland. His autobiography was released in 2012 (Kaffe Fassett: Dreaming in Colour) followed by a retrospective of his work at the Fashion & Textiles Museum, London in 2013.
Kaffe has written many books on colour and design in craftwork. Known and loved by quiltmakers across the world, his masterclasses are attended full to brimming. He inspires people to work with colour in an instinctive way.
FB: @kaffefassettstudio | IG: @kaffefassettstudio | Twitter: @KaffeFassettStu | Pinterest: KaffeFassettStudio | #KaffeFassettCollective | Website: http://www.kaffefassett.com/
Heather Peterson
Anka's Treasures
Heather is the designer and owner behind Anka’s Treasures. She started her business as a college sophomore in 1996. Since that time, she has published numerous single patterns and more than 30 books. Her work has been published in America Patchwork and Quilting and other popular quilting magazines, and she was name Quilter of the Year in 2019 by the Minnesota Quilters state guild. Her designs combine trendy colors with traditional and modern influences and often incorporate innovative ways to easily achieve complicated looking designs. When Heather isn’t working on quilt designs, she can be found working on fabric lines, teaching classes and lecturing. Heather makes her home near Spicer, Minnesota, with her husband, Joel, and sons, Carter and Maxwell. When not quilting and designing, Heather likes to read, knit, play pickleball, spend time down by the lake and hang out with her boys. Follow Heather on Instagram @ankatreasures.
Sandy Gervais
Diverse, yet Identifiable are words often used to describe Sandy's designs.
Sandy's dream was not to be a fabric designer but instead a greeting card designer. In 1972, Sandy pitched the idea of becoming a greeting card designer to her high school guidance counselor.
“An A in art class doesn’t make you an artist,” warned Gervais’ guidance counselor, completely snubbing out her burning desire to become a greeting card designer. It took awhile for the fire to rekindle but in 1988 she set out to prove her counselor wrong and started her greeting card company, My Dream Designs. In 1992, Sandy's passion for sewing, which she had been doing since her mother taught her to sew at the age of 8, led her to start the quilt pattern company, Pieces From My Heart. In 1994, she began her 25-year career in fabric design. She discovered she had found her true calling as designing fabric combined her love for art with her love for sewing.
Designing fabric allowed Sandy to explore a medium you can touch … you can feel. It also allowed her to work with color - her favorite part of the fabric design process. A great deal of design time is spent on creating her unique color palettes. Often people say "I love this color - where has it been all of my life?"
"I like people to look at my designs and see a little piece of me…to know this came from Sandy Gervais."
Sandy resides in Algona, Iowa with her husband, Bruce. They have two grown children, Anthony and Abby, and four grandchildren, Adelyn, Sullivan, Andersen and Adrian. You can visit Sandy's website at www.piecesfrommyheart.net or follow her on Instagram @gervaissandy.
MINICK & SIMPSON
Polly and Laurie are sisters that share of the love all things textile.
Laurie is known for the quilts she creates and Polly hooks a rug to match. They have shared and taught their unique folk art style and aesthetic in the United States and in France – occasionally teaching together. Their fabrics have been rendered in quilting-weight cottons, classic twills and plaids and pure over-dyed wools. They combined all these loves into fabrics that include 100% cotton prints, Classic twills and 100% over-dyed wools.
Polly and Laurie are the authors of several best-selling books – Victory Girls, The Spirit of Sacagawea, American Summer: Seaside Inspired Rugs & Quilts, Folk Art Friends; Hooked Rugs and Coordinating Quilts, Everyday Folk Art: Hooked Rugs and Quilts to Make, Modern Primitive Quilts: Redefining Country Style and Americana Rugs.
They have been also been featured in numerous magazines – national and international – including: Quiltmania, Country Home, American Patchwork & Quilting, 
Call’s Quilting, Victoria, and Architectural Digest.
Pepper Cory
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