DESIGNER PROFILE
Suzy Quilts is a major player in the world of quilting with her fresh and modern designs. Sandi Sawa Hazlewood gets to know more...
Suzy Quilts is one of the major players in the quilting world with her fresh, modern designs. Sandi Sawa Hazlewood catches up with her to find out how she became a quilter and what she’s up to next
Tell me about your journey.
At the age of 15, I would wander into my friend's basement to peek into her mom's sewing room. To me, it seemed like such a magical place with its miniature towers of Jelly Rolls®, stacks and stacks of yardage, a shiny Bernina sewing machine regally perched in the corner and quilt blocks lined up on a design wall. After timidly asking if I could "maybe sew a little," my quilt mother and mentor, Brenda Winkelmeyer, taught me the basics of piecing a quilt. Although quilting continued to be a deep passion of mine throughout my teenage years, it was not always my main focus. I went to college with the goal of getting a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts (BFA) in Fiber Arts, but through an interesting and difficult mixture of chance and fate, I ended up instead with a BFA in Visual Communications – otherwise known as graphic design. My heart wasn’t fully in it, but I loved the digital, bold designs that I was able to quickly achieve on the computer. I also loved how applicable graphic design was to everyday life. Now that I quilt on a more full-time level, I see how graphic design has not just influenced my design aesthetic, but fused itself into my design process. Every quilt concept I have is hashed out on the computer – every colour palette, pattern and print is digitally mocked-up before I start cutting and sewing.
But back to my timeline – in the unforgettable and heartbreaking year of 2008, I graduated from college. In the US, the two things we still remember about that year are an economic crash and a government bailout. Banks failed, housing bubbles popped and a lot of money was spent attempting to fix it. And that was the blissful economy I entered as an inexperienced and wide-eyed 22-year-old. My gosh was it hard.
GRAPHIC DESIGN HASN'T JUST INFLUENCED MY AESTHETIC, BUT FUSED ITSELF INTO MY WHOLE DESIGN PROCESS
I did land a job. Picture a tiny cubicle with a flickering fluorescent light. Now place a very sad girl in that cubicle (yes, that was me.) Through a series of internships (paid and unpaid), apprenticeships (paid and unpaid) and entry level jobs (paid, but not very much), I quickly learned graphic design wasn't just competitive – it was cut-throat, and only the fittest and best survived. Which I guess I did...for a while. After working in the industry for eight years for different companies and then as a freelance graphic designer, I began to feel the burnout. Twelve-hour days of sitting and staring at a computer screen were rolling into each other and becoming my norm.
That was when I remembered quilting. I dusted off my sewing machine and began pulling fabrics, looking through patterns and trying to gather myself back together in an attempt to remember what it felt like to love creating. Once I began sewing again, I enjoyed it so much. I even got this wild idea – “What if I make and sell quilts? What if I call this little business Suzy Quilts?!”. Since then, my vision for Suzy Quilts has shifted and changed, but it’s always been grounded in a sincere enjoyment of creating and a true love of quilting.
Your use of colour is bright and cheery! How do you choose your colour palette?
My design process usually starts on the computer. I love the ability to quickly swap colours in and out of a digital design. Colour inspirations for me come from all over the place, whether that's a mural I walk past on the street, a ceramic pot I spy on Instagram or a painting hanging in a museum. I try not to pull too much inspiration from other quilts that I see because I strive to be as original as possible with my textile designs.
What is one trend you love and would like to explore further?
The Modern Victorian look has been creeping into my inspiration boards for this year and the next. I don’t typically work with florals, but I have tossed around the idea of trying out both hand and machine embroidery on my quilts. An intricate floral embroidery motif will need to be done at least once, just so I can get it out of my system.
On your blog, you talk about whether it is possible to make money as a quilter. What was the reason you stepped away from selling your quilts?
Unfortunately, I quickly learned that it was going to be an uphill struggle to sell one-of-a-kind textiles at a profitable price. I would have to compete with big box stores and cheap imports from Asia and, without having a famous reputation, most customers were not going to buy a quilt for thousands of dollars.
Another thing I soon learned about the quilting community is that, for better or worse, there is a long-standing tradition of sharing designs. Whether I approved or not, people were going to replicate the quilts I was making – it’s not in the spirit of stealing, it’s simply because Suzy designs, makes and blogs all about her quilts from her beautiful Chicago home ( above)
traditionally, that is how quilts have always been made. I would design and make a quilt and instead of people asking, “Can I buy that quilt?” they were asking, “Can I buy that quilt pattern?”.
I had to make a decision for my business – I could either embrace the quilting community and share my designs through patterns, or resist the natural push my business was getting and continue making one-off custom quilts. By the ever-growing pattern selection in my retail and wholesale shop, you can guess which direction I took.
Your Sew Mojo pattern series is fun and educational. Tell me more about your goal for the series and the response you've seen so far.
As creatives (sewists, designers, artists, quilters – whatever label you want to give yourself!), we can sometimes feel uninspired. About six months ago, I was walking my dog Scrappy and thought to myself, "My well is dry. My creativity well, where all of my good ideas come from, has completely run dry. Oh no oh no oh no! I wonder how long I can keep fooling everyone before they find out that I'm all dried up?"
Those "I'm all dried up" thoughts haunt me fairly regularly. But you know what I've learned after almost sixteen years of the ebbs and flows of creativity? That there is something that I can do to fill my creativity well back up. Sketch. Pull fabric. Start sewing random bits of cloth together. I know that the longer I let myself believe that I've used up my last good idea, the harder it's going to be to convince myself I can design and that creativity never dries up. It just changes pace sometimes.
When I was in art school, we were always being forced to sketch and "warm up the creative juices." I think because fabric is not as fluid as paint or pencil, it's easy to forget how helpful that process can be.
Whether you are a brand new quilter, a seasoned sewist, a textiles artist with designer's block or a crafter looking for a fun, simple project, the Sew Mojo mini quilt series is perfect. The average quilter can make one of these mini quilts in a few hours. For a newbie, this is a great way to practice working with fabric and your machine without the huge commitment of making an entire quilt.
Each of the Sew Mojo quilts is based on a different art lesson, with the intention of the separate quilts working together as a cohesive collection of art. I recommend that makers leave the edges of the
MY VISION FOR SUZY QUILTS HAS SHIFTED, BUT IT'S ALWAYS BEEN GROUNDED IN A TRUE LOVE OF QUILTING
quilts raw to show the layers of the quilt, thus drawing the viewer into the making process. I also like to encourage makers to consider framing their mini quilts behind glass rather than finish them with binding – part of getting your sewing mojo back is recognising that what you make is a work of art, and so deserves to be treated as such.
So far the response to the series has been a joy to witness. Some people are trying out these new techniques for the first time and learning to trust their gut when it comes to making design decisions. I have one Sew Mojo workshop scheduled for this summer already and I'm considering the possibility of teaching more. You've created city guides with your food, fabric and fun recommendations. What inspired you to start your guides and where will you go next? In 2016, I published a series of blog posts called “A Quilty Adventure: How To Sew With…” Each article highlighted various substrates and explained in detail what tools and tricks one should use when quilting with that fabric. Some of the fabrics I featured included denim, linen, poplin, lawn and double-gauze.
I had a lot of fun producing a series of articles on a set schedule. I think readers really enjoyed the consistency as well. Once I finished that series, I was itching to produce another. And since I love to travel and I get lots of emails from readers wanting to know about fabric shops in Chicago (my hometown) I thought, “why not kill two birds with one stone – city guides for fabric lovers!”. I currently have twelve cities lined up on the city guide tour so it will take a while before this series is finished. What’s after that, you ask? I can’t say specifically, but you can always count on lots of free patterns and tutorials. Maybe I’ll even get fancy and throw some embroidery in there too! If you had one commitment-free afternoon, how would you spend it? I would spend it at the Art Institute of Chicago. My husband and I have been members for the last couple years and we try to go every chance we get. One of my favourite pieces in the museum is a large stained glass window by Marc Chagall. I have spent many afternoons standing and staring into that window.
I am currently writing these interview questions from a hotel room in Zurich, Switzerland. Aside from the Alps, the most inspired I felt while being here was sitting inside The Fraumünster staring at more of Marc Chagall’s stained glass windows. Even though I was thousands of miles away from home, I still felt connected to my city as well as Zurich during those moments – I love the way art can transport and transform us.
WHAT WE MAKE IS A WORK OF ART, AND DESERVES TO BE TREATED AS SUCH