DESIGNER PROFILE 48
Mother and daughter duo, Kristy and Shayla, live by the mantra that two quilters are better than one. We caught up with them to talk about their sewing pattern business,
Mother and daughter duo, Kristy and Shayla, live by the mantra that two quilters are always better than one. We caught up with them to talk about their sewing pattern business, Sassafras Lane Designs
How did each of you first get into quilting?
Kristy: I had been garment sewing since I was about five or six and started quilting when I was expecting my first child. My mom and I both started quilting then! Shayla: My grandma – my mom’s mom – taught me to sew when I was about six years old. There's something about skipping a generation with teaching in our family! Watching both my mom and my grandma make beautiful things as I grew up made me want to partake too. I am still always learning things from each of them and love creating with them both.
Has sewing been a thing you’ve always done together? Kristy: Most of the time! There was a time period when Shayla was in school and didn’t do much sewing, but we have always enjoyed taking part in creative endeavours together, covering all types of crafting and quilting. Nowadays, even living in different states we often tag team projects and find fun ways to collaborate with each other! Whose idea was it to launch a business together?
Kristy: The business evolved after we both worked at a quilt store. We were teaching patterns we had designed as mystery classes and people loved them! So we thought, why not try this as a business? Shayla: Between the two of us, we have worked in almost every aspect of the quilting industry and we love making our own patterns! One New Year’s Eve between dinner and the ball drop, we sat down and wrote out a business plan over some champagne – the rest is history!
Who does what in the business? Shayla: We definitely have specific roles when it comes to most tasks. I do all the social media, blogging, marketing, photography and computer work. Mom does all the order fulfilling, finances, taxes, distributing and longarm quilting. When it comes to pattern designing and sewing, we both participate and bounce ideas off of one another.
Are you both naturally drawn to the same aesthetic?
Kristy: We usually are! We both love colourful fabrics and geometric
shapes in our quilts and both lean towards a modern look with a traditional foundation. We also hold a special place in our hearts for fun little silly animal designs.
How does the design process work in a pair?
Kristy: I think the design process might be easier with two. We often have a basic idea, whether it’s a shape for a block or bag, then feed off of each other’s enthusiasm and ideas and it just snowballs from there. We have more ideas than time!
What is it about Block of the Month patterns that you enjoy creating so often?
Shayla: I really enjoy all aspects of it! Everything from designing the pattern to creating the physical quilts, laying out the pattern book to photographing the samples offers a unique challenge. Do you participate in Block of the Month series yourselves? Shayla: Honestly, no! I did one when I was about 12 at the quilt store that my grandma worked at, but now I am too impatient. I want to make the project all in one sitting, or at least in the space of a week!
Kristy: I don’t find that I have a lot of time these days to make projects that aren’t samples for an upcoming book or pattern, but I have participated in block of the month series in the past and really enjoyed them. I used to do a mystery BOM that added an element of surprise to the whole process! That was fun.
What do you love about the quilting community?
Shayla: I love the inclusivity. Everyone is so nice, encouraging and willing to help one another out. It is the only industry I have experienced where your competitors
are rooting for you and everyone has the “there is enough room for us all on top” mentality.
Kristy: We have found that most of the people in the quilting community are really friendly and helpful. When we were first starting out with Sassafras Lane Designs we got some good advice and helpful hints from some “veterans” of the quilt industry and now we really try to pay it forward when we can! Shayla, how did the opportunity to start designing fabrics for Windham come about? Shayla: I always had the desire to design fabric in the back of my mind, but it wasn’t until the great team over at Windham asked me at Quilt Market if I would be interested, that I really put my thoughts into actions. I went to school for architecture, so it was a pretty natural transition from mindless sketching and doodling to creating fabric designs.
What was your thought behind the Foundation collection? Shayla: I really wanted my first collection to be a good base, or Foundation, for all future lines. I have always been drawn to rainbows, so I decided to create a spectrum of colours bookended by a few low volume prints and neutrals. I dug through my sketch books and pulled some line drawings that then became Foundation!
What are each of your proudest Sassafras Lane moments? Shayla: Oh, that is a tough one! I am always proud of our new patterns when they are released, but each time we put out a new block of the month book is particularly satisfying! We self-publish them, so they are lots of work but loads of fun. Our most successful pattern was Arcadia Avenue – its brilliant reception was so unexpected and amazing. This great success went on to shape how we have published our quilt patterns and books ever since. Kristy: I think I was also proudest when we released our first pattern book, Arcadia Avenue, and realised that people liked it! It’s exciting to see what someone does with your pattern – everyone interprets things differently, so seeing someone’s creativity show through your pattern is pretty exhilarating.