National Sewing Month Featuring Amy Reber

Amy Reber shares her sewing story for National Sewing Month!

I'm going back in time about seven years....as the wife of a United States Marine and mother to three young children, I found myself craving a creative - almost therapeutic - outlet to help get me through deployments, moves and just the day-to-day roller coaster of being a stay-at-home mom. Despite what might be going on during a particular day, I challenged myself to pick up a sketch pad daily and so my rhythm as an artist was born; I still strive to sketch at least ten minutes each day.....I tell people it's free therapy!

As my collection of sketches grew, I started to wonder what my work would look like on “product” and realized that I needed to teach myself some graphic design skills on the computer. I opened up Adobe Illustrator one day during summer vacation. I made my first "repeat” that day using one of my sketches and immediately I knew I had found what my gift of art was meant to be used for. Though fabric was not on my radar at that moment, my art organically involved into designs that work beautifully on fabric and that sewers and quilters are drawn to.

Every time I see a creation made with my FreeSpirit fabrics, I get a similar adrenaline rush from when I made my first repeat! To look at a particular fabric and reflect upon when I drew the flower or shape is truly satisfying, and then to share this with others is the cherry on top! When I saw the quilt that I commissioned to be made using my first FreeSpirit Fabrics line POSY for my daughter, it was such a beautiful moment because not only did I get to give the quilt to her, but I got to show her what her mom could do outside of “mom/wife duties.” It was a powerful moment I will never forget! And now, I get to see how sewers and quilters use my designs to create their own beautiful works of art using thread and needle. I am honored and humbled to play a role in their passion and and I love seeing how others interpret my designs, and that with their creations they breathe new life into the art I originally brought to life with my sketchpad!

Make sure to sign up for a chance to win fabric from Amy Reber along with our Coats Quilt+ thread! You will also be entered for a chance to win our Grand Prize giveaway featuring SEW many goodies including a Janome AMH-100 Machine!

ENTER TO WIN HERE!

The Artist UnSEWn Series presents Posy by Amy Reber

Crisp mornings in the Pacific Northwest with dew drops kissing the grass, majestic evergreen trees reaching for the sky, the smell of salt in the air when on a ferry in the Puget Sound and rugged, white-capped mountains that seem to hug you from every angle, are the framework for the place I am proud to call home.

Some of my fondest memories growing up in Washington are the times spent in the yard of my childhood home.  Even as a young child I can distinctly remember being aware of its beauty, and I

always felt we had the best yard around! The sheer size of the yard made it an incredible place to play. In addition to size, it had a stream, a bridge and waterfalls which added so much to the hours I played outside with my twin brother and our friends, ah the 1970s!

As an adult, looking back, it was truly a masterpiece of color, design and inspiration.  Willow trees, dogwood trees (my favorite flowering tree to this day), cherry blossoms, purple irises, azaleas, rhododendrons, roses….I could go on and on.

But what makes it so special for me is that this richly-hued landscape was entirely the handiwork of my exceptionally talented mom. Donning her rubber boots, which are a must in WA, and with her basic metal watering can, spade and shears, she’d lovingly tend to the leaves and blooms of her treasured garden nearly every day, rain or shine.  

The pride she took in cultivating such beauty and joy was really inspiring and it has very much influenced the designs I create as an artist. Though none of the designs in Posy are directly taken from the garden of my childhood, they do reflect the vibrancy and joy that mom’s garden evoked.

Color is incredibly important to me and the original palette for Posy are the Rosa colors with the bright red, yellow, green and black. The yellow is a special homage to the yellow rose bush that my mom took with her from her Mom’s garden when she and my father retired to the San Juan Islands where she has created a new garden that my children now enjoy and will  -  I hope - one day remember with fondness just as I remember the garden of my youth.

As I think about quilting and how designs are created and color schemes are formed, I think of how my mom planned her organic quilt of sorts. She took great care in considering color, placement and plant size and much like quilters love to shop for fabric, my mom gets the same joy out of shopping for the perfect flower or shrub to add to her “outdoor quilt.”