clockwise from left: Jaime
and Amber design and sell their
own punch needle pillow, quilt,
and garment patterns, and they
encourage customers to use fabrics
beyond quilting cottons in their quilt
projects. A rainbow of wool fibers
fills a cubby on the large fiber wall.
A clever shop sign behind the front
counter suggests another use for
products in the shop.Amber took on one such
challenge, prompted by customer
wants, when she started designing
and writing garment patterns. When
she wore a self-drafted shirt to the
shop, customers wanted to make
one, too, so she taught herself pattern
design. “Having a community in
mind that is excited about what we’re
doing is the push to publish things,”
she says. Today, Fancy Tiger Crafts
offers a wide range of patterns for
sewn tanks, T-shirts, and dresses; for
knitted hats and sweaters; and, ofcourse, for quilts. “I think of the
composition of quilts as a whole,
rather than block by block,” says
Amber, with a nod to her graphic
design background.
The responsiveness to customers
that led Amber to learn to draft