Above:Karen's
Pollinatequilt,
patternby
KittyWilkin
Right:Karen
lovesto fussycut
vibrant prints
Below:Karen
showingoffher
colourfulMischief
quilt in the wildreallyhandsewing,butnowI cherish
the time that I do get to stitch.YourunTheDIYAddictwithyour
son– whohandleswhatroles
withinthecompany?
Wecan’tmakeit workwithouteach
other.Webothworkpart-timeforthe
business– heworksin SiliconValley
andmanagesallof thetechnology
andmanufacturing-relatedaspects.
It’ssurprisingtomehowmuchhe
knowsaboutquilting!I thenhandle
thedesignandcollaborations.If I had
togivemyselfa titleit wouldbethe
CreativeDirector.I alsohavea very
talented,creativedaughterwhodoes
beautifulembroideryworkandI’m
tryingtoenticehertoworkwithus.
Somedaywhensheis notoffsaving
theworldshemightjoinus.HowdidTheDIYAddictbecome
sucha hubforEPPpatterns?
Wedecidedearlyontocarryallthe
EPPpatternswecouldgetourhands
on,notjustourowndesigns.We
wantedthatinclusivementality.I think
havingallourhow-tovideoswasalso
a real asset. We started the Flat Backstitchandthatrevolutionizedpattern
designandthewayEPPcanbe
stitched.Thisstitchmakessewing
curvesa breezeandthatwasa
game-changerfordesigning
patterns,becauseyoucandoso
muchmorebyusingcurves.It also
leavesyourstitchescompletely
hidden.It is a wonderfuladdition
to anyone’s EPP tool belt!You’veworkedwithmanyquilt
designers,fromGiucyGiuceto
KittyWilkin,todevelopamazing
EPPpatternsandkits– whatthings
doyoutendtolookforin a
potentialcollaboration?
In theshorttimewehavebeenin the
EPPbusiness,thingshavechanged
dramatically.Whatwelookfornowis
muchdifferentfromwhenwestartedtwoanda halfyearsago.Thereare
a lotof newEPPpatternsbeing
releasedona weeklybasissowe’re
alwayslookingfordesignsthatwill
standout.Honestly,wewouldlove
toproduceeverypatternthatcomes
acrossourdesks,buttheprocessof
going from an initial design to aÀwa sex c i t e dt osta r tt h eb u si n e ss , t h i n ki n gÀwouldbe
handsti tchingallt heti me.Ofcourse,t hat 'snothowi t
wor ks, but nowÀ c h e ri sh t h e t i m eÀ do ge t t o st i tc h!