We are delighted to introduce you to our 2023-2024 Aurifil Artisan Team! The overwhelming response we received to our call for applications was genuinely humbling, making it a challenging task to select a team of 40 individuals. Today, we are thrilled to introduce this extraordinary assembly of quilters, sewists, and makers.
Throughout the next 12 months we will be collaborating with these creative visionaries to promote their work with Aurifil thread, engage them in creative challenges, and share their work far and wide.
(Note: Our team is shown in alphabetical order by first name)
Adam Sews
This is Adam’s second year as an Aurifil Artisan. He couldn’t be more excited to be involved again, being included in team challenges and projects. Adam spends most of his time bagmaking and quilting, but can sometimes be seen to be creating garments too.
Aimee Hagedorn
Aimee is a creative who despite her formal education in business and marketing, never gave up her passion for making art with needle and thread. It is through this medium that she continues to foster community, encouragement, and joyful distraction from the often times unsettling events happening in the world. For Valentine’s in 2022 she embroidered a collection of heart brooches inspired by her dad who had undergone heart surgery many years prior while traveling abroad. The embroidered hearts became a signature part of her work, with the sentiment that they were for anyone experiencing a change of heart. Aimee estimates that in just over a year’s time she has embroidered close to 100 one-of-a-kind hearts, sending them as far away as England and as close as a next-door neighbor’s house.
Alison Carpenter-Hughes
Alison is an award-winning mixed-media artist, workshop facilitator and creative event organiser, with a focus on textiles, and in particular, free-motion embroidery. Her work includes large public installations, private commissions, selling and exhibiting artwork internationally and also creating magazine instructional projects. Her practice is a process-driven exploration of material, often re-purposing unusual objects. Currently, Alison is co-organising the first Leicester Textiles Festival, to highlight and raise awareness of Leicester’s rich textile past, present and future, transforming the city into a buzzing hive of activity, through a variety of exciting textile events, interventions and public creative open calls.
Amelia Ellen
Amelia has been sewing and crafting for as long as she can remember. Four years ago Amelia stopped buying clothes from shops and committed to a self made wardrobe. Amelia enjoys crating garments using a range of crafting and sewing techniques.
Ama Frimpong
Ama (she/her) is a Canadian crafter based in Quebec. She enjoys both fibre crafts and sewing, as well as playing with colours and the process of choosing a project itself. Ama finds inspiration in music and video games, where her love of bold colours and patterns meets vivdly experimental experiences, pushing her to solve pattern puzzles in creative ways. All her crafting journeys and endeavours can be found on her Blog and Instagram, thevibrantpixel.
Anorina Morris
Anorina is an Australian quilter based in South Eastern NSW. She first started sewing when her (now) teenagers were toddlers and hasn’t stopped since. She loves everything to do with needle and thread and her day wouldn’t be complete without doing a little bit of stitching, every day.
Anna Wraith
Anna Wraith is a quilt pattern designer, teacher and fabric shop owner. Her bold shapes and bright colours complement her belief in the power of patchwork and quilting to bring joyful as well as calm and healing moments to our everyday lives, especially when we sew together. She is based in East London but often draws on her Scandinavian heritage for inspiration.
Annie Tremblay
Annie learned to sew watching her mom when she was just a little girl. She has been sewing mainly custom garments for herself and her daughters over the years and has always been seeking creative outlets. Quilting came in the game only in 2020 but a real passion was born.
Ben Millett
Quilting is Ben Millett’s creative outlet outside his day job in Des Moines, Iowa. Ben explores color and shape by applying contemporary color palettes to traditional quilt blocks, turning digital concepts into a physical reality with fabric and thread. He creates to play, to communicate ideas, to further the gay agenda, to make what he wants to see.
Brandon Wulff
Brandon is a rising star in the world of quilt art. As an autistic artist, Brandon brings a unique perspective and creative energy to his work. He has quickly gained recognition for his quilt pieces that are both visually striking and deeply personal. Brandon’s journey in art began at H.B. Beal Secondary School, where he attended the renowned Beal Art program. It was there that he discovered his passion for working with textiles and honed his skills as a quilter. After graduation, Brandon continued to develop his craft and began to explore the intersection of quilting and interior design. Today, Brandon works with interior designers to create one-of-a-kind pieces that add warmth and character to any space. His quilts are a fusion of traditional techniques and contemporary design, featuring bold colours, intricate patterns, and unexpected textures. Brandon’s work has been showcased in galleries and shows across Canada and the United States, earning him critical acclaim and a devoted following. His pieces have also been featured in prominent art and interior design magazines, cementing his place as a rising star in the art world. Despite his relative newcomer status in the quilting world, Brandon’s work has already found its way into many private collections. With a bright future ahead of him, there’s no doubt that Brandon Wulff will continue to captivate audiences with his unique artistic vision and unparalleled talent.
Candice Odeen
Candice is a quilter in northern Wisconsin. She was introduced to sewing as a child by her grandfather. Candice is passionate about pairing the perfect fabrics, materials, patterns, and designs to create unique heirlooms.
Cassie Tatone
Cassie is on a personal mission to make as much of her own clothes as possible. Whether it’s sewing, knitting, up-cycling or even shoemaking, if she can make it, she’ll probably try.
Debbie Jeske
Debbie is a maker and blogger who lives near Seattle WA. A member of the Seattle MQG and Bee Sewcial improv bee, she also enjoys being an active participant in the online quilting community. Debbie is a prolific creator, and can usually be found working on a variety of sewn projects, enjoying hand needlework, or thoroughly engaged in improvisational quilt-making. She values the strong feelings that can be evoked throughout the making process, and recognizes and appreciates it for the gift that it is.
Devida Bushrod
Dee is a self-taught quilter, with a passion for pixel quilts. After experimenting with all quilt techniques over the last 17 years, it was pixel quilts that fully caught her attention and curiosity and she is now one a one woman mission to spread the pixel quilt love.
Elissa Ziccardi
Elissa sums up her creative style as bold, bright, and beautiful with a dash of “over-the-top”, and is passionate about pushing the boundaries of mixing endless color and loads of pattern in her creations. Elissa specializes in quilting, bag making, and garments for both children and adults. Her favorite methods of stitching include foundation paper piecing and English paper piecing – detailed fussy cutting and precision work is where she puts the love in her details. When Elissa isn’t creating she is loudly cheering on her busy teens, and often found reading a book accompanied by her family pups, Max and Rudy. As you can see in Elissa’s creations, her favorite designer is Tula Pink.
Emma Giacalone
Emma is a freehand machine embroidery artist, based in the UK. She creates inspiring textiles designed to uplift. She sews soulful words with skilful stitching to transform every day objects into pieces of art.
Fiona Johnstone
Fiona has been sewing since she was 5 when she was taught by her mom. She got more serious about quilting in 2018 and recently her “Ruby Curvelets” quilt won the People’s Choice award at QuiltCon 2023. Fiona lives in Scotland with her husband and dog and works as a sound engineer when she’s not at a sewing machine.
Francesca Kemp
Francesca is a free motion embroidery artist, working with recycled fabrics. Her hope is to elevate scraps destined for landfill to much loved pieces on artwork. She loves the changing seasons and focuses much of her work on the natural world found on her cottage doorstep.
Heidi Schlicht
Heidi is a pattern designer from Germany and stands for accuracy in every step. She is particularly known for her perfect topstitching, which is why she is the biggest fan of Aurifil 28wt.
Irina Malyukova
Irina is a textile artist and pattern designer from Helsinki, Finland. She loves sharing her knowledge and expertise with fellow quilters on her blog and at Sip Tea and EPP party, a weekly event on IG for those, who love hand sewing. Her favorite techniques are EPP, applique, hand quilting and free motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine. She also enjoys re-imagining old textiles.
Janice Reimer
Born in the Canadian Prairies and now at home on the West Coast, Janice is an avid quilter and has recently entered the realm of quilt pattern designing. Janice enjoys a good quilting challenge and looks for ways to experiment with thread and fabric, often taking inspiration from her scientific background. When she’s not pipetting or patchworking, Janice enjoys playing with as many dogs as she can.
Janine Heschl
Janine is a self-taught textile artist based in Austria, specialized in photorealistic embroidery and art quilts stitched with a sewing machine in free motion. Her work focuses on wildlife, endangered species and raising funds, awareness and her voice for those who cannot speak.
Jennifer Cannon
Jennifer Cannon of Stow, Ohio started her fabric shop in 2017. She loves helping people find joy in sewing. When Jen is not quilting, crafting, or cutting orders you can find her hiking or hanging by the pool with her family.
Jordan Gomez
Jordan is a sewing artist and instructor residing in Kansas City, USA. She operates a sewing business by day, where she does freelance small batch production, alterations, and makes custom garments for clients. By night, her studio becomes her laboratory, where she experiments with thread using her power tool of choice – the sewing machine. Jordan strives to bring art to the sewing world and sewing to the art world.
Julie Burton
Julie is a modern quilter and pattern designer currently based in Michigan. As an Army spouse, she has lived in a number of locations across the country and uses those experiences to inspire her designs. She is the founder of Running Stitch Quilts which aims to reimagine traditional quilts in a modern way.
Justine Wilson
Justine is a bag maker, quilter, pattern designer, and creative adventurer. She loves to explore with color, use as many scraps as possible, and connect with other makers. Justine runs her online fabric shop, Great Heron Thread Co, and lives in North Carolina with her husband, 3 kids, a small herd of cats, a bunny, and a bearded dragon.
Kate Sandford
Kate loves to create. She loves colour, texture and the challenge of learning new techniques. She finds the almost infinite number of choices you make to produce a finished quilt endlessly fascinating. She has two children and one husband and lives in a house where everyone is nerodiverse. She works as a Playworker at a preschool and believes we should all make room for play in our creative lives.
Karen Foster
Karen is an award winning quilter who lives in Capitola, California. She considers her style eclectic, evolving and broad in scope. Karen especially enjoys infusing her own voice into projects, working in a series and designing improvisational with intent. She hopes her quilts will inspire others to discover the process that brings them creative joy and self expression.
Ledine Watson
Ledine is a quilt pattern designer, blogger, YouTuber and quilting educator. She enjoys making traditional quilt patterns more modern. Her goal for the quilting community is to help quilters of all levels become more familiar with the techniques and skills that will help them perfect their own projects and discover new ones. While Ledine did not grow up quilting, quilting is definitely in her genes! Ledine finds solace in quilting, using the creative outlet to expand her sense of purpose throughout life’s ups and downs.
Lou Orth
Lou is a creator of modern quilt and sewing patterns, from Oxfordshire, UK. Lou loves creating modern and original designs and carefully constructed patterns that make your sewing projects effortlessly fun!
Lynett Muhaso
Lynett is a modern quilt pattern designer with a love of bright colours and big blocks. She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and two daughters. She has been a sewist since she was a young child and fell into quilting real hard in 2014 after being asked to make a gift for a friend and has never looked back. In 2019, Lynett embarked on her quilt pattern design journey and finds nothing more joyful than sharing this quilt joy with others.
Madeline Bonner
Madeline is a textile graduate with a passion for pattern and colour. She particularly enjoys hand sewing and English Paper Piecing.
Mariana Diaz
Mariana is a Graphic Designer that uses her skills to create modern and easy-to-follow quilt patterns. She’s been featured in many magazines nationally and abroad. Based in Georgia, Mariana loves to travel the world with her family and has a passion for photography.
Mary Burroughs-Mayer
Mary is a twin mom and prolific quilter and pattern tester. She found quilting in May of 2020 after becoming a stay-at-home mom to her twins born in March of that year, right as the world was closing down due to the pandemic. She never looked back. She enjoys adding a quilted touch to non-traditional items such as shoes and garments, and is currently writing her first quilt pattern!
Maude MacDonald – Maude, the Retro Quilter is a modern quilt pattern designer with a retro flare. With a passion for quilting and vintage, Maude combines these two passions with everything she makes while educating her audience. Maude is also the host of the Thread and Therapy podcast in which she talks with others in the quilting community about their struggles and how quilting has helped them cope.
Robyn Cuthbertson
Robyn’s work is all about finding joy in the details. She loves creating purely from thread and has a passion for exploring the infinite possibilities of textiles and technology. Robyn takes two traditional crafts, quilting and woodwork, and blends them into contemporary abstract artworks that affirms her love of both science and craft. This fusion of genres challenges pre-conceived notions of quilting, inviting the viewer to question what is possible if one only dares to imagine.
Sarah Harris
Sarah loves to create with repurposed materials, fabric scraps, and other media while exploring many different quilting and sewing forms. Sarah’s work is often inspired by the landscapes of her travels, and her present and past homes. The contrasts between the mountainous views in Colorado, and the seascapes of Ireland, are particularly influential in her designs and colour choices. Sarah also has a passion for social justice, teaching, and sustainability.
Shereece Nicole
My quilting journey began in 2010 out of boredom. I was living in a new, small town and I was looking to meet new people. Thanks to a local program, I started to learn to crochet. Then I was reintroduced to quilting (the “correct” way). My travels and everyday life began to inspire patterns I wanted to create. And now, I’m sharing those designs with you and teaching skills I’ve learned along the way.
Vickeidy Plybon
Vickeidy is the creator behind Sewspicious. She is a high school Spanish teacher and a fourth-generation sewist; her mother studied fashion design and had a well-established custom clothing business in the Dominican Republic before their family immigrated to the United States. Vickeidy didn’t start sewing until late into her 20s, but she fell in love with quilting and started designing her own patterns in 2022. She lives in NYC with her husband, Kevin, and their two-year-old daughter, Minerva.
Zeiba Monod
Zeiba is a Franco Senegalese quilter who made the UK her home almost 30 years ago. Her artistic journey is fuelled by a perpetual desire to learn and experiment with fabrics, threads, textures and colours. She loves African textiles, linens, scrappy quilts, hand quilting and embroidery.
We hope that you enjoy following along with us and would encourage you to check these makers out, click each Artisan’s name above to be taken to their Instagram and to join them on their own creative journey!