Kaye England
What a girl, what a whirl, what a life!
By: Cynthia Van Hazinga
Energetic, enthusiastic and multi-talented, this creative quilter and designer has stitched together an inspiring life of work and fun. Catching her between trips, QUILT magazine talked to renowned quilt designer and communicator Kaye England, who lives on an eight-acre farm in Indianapolis, nurturing eight adoring llamas, three entertaining goats and nine chickens. “There’s nothing like a fresh egg,” she declares.
So you’re really a country girl?
I was raised on a working farm in Glasgow, Kentucky; this is a play farm for me. It’s off the road with a creek running at the back of the land. Really, I’m all South. We call ourselves hillbillies—not a derogatory term. I’m proud to be from the South.
Did your childhood start you on sewing?
Oh, yes. Both of my grandmothers were stitchers—by necessity and also as a creative outlet. Everything was done by hand. My mother, a busy farm wife, was a good seamstress, but it was my father’s mother who taught me to tat at the age of eight. I learned crocheting, crewelwork, and quilting, just as a hobby.
And then it became a profession?
My hobby turned out to have legs of its own. In the late 1970s and early 80s, I bought a shop in Indianapolis, and I was in retail for 40 years. I owned three quilt shops, and was a Bernina dealer for 20 years. I was lucky; it was the right time for it. At the same time as running the shops, I was traveling a lot, designing fabrics and writing books. (Now, Kaye heads her own publishing company, Kaye England Publications.)
To what do you attribute the current popularity of quilting?
In the 1980s, the rotary cutter was invented and machine work became very popular. Women’s skills flourished; they began to make time. Quilting is just so soothing and good for you. Everyone’s capable, you don’t need great skill, and the simplicity of patterns is attractive, too. For most people, it’s just a wonderful art form and creative outlet.
Do you still love quilting yourself?
I make 40 or 50 quilts a year. I love to piece. I could piece 14 hours a day, and I’m a hand-quilter, though I don’t do much of it. I’m fast; I can make almost any quilt in a day, but remember, I do it full time, like a job, working eight to ten hours a day. Most of the quilts I make are to help market my fabrics and designs.
And now you design fabrics for Wilmington Prints?
Yes, they’re a new division of MM Fabrics that sells directly to quilt shops. Things move fast now; there are more pretty fabrics coming out than ever, with shorter shelf lives. It’s like books—everyone wants something new.
Your fabric collections show you’re interested in history.
I’m a history buff; it would be my first love, but it’s not profitable. African history, Civil War, Bible stories—I love to research them all and mingle them back into my work. I have a couple hundred beautiful 19th-century quilts I treasure, and probably 400 to 500 quilts in all, carefully stored. I travel with some 40 or 50 of them at any time.
Whew! What a high energy level you have.
Yes, I have. I can work 15- to 18-hour days back to back. I travel a lot to conventions and workshops, though I’d rather stay home. I travel to meet the quilters, and I prefer to speak at quilt shops. It allows me to direct the sales of my books. I’m working on a couple of DVDs; it’s entertaining and much easier than writing a book. I’m also working on a new book—technique related—for next spring.
How would you characterize your own quilting and design philosophy?
I’m different from a lot of quilting professionals. I aim for clean, precise work, and quilters need the skills to do it well. I’m a conceptual teacher. I try to communicate the overall concepts of how things work to produce clean results, not perfect but as close as you can get. I teach how to get tools and machines to do what they can do, and it’s easiest and simplest when you do it in an organized way. I have a great time in the process, even when life gets in the way. I love what I do, and somewhere down the road, I hope someone else does, too.
To find out more:
Kaye England visit www.kayeengland.com For more information on her fabric designs, visit www.wilmingtonprints.comTags: Spotlight on Designer
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