Today we’d like to introduce you to Faith Patterson.
Hi Faith, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Faith Patterson and I specialize in longarm quilting services. I work with a brand new APQS Millie longarm on a 12 foot frame with stitches controlled by IntelliQuilter computer software.
My background is in art and design. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Art in 2015, and for my senior project I designed and created a quilt to demonstrate that we need to look at structure and design as a way to comfort those who are suffering.
I have been quilting for 12 years! I love choosing the fabric colors and piecing the quilt top. However, I never enjoyed the next steps of putting together the 3 layer quilt sandwich and quilting on my home sewing machine.
For this reason, I have always been fascinated by computerized longarms. I recently had the chance to own a machine of my own, and I have not been disappointed by the results that are possible with computerized edge to edge quilting.
My business is named Quilting Cats Studio because my two favorite things are quilting and cats. My cat, Scooby, rescued me from a job that I hated. He was an injured stray cat that approached me in the middle of a work day. I tried to bring him to a shelter, but ended up adopting him and quitting my job, which were both good things. Today, Scooby is a well-fed, happy, lazy cat with a limp and lots of personality, and I have a job that I love working with quilts.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Building a business, website, and customer base have all been quite difficult. I have no background in business. I am grateful to have found the online community, the Longarm League, that has a program, Rookie Season, to help longarmers build businesses.
Becoming accustomed to the technology and maintenance of the machine was also difficult.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The services I provide are longarm quilting and making T-shirt quilts.
With the longarm quilting service, I receive a quilt top and backing from a customer. After cutting batting for the quilt, I load the three pieces or layers onto my machine’s frame. My machine stitches the layers together in rows. After each row, I advance the quilt, realign the machine and begin stitching again until I reach the bottom. I also provide extra services such as trimming and binding.
For making T-shirt quilts, I like to meet with the customer in person. That person brings the shirts and we go through them together. I look for the largest graphic and the smallest shirt to determine which size the squares should be. They are typically 14 or 16 inch squares. I then take the shirts, cut them up, attach stabilizer, sew the shirts together to make a quilt top, cut batting and backing, and put it through my machine as described above.
I feel the responsibility of taking care of the quilts that I finish for other people. I know that they put love and effort into their projects and I want to honor that.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is being satisfied in the work that I do as a longarmer, daughter, sister, and friend. I’m learning to give myself grace for the mistakes that I make in life. Making mistakes makes me human, not a failure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.quiltingcatsstudio.com
- Instagram: @quilting_cats_studio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/quilting-cats-studio-wendell-2?osq=quilting+cats+studio
