As a newbie entrepreneur it is sometimes be a bit scary not knowing what the business will look like in a year, or even in a few months. Building up Sugaridoo is something I’ve never done before. Diving in full time, just giving it my very best shot is a super exciting rollercoaster. What makes it even more exciting is the people I get to meet along the way. One of those people is Brigitte Heitland, fabric and quilt designer for Moda with her brand Zen Chic.
Meeting Brigitte Heitland :)
Last week Brigitte gave a show and tell about her new fabric lines and quilt patterns at Rhinetex. Seeing all those pretty new fabrics and hearing about how she came up with these designs was super interesting. After the show and tell I got to chat with Brigitte for a bit. What a fun and inspirational woman she is!
Brigitte shared the story about her fabric designing journey with me. It all started when she discovered a Kaffe Fasset quilt book. That book made her want to learn to make her own quilts and so she got hooked to patchwork. Because of the many quilt fabrics she needed for her quilts, she starting buying fabrics by the bold and selling what she had left on the internet. Who wouldn’t want to have their own private quilt shop.
Quilt made with the Hey Dot fabric line. Such fun colors and happy prints, love it!
With a background of interior and fabric design and all her quilting experience Brigitte designed her first fabric line in 2010. What she did after she created her own fabric line really wowed me. She ‘just’ got herself a booth at the quilt market in Salt Lake City in 2011. How is that for diving in? Her booth made such a great impression that she got multiple offers of quilt fabric manufacturers to work with her. That is when she picked Moda to design for.
This chique quilt is made with the Modern Backgrounds Luster fabric line. The gold print on the fabrics gives them such a luxurious look.
What a great story. The courage and drive to take such steps really inspires me. So brave to put yourself out there with you own designs, waiting to see what the fabric manufacturers will think of it. Thank you Brigitte for sharing that with me! All the best with your new fabric lines. I’ll see you at quilt market somewhere in the upcoming years! ;)
Love,
Irene
It was such a pleasure to meet you, irene, and I am sure we will here much more of you in the near future! Rising star!