We were lucky to catch up with Suzy Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Suzy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned to quilt when I was 15, making basic quilting blocks and focusing on traditional quilt patterns. As an art student in college, I took fiber arts classes where I dabbled in designing fabric and quilt patterns; however, it wasn’t until my mid-20s that I got the idea to make quilts and sell them. This was early 2015 so around that time I discovered Instagram and would post my quilts there.

Well, very few people wanted to purchase my quilts, but I did get an excited and engaged audience of sewers who wanted to know how to get the quilt pattern. I had no idea how to write a quilt pattern, but I was skilled in layout design because I was working full-time as a graphic designer.

I took a chance, wrote my first quilt pattern, and began selling the PDF downloads from a simple website. On that first launch day, I think I sold two patterns, but I didn’t really care. I was in love with the idea of designing something that other quilters could use.

What really catalysed my digital download business was learning about SEO and how to create blog content that would attract my target audience. I’ve been in business for about 10 years now and the Internet has changed so much. As a business owner it can feel overwhelming to stay on top of the trends, especially while still maintaining space for my creativity.

Suzy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Suzy Quilts offers digital quilt and craft pattern downloads, a subscription to a monthly digital magazine called The Cutting Table, and a robust blog filled with hundreds of tutorials, DIYs, product reviews, and free sewing and craft patterns. In addition to everything we offer on our website, we also collaborate with fabric and thread companies to make beautifully modern collections of fabric and thread.

We are a collective of makers, mostly moms, who find time in the margins of our busy lives to play and explore our creativity and share that with others! Through that we have made suzyquilts.com an inclusive place for every type of person, so whether they have been sewing for years, or just have an interest in the craft, we strive to be a favorite source of creative inspiration and the coziest corner of the Internet!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think it’s inevitable that if you’ve been in business long enough, you must continually pivot from what no longer works into something new and sometimes scary. When I started Suzy Quilts, very few people were doing what I was doing. Quilting is a traditional art form with a mostly older population doing it. I was 27 and full of excitement to see where I could take my business.

With every year I grew my business, I saw more and more people shift from being my customers to, for lack of a better word, my competitors — replicating and starting their own pattern design business. To be fair, many of these creative people have become friends and we truly do support each other. However, this did mean that I needed to expand Suzy Quilts in order to maintain growth (and my employees’ salaries).

That’s when I launched our monthly digital magazine, The Cutting Table. I’m so proud of this project because it encapsulates the essence of Suzy Quilts. Every month a new, beautiful issue is released that showcases the collaborative effort of the Suzy Quilts Team. The recurring subscriptions take the pressure off of digital pattern sales, which is much more sustainable.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to create an inclusive and kind community. Creativity thrives when people feel safe and seen. I hope that Suzy Quilts remains a leader in helping to build that for the craft industry. I’ve heard hundreds of stories from our audience about how they have made real life friends from the online community we created. Even some of my best friends I have through our sew along and in our Facebook group and now employ many of them as content creators, tech editors, photographers and more!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://suzyquilts.com/
• Instagram: @suzyquilts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuzyQuilt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SuzyQuilts
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/suzyquiltspatterns/