Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rebecca Lambert. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rebecca, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

As a maker of quilts, it is the mission of Vintage Giggles to create something that captures and preserves vital memories of people’s lives. The quilts we make are visual mosaics of people’s lives that can bring comfort and joy from their favorite moments into their every day in a tangible way.

Why is this important to us? There are three key reasons.

First, quilting is a historic pastime in our country’s culture, and a storytelling art form that we wish to not only contribute to, but to keep alive.

Second, since life sometimes throws us unexpected events, both good and bad, it’s important to recognize the moments that shape us, hold on to the moments that pass by too quickly, and to retell these stories to future generations in the family.

Lastly, creating and giving something to others that triggers so many beautiful memories as well as brings comfort to hurting hearts, fills my heart and brings joy to my soul. Having the ability to work so closely with so many amazing people. I have personally learned so much about love, hardship, overcoming, grace and grief. Quilts are a way in which I can portray love in a tangible way, We call this love, squared.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Rebecca and I started this company as a young mom. My friends were also having babies and I wanted to find something unique to give to my friends at their baby showers. At the time, my own children were two and three, so I had experience with the things that are helpful and appreciated in the first year of life. I didn’t want to gift something that could be purchased at a store.

Having learned to sew from my mom, I used to play with her sewing machine and invent things to make. Threading a sewing machine in much like riding a bike; even if it’s been years since you last did it, you never forget. So, with a friend having a baby, the ability to thread a sewing machine and just coming out of the baby fog, I was ready to get creative. I decided to make a baby quilt for my friend in colors and fabrics that would match her baby’s nursery. I had never made anything remotely close to a quilt, and refused to watch how to videos. I wanted it to come from my own mind, regardless if it followed customary rules or not. I lost sleep trying to figure out how to bring four squares of fabric together. I made mini versions to practice, and finally figured out how to make what I considered to be the ultimate artistic design to accent my friend’s baby nursery.

Of course I didn’t want my friend to know that I handmade her gift, so I ordered labels in a username that I had for a website, and put that on the quilt. Surely she would think that I found the most unique and groovy quilt that ever could be.

Knowing me so well, she called me out and didn’t buy the fake nametag. She knew I had made them, and by the end of her baby shower, she convinced me to not only keep making these, but that she would join me and we would start a business.

Twelve years later, Vintage Giggles still has not stopped making quilts. We still come up with our own designs and utilize colors and textures to tell people’s stories, however the biggest difference between now and when we first started is that most of the quilts we now make are made from people’s personal items. Largely, some of the most sentimental personal items people own.

We still don’t consider ourselves quilters. We are simply people who figured out how to sew squares of fabric together, are passionate about colors and textures, and have a mission to listen to and preserve people’s stories in an artful way.
What we like the most is that it’s not our craftmanship or sewing skills that shine in the end, it’s the way that colors and patterns can portray a person’s life stories in a way that they could never see before, as people often tell us.

What makes me most proud about Vintage Giggles, however is the people who have been a part of the team over the years. We put family first, and so when personal lives need attention, that takes priority. That often means that people come and go, but that when they are on the team, they show up with their hearts first. For over a decade, I have been blessed to work with people that pour their creativity and love into the work they do daily.

Through the personal attention we give to each client and the stories and photos we share on social media, our current clients as well as our future clients are reassured that they can put their highest level of trust in us as we create quilts for them from their most personal items. The process of working closely with each client while creating their quilts is truly a unique experience in itself, and is the number one reason we are referred to others who are looking to have a quilt made, and why so many of our clients come back as long term customers, and oftentimes, become friends.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Not many people may know this, as I tend to keep my personal life out of my work, but over the course of the twelve years I have been in business, I have gone through a divorce, become a single mom, had to find temporary employment elsewhere to supplement my income, moved the company two major times, found love again, had more kids and am now a mom of a very large blended family with six kids. My story is not perfect. I think that’s why I find so much connection with my clients as they share vulnerable parts of their stories. I know hardship, heartbreak, gut wrenching loss, new beginnings, hope and proof that love truly is one mighty powerful four letter word. I channel all of that into the work that I do.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson that I have learned is to be yourself. I can easily shelter myself creatively by not watching how others sew and by not joining quilting groups, so as my designs and inspirations truly come from my own self, but social media has trends and algorithms and it’s easy to get caught up in trying to do what will capture the most views, likes and comments. I’ve tried my fair share of those trends. Live broadcasts, posting reels everyday and adding lighting and filters to create a “brand”, to name a few. I HATE being in front of the camera, so I never felt like many of my attempts were successes, in terms of social media successes.

In the end, from what people tell me over and over, it’s my heart that shines. They see beyond the awkward body language and fast talking to overcome nerves. They see me. And that has been the biggest lesson that I’ve had to unlearn. Don’t try to be like the others, just be your own self. In my case, that means I’m kinda quirky with a somewhat dorky sense of humor. I can find sentimental value in almost anything and love to share those moments with others. I find ways to communicate without having a camera in my face, and when I do, it’s a celebration of the fact that I’m learning to just be me.

I don’t have a preplanned social media post calendar. I don’t always post things that only relate to quilts or at the ideal time of day for the best results. Funny story, we recently moved from the city to a farm, and so I started incorporating parts of the farm in my social media. And do you know that Instagram has blocked many of my stories that show our baby calf because Instagram doesn’t think that’s my own original content. Like as if I posted someone else’s cows. Does Instagram monitor my account so closely and think that just because I make quilts, that’s the ONLY thing I can post about? At first it really irritated me, but then I found it actually ironic. I’m working really hard over here to just be me. Posting from the heart, randomly and spontaneously about not only my work, but also the things that surround and inspire me daily….and Instagram told me that wasn’t me. I chalked it up to a significant lesson that not everyone will necessarily relate to or make sense of what is authentically me, but they WILL pick up on the authenticity. So I keep showing up, consistently, as me, whether Instagram likes it or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vintagegiggles.com
• Instagram: @vintagegiggles
• Facebook: vintagegiggles
• Youtube: @vintagegigglesquilts
• Yelp: vintage giggles
• Tiktok: @vintagegiggles

Image Credits
self taken