I have had the pleasure of knowing and enjoying the beautiful work of talented fabric designer Jennifer Sampou since she first wowed the quilt world back in 1989.
Since the debut of her initial fabric line, Jennifer has designed over 3000 prints and sold millions of yards of fabric.
Jennifer has a degree in design from Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and began designing specifically for quilters as creative director for P&B Textiles. Later she opened her own studio and now licenses her work to Robert Kaufman Fabrics. She loves to travel the world for inspiration and has designed lines based on her experiences on safari in Africa, diving in the Red Sea, trekking in Nepal, and playing with elephants in Thailand. When she can’t go far from home, she fills her creative tank through day trips to San Francisco museums and by witnessing beauty in nature.
When her three children were younger, in an effort to watch their growth, nurture their souls, and have an adventure together, Jennifer and her husband Todd moved to San Miguel de Allende, an artist town in Mexico, where they immersed themselves in this colorful and creative culture. Although Jennifer took a break from her career in fabric designing, she continued to be inspired by the colors, textures, and patterns of her new surroundings. She experiments with new techniques in art such as encaustics–painting with hot wax, fire, and pigment–which she can translate into fabric. This is the process used in her Continuum fabric line.
Jennifer and her family have recently returned to their home in Northern California and happily thrive in a busier, crazier life than that of their experience down south.
Jennifer compares her passion for textile design to that of a boomerang, suggesting that “no matter how hard you throw it or how far it goes, it always comes back.” I’m so thrilled that her boomerang has returned to fabric design, as the quilt world is richer for her work.
Please enjoy a peek at three of Jennifer’s fabric lines: Fiesta, Continuum, and Studio Stash 2013.
Fiesta collection on left, Continuum in upper right and Studio Stash lower right.
Studio Stash is Jennifer’s most recently released line with Robert Kaufman Fabric Co. These fabrics are the perfect blenders for your quilts, adding just the right colors and interesting textures.
Jennifer has graciously offered a color pack from her new Studio Stash collection to a lucky See How We Sew reader in your color choice. (Click here to see the entire collection.) Simply leave a comment at the end of this post by end of day October 10th telling us which pack you would like–turquoise, raspberry, citrus, or emerald–and I will announce the winner in my October 11th posting. In addition, Jennifer is offering a second color pack to a lucky person who puts his or her name on her mailing list. To be eligible for the second packet, go to Jennifer’s website and sign up on her mailing list by October 15th. Jennifer will contact that winner directly.
To read more about Jennifer, and see additional photos of her fabric and quilts, please visit her website and sign up to follow her blog.
On another note, most of you know by now about my involvement with Craftsy.com, which offers online classes in everything from quilting and knitting to cake decorating and jewelry making. The Craftsy blog is asking for nominations for your favorite blog in any of three categories. If See How We Sew is one of your favorites, and you would like to nominate us, simply click on the badge and fill in the necessary information. (As a bonus, you will then be eligible to win a FREE Craftsy class, courtesy of Craftsy.)
Enjoy your week everyone. Hope to see you back here on Friday.
