Known for their modern knitwear designs, Quail Studio also have a wealth of other craft skills and enjoy putting their design stamp on to other disciplines. Quail’s aim is to create accessible, timeless designs with a modern twist that appeal to a wide range of crafters.
Describe Your Style in Three Words?
Quail Studio is a pattern design house that specializes in many different techniques and categories, but the underlying design style for all of our designs is ‘contemporary classics’. We always have the hope our designs are designed with the modern-day maker in mind, but are not trend focused and stand the test of time.
How Long Have You Been Stitching For?
Within our design team we have a wealth of craft knowledge and skills, which for the last 12+ years has been expanding and diversifying. Some of our team have over 20+ years of experience in their craft.
What’s Your Favorite Stitch?
A general consensus in the studio is that we are all very much enjoying experimenting with embroidery stitches, especially seeing what makers are creating in the upcycling space. We are drawn into those highly engaging TikTok videos that show stitch after stitch upcycling some denims or homeware items.
How Did You Learn to Stitch?
As a design team, we all have different ways in which we have learnt our craft. Varying from being self-taught to having skills handed down from Grandparents.
What Are Your Embroidery Essentials?
It all starts with a good canvas to work on, and beautiful DMC threads in a color palette so vast we simply cannot choose most of the time! Oh, and some super sharp stork scissors - which are always the topic of conversation in the studio, as to who has taken who’s.
What Inspires You?
We are inspired by designers who are pushing boundaries and trying something new. With the brilliant connected world we live in, and ways to share inspiration quickly, we find we are constantly inspired. As a publisher too, we have the luxury of designers sharing many beautiful ideas with us, with a view to being published.
What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Work?
For us, when we think of our favorite work, and more importantly, favorite designer, we only think of one person. For his use of color and pushing boundaries, we are always drawn back to the amazing work of Kaffe Fasset. We are honored to know Kaffe for many years and visited his exhibition: ‘The Power of Pattern’ in London last year. We would pick any of his Needlepoint works as our favorite.
What Difference Has Stitching Made To Your Life?
For many of us here at Quail Studio, needlecraft in general has been the foundation in all of our careers. Forming our family-run design studio in an industry we have been surrounded by is something we feel forever grateful for, and is at the core of our development and strategy as a business. We hope to continue to grow our knowledge and studio for future generations to carry on the crafts we all love and adore.
