From running a small handmade business to designing modern quilt patterns, Ashelyn Downs has carved out a creative path that blends tradition with fresh, contemporary style.
How long have you been quilting and designing? Tell us more about the small businesses you’ve started influence what you are doing now.
I began quilting in 2022, after spending the previous years becoming completely quilt-obsessed by proxy.
I owned a small, handmade business repurposing antique quilts into useful home goods and wearable items and was, more than ever, so drawn to the beauty of the textiles themselves.
In this endeavor, I felt strongly about creating and using my own patterns to produce these items, and, as my business started growing in the huge wave of patchwork popularity, I noticed that makers were really interested in creating their own pieces for this trend and not just in purchasing them. I was also at a point in my business where I was going to need to hire a seamstress to keep up with demand, but the one-of-a-kind Etsy listings were truly killing my time and bottom line.
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I chose to solve the problem creatively: by publishing my patterns that I had developed for my own products (I already had copycats stealing my designs, so I might as well make the design available to others legally!) This alleviated a really big portion of my physical workload as I pivoted to digital products and created a more passive income stream for my business.
At this point, I had studied and spent so much time working with vintage and antique quilts, my head was teeming with ideas of my own, and I just dove in one day at random. I had my first quilt top pieced and finished within a few days, and it felt like I was losing my mind, bursting with more ideas of quilts to make. So I did.
I made 27 quilts between May and December that year, and quickly realized that these were the patterns that I wanted to create and sell.
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
I’m heavily influenced by art, architecture, and interior design. I set out in my quilt pattern writing to create really modern designs that would find themselves welcome belongings in modern spaces.
I wanted to create a bridge, of sorts, for makers already in the hobby space to create beautiful artifacts for the homes of their loved ones that fit their decor and would be used or proudly displayed, not shoved into the back of a closet.
Describe your creative space.
I started at a kitchen table and this meant moving everything with Every. Single. Meal. It was exhausting and not very conducive to creative processes OR running a business!
When we moved, we wound up with a strangely shaped living room that I knew I wanted to use as a creative space for our family. While this was amazing in theory, it quickly became exclusively mine because of the scope of my work. Being able to leave processes and come back to them has been such an incredible shift in my creativity, and as my kids have grown a bit older, I no longer worry about them getting into my neat stacks of pressed triangles, but our cat, Clark, is an ever-constant threat.
What is your favorite storage tip for your fabric and creative supplies?
If you can’t see them, you probably won’t use them. I love to use clear cube storage for my fabric and tend to lean more minimal when it comes to tools and notions.
Scraps. Saver? Or be done with them?
A little bit of both.
I think I’m in a unique space where my business typically uses solid fabrics, and my personal art quilts use wovens or geometric prints that become pretty interchangeable.
If I’m truly done with fabrics, I like to bundle my scraps and give them to friends in my quilt guild who love bits and pieces. Otherwise, I’ve become more intentional about creating a plan for my project scraps by cutting them to size as I go and not waiting until they overwhelm me.
Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?
I’m a finisher. I’m sure that my production sewing days are partially to blame, but I also have five kids, so I tend to sew VERY quickly. I don’t like to start projects unless I can see a very clear time management plan for when I will have it finished.
I may have one or two (sometimes a third) in different phases at one time, but I don’t have any unfinished quilts or projects tucked away.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I’ve averaged about one quilt a week for the last three years. Between sewing samples of my quilt patterns, creating quilts for my own creativity, and making quilts for the people I love, it is a constant process over here!
I don’t like to work on piecing more than one quilt at a time, but I will have some in different phases sometimes! I just about always have my next several projects mapped out before I’m done with the current one.
One thing that I love to do to help me stay motivated on my current work is to have my next fabric pull stacked/bundled near my machine. It’s a pretty regular occurrence that I’ll finish a quilt top and immediately press, prep, or even cut into the awaiting fabric.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
Inspiration comes in a lot of forms, but for my art/show quilts, it typically tends to be either dreams or that in-between phase when my brain is firing off and unloading everything from the day. This sounds a little “woo woo”, but they’re almost like geometric pictures or visions rolling around on the back of my eyelids (yes, I have unmedicated ADHD).
I keep a pad of sticky notes and a pen near my bed for when I feel like one of these ideas would be an interesting concept to explore or expand on.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
I love the concept and planning phase of quilting. It brings me the most joy to touch the fabrics at the store and envision them in a finished quilt.
I really dislike the actual quilting. I almost exclusively send my quilts for long-arming. I have a very particular vision for how I want the texture of the quilting to impact the overall design of my quilt, and would love to have the space, knowledge, and experience to expertly do it myself without having to go through the actual process of obtaining those skills, but don’t have the patience to learn at this point in my journey… maybe someday!
I’m also trying to actively appreciate and preserve the craft in its entirety and chose to hand-quilt a project that I’m sure I’ll be working on for the next decade, at least.
Is there an overarching theme that connects all of your work?
My pattern designs are heavily inspired by transportation and cityscapes, but my personal art tends to be almost the opposite.
I love working in conservation and nature themes into my work and use this creative process to unpack many of my own internal thoughts and feelings. It is truly therapeutic for me.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
“Take your seat.” I struggle with a lot of imposter syndrome because of my age and being a younger quilter, and this was compounded when I was being asked to share my processes through workshops and speaking.
A very kind fellow quilter/educator, whom I greatly admire, reached out on Instagram and really spoke kindness into what I was developing as a workshop, and I will always be so grateful to her for introducing me to other educators and telling me to take my seat in this world.
Do you prefer the kind of project that is challenging and requires attention, or the kind where you get in your meditative zone and enjoy the process?
I’m definitely seeking a challenge and love to complicate a process.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
I read a lot about history and culture (my own and others) and reflect often on what I want to contribute, how I want to leave a mark on the world, what is “enough” for me in regards to both familial and quilting legacy, and how I can help to bring light to the incredible hands that came before me who may have gone unnoticed or uncelebrated.
How do you balance your personal life, work and creative endeavors?
I don’t. Just kidding. But really, quilting has become something that I do for creativity, but also for work. I turned it into my job, and I love that I get to teach, design, curate, and lead in this space.
I try to have pretty strong boundaries around my family time, but my personal life outside of them is greatly impacted by quilting. I’m heavily involved in our local Modern Quilt Guild, and many of my dearest friends are quilters.
When you have time to create for yourself, what kinds of projects do you make?
When I have the time, I love to make quilts that I hope to display in shows or museums. This is the creative work that keeps me connected to myself and my passion for inspiring others to notice, appreciate, or even try their own hand at making quilts.
Do you think that creativity is part of human nature or is it something that must be nurtured and learned?
I think that humans are inherently creative by nature. We look to make things beautiful, and children are so incredible at this.
At some point in our young lives, we’re convinced that if our art isn’t the best amongst our classmates’, that we aren’t creative, and that becomes part of our internal narrative.
If we teach our kids that creativity is more than drawing, that it’s making, solving, and imagining as a process – not just an outcome, then maybe we can change how we evaluate ourselves.
Where can people see your work?
I share most of my work on Instagram as @UrbanDwellStudio
Interview posted August 2025
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