Quilter Kate Sandford brings curiosity, color, and a spirit of play to everything she makes. What began as a way to reclaim creativity while raising young children has grown into a vibrant practice rooted in experimentation, problem-solving, and joyful color exploration. In this interview, Kate shares how play fuels her process, why happy accidents matter, and how quilting became both her art and her community.
What were your first memories of making things with your hands?
One of my very first memories is sitting under a table with a pair of scissors cutting shapes out of paper. I always found cutting things out very calming.
What was the moment you realized you wanted to make quilts?
I had made my son a very simple quilt, and after my daughter was born I had two small children to look after and no way to be creative at all. I was creatively dying, and struggling as a Mum.
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We lived in a very small house. I couldn’t paint, it was too messy, I couldn’t sculpt, it needed too much space/sharp tools. I was desperate to MAKE (cutting out dino shape sandwiches was not enough for me).
I discovered the true “domestic art”, sewing/quilting. Easy to put away, minimal tools to get started, loads of techniques to learn and master. I could make something at home, sitting on the sofa, while my kids played. I could even take projects with me if I went out.
I was, for the first time in a long time, able to create things with my hands. The infinite possibilities of quilting have kept me excited, so I’m still doing it 15 years later!
How did winning the Modern category at The Festival of Quilts change your view of your work?
Seeing my quilt in the winners’ section was a lot to take in.
I am not very good at being proud of my achievements. I’m from a family where one of the worst things you could be is “too big for your boots”, but it was nice to stand and tell people who were looking at it that I made it!
I loved telling people all about it. I had been learning techniques, taking workshops, increasing my skills, and finally, I got to the point where I could score enough points to win a class.
BUT the reason I make my work isn’t to make the most technically perfect quilt, it’s to be MY WORK. Something that no one else is making. I don’t want to follow trends; I don’t want to be thinking, could I sell this as a pattern or teach it as a workshop? I’m making my own art. I’m getting more comfortable with that as my purpose.
Winning whispered to me, “You’re on the right track, keep going.”
What role does play have in your creative process?
I am definitely a firm believer in the importance of play in my practice.
I often use a ten-minute fun starter task as a way to transition into a sewing day. As someone who has adhd/autism, I find mentally transitioning from mum (school run) to artist (now create art) can be tricky.
Having a low-risk creative thing to do before the BIG task of the day can help me not get “stuck”. It could be organising scraps, doing tiny fabric pulls, making a collage, or doing the impulsive creative thing that I need to make!
I find that if I don’t allow myself a bit of whimsy and playtime, my creativity plummets.
Describe your creative space.
Normally messy.
I have a room to myself. I have a large desk, a big window, and a big design wall (which I absolutely love). I have lots of projects on the go at once, at least three. I move between them, giving me time to think about choices I’m making, or ways to solve problems, or it gives me a break from doing boring repetitive jobs like burying ends.
I have lots of art books that I like to look at, and big piles of fabric organised loosely in colour/print/solid. I have lots of art materials, sketchbooks, and little bits and bobs I’ve collected. I have my radio on BBC6 all the time. It’s my happy space, but very overstimulating.
How do unexpected ideas or happy accidents influence your quilts?
I like to embrace the element of chance, accepting fabric donations from other people. In fact, my prize winner, “Satsuma,” started with a huge bin bag of yellow scraps from someone else, and a large bit of red-orange fabric left at my MQG. Other people’s scraps are my treasure! They spark new ideas.
I don’t keep my fabrics strictly arranged in rainbow order. I like when I am being messy and grabbing fabrics together and a random two fabrics start vibrating together. Two fabrics that you would never consciously think would go together just start visually singing out together, vibrating. So I consciously leave room for that kind of thing to happen.
What are your absolute must-have tools and materials?
I don’t know what I’d do without my design wall, it is essential for me to be able to look and see what I am working on, to be able to stand back. Good no frills sewing machine, self-threading needles, good directional light, I use an anglepoise lamp with a daylight bulb so the colors of the fabric/threads are true. Lots of fabric to choose from. My camera phone. My glasses!
What’s your process for starting a new piece — sketching, fabric pulling, playing?
I like to draw in a sketchbook, lots of thumbnail ideas. Then I would start pulling fabric and putting up shapes on the design wall. I normally have an idea of what I want from the sketchbook, then start seeing what it looks like at scale on the wall. Then I start to create improv rules for myself to achieve it. If it’s an entirely new idea, I would probably do a couple of small experiments before committing to a big quilt.
Can you share a project that didn’t go as planned and what you learned from it?
I made a large orange, pink, black, and white quilt “Smoot”. It was paper pieced, self-drafted, and I was rushing to meet a competition deadline. It was far more work than was doable; I was pushing myself, and one corner was just NOT coming together.
Something was very wrong. I could not work out why? I got incredibly frustrated with it for about a week. I tried everything to make it fit together, then angrily threw it in a bag and didn’t even look at it for a year.
When I finally got it out, I went through all the photos I had taken of the making process and eventually worked out how I had put it together wrong. I had the quilt finished in under a week. I had set myself a task that was too big, I got frustrated, and instead of changing the plan, I punished myself for my mistake.
My internal voice loves to be negative. What did I learn? It’s ok to change the plan, step back, breathe, no one cares if one out of six hundred quilts isn’t there.
How do you know when a quilt is finished?
When I’ve put the binding on? lol
What part of making brings you the most joy?
I think I am a problem solver by nature. If something is easy, all laid out, I don’t want to do it. So maybe the most fun is the putting together aspect, what order I need to piece in, how to get it to be one flat quilt top in the end.
When you nail those really long curved sections and they iron out totally flat!!!!! Oh happy days. Oh and using COLOR. All the colors all the time all together!
When does quilting feel like a challenge rather than fun?
Oh, I hate making blocks. If I have to make a million blocks all the same, I literally groan. I have to break the task down and trick my brain into doing it, and give myself little rewards as I go along. Normally chocolate!
What does “creative play” mean to you?
Exploring, making, getting things wrong trying again.
I worked in early years education and saw that learning through play is the way humans learn. Adults forget the importance of play. They don’t see play as important; they think we have somehow grown out of it.
Play is serious business. Giving people or yourself permission to play is so important; it alleviates perfection chasing. Opens you up to possibilities that you never considered before and is FUN.
We all need more fun in our lives. Creative play is essential.
How has your work evolved over the years?
To begin with, I was learning, I needed to learn to do all the interesting techniques so I could make the quilts I wanted to make. I used to set myself little projects and work towards making the same thing in different ways to see what techniques worked best together, or got the best results.
For the first ten years or so, I was problem-solving and exploring, now I get to use all the skills I have in my toolbox to help build my ideas.
What’s one piece of advice you find yourself giving students most often?
When I teach I’m mainly a cheerleader I want my students to come out of class excited by their own ideas and creativity. I’m invested in getting students to be making choices rather than me explicitly telling them what to do.
I will teach a skill and give them space to use it in their own way. Sometimes a student will come to me to seek permission to do something in a class, and I say, “That’s a great idea! Go do it!” I want them to leave the class buzzing with confidence in their own creativity.
How do you keep your creativity fresh and joyful?
I very bravely asked Russell Barratt to collaborate with me on a project, and he said yes!.
We each started a quilt, and we have been swapping and continuing to make them together. We have almost finished them, and I’m hoping to see them hanging at the festival of quilts this year. It has been a real adventure creatively, and pushed me way out of my comfort zone.
It has been challenging and scary in all the best ways, and I think even if the quilts aren’t “successful,” I have learnt so much from just reacting, being creative, and moving it along. Almost like the equivalent of an acting improv class of “yes and….” it has been so exciting to work this way, and I hope to do it again soon.
How does making — and quilting in particular — shape your life beyond the studio?
If I am not creative in my life, I get exceptionally grumpy, I am not at my best. I NEED to make things, it’s just who I am.
Quilting has also brought me friends! People who I can sit and sew with, who like to talk about the difference between Aurifil forty3 wt and 40wt thread, without rolling their eyes!
Where can people see your work?
I have a website www.katemustsew.co.uk, and I normally exhibit at the Festival of Quilts. I also do trunk shows and workshops, so if you want to see my work at your local guild, get in touch.
Rapid-fire Fun:
Machine or hand sewing? Depends on the day!
One word that describes your quilting vibe today? Graphic!
One thing you always keep close at hand? Mug of Yorkshire tea!
Favourite non-creative habit that fuels creativity? Good sleep! If you need a nap, have one.
Interview posted March 2026
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