Michaela Romesburg found her love of fabric and sewing early on. While studying costume and textile design, she discovered a textile artist. That was the moment she was inspired to switch to creating textile art.
How long have you been quilting and designing? How did you get started?
My love of fabric and sewing started early on. As a young child I started with drawing fashion illustrations, along with making quilts with my grandmother.
In college, I studied costume and textile design, then moved to New York City (NYC) to pursue a career in fashion and textiles.
One day, while living in NYC, I visited art galleries and stumbled upon a textile artist, Rowena Dring (from the Netherlands), who made large-scale nature scenes from fabric utilizing a unique appliqué technique that blew my mind.
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This was the moment I was inspired to switch gears from sewing clothes to making wall hangings and quilt-like structures.
Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
I am often inspired by other mediums and try not to take inspiration from the same medium that I am working with. This was a strategy a design teacher taught me long ago.
For example my most recent works utilizing stripes is inspired by weaving and graphic design. When I design, I usually start with a rudimentary sketch then I scan it into illustrator and refine it.
During this creative time I will randomly visualize these concepts or new ideas will come to me as well. It’s not a linear process and it is hard to explain. I would say it’s a bit other worldly when new ideas start popping into my head.
I do have to immediately draw them out (rough) or I’ll lose those ideas as well, so I always have a small notebook handy. I also try to repurpose my design concepts and evolve ideas based on previous pieces as well.
I love to utilize Pinterest to store my ideas and go back to them as needed. Here is a link to my Pinterest account. https://www.pinterest.com/Michaela1972Romes/
Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like?
Currently, I work out of our flat in the dining area and have a studio space across town that I also use. I prefer to work in the comfort of my home and am currently looking to move to a larger home, so I have a dedicated quilting room.
How do you make time for creating?
It’s always a challenge to find time to create. I usually find time while our son is at school, and as our kiddo becomes more independent, I find more and more time to sew. Ideally, I would like to turn my creativity into a small business.
What plays in the background while you work?
When I am working on projects I often have a show or documentary playing in the background.
The show must be something that I can half listen to, such as reality shows or crime documentaries or things like that. I definitely cannot listen to any movies or shows in other languages because I’m often just listening to the show rather than watching it and seeing subtitles. I also listen to audiobooks and podcasts while sewing as well.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
My favorite part of the design process is physically making my designs and watching them come to life. I love being in the flow and just sewing.
Designing the technical aspect of a design is the most challenging because I really have to focus and cannot watch my lovely crime shows during this process. This is why I love to recycle my designs and modify them rather than starting from scratch because of how much bandwidth it takes to create brand-new designs.
Do you approach your work differently for entering juried shows?
I do approach juried shows in a different way than my other work. I really love the constraints of a juried show and having to stay within some confines, such as a specific color palette or design parameters. I find that my best and most innovative work comes from this.
For example, with QuiltCon 2025 I really enjoyed creating a design using only specific colors that I normally would not have chosen. In the end I created a design and color layout that I never would have done without these parameters, and I feel it is one of my best works to date. The piece I’m referring to is called “Reverb” and it’s currently on tour around the world with MQG.
Where can people see your work?
My work can be found on my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/michaela_g_romesburg/ and my website https://www.michaelaromesburg.com/.
I also am in Winter 2025 “Excellence in Fiber” via FiberArt magazine.
Interview posted April 2025
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