Amy Butler announced last week that she will be leaving the quilting industry. Her next fabric collection, Natural Beauty, releasing in October, will be her last. “This has been a tough decision for me. It’s been hard to imagine how I could say goodbye to so many people who have allowed me to share in their lives and who have made mine unforgettable,” she wrote in an Instagram update last week.
It’s fair to say that Amy’s work revolutionized the quilting industry. In the early 2000’s when she first began making fabric her bold, saturated prints caught the attention of a new generation whose talent and energy coalesced right at the moment when the internet took hold. The modern quilting movement can, in many ways, trace its roots back to Amy Butler. So many of today’s quilting stars site her fabric or patterns as their very first discovery, the key that unlocked the door of their entire career.
Amy and her husband, David, live in Ohio and the warm, approachable spirit of the Midwest has always been part of her brand and business. In recent years she’s poured her talents into creativity trips overseas. She’s also created Blossom, a digital magazine devoted to creative expression.
She goes on to say that she’s had to grapple with letting go of designing fabric, something she truly loves, as well as fears of financial insecurity. This has meant working to redefine what success as an artist truly means.
“I have so much gratitude for all that I’ve experienced and look ahead with wild enthusiasm for what’s coming for all of us,” Amy writes. “Thank you for embracing my new chapter that will allow me to share more of my full self. I would not have this opportunity without you and the incredible quilting industry. I love you dearly.”
And now it’s our turn to pay tribute to Amy Butler, someone who has played such a pivotal role in our industry and in our lives. We’re inviting everyone in the community to post a reflection about Amy on Wednesday, October 10. (We’ve checked with Amy and she’s kindly given us her blessing to conduct this tribute.)
- Write a post (blog, Instagram, or Facebook) using the graphic above and link it up here.
- If you post on Instagram using the hashtag #thanksamybutler .
Show what you’ve made from Amy Butler fabrics and patterns, tell the story of when you first discovered Amy Butler and how her designs changed your perspective. If you’ve met Amy in person or taken a workshop with her in person or online, talk about that experience. All together we hope these posts will show the impact she’s had on the quilting community and will send her off on her next adventure with a big hug of gratitude from all of us.
Link up your blog post below!
I enjoyed Amy Butler and meeting her a few years back at the Quilters take Manhattan. I just wrote a nice story about that weekend but it was blocked. I will try again on Oct 10th.
My first quilt was all Amy Butler fabric. I choked up reading this. I’m setting a reminder to post something Oct 10. I’m tearing up again, gosh, thank you, Amy Butler.
The first real substantial bag I made was with your patterns and fabric – it was like a breath of fresh air. Thank you for your designs – I have always loved them!
When I think of Elegant quilting fabric, I think of Amy Butler. She was a trailblazer in expandinding the quilt fabric category beyond small calico prints.
I’ve been buying here fabrics since her first collection came out. I moved back home to Australia four years ago and I packed up all my fabrics and had them shipped to Australia, they are that important and precious to me. But now I don’t want to use them as I can never buy them in australia. I have about 60-80 years of her fabrics and every now and again I get them out and just look at them and touch them LOL. They are so beautiful.
Wow, I am tardy to this party. Amy Butler…never seen a fabric design I didn’t like. I introduced my mom to Amy’s fabric designs.
I do not quilt, but beautiful fabric colors…just art to look at…zen. Her pattern pieces…always easy to understand, clear and accurate. Birdie Sling was my first Amy pattern, and still my fave.
I am glad I still have quite a stash of her fabrics and will celebrate every project I make even more so now that I know she has retired from this biz.
God bless you and David. Thank you for blessing us with your creativity.
Amy and I were neighbors in Kansas City during her time as an art director at Hallmark. We moved into the same brownstone on the same weekend and became fast friends.
It’s a joy to see how she and her husband Dave always follow their hearts and create beauty in all they do, and are. We’ve known each other a pretty long time now, and I appreciate their loving presence in my life throughout the years.
Amy gifted me some of her beautiful stash back in 2005, after I’d gone through the dissolution of my marriage. She knew that I needed something life-giving to focus on, and encouraged me to play around with my bunny designs. This is the first pillow I ever made, using some of those pieces. She and Dave have always inspired me on many levels.
I know for sure their next endeavors will be made up of amazing adventures!
Thank you, craftindustryalliance.org for holding this salute to our beloved Amy Dee!
💕🍃🌾💐💖
Garden Bunny pillow 💗🐇
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boltandfrolic/1107784792/in/album-72157594345171056/
OH aren’t you just soooo special??? and so braggy too! big deal
Dear Amy,
Thanks for your constant friendliness and all the ways you’ve enhanced what fabric, color, and design mean to all of us hardcore quilters! Best of luck in anything and everything you do, and I hope our paths cross again.
BTW, I’m “retiring” from public television (just taped my last three episodes at IPTV) to concentrate on my encore career as a novelist. My novel MY LIFE WITH SHELLEY (which I spent five years creating) now has NYC literary agent, so my fingers are crossed for publication. The book is not about quilting but about Mary Shelley, teenage author of FRANKENSTEIN, but I did manage to use the word “quilt” twice.
XOXO
Hi Amy—Just like a good book the plot changes making things more interesting which keeps us engrossed on what will happen next. As with our lives change is good –hoping you next chapter brings you much happiness & excitement as you turn the pages. Best of luck & thanks for making fabric “exciting” I will hold on to my stash and only use it for something special. –pati
How is it I’m just discovering this news!!! Miss Amy, my first love of quilting was inspired by your fabrics. A tiny quilting shop in my tiny town brought back Gypsy Caravan and my world exploded! Your fabric designs are beyond compare. I will definitely miss your collections, but I wish you joy in your new adventure.
-Laura
Hi Abby Glassenberg,
We will miss Amy.
I have lived the bright fabrics she has designed. You will be missed.
Many blessings on your life’s journey!
I’m hating to see Amy leave but wishing her the best. I’m 73 and began quilting 4 years ago. I fell in love with Amy’s fabrics from the very start. Happiness to her!!
Good luck Amy! You are such a talented girl, and I have a
Enjoyed so much of the gorgeous fabrics – the Devine colors, the patterns, juicy you call them! They are that and more because of the thousands of us girls – we’ve been so inspired. So thanks and good luck on the road to the big rock candy mountain! On a summers day, in the month of May,a pretty girl went ridin’. Down a shady lane …thru the sugarcane, she was lookin for her lightnin! As she rode along she sang this song…of the land of milk and honey. Oh the buzz in of the bees, and the sugarcane trees, … And the big ok soda fountain, where the lemonade springs and the bluebird sing…at the Big Rock Candy Mountain. Keep on going Amy you’ll get there!
The first time I used Amy’s fabric was to make a quilt for my daughters best friend. I was honored because at the time 27 y/o Kelly donated a kidney to me. She is a beautiful person inside and out. I was and still am blessed. No one can understand. I bought as book of Amy’s and made my first grand child, Livvie the new born kimono out fit. Adorable. Thank you, Amy. We’ll miss your talent in making wonderful fabric.