Our Teacher of the Month: Debby Brown
WonderFil Specialty Threads
Lucky Charms 2011From Focus on the Center by Pat Sloan
auctioned to benefit IMQA
Debby has been in the WonderFil Teacher Program since 2010
Debby Brown
Debby Brown has been a Handi Quilter educator since 2005 and has inspired quilters all around the globe. In addition to teaching at retail shop events and guilds, Debby teaches at major quilt shows nationally and internationally, including International Quilt Festival (Houston), Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC), International Quilt Show Dubai, and American Quilters Society (Lancaster, Phoenix). She recently filmed a series of DVDs about sit-down machine quilting featuring the HQ Sweet Sixteen®. Debby also teaches machine quilting classes at Craftsy.com. Since Debby began quilting in 1986, she has completed several thousand quilts for herself and others. When not busy teaching, she is constantly creating in her studio in upstate New York. She and her husband were just promoted to “grandma and grandpa” and are very enthusiastic about their new roles!
Q: How did you start quilting?
A: I started 30 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child. I first learned from a book from the library, but I really knew nothing about cutting and piecing.I soon discovered that I really loved the quilting aspect the best, so that has been my focus.
Q: How many quilts do you estimate you have done since then?
A: Oh, thousands. I was doing custom quilting for people. It is how I put my children through college.
Q: What machine did you start with, and what are you working with now?
A: I started out with a Gammill Optimum. I now work with a HandiQuilter Fusion and a Sweet Sixteen.
Q: You do a lot of traveling, teaching. What is your favorite part about teaching?
A: Free motion can be scary for people. But I love seeing that look in the students eyes when they realize " I can do this!".
Q: What are your favorite WonderFil threads?
A: Well, my new favorite is the new Fabulux ( Debby has designed Fabulux color sets for WonderFil ). I also love Konfetti and Tutti, when I want to work with cottons, and InvisaFil and Decobob when I'm going for texture. I love that I can throw in a DecoBob bobbin, and just stitch and stitch without having to stop to wind a new bobbin. And I love InvisaFil for hand appliqué; it is a good travelling project.
Fabulux Samples Stitched by Debby Brown
