Karen, Richard, and Matt are professional relations: business partners who are also family members. This issue, Karen talks to her son Matt about patchwork, with editing by her husband Richard.

This is the final Professional Relations of 2025! We’re taking December off from interviewing each other. We wish you a festive end to one year and a hopeful start to the next; look out for our next issue in your inbox at the end of January 2026.

“You have to be really accurate – precision engineering for fabric!”

Matt
We're chatting about a topic most people probably think of as cosy, so let's start with a contrastingly brassy question. Patchwork: art or craft?

Karen
Good question! There are definitely artists producing beautiful intricate patchwork for quilts, but for me it’s a craft with its roots in reusing and recycling fabric.

Matt
Is that how you first got into patchwork, to reuse and recycle? I wasn't sure if you sourced material to do patchwork, or if you patchwork to use up material!

Karen
I was looking for a new hobby to do with needlework. I heard that a quilting group was being set up in our village and that’s where it all started! You’re right – I’ve always had a stash of fabric, and my intention is to use that first, but some of the projects have particular requirements, so then I buy new.

Matt
What have you enjoyed most? Is there anything that would surprise someone (like me!) who doesn't know much about it?

Karen
I enjoy combining scraps of fabric to make something useful. In the quilt group we’ve learnt traditional techniques from around the world, such as Hawaiian patches, based on the shapes of leaves seen on the island, and Manx patches, based on the measurements of the sewer’s hand. Patchworking isn’t just sewing squares together in a geometrical pattern! That said, the first patch I learnt was just that – 9 squares sewn together to make a larger square. To make this look good you have to be really accurate in cutting, sewing and pressing – precision engineering for fabric!

Matt
I've seen the engineering up close and can confirm it's meticulous and intricate. Do you choose difficult and complex projects to stretch yourself? Do you still make simpler things?

Karen
Thank you!

The bigger projects are certainly a challenge – in time, materials and room to work on them. I’ve been quite restrained in the full-size quilts I’ve made for our home but have enjoyed making them to give as gifts. Smaller projects are a good opportunity to use spare fabric, practice new techniques and experiment with quilting styles.

Matt
With all the work and resources you put in, have you ever thought about trying to get something back – by selling pieces, taking commissions?

Karen
I’ve thought about this, but I prefer to keep my handwork as a means of relaxation. The reality of handmade items is that the price you would have to charge is too high. I enjoy making items for others, but part of this is knowing who I’m making for and having them in mind while I’m working on it.

Matt
I agree. Not every hobby can or should become a job!

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to give patchwork a go?

Karen
I was lucky to find a local quilt group. It’s nice to learn together and share the projects as well as having a teacher to guide you. There are people on social media willing to share hints and tips on getting started, as well as books! Modern techniques require a sewing machine, cutting and measuring tools, but it’s possible to begin simply with some scissors and a needle and thread.

Matt
Thanks! Hopefully readers will let us know if they decide to take your advice...

Anything you want to add?

Karen
It's important to recognise that patchwork and quilting originated from the need to keep warm. Patches were created by cutting pieces from worn out clothes and old blankets were sandwiched between layers of fabric to create something functional and with a history. These days bundles of cotton are sold specifically for the craft, and the wadding is a technical product. The story attached to modern pieces comes more from the design than the [provenance of the] fabric.

Matt
That's so interesting! It’d be easy to forget how a craft like this began and why it's done the way it is. It's great that practitioners are keeping the story alive.

There’s more to this interview. Buy us a cuppa on Ko-fi to support our work, and you can read the unabridged versions of this and every Professional Relations interview.

• 🐉 29 November, Excel London: Find Matt at Dragonmeet, London’s annual one-day roleplaying game convention. He’ll be sequestered in a roleplaying game room in the morning, running his sold-out Spindlewheel game, Prexaria Fell; then wandering the convention hall after lunch.

• 🎄 2 December, Elsworth at the Mill: Karen and Richard are attending the Skipton Business Social Christmas Party. Get your ticket and join us!

• 👨‍💻 9 December: Richard will be in the audience for Linda Harrison’s PR question and answer webinar.

• 🤝 Early January, Skipton: Richard’s attending the first meeting of the new cohort of The Artery, a business peer support programme.

🌍 Work continues behind the scenes on Doing business on a sick planet, our next and greatest environmental literacy course. We’ll announce it here when it launches in the new year, and it’ll join the rest of our courses on the Take a course page. Tell the business people in your life (especially the ones who care about the climate but aren’t sure how to factor it into their operations) to watch this space.

🍻 Did you run into Richard at People, Planet, Pint? He was at the one in Ilkley on 20 November. It was a cold night and only five other people were there, but it was still a good opportunity to talk about fast fashion and clothing disposal, the Settle Energy Local Club, local energy issues generally and carbon conversations. Richard’s aiming to attend the one in January too, if possible.

🍯 Audio drama awards season is over for the year, and while I Need A Miracle didn’t win any awards, it was in the final running for an impressive number, and in amazing company too! I (Matt) was especially tickled to be beaten to Best Concept at NZ Web Fest by The Treacle People, which I watched on telly as a little one. I still remember the words to the theme tune. If you remember The Treacle People, please reply to this email and say so – the rest of my family thinks I’ve made this programme up.

🛐 The curtain falls on It Feeds on Fire in the Merely Roleplayers Studio:

All three acts of this production are now out, so if you’ve been waiting until there’s a complete story to binge, now’s your time. And if you want to hear more from Billie (Fiona KT Howat), Jasper (B. Narr) and Nim (Marta Da Silva), hit reply on this email to let us know!

📖 Merely Roleplayers returns in January with a new Studio production, Use Your Words. Matt, Natalie Winter, Alexander Pankhurst, Ellie Pitkin, and Strat are playing Rogue Linguists saving the Forbidden Library from the dastardly False Librarian, in a game of Bibliocalypse from All Eyes No Games.

🔬 Does anyone need a pen? Matt published No fixed outcome, chapter 9 of Camera Obscura.

Richard highlights Kate Raworth:

Kate Raworth is the creator of the doughnut of social and economic boundaries and author of Doughnut Economics. She inspires me because she has been willing to challenge conventional economic theory and devise a new model for the current state of the planet.