We Are GenQ: Meet the Fat Quarterly Team!

John, Katy and Tacha: Three of the five members of the Fat Quarterly team, hanging with us at Market!

They are 11 issues (four special and seven regular) down (with the release TODAY of the divine color issue!!) and moving full quilt ahead on their way to modern sewing delight, but the four-person team that birthed Fat Quarterly’s staff is oh-so-much-more than just their patterns.

Tacha Bruecher, Katy Jones, Brioni Greenberg and John Q. Adams, online friends with a shared passion for fresh and modern quilt styles, launched their first issue of the digital magazine, Fat Quarterly in April 2010. Since then, this bi-continental quadsome has pulled in the design talents of some of today’s most popular Q-bies and sewists to create an inspiring periodical that lives where we live—online and in the home. Last week, they welcomed the arrival of a fifth member, Lynne Goldsworthy, whom we didn’t get to hang with at Market, but whom we understand is an awesome addition to their clan.

At International Quilt Market in October, we met up with John, Tacha and Katy and shared a rare moment of rest with them. Even though it was only Jake and Melissa who were able to attend Market, we knew we brought the spirits of Scott and Megan with us, as the FQ team also brought Brioni’s spirit with them. In fact, it was this thought that made us realize how similar our teams are. A few girls and a guy, all spread across the map. (John is in North Carolina. Katy, Lynne and Brioni are in England and Tacha calls Berlin her home.) All of us have young families at home. And all of us trace some or all of our roots to the online modern quilt community. We’re not afraid to work outside of the traditional magazine media box to offer our readers something new and fun.

For now, eavesdrop on our Market convo with John, Tacha and Katy and know that we GenQers have definitely found our mates! And remember, when we spoke together at Market, Lynne was not yet brought into the fold…

How did you come up with the idea for FQ?

Tacha: We all knew each other from our online bees and the swaps we were involved with. I initially sent out an email to see if they would be interested in putting out some patterns together. Then we got together and bounced some ideas, and came up with Fat Quarterly. It came from our mutual respect for each other.

How do you divvy up the work?

John: Each of us has settled into some roles that we play and we trust each other.

Tacha: We all go off in different directions so we’re not necessarily treading on each other’s feet.

What do you think makes FQ work so well?

John: For me it’s engaging the community. We like to think that we’re from the modern community and we want to serve the people who are in the community by having people contribute ideas and take part in the challenges. It’s not about what the four of us can make, but it’s inspiring others with what we do.

Katy: It’s probably helping people, if anyone has a question or a query.

Tacha: And it goes two ways. We can reach out to them.

John: We’ve been really successful at giving a platform to other aspiring designers. We ask them to do something for FQ and they feel so proud. We always like to pluck out people who might not be the top designers or top bloggers.

Tacha: There’s so much out there.

John: We’re that magazine where if people think they can’t get their ideas into American Patchwork & Quilting, they can come to FQ.

Katy: And it’s us. They are talking to us. We are actually real people. You’re not emailing submissions. You’re talking to one of us four.

John: We stay active. We’re still swapping with people. We’re still in bees.

Katy: Which for all of us is very important. You have to stay true to the community you started with.

Tacha: I think it keeps you rooted. It’s like friendship.

John, what’s it like working with three women?

John: It’s like growing up with three sisters. (He laughs, but looks affectionately at Katy and Tacha.)

Katy: We’re very protective of him. (And yes, Katy is a tigress here.)

How did you get started with quilting?

John: My wife brought in the sewing machine because she wanted to sew. She was a stay-at-home-mom with our twins (girls now 7, joined by a son, 5) and she wanted a hobby. She researched and bought a sewing machine. She likes to make bags. And she would say, “I need to take a purse for my mother’s birthday this weekend,” and I’d pick out the fabrics. She didn’t get into that part at all. So I really got into the whole fabric thing. And then she taught me how to sew.

Tacha: I was living in North Carolina; my husband and I moved here from Chile. I was just home and we had no kids at the time. There was this fantastic quilt shop and I think I started off with everything. I made a quilt for my grandfather’s 75th birthday, all hand-pieced.

Katy: I’d met a friend online and I’ve always been crafty. I made dolls and stuff and she was a quilter and she kind of forced me into it, about four years ago.

As an online magazine, have you had to fight for acknowledgement from the traditional quilt-vendors?

Katy: John was at Spring Market for the first time just after we began, and I don’t think people felt that we would be there a year later. We’re still here and John, this would be your fourth Market. This is my third. And instead of having to chase people down, people are coming to us.

John: I think being at Market is a huge part of that. To just be consistent to show we’re here. Now we’re starting to see people who recognize us immediately.

Katy: It’s fantastic. They’ve (the fabric companies) got new designers. We want to show off new designers. It’s mutually beneficial. And we’re growing. We could have gotten the point where we’re tired. But it’s not like that. It’s as a very positive thing.

We consider FQ very successful. We’ve watched it grow and we enjoy the quality of your content. How do you see FQ today?

Katy: I think we’ve got a core group of followers that are coming back and constantly engaged.

John: We deliver amazing value to our readers. At a time when single patterns are delivered at $10-$12 each, we’re deliver 12 to 20 in each magazine for $8.

Katy: And there’s no advertising in the magazine.

How do you juggle the demands of FQ with your families, day jobs, personal blogs and quilts?

Tacha: We all have an awful lot of other things going on. But I think we’re also allowed to have other things going on. We’re allowed to have breathing space. But we know what our responsibilities are to Fat Quarterly. It swings around. About once month it might be someone else doing something (other than FQ).

John: It’s all peaks and valleys Some months we all have more time than another does.

Katy: What also helps is that we do get on very well. We help each other. If John says he has a busy time at work or with the kids, you want to step in. There’s not this kind of bitching or back-stabbing. We get on. We were friends from the start and the friendship has grown.

John: We have so much pride in FQ and feel so much obligation to it. It’s all built just purely on the passion.

Katy pauses and thinks…

Katy: I think there’s a whole new generation of us. The younger modern quilter, where everyone has a family or is planning a family…everyone is working and quilting and juggling constantly and everything has to fit in around the home. That’s us.