Meet the SewTites Team!
Jamie
An oil and gas engineer for most of her career, one of the founding sisters of SewTites, Jamie, discovered the love of quilting after watching her mom sew many Halloween costumes, Christmas PJs, and quilts as a child. She started sewing when she made a king-size log cabin quilt for her now-hubby over a decade ago.
Jamie was the one who was sewing a bag back in 2017 and used some magnets to “pin” the leather handle on when she didn’t have any other way to do so. She happened to tell her sister, Jessica, about the idea – and voila, SewTites was born!
In April 2021, Jamie made her lifelong dream of owning a quilt shop come true when she purchased a long-standing Calgary quilt and fabric shop, Out of Hand Quilting.
She spends most of her time working at and managing the store these days, but she’s still heavily involved in all decision-making aspects of SewTites.
A newly-minted dual citizen, Jamie lives in Calgary with her husband, Brent, and their two boys, and crazy dog, Maggie. When she’s not working or sewing, Jamie and her family can be found camping, skiing, at their family cabin in northern Alberta, or at the hockey rink or baseball fields watching the boys practice and play.
Jessica
A career marketer and graphic designer, Jessica has been helping businesses brand and market themselves for almost two decades.
She’s the one who recognized that using magnets for sewing could be a saleable idea – the combined intuition and brainpower of the two sisters brought the world SewTites!
The business has enabled Jamie and Jessica to grow even closer over the years, while they collaborate across borders. To them, it’s been absolutely serendipitous and magical.
Jessica spends most of her working time designing and developing new products, along with dreaming, strategizing, and managing the SewTites business as a whole.
She admittedly (and surprisingly for some) doesn’t sew a lot, but just completed new stockings for her family (more to come on that!) and sleeps under a quilt she also made.
Jessica lives in Billings, Montana, with her partner, Jonas, their combined four children (from left to right), Drake, Ecco, Ellis, and Leo, and their German Shorthair, Molly. She enjoys hand lettering, which she posts from time to time over @sassiejessiegifts, is becoming a private pilot, and hits her local CrossFit gym as much as she can. She and her family are also often found outside camping, skiing, boating, gardening, and doing all the Montana things.
Suzi
Suzi started working with us before we were even SewTites, way back in 2017! The first “pilot” project of SewTites began with Suzi and Jessica putting hundreds of SewTites samples on business cards to hand out at a QuiltCon (2018) … during an 18-hour drive to California.
Suzi began sewing in 4-H as a child because her mom stressed the importance of knowing how to sew as a life skill. She took her first quilt class from Jessica and Jamie’s mom, Amy, 15 years ago. The quilt is not finished. 😂
Suzi lives on a small acreage in Columbus, MT, with her husband, Randy, and three kids: Claire, Gracie, and Tyce. They recently acquired a small flock of Icelandic Sheep and eagerly anticipate the arrival of a spring lamb crop.
In this picture, Suzi and her family are at her dad’s ranch near the Crazy Mountains - one of her family’s favorite places to visit. When she’s not fulfilling orders and answering your emails, Suzi is camping, caring for animals, or thrifting.
Suzi says, “This job has been such a blessing to me and my family, as it has allowed me to work from home, with a flexible schedule, while raising my school-age kids and attending all their events. Plus, I love to travel, so that’s a bonus. I have so much appreciation for Jessica and Jamie - they’ve allowed me to put my family first, earn an income, and also invited feedback to add to the company as a whole. This is a business to believe in not just because of a great product, but also because of their values.”
Tara
Tara started her career as a yarn-maker - she spun, dyed, and sold eco-friendly yarn on Etsy and at crafts shows, beginning in 2006. She went full-time in 2009 and immediately started fielding questions about HOW she did. So she started teaching marketing and business basics online, at arts councils around North Carolina, and trade shows and creative biz conferences. In 2012 she published her first book, Market Yourself. Tara’s worked with yarn shops, designers, and artists to create sustainable businesses for the last decade. (If you have a creative business, check out her podcast, Explore Your Enthusiasm.)
And in 2020, she became an overnight mom to 4 kids under four years old via foster care and adoption. That was… kind of intense. The adoptions were all finalized in August 2022!
Tara started quilting with her Mom in 2009, and they’ve made several collaborative improv quilts together. Her real love is hand-sewing - she handquilts all of her quilts and just finished her first English Paper Piecing quilt! She also knits, gardens, and reads around 100+ books a year.
Tara lives in Johnson City, TN, with her husband, Jay, and their four kids: Serenity, Adalynn, Ellie, and Judah, and their hound dog, Raylan.