Today we’d like to introduce you to Karlee Porter
Hi Karlee, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Ogden, Utah, and now I have a home art studio in West Haven. I have been an artist all my life, but started my textile art/quilting journey in 2009- primarily by learning how to use a longarm quilting machine. I first started with basic free-motion, but quickly started applying my sketchbook signature graffiti style to fabric and thread. As I portfolio grew in the quilting area, I was continuously being asked “how did you do that??” and in 2014 I published my first book- “Graffiti Quilting”. It took off like wildfire and I was invited all over the world to teach my quilting techniques to quilters near and far (United States, England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, Norway, Italy, Greece). In 2017, I published the second Graffiti Quilting book which was a build-on to the first one. I transitioned to parenthood and teaching quilting online in 2017, and when the pandemic hit, my business continued to grow with many virtual students from all over the globe. In 2024, I celebrated the 10 year anniversary with yet another expanded and updated version of the Graffiti Quilting book- this time with nearly 4x the page count, as well as over 100 included interactive QR codes that lead to additional photos, videos, diagrams, and tutorials to help my students on their free motion quilting journey. Throughout these last 15 years I have also sprinkled throughout the creation of more than 1500 computerized quilting designs for my customers. I am currently an industry leader for both free-motion quilting education as well as breadth and quality of computerized quilting designs.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, I have had my ups and downs just like anyone else. A few particular struggles that I faced were:
Being “young” and not taken seriously:
When I won my first quilting competition in 2012, I was in my early 20’s. Most of the quilters in the quilting world had been quilting longer than I had been alive. It was very interesting to see how I was treated differently and subsequently not being taken seriously purely because so many of these older (mostly women) didn’t believe that I was capable of the level or artistry that was allowing me to compete on an international level. I was passed over for teaching opportunities and told it had nothing to do with my talent and everything to do with older generations being unwilling to take artistic quilting advice from someone in their 20’s.
Breaking traditional quilting rules and receiving pushback:
The quilting technique that I invented in 2014, “Graffiti Quilting” was born and evolved mostly through my own artistic style and voice, but also credited to the fact that every time I completed a new piece, it was done in same way by “breaking the rules” of traditional quilting techniques.
Navigating the balance between being an artist with a voice and an entrepreneur with a vision.
I was born and raised to be an entrepreneur, so a constant theme in my professional life is balancing between creating commercial art that will appeal to my market and making art that was solely created out of my own joy. Luckily, by and large, the pieces that were made from a place in my soul are often the same works that perform the best in the market. So, in my Venn diagram of what will pay my bills and what will feed my soul, everyday I find myself more and more able to live in the middle, which is a beautiful progressive thing as an artist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am most well-known for my signature free-motion quilting style, “Graffiti Quilting”. This sets me apart from other textile artists because traditional quilting has always been known in the vein of “folk art” much more than studio art. So I feel that my aggressive pursuit to express myself artistically while choosing fabric and thread over other mediums has been a great bridge-builder in ushering quilting more into the realm of more widely respected and appreciated art forms. Graffiti Quilting pushes the boundaries of materials and techniques that are used, which opens up the quilting community to being more open-minded towards doing things differently than just in the ways that have been past down to us from previous generations. I pride myself on being a millennial that has learned and respects the traditional homages in quilt-making throughout time and pairing it with the 21st century in terms of embracing technology.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I wish I would have taken more time to hone in on my scheduling discipline. Even though I have quilted for well-over 15,000 hours in the course of my career, I still often feel like I’m running out of time. So a piece of advice I would be is this: when you’re just starting out, give yourself grace… but also show your future-self enough love and respect to be willing to PUT IN THE TIME in building your craft and skills.
Pricing:
- Longarm Quilting for Hire – .03+ cents per square inch
- Free-motion quilting Master class – $549+ for lifetime access
- Computerized quilting and embroidery designs – $2+ per design
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.karleeporter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karleeporterdesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karleeporterquilts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@karleeporter5085
