Designer Spotlight: Lynette Anderson
A love for nature is something that quilters across the generations share, and designer Lynette Anderson is no exception. From her childhood spent growing up in a small English village to her current home in rural Australia, Lynette seems to draw endless inspiration for her fabrics, patterns, and notions from the countryside.
When she started learning how to hand piece in the early 1980s, there were very few patchwork shops in the U.K., so she ended up taking the train to visit the historic Liberty of London store to buy some of their famed lightweight lawn cotton fabric to make her first quilt. Fast forward to 1995, when Lynette was living in Australia with her family and made her first quilt of her own design called, “On the Farm.” Within a couple of short years, she was publishing and selling her original quilt patterns at quilt shows, many of which are just as popular as ever with quilters 25 years later.
Lynette moved into designing fabrics for Marcus Brothers. From there, she moved on to other companies and now designs for Nutex Wholesalers in New Zealand. She’s designed more than 50 fabric collections at this point featuring her hand-drawn illustrations; she says that the designs seem to flow from her pencil first, and then the fabric collection follows. She loves including flowers—whether real or imagined—trees, animals, and houses of all shapes and designs.
Beyond fabric, Lynette has authored books and designed patterns for a wide range of items including bags, pillows, wall hangings and so many others that she’s lost count. She also offers kits, notions, and even cute hand-painted buttons based on her illustrations.
With inspiration ranging from the wildflowers of Great Britain to the kurrajong tree she can see from her home studio in Australia, Lynette Anderson is truly a worldwide quilter. Learn more about her latest fabrics and products on her website at lynetteandersondesigns.com.au.
Mary Kate Karr-Petras
Mary Kate Karr-Petras is Associate Editor at Quilt Street.