Meet Jessie Cutts: artist, quilter, founder of Cutts & Sons and mother of two.
Her slow, thoughtful approach to quilting mirrors the inspiration behind our latest collection, and we're very excited to share her story and upcoming workshop with you. Click here for more detail.
On a blustery day by the sea in Ramsgate, we spent time with artist and quilter Jessie Cutts in her beautiful colour-filled home and studio. Surrounded by fabric, texture and half-finished pieces, we talked about slow craft, the importance of community and the quilt Jessie is creating for Beyond Nine’s new head office – made entirely from our own fabrics and off-cuts. It’s a collaboration rooted in shared values: honouring traditional women’s work, designing with intention, and creating pieces meant to be lived with and loved. That connection is what led us here and why we’re so excited to be co-hosting a hands-on quilting workshop with Jessie this winter.
Jessie is wearing the Nova Bone Jersey Top.
Your work sits so beautifully within Beyond Nine’s values of thoughtful, feel-good pieces made for every woman at every life stage. What parts of your own approach to craft feel most aligned with that philosophy?
The way I create my pieces is to find a pleasing composition that I can look at and feel happy. I really hope that when someone has a piece of mine in their house, they look at it and feel a little bit of joy and see the hand of the person who made it.
Quilting connects you back to a lineage of people who've done this work for hundreds of years. People have sat using these techniques throughout history in different ways, and I hope that craftsmanship translates in my pieces.
Quilting is such a slow, intentional practice — what first drew you to quilting as your medium, and what keeps you connected to it?
I have a background in graphic design and fine art, and when we moved down to the coast, I wanted something that I could do when the kids were quite young that I could pick up and put down. I tried a few things, but for me, quilting was the perfect crossover between art and craft. You can work on the design and create something really quite instantaneous with pattern and fabric. I love the texture and sense of tangibility, but also the usefulness of them and creating something that is immediate. It's quite different from painting. And having come from being a graphic designer and an illustrator, I can bring those things to the craft.
I first came to quilting because I wanted to make a quilt for my son when he moved to a big bed. I didn’t really like anything that you could buy, and I looked at all the different quilts that you could make and felt completely intimidated by the patterns. So, I just started sewing and realised quite quickly that if you just sew two pieces of fabric together, and then another, you kind of have patchwork. That was quite an epiphany for me — to see that it was so instantaneous to create a pattern that way.
You often talk about the importance of craftsmanship and repurposing materials. What does it mean to you to take something old, or leftover and transform it into something completely new?
There's nothing I love more than making something from ostensibly nothing. I mean, it's just so fabulous to take the very tiniest little piece of fabric and make it pop, or make that a real focus.
It's part of our time at the moment to look at ways to reuse the things we have already or the things that might go in the bin. What better joy than bringing new life to a piece of discarded fabric?
Jessie wears the Lila Persimmon Jersey Top
Community is a core value for Beyond Nine, and it’s something that comes through strongly in quilting traditions too. How does community show up in your work, your process, or the way you think about the pieces you make?
So, community is a really interesting one for me. I didn’t really have one when I started out, as I didn’t learn by going to quilting classes. I read some books, tried some things, and then looked online at all the amazing people who put their YouTube tutorials up on how to do binding, etc.
Honestly, Instagram has actually been an amazing thing. I've met people who I've never met in real life, but they've become kind of my colleagues in some ways. I've since met so many people and now do workshops with a woman I've met through Instagram. I'm currently working on a big community piece where about 50 people all around the world are making a quilt block that's going to be raffled off for a charity. It's an interesting way, in the digital world, that you can get back to how community works with quilting. It was often a practice that was done with lots of people, just chatting and making things.
You created a quilt for Beyond Nine’s Bristol office entirely from Beyond Nine off-cuts. Can you talk us through the inspiration behind that piece and what using those particular fabrics meant to you?
It's been such an interesting piece to work on because it's not in my usual world of fabrics. Normally, I favour block plain fabrics, so it was a challenge for me to take a lot of those ginghams and stripes and turn them into something cohesive.
Working with Naomi, we looked at a few different designs that bring the history of the brand and as many fabrics together into one piece. I'm so pleased with the result because it really kind of shimmers when you look at it, and I think when it's finally hung up in the Beyond Nine studio, it's really going to sparkle in there.
It was such a joy to work with because the linens are such beautiful quality, and I've been a Beyond Nine fan for a while.
Jessie wears the Lila Persimmon Jersey Top
Beyond Nine’s January collection is all about heirloom craftsmanship and designing with longevity in mind. When you think about quilts as heirlooms, what do you hope people feel or experience when they live with one of your pieces over time?
There's really a quilt for every stage of your life. People make quilts for when babies are born, for marriages, and to commemorate certain special events. People even make quilts to remember people who have died. So, a quilt can really take you from birth to death.
Being wrapped up in a quilt is like being wrapped up in a big warm hug. It’s knowing that someone's put all that time and energy into making something, and you get to have that throughout your life – it's a really special thing. It's a celebration of craft, really.
We’re hosting a hands-on quilting workshop with Jessie – and you’re invited. A day of making & learning, hosted by Beyond Nine. The workshop will take place on Saturday 24th January at the Artist Residence, in Bristol and you can get your tickets here.
