Welcome to my site, where custom machine quilting is the focus. Custom quilting, not patchwork. I don't piece for clients. Why custom? Beauty and craftsmanship. I love the way excellent machine quilting can take your breath away. Edge-to-edge quilting doesn't do that. Quilting is supposed to enhance a quilt, not just hold it together. I see machine quilting as an art form. 

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My discovery of quilt making in 1995 coincided with the  publication of the fourth edition of Harriett Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting book, with which I became obsessed. Then I laid eyes on a longarm and the obsession grew. I bought my Gammill Classic longarm machine in 1999, when computerized machines were still in development. I trained with Linda Taylor, of Linda's Electric Quilters, and with machine quilting pattern designer Hari Walner.  Before I was really ready, I started quilting professionally. I gradually phased out of my newspaper editing career to quilt full time.

 

Early on, a colleague urged me to decide whether I was a freehander (definitely) or a line follower and to play to that strength. My work has a hand-crafted appearance, as opposed to a die-cut, factory-produced look. I never had my machine computerized or even stitch-regulated. Perfection is not a component of freehand work. If you need mathematical precision, perfectly parallel lines and perfect symmetry, I'm not the quilter for you. Also, I cannot freehand just anything; I do use patterns occasionally. I didn't go art school -- I earned a BA in journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas -- but I'm always learning about art.

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Another of my strengths is a knack for coming up with a design scheme. People ask me how I "know" what to quilt. But there are limitless ways to quilt a quilt, not just one right way. I quilt intuitively.  The ideas that just pop into my head unbidden are virtually always the "right" ones. My motivation is to make a given quilt as beautiful as possible. 

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I have quilted 8 quilts that have won best-of-show honors at various North Texas quilt shows. Although I have a reputation as a show-quilt quilter, I am as willing to quilt a humble quilt as I am to quilt a masterpiece.

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I occasionally teach machine quilting classes on domestic machines in quilt stores and in workshops that accompany quilt guild programs. I offer a program called Quilting With Imagination. I have recently begun teaching freehanding to longarm quilters who can quilt only with computerized machines.

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I belong to three quilt guilds, Trinity Valley Quilters' Guild in Fort Worth, Texas, Quilters' Guild of Arlington, Texas, and Quilter's Guild of Dallas, Texas. My motto is Eat, Sleep, Quilt. 

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To see my Facebook business page, go to facebook.com/corbettcustomquilting

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To inquire about having a quilt quilted, e-mail me (and send a photo of your quilt top) at svalc298@gmail.com