About Jenny
Jenny is a modern quilt designer and teacher known for her colourful, curvy machine pieced patterns.
Jenny Haynes (née Nilsson) studied Pattern Cutting and Tailoring in her native Stockholm. Soon after, she followed her passion for fabrics and moved to London to study Fashion and Textiles at the London College of Fashion. She went on to develop her own label ‘Papper, Sax, Sten’ (that’s ‘Paper, Scissors, Stone’ in case you’re wondering!), creating award-winning designs that reflect her many different influences. She is based out of Sheffield, now.
Her bespoke quilts and furnishings are recognised for their clean and simple, mid-century modern design. Jenny mixes rich colours with pastels and is not scared of a colour clash. She often uses her trademark curves together with solid fabrics, while remaining faithful to her Scandi’ roots.
Jenny’s work was recognised in Summer 2015 when Jenny was invited by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, along with 18 other Swedish designers, to be a part of Heal’s Swedish Summer Exhibition. Heal’s have a long history of promoting Swedish design with exhibitions in 1923, 1951 and 1971.
Her quilts and patterns appear regularly in books and magazines, including Thames & Hudson for the V&A and in Patchwork & Quilting: A Maker’s Guide, ‘Designed by teachers and practitioners at the leading edge of today’s craft revival.
Two of her quilts won awards at QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville. QuiltCon is arranged by the Modern Quilt Guild and is the biggest exhibition of modern quilts in the World.
When Jenny isn’t designing her curvy and quirky quilt patterns, she teaches at the V&A as well as giving talks and running workshops for Guilds and textile venues in the UK and abroad. She also offers live online workshops.
You can watch Jenny demonstrate how to sew no pin curves in this episode of The Makers Studio series.
Signature Technique
Colourful curvy quilt patterns
Top Tips
- Use a shorter stitch length (1.8) for stitching curves to give your block extra strength and to avoid splitting in the seam.
- When colours clash a bit it gives your quilt spark.
- When sewing curves, always start with the smallest curve then work your way up.
- Your finger is the pin when sewing no pin curves.
- Always finish all of your piecing before pressing your block. It’s easy to stretch your block out of shape if you press before you are done.
- Press your seams open for a flat, block print like finish.
- Use a tailor’s block to help you seams stay flat.
- Precise and variable quilting designs help to enhance the organic shapes in your quilt.
Videos
Patterns
Posts
More from the Exeter Show by Grosvenor Shows
Val: As well as viewing the amazing quilts on display, we stopped by and spoke to the girls at Step by Step Patchwork, famour for their superb range or Japanese fabrics; Strawberry Fayre were there with Jennie's Beach Hut jelly roll quilt and their amazing range of plain fabrics; and we said hello to Jo from Villavincrafts who not only runs a shop but also has some holiday cottages - so a great place to go for a retreat maybe (midnight shopping maybe!!) - all coming soon.
Spring Quilt Festival in Exeter by Grosvenor Shows
Val: what a great weekend; went down to the quilt show in Exeter run by Grosvenor Shows and got some great films of quilts, traders and the young Joshua Patton (aged 6) who entered his small quilt into the SouthWest Quilters challenge. We stayed in a great B&B at Payhembury - Yellington Farm (www.yellinghamfarm.co.uk) - which is part of the Devon Farms programme; under 30 mins from the show and the breakfast was to die for (the boys from Bizview tv work better on full tummies I've found!).
More from Mandy Shaw and Jennie Rayment
Val: Mandy Shaw shows us how to create festive bunting for your home (or garden or any reason at all) and Jennie Rayment gives us tips on how to make 3D patchwork flying geese units; these only have ONE seam and NO triangles - how great is that.