Interview: Designer Natalie Gorman of OESD

This month in the Longarm League, I sat down with designer Natalie Gorman from OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design). You may recognize her as the designer of the iconic pantograph, Knit 1 Purl 2. After meeting Natalie in person for the first time at QuiltCon earlier this year, and then getting to chat more in-depth at our Longarm League retreat earlier this fall, I was excited for Natalie to share more about her work and the latest happenings at OESD with our members.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Natalie to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Natalie...

Natalie Gorman, Longarm Business Manager, OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design)

Located: Oklahoma
Website: https://quilting.oesd.com
Instagram: oesd.longarm.quilting (business), natalie.ann.gorman (personal)
Facebook: @oesd.longarm.quilting

Q&A

Could you tell us more about how you got your start in pantograph design and your quilting journey since then?
My background is in Art Education and Visual Art Studies. I was interested in creating line art through different mediums, particularly ceramics. When I started quilting in my 20s, I had been moving away from ceramics because it was getting harder to find the time to travel to the studio. I loved how I could quilt within my home and with a fraction of the mess (believe it or not). On top of that, there was also this outlet for drawing line art within the context of creating quilts through designing pantographs. It was wonderful to find that quilting encompassed so much.

My quilt journey since then has been a mix of handwork and machine quilting. I began by learning about precision machine piecing - although pretty clumsily. But I tried to have everything as crisp as possible, especially because it translated to a smoother quilting experience at the longarm. A couple of years after that, I got into improv quilting after seeing a friend's copy of "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters" by Sherri Lynn Wood. Since then I've osscilated between following patterns and improvising. But throughout, it's always been fastest to sit and start a new edge-to-edge sketch.

This might be a tough question...but what are a few favorites of the pantographs you've designed?
The designs that stand out as my personal favorites are ones with more complex layouts. I enjoyed exploring how to make them look interesting as a stand-alone repeat while also puzzle-piecing together logically into an allover design. Arcade (below), Far Out, and Freshwater Pearls were particularly fun to figure out.

Arcade Pantograph

I also really enjoy the designs that gave me guff because they are deceivingly "simple": Knit 1 Purl 2, Bossa Nova, Calder and Uptown. Each only have a few elements that make up the design, and because of that, each element had to be exactly drawn and arranged. Otherwise the details stuck out like a sore thumb and threw off the entire design. The process of drawing these were more of a challenge, but the end results were some of the most rewarding to create.

You've now joined OESD and are working on some exciting new offerings. Can you tell us a little more about OESD and your role there?
Definitely! OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design) is the leading creator of machine embroidery designs for home embroidery systems and embroidery supplies. The company was established around 40 years ago and in 2018 added longarm quilting designs with a wonderful library of quilting designs by Amanda Murphy.

Most recently, we've been working to expand our longarm library to include additional artwork by Amanda, original designs by our amazing in-house artists, and very exciting new collaborations with modern quilters and designers like Tula Pink, Melody Miller, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Sarah Watts, Alexia Marcelle Abegg, Kimberly Kight, and Carolyn Friedlander. For the first time, there are now longarm quilting designs that coordinate with their most popular fabric and applique collections - it's been an absolute dream project.

How can people stay up to date on the latest happenings at OESD?
The best way is to follow our Facebook and IG socials (oesd.longarm.quilting) and by subscribing to our email list through the site for all OESD Longarm Quilting news, our latest designs and our current promotions. Along these same lines, nothing is more exciting that seeing OESD quilting designs sewn out in the amazing quilts being created by customers. It never gets old to see what designs are paired with which patterns and fabrics. Please tag us so we can be sure to see!

Anything else that you'd like to share with our readers?
Yes! A couple of things...

At OESD, we have a brand new line of thread in partnership with AMANN made especially for longarm quilters - Perfect Quilting Thread. It's an incredibly strong and beautiful thread - cotton thread with a polyester core - so it's a great companion for your longarm. Because of the poly-core, it can handle fast speeds, quick directional changes, and bobbin winding without breakage or headaches. And then the cotton exterier blends perfectly with the quilters cotton. Currently we have 50 colors curated with Amanda Murphy, all 50wt and available in 1000m spools or 3500m cones. It also works great for piecing.

We've also just separated out the longarm designs from OESD.com to a new stand-alone site made specifically for longarmers - OESDquilting.com! We've arranged the pages and products in a way that we hope longarmers find enjoyable and useful. That being said, we would love to hear feedback from the longarm community on what would be most beneficial to you when shopping for designs.

Just for fun

What's your favorite part of making a quilt?
Oh goodness, that's hard to choose. I'll break down some favorites based on technique/process so I can skirt around picking one thing! When hand-quilting, I like when the basted quilt is in piled in my lap while quilting the layers together. When machine piecing, I enjoy sewing long strips of fabric where the sewing machine can really get into a groove. And when longarming, I love that moment of unpinning the quilt when it's completed and unrolling it off the bar - seeing all the elements come together at that point is always so cool.

What is your favorite sewing / quilting notion?
At the Longarm League retreat, my table-mate Karie (who also happens to be OESD's amazing Director of Marketing) had a tabletop thread cutter for chain piecing. Somehow after all this time, I had never used one & it was the best thing ever. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that tool was life-changing. I also love a great scissor. We have Kai scissors at the office (and on our site) and since I started using them there, my personal scissors have all changed over as well.

What other hobbies do you enjoy aside from quilting?
I love antiquing - looking for odd little treasures I've never seen before. Especially if they're sewing related. I'm always keeping my eye out for tomato pincushions. My favorite antique find was a promotional novelty penny bank from the 1980s of a Bernina 1130, which is also my home sewing machine. I found it in the back gallery of a sprawling antique mall in the middle of Central Texas after stopping on a whim. What are the chances of that! I also try to find time for non-pantograph drawing and painting, but if I have time to create something at home, it's hard not to end up sewing.

If you'd like to watch this industry interview with Natalie, or are interested in being a guest, we'd love to have you join us! Whether you're interested in starting your own longarm quilting business, or wanting to improve your current business, check out our Rookie Season course! You can see all the details, read about how the course has helped previous students, and get started here.

Thanks so much for talking with us this month, Natalie!