Up & Coming Designer: Kelsey at Lovely and Enough

This post is written by Amy Garro of www.13spools.com as part of our “Up & Coming Designer Program”, where we introduce you to some awesome, small-time fabric designers we’ve found! Read the program announcement here.

Kelsey at Lovely and Enough stood out to me immediately once I spotted her “Pistachios” print. This is one of those designs that is incredibly versatile because it has both curved and straight lines in it, is a medium scale, and leans feminine and soft on lighter fabrics, yet also masculine on bold on darker fabrics. I mean, seriously genius, right?

After looking at these prints, I just knew the designer behind them was special. I started checking out her blog, and just loved everything about it, and couldn’t get enough of her fabrics. Her prints are very sophisticated in that they are screen printed, but don’t scream it. It’s common to look at a screen-printed fabric and immediately think to yourself, “oh, those are screen printed”. But when I look at these fabrics, that’s not even on my radar – I just get lost in the design. I reached out to her, and am so excited to introduce her to you today as part of our Up and Coming program.

Kelsey is a recent graduate of Wheaton College, IL in both studio art and chemistry. She is currently pursuing a degree in Textile Chemistry at North Carolina State and told me that she “looks forward to the fresh inspiration that Raleigh and dye studies will bring to [her] work”.

And now, I thought I’d invite Kelsey to share a little about herself, her process, and how she arrived at her beautiful business name. Take it away, Kelsey!

When I begin to look around and see other people’s beautiful lives with seemingly more time, less stress, cuter clothes, more prolific sewing rooms, I stop and remember. My life is lovely. And my life is enough. I don’t need more than what I have. Close friends. Comfy clothes. A wonderful family. A burgeoning church. And time and space to sew to my heart’s content. Lovely. Enough.

I work with textiles because they are tactile, meant to be touched. The soft slip of fabric through your fingers, the crisp edge of a perfectly pressed seam, the holes that expose flannel linings. Each speaks of care and process and history. Textiles allow me to explore making emotions and moments tangible. To wrap my arms around my sister from miles away in the cables of an afghan. To capture the lost feeling of big life decisions in angles and juxtaposed stitches. To anchor my dreams for my niece in threads on which she can sit and stand and play. Textiles make the intangibles something that I can grasp.


Pulling from personally designed and hand-printed fabrics, I carry quilts from conception to final binding stitch, combining traditional quilt patterns with modern colors and stitching. From hand-illustrating the designs to printing swatches, I relish the process. I follow the maxim that every choice can transform a quilt, envisioning how the eye could be directed with a line of stitching or a quilt balanced by the turn of a triangle. My fabric designs are inspired by the organic beauty outside my window and fused with the geometry of architecture and Amish quilts to create unique pieces for home and studio.

Wow, what a beautiful reflection on the power of creating!! Thanks so much for sharing with us!

If you loved these photos of Kelsey’s work, I encourage you to check her out – and buy her fabrics!! Here’s a fantastic list of places where you can find her:

And don’t forget that you can look forward to, and follow, my (Amy’s) projects showcasing Kelsey’s fabrics in tutorials, pillows, quilts, and more at www.13spools.com!