In the studio   with Sharon Burgess

Sharon Burgess’ work is a mix of traditional and modern quilting with a huge emphasis on English paper piecing (EPP) and fussy cutting. Since taking up quilting in 2009, Sharon has built a business, Lilabelle Lane Creations, selling her beautiful and colourful EPP and fussy cutting quilt patterns. She is an author and also runs workshops.

But Sharon’s crafting journey did not begin with sewing and she actually did not start sewing until after the birth of her fourth child in 2009. She has very vivid memories of her mother spending many hours at her sewing machine making clothing and even a wedding dress. Her family relocated to Australia from the UK when she was still young and “to this day I will still send my mum any clothing that needs to be fixed or altered. Clothing is her thing, quilting mine,” she says. Sharon’s father was a mechanic by trade but in his down time he would drag the kitchen table into the lounge room so he could do macramé or paint while still being with the family. “Sadly, he passed when I was