Continuing the sewing legacy with Amy Barickman, Vintage Made Modern
Amy Barickman is the founder of Indygo Junction, a pattern company, featuring designs for home and fashion. She's the author of the best-seller, Vintage Notions and loves to discover vintage textile and needle arts treasures.
Amy grew up immersed in the sewing and crafting business, spending hours at her mother's creative arts retail store working and watching the business evolve along with the trends. The seeds of entrepreneurship took root in Amy, and she started her business designing and marketing collectible teddy bears while still in high school.
After graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in art and design, Amy founded Indygo Junction in 1990 to publish and market sewing books and patterns and to showcase the work of leading designers. Amy’s knack for anticipating popular trends has led her to discover more than 45 innovative artists and designers.
Over her years in our industry, Amy has:
- published over 1200 pattern titles
- sold nearly three million book and pattern titles.
- licensed craft kits and fabric lines
- published over 80 books that have sold at stores throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Amy, an avid collector, has one of the largest archives of vintage fashion and sewing books, images, and ephemera in the United States. This vintage collection is inspiration for many of Amy's modern patterns. Amy’s research into sewing history led her to discover her muse, Mary Brooks Picken, the founder of The Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Science who was a fashion and sewing authority in the early 20th century. Amy realized she was compelled to share Picken’s timeless work with modern audiences.
That dream was brought to fruition when Amy published Amy Barickman's Vintage Notions: An Inspirational Guide to Needlework, Cooking, Sewing, Fashion and Fun. Vintage Notions is a treasury of the best lessons and domestic arts wisdom from Mary and The Woman’s Institute.
Amy recently had the opportunity to sell Indygo Junction to Prym Consumer USA, makers of Dritz® and Omnigrid® products. This change offered Amy the ability to focus on her passion for vintage made modern style creating content and products featured on AmyBarickman.com. She recently produced a series of online courses, showcasing the history of handmade which are focused on specific vintage textiles and notions. Themes range from Redwork Embroidery to Pearl Buttons, visit VintageModernMakers.com to see her Primer Courses.
Amy has also jumped back into the pattern business, with a new format that includes access to online Bonus Video Content and Look Books to inspire the maker. 2023 has offered Amy another brand to build. ABCreative is her new joint venture with Colonial Patterns makers of Aunt Martha’s Hot Iron Transfers. Her initial product launch is Treasured Threadz™, a series of fabric panels based on her collection of vintage art and textiles created specifically for upcycling with patchwork appliqué and small projects.
Amy encourages the use of thrifted fabrics and embellishing favorites from your closet. Her signature technique for Fusible Patch Applique includes ideas for adding hand quilting and embroidery accents to her Treasured Threadz™ panels.
Be sure to visit her blog to see her latest creative adventures!
Find Amy:
- Website: amybarickman.com
- Vintage Made Modern Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amybarickmansvintagemademodern/
- Instagram: @amybarickman_studio
- YouTube: @amybarickman
Check out Amy's Sulky Thread collections: Amy Barickman Designer Boutiqué - https://sulky.com/amy-barickman/
