MEET THE SMALLEST TRIBE

When I started the “Meet Me” series of interviews I had the vision of interviewing and sharing the stories behind the quilters that I was inspired, motivated and captivated by. As I started reading the answers and learning more about how the creative process works for others I realised that my inspiration comes from so many varied and different places and that I was being inspired, motivated and captivated by people that were following their dreams, regardless of whether they’re quilters or not and so I decided to start interviewing and sharing the stories of the creatives in my life and Kathryn (from The Smallest Tribe) is one of these fabulous creative people.

Kathryn is the creative force behind The Smallest Tribe (and Hey There Threads!). For those of you that have never heard of The Smallest Tribe it’s an Australian owned and made organically certified range of kids clothes that Kathryn designs, screen prints, sews and sells herself. (I’m exhausted just typing all of that, I have no idea how she does it and has a tribe of her own to look after!). 

We’re very lucky to have a couple of The Smallest Tribe t-shirts in our son’s wardrobe and they’re so amazing and soft that I wish I could wear them! Not only does Kathryn make and sell kids clothes, she also has Hey There Threads which sells patterns for kids (with some adult) clothing (you gotta check out the Little Camper dress!).  I’m desperate for Kathryn to start printing and selling fabrics so that I can make a quilt and snuggle in her amazingness.

So, want to know more about Kathryn and her creative journey? (PS. If you’d like to know how you can meet Kathryn and purchase some of her amazing clothes in person keep reading to the end!)

1. How did you come to be a textile artist?

Ahhh, necessity by accident?

I made the decision from the very beginning that I’d only use organic fabric for The Smallest Tribe. As it started to grow I realised that using what was already available meant 2 things. 1, that it was available to everyone, and 2, that I was restricted in what I could get my hands on. I would have maybe 2 ranges to choose from and it didn’t matter if it was colour ways I’d actually choose or styles that I liked, that was what there was to choose from. It only took one release to realise that was never going to work for me.

My heart wasn’t in the fabrics or colours that I was using and I found it hard to be excited about sharing those pieces with people. So I taught myself how to use Illustrator by downloading the month’s trial copy and asking the Google a billion questions about how to use it. I spent nap times and evenings practicing, learning how to use the tools, scanning favourite bits of fabric and attempting to recreate them in an effort to learn as much as I possibly could. I used Spoonflower to get samples of my fabrics and learnt a lot about scale, colour, proximity, what worked and what didn’t.