Alexia Abegg is one of those people with creativity in her genes; her mother is a seamstress and designer, her father, a musician and painter. “It was a very bohemian upbringing,” she recalls. “There was always kind of a bent toward the arts in our house, and it definitely influenced my meandering path toward fabric design.”

That path included photography, custom tailoring and even a stint doing wardrobe on film sets. But it was the sewing pattern company she began with her mom (Green Bee Patterns), that would become her entry into the quilt market world, and eventually fabric design. “I love textiles and the way that art changes once it gets printed onto fabric,” the Nashville-based designer says. “It’s fascinating how things look on paper as compared to cloth.”