Designer Profiles

Katie Skoog

I am originally from Arizona but my husband and I now live in the frosty state of North Dakota with our four beautiful girls. We only get a few months of beautiful weather a year here so we are always camping, outside playing or just sitting on the patio relaxing. During the fall and winter, I always dream sitting on a warm sunny beach. I take a lot of inspiration for our summers at the beach, our camper nestled in at the most beautiful campground full of wild flowers, and my dreams of traveling to warm destinations. 

I have always been a crafter. As a child, my mom nurtured this passion. A craft bin with every color crayon, paints and coloring books was always available. Not much has changed, I have cabinets full of my favorite watercolors, acrylics and pencils. Having four girls, who all have the “crafty” trait, is so much fun. Their thirst for sewing / painting knowledge makes me the proudest mom ever (even if they do steal all my crafting supplies).  

I have dreamed of becoming a fabric designer since I started sewing 9 years ago. I started my sewing journey as a quilter. My first quilt was for my oldest daughter and even though it was far from perfect, I was so proud I made something that I knew she would treasure forever. That was it, I got bit by the quilting bug and within a year I had started my own little fabric shop just so I could have all the beautiful fabrics. As my two older girls were getting a little bigger, I decided it would be fun to make them dresses. It was hard to find patterns that weren’t covered in ruffles, I wanted simple, modern designs so I ended up designing them myself, which led to me starting Simple Life Pattern Company where we design the cutest baby, girls & women’s patterns. I have gone back to my roots and started designing more quilt patterns which has made me so happy.