Image of Handi Quilter Ambassador Stuart Hillard

Stuart Hillard

Instantly recognizable as the maverick star of BBC2’s “The Great British Sewing Bee”, Stuart Hillard is a quilt designer, maker, and home décor expert. He has more than twenty-five years’ experience and hundreds of published patterns to his name.   His approach is fun and fresh, inclusive, and achievable.

Stuart’s designs have graced the covers of many magazines including McCall’s Quilting in the US and Perfect Patchwork in Germany. He has also appeared in Simply Sewing, Molly Makes, Sewing World, and many other publications, sharing his expertise and sense of fun. Stuart writes monthly columns on home décor and interiors trends for Sew, Style and Home Magazine in the UK. His hugely popular Scrap Attack column in Popular Patchwork Magazine has been inspiring quilters to use up their scraps in fabulous designs for three years. Hugely prolific, Stuart loves the HQ Pro-Stitcher on his HQ Avanté, enabling him to finish quilts beautifully in record time. Recent commissions have included work celebrating the work of Kaffe Fassett, as well as fashion icon Dame Zandra Rhodes.

Stuart is a teacher at heart and sees opportunities to educate in everything he does. Personal appearances, radio shows, teaching, and lecture tours take up a big part of his life, but he still manages to produce new designs every month.

Stuart is also a global ambassador for Westminster Fibres and Coats Crafts and is a regular fixture at major consumer and retailer events across the globe. His first book, “Sew Fabulous”, was published in August 2014 by Orion to rave reviews, and he is currently working on a quilting title that be launched in 2016.