Hand Work: Creativity Thrives at Sue Spargo & Co. in Green

Sue Spargo distinctly remembers the first fiber art project she ever made. Growing up in South Africa, she did a lot of sewing in school — and crafted her first quilt around age 15.

“I made a grandmother’s flower garden, which are little hexagons, and I pieced it all together by hand. Then I made this ruffled edging for it,” she says. “It was all hand done, and now I’m back to that many, many years later, finding such joy in handwork.”

Spargo, a fiber artist and quilt maker, first became interested in fiber arts after her mother taught her to sew at a young age.

“It developed into a love of quilting and then into what I do today,” says Spargo, who now owns Sue Spargo & Co., a shop and studio in Green. “It’s been all my life, actually, that I’ve always done something with my hands.”

After spending her formative years in South Africa, she moved to England for three years, took some quilting classes and returned to South Africa. There, she continued to quilt, teaching a bit, before immigrating to the United States about 35 years ago.

“I did many, many quilts … learning each technique and how to piece. And I did a lot of needle turn applique,” she says. “I realized how handwork really drew me rather than all the machine work.”

Spargo’s first foray into design came when she took a class with a designer who asked if she could finish an applique piece to feature in a book. After publishing many quilts under the designer’s name, Spargo started her own business.

“My sister started the dyeing for me, did some beautiful colors, which led to my son, Jason, taking over the whole dye shop that we have now in Ohio,” Spargo says. “I wrote an embroidery book, and then it just evolved into what my quilts are today.”

Today, Spargo mainly creates folk art quilts and works with hand-dyed wool and embellishments.

“With folk art, I think it lends a lot to the voice of the maker, because there is often more techniques or unpredictable things that happen when you create in a more spontaneous way,” she says. “It really comes from your heart.”

Her quilts, needle rolls and other fiber items sing with details, layering and textures.

“I often have a theme for each quilt that I do, but they do incorporate often a lot of flowers, birds, animals,” she says. “They have a story.”

Her business employs around 30 people, including three of her children. It takes the form of a website and a 33,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar space in Green, where customers can find a shop carrying curated goods such as quilting fabrics, ribbons and more. Unique items include eco-printed wool, specialty threads and hand-dyed wool. There is space for a dye shop, and visitors can join clubs or take classes on quilting, eco-printing, organic applique, improv piecing, stitching and other practices.

“We have people from all over the world and all over the country come and take classes,” Spargo says. “It’s … sharing what you’re passionate about.”

In March, learn about English Paper Piecing basics and improv piecing. Take a class with Spargo, entitled “Trade Winds” — in which you “explore the ocean through layered hand-dyed wools, cotton fabrics and more.”

“Fiber arts or handwork is very meditative,” Spargo says. “We get lost in doing something with our hands.”

3792 Boettler Oaks Drive, Green, 330-899-9454, suespargo.com