The First Draft

We all have to start somewhere.

Hi there! I’m Kaitlyn - the Fritsch of Fritsch in Stitches.

I entered the quilting world with a love of fabric and a calculator. Against the recommendation of literally every experienced quilter I met, rather than following a pattern I used a blog post, a notebook, and my trusty TI-83 graphing calculator (thanks MATH*1080) to make exactly the quilt I wanted.

I don’t have a photo of myself with my first quilt because I never thought to put myself in a single one of the photos I’ve taken of it, and now it’s on the bed my big kid is sleeping under as I write this at 1 AM. That’s how it goes with Late Night Quilt Club (lifetime member, right here).

Since that first quilt nearly a decade ago, I’ve mathed my way through basically every quilt I made. That turned to pattern testing, then pattern writing, before I realized that my superpower was finding the little mistakes that others miss. Technical editing, baby! It’s what happens when the science girl becomes a professional creative.

Okay, but why Substack?

There’s a pretty common statement out there that goes a little something like this:

And while I don’t love to start off with a paradox, here we are. See, as a technical editor, I’m pretty focused on things being technically correct (it’s basically there in the name). But as an editor for creatives, it turns out that technically correct is frequently “accurately wrong”. So much of being a creative is heart work - it’s about how you feel when you’re creating or how someone feels when they see what you’ve made, and when it comes to bridging that heart work into a technical document things get murky. Mix that up with impostor syndrome, the 64,000 other parts of running a business, trying to market yourself on social media, and the ever-present push for new and shiny ideas, it’s a wonder that creatives manage to produce anything.

A technical editor is there to polish a pattern or manuscript into something another person can read and enjoy, but we’re also a sort of mid-way guide, cheerleader, and sometimes therapist for the artist. I get the privilege of seeing behind the curtain into the creative process of multitudes of artists and designers and I get to be there at one of the most terrifying parts: frequently I’m the first person to see a design beyond a best friend, mom, or partner. Putting your art into the world is a tender and vulnerable thing, and from first-time pattern writer to well-known author, there is a common thread of hesitancy when a project lands in my hands.

That common moment of fear (I actually have one client that admitted to yelling “YOLO!” as she took the plunge and sent me a particularly complex project) is often hidden away and rarely talked about - and it’s only one of many secrets I hear from designers and artists on a regular basis. I think we probably all know that everyone is feeling it, but no one wants to talk about it.

I think it’s time we talk about it. And that’s what you’re going to get here.

Rounded out thoughts and observations about being a professional creative, information your tech editor wants you to know, and tips on making your creative projects approachable to your audience will come at you as Posts. The idea is for these to show up roughly every other week.

Timely thoughts on the quilting industry, creative practice, and quick Q&A type info that pops up in day-to-day editing will show up as Notes. You may also see some pretty photos of what I’m working on as Notes. I don’t really have a schedule for these yet, and plan to be a little more flexible here.

If you’re looking for technical editing services, you can find more information on my website:

Whether you’re the “checklist and schedule” kind of creative or more the “follow my muse right into that flow state” type, I can’t wait to see what you’re going to create next.

See you at Late Night Quilt Club - I’ll save you a seat.