What was your most ambitious project? Rachel – Possibly, to date, the first growth chart I made was ambitious for me, as I was reasonably new to sewing when I made it. Our projects for Homespun are also often challenging. Sarah – We currently have some very ambitious plans for a couple of project but can’t say too much about them at the moment. They will be our biggest projects to date. I currently have a quilt on the go, which I have been working on for about five years. It’s a work in progress that I don’t see myself finishing anytime soon.

Do you change the style of projects you do from season to season? Rachel – I think my style is fairly recognisable but can vary depending what materials I’m using. For example, if I use antique and vintage fabrics and trims, then my work takes on an old-world feel. Sarah – We like to do such a variety of projects that we’re always changing our idea. While we may have similar concepts at times, we’re always thinking of new things to make. I’m a little impatient and would get really bored if I did the same thing over and over again. I feel that we do have a developed style, but I also like to think that it is ever-evolving.

What’s next on the agenda?

Rachel – Would love to do a book with Sas - might be challenging, though, being on opposite sides of the world.

Sarah – We would really love to do a book together. We have been thinking about it for years, but it’s something we have recently been talking about. Perhaps it will be next on the agenda, but it’s not something that we have started planning yet.

How do you manage so many joint projects when you live thousands of miles apart – Sydney and Italy? As soon as we get a new project, we start off with a Skype discussion to start planning out some of our ideas. From there, we both do some sketches and often pull together some fabrics to start getting a sense of our shade combinations. Luckily, we both appreciate and understand each other’s style, so we seem to have some very similar thoughts when working through our planning process.

How long have the two of you worked on projects together? We’ve always shared ideas and sometimes come up with similar concepts - for example, there is an Easter bunny that we both designed independently but which turned out to be almost identical. We definitely get inspiration from each other and use each other’s sketches for different projects.

Do commissions for children rank as your favourites? We both definitely love making things for kids, which started as making things for our own children. We tend to be able to design very ‘cute’ things that appeal to kids.

What other style of projects do you both do? We’re both really into mixed-media textiles using a variety of vintage fabrics, embroideries, threads and trims etc.

When you have family get-togethers, do you love to sit and stitch and chat together? If it’s just the two of us and Mum, we’re happy to stitch together. Whenever we’re all together, we also come up with new and interesting ideas. We love going to fabric and thread stores together and are never capable of ‘just looking’. The three of us have a passion for Japanese textiles and dream of one day going to Japan to explore the creative world there.

Where did you live as children? We grew up in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. When we were really young, Mum used to make massive weavings. We remember that she had large frames covered in all types of yarns and threads and crazy designs - it was the ’70s. As we got a bit older, Mum got into quilting, so she was always doing some kind of craft, just like us now. We had a noisy, happy and fun childhood.

Sarah and Rachel Roxburgh, Roxy Creations –