Laura Hopper (she/her) is the quilter, felt crafter, and writer behind the Instagram account @sonicstitches, named after her style of making quilts inspired by music. Laura’s quilts have been shown at QuiltCon, the National Quilt Museum, and the International Quilt Festival. She is the author of over 100 articles and tutorials about quilts and felt. Her publications include the book Modern Quilts in the Second City: Ten Years of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and an award-winning museum catalog.
Laura’s writing and tutorials regularly appear on the Suzy Quilts blog, where she works as the Creative Operations Manager. She also contributes to the Benzie Design blog, writing tutorials focused on felt food toys. She has been a BERNINA Ambassador and an Aurifil Artisan and collaborates broadly in the craft industry.
Her writing has also appeared in Tatter, Curated Quilts, Quilting Arts, Canadian Quilter, QuiltMania, Craft Industry Alliance (where she worked as a staff writer and social media manager), Modern Patchwork, BERNINA’s WeAllSew blog, and QuiltCon Magazine. Laura previously served as the Associate Editor and Staff Writer for QuiltFolk magazine where she traveled the country writing about quilters.
Laura is the Co-President of the national non-profit Quilt Alliance, which focuses on quilt documentation. For the Alliance’s 30th anniversary, she led a block of the month project that resulted in rapid membership growth. Laura is also a past president of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.
Before launching her career in the craft industry, Laura worked as a museum curator. Most recently, she was the curator of the Pick Museum of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, where she co-curated a traveling version of the renowned exhibit Quilts and Human Rights, facilitated a community quilt project with students, and was the recipient of NIU’s Women Who Make a Difference Award. She co-taught a graduate-level course in museum studies and was an affiliate at the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.
Focusing on the care and interpretation of textiles, Laura also worked at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, the Newberry Library, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and many other Midwest museums. She has an undergraduate degree in history and museum studies and a master’s in public history.
Laura lives near Chicago with her family.
All photos on this website are by Summer Brader Photography except where noted.
