Jason Yenter has been around fabric and quilting his whole life. His mother Sharon often took (dragged) him and his brother Ben to various fabric stores around Seattle, and they often spent time in her sewing room “helping” her. In 1977, when Jason was 9, Sharon opened her own fabric store, In The Beginning Fabrics. Back then no one knew this would set him on a course to becoming the designer of hundreds of prints on millions of yards of fabric, and author of 16 books for the sewing and quilting industry.

Over the years Jason has had many roles at his mother’s business, which he is now president of. He started as a stock boy in 8^th grade, working on weekends to help keep the store tidy, and then becoming a clerk as he got older. Helping customers coordinate fabrics and creating displays for the store were always two of his favorite things. In high school he tried to take an art class every semester and in 1987, his senior year, he made his first quilt as the thesis project for a special humanities program he was in.

Jason went to the University of Washington where he got his degree in Business Administration, but he also took many art classes there. After graduating in 1992 he became a full-time employee at In The Beginning, and in 1996 he helped start the wholesale division of the company. Back then he did much of the administrative part of the business while he carefully watched how his mother designed the beautiful fabrics they sold. While Sharon created all her fabric designs by hand, Jason was more interested in trying to design on the computer. In 1998, after teaching himself the computer program Freehand, he designed his first collection, Atlantis – The Lost Fabrics. Jason now uses Adobe Photoshop for all of his designing.

As time progressed and the wholesale division grew, it became apparent that it was impossible to successfully run both the retail store and the fabric company. In 2006 Sharon and Jason made the hard choice to close the retail store and focus all their attention on creating fabulous fabrics for other stores all over the U.S. and around the world. Since then Sharon has gone into retirement and Jason acts as president and creative director. So far Jason has designed over 100 collections of fabric and more than 30 project books.