About Us

Betty Cotton is a quilting entrepreneur and inventor who is living her dream. She owns a quilt shop called the Quilt YardŽ, holds a patent on a unique method of quilting called the Cotton Theory™ and spends her days doing what she loves.

Much of her work focuses on the Cotton Theory, a Quilt First-Then Assemble™ method of quilting she invented in 2001 and received a patent on in 2004. Using techniques of the Cotton Theory, Betty has created many patterns for reversible projects that can be quilted piece by piece and then assembled, without the need to do handwork or to use a long-arm quilting machine.

Betty sells her patterns worldwide and is working on a series of books featuring the Cotton Theory. She stars in a Cotton Theory instructional DVD and is a featured speaker at meetings and conventions throughout the United States. She has appeared on the television programs Sewing With Nancy, America Quilts Creatively and Kay's Quilting Friends.

Sewing and quilting have been a part of Betty's life since childhood. As a teenager, she worked in a fabric store in Chicago. After moving to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, she designed, sewed, and sold soft-sculpture dolls, eventually turning her venture into a wholesale country giftware business called Something Old-Something New. In 1996, she opened a retail quilt shop, the Quilt Yard, in the tiny community of Foster, Wisconsin, south of Eau Claire. After outgrowing that facility, Betty moved the Quilt Yard several miles down the road to its current location in Osseo, Wisconsin, in 1999.

The Quilt Yard carries more than 4,000 bolts of fabric, along with numerous kits, patterns, books, accessories and gift items. Classes are offered in a sunny, well-equipped sewing room in the spacious building. The west-central Wisconsin shop is located off Interstate 94 and Highway 53 in Osseo.

People often wonder about Betty Cotton's last name. Is it real? Did she make it up? No, she didn't make it up. In August 2001, Betty married Jack Cotton, and his name became hers. It's just a happy coincidence that the name is very fitting in the quilting industry.

Jack and Betty live in Eau Claire, just north of Osseo. Jack manages the Quilt Yard and helps with other aspects of the business so that Betty has time to work on designs and new projects.

Visitors are always welcome at the Quilt Yard, where the motto is "Because nice matters."

- Betty & Jack Cotton

Cotton Theory | CT Patterns | CT Batting & Supplies
Notions | Traditional Patterns | Books | Gifts
Camp & Certification