Barbara Overby is a founding member of Missouri Fiber Artists. Although her work over the years has been mainly as a weaver, she has always been interested in all the fiber arts. Her weaving career began in 1952 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. In 1955, she apprenticed with Leah Allen, weaver and teacher in Portland, OR. Since then, she has taught small children how to use a loom, taught at conferences and workshops, given workshops at various guilds and groups in the Mid West and has been a member of the Columbia Spinners and Weaver’s Guild in Columbia.

She was a master artist in coverlet weaving for the Missouri Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program (now the Missouri Folk Arts Program's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program) in 1986 and 1988.