Daily Swatch: Pattern Types – Half-Drop Repeat
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There are four parrots to the repeat, and it’s a simple half-drop from there — can you see it? Cleverly titled “Polly Wants a Midcentury Modern Cracker,” $18/yard from In With the Old Vintage on Etsy.
Midcentury Textile Designer Finds Something Fine
Vicky of Something Fine (True Up interview from the Vintage Fabric collector series here) frequently posts her vintage finds to Flickr, and this one received a comment from Bob Pedley, who worked at the company that produced it in the 1950s-60s, Crabtree Fabrics Ltd. Vicky then interviewed him, and that interview is here.
At the end she writes that after the mills closed in the 80s “Bob set up his own printing company acquiring the machines used and in recent years has scrapped perfectly good machinery and about 2000 rollers of the over 3000 they had.” I believe that’s referring to copper rollers — I know that some Asian mills still use engraved copper roller printing sometimes, but most mills now use rotary screenprinting. Because the demand is so low the old rollers are scrapped because the copper is still quite valuable.
Thank you so much for sharing, Vicky and Mr. Pedley!
Daily Swatch: Pattern Types — Half-Drop Repeat
Have you had your first seriously spring day yet where you live? Here’s a simple, springy half-drop floral from the collection of s n o r k on Flickr.
Sneak Peek: Holiday Happy by Monica Solorio-Snow for Lecien
Monica Solorio-Snow of the popular quilting blog Happy Zombie announced today that Lecien will be releasing her first fabric collection, Holiday Happy, at the Spring Quilt Market. There seems to be a trend of non-Japanese designers designing for Japanese companies — not that good design knows sees borders!
Holiday Happy is of course a holiday collection, centered around a character she calls “Gnoma Claus.” There’s even a panel print with Gnoma Clauses in several sizes with which to make stuffed toys and ornaments. See the panel on her blog. And maybe a giant chess set? All the prints conveniently coordinate with Lecien’s Color Basic and 1000 Colors Solids collection (which isn’t near 1000 solids yet … but maybe that’s the eventual goal?) Congratulations Monica!
Digital Fabric Printing Comparison Chart Updated!
Last summer I tested out four digital fabric printing companies by printing the same design with all of them and comparing the results. The post included a comparison chart covering pricing, available basecloths, color matching info, and other details. That chart was sorely in need of an update (mostly due to the introduction of the Spoonflower Marketplace), which I have finally done! Download it here (pdf). And let me know if you catch any errors.
Japanese Fabric of the Week
This is a “Hogushi-Kasuri” linen fabric new to the wonderful shop Lin-net, who carries a wide range of linen fabrics and even some original cotton prints. Kasuri (or Gasuri) is a type of ikat weaving (or Kasuri is the Japanese word for ikat, I’m not sure). In Hogushi-Kasuri, the warp yarns are put on the loom and the pictures are printed onto them with woodblocks, then the yarn is taken up and re-set, resulting in the uneven, textured look of the motifs. I love use of the modern-yet-timeless design with this ancient technique. See more Hogushi-Kasuri linen here.
Daily Swatch: Pattern Types – Half-Drop Repeat
Unlike the floral print I showed you on Friday, you can actually see both the horizontal and vertical edges of the repeat in this one(from the vintage collection of chickadee nest on Flickr).
First, we isolate a motif and connect the dots. Triangle = half-drop. (I screened back the fabric a little so you can see my lines.)
Below, the orange boxes show the basic repeating unit. The fabric is skewed so the boxes aren’t perfectly straight, but you get the idea, right? The the white box shows the entire repeating unit encompassing the half-drop.
Caroline of jcaroline creative! asked a good question in the comments the other day: “When referring to the horizontal and vertical repeat of a fabric, if it has a half drop, does the repeat still just measure the size of the original pattern block? Or is it expanded to include the half drop repeat? For example, if a block pattern is 8″ x 8″ and then it is changed to a half drop, do you still refer to the repeat as being 8″ x 8″?” Or would it be 8″ x 16″?
I’m not sure. Do any of you esteemed readers know the answer?
Sale Alert Sunday: International Edition
EarthgirlFabrics (Australia): All oliver + s patterns reduced to AU $22. Also Heather Ross Far Far Away reduced to AU $23/metre. (through 3/31/10) Free shipping within Australia on all orders and international customers welcome.
Mad About Patchwork (Canada): 10% off bundles & kits. (through 3/14/10) Free shipping $99+ in Canada and the US.
Pink Panda Fabrics (Canada): 10% off My Happy Garden by Cloud9 (through 3/31/10) Free shipping in Canada, no minimum required; free shipping to USA on orders $99+. Bulk discounts on orders $50+.
Sale Alert Sunday: North American Edition
Above All Fabric: All Anna Maria Horner fabrics & patterns 10% off. (end date unknown) If you live in Tucson, be sure to go to the Spring Cleaning Sale (pdf link) next weekend, 3/12-13.
Aunt Bea’s Fabric: All Windham fabrics on sale for $4-6.75/yard, and Quilting Treasures fabrics all $5.85-6.75/yard. (through 3/14/10)
Contemporary Cloth: 20% off the Black & White category (through 3/12/10)
Denver Fabrics: Anniversary sale — 50% off over 100 fabrics. (through tomorrow only, 3/8/10)
eQuilter: Anniversary sale – 45% off all clearance categories. (through 3/14/10)
Fabric Shoppe: Weekly customer appreciation sale – $1 fat quarters of Jeanne Morrison Fireworks in Yellow. (end date unknown)
Fabritopia: Large Whimsy by Pillow & Maxfield $6.50/yard (through 3/12/10)
Fabricworm: 10% off Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry. (through tonight only, 3/7/10) Woodland Delight by Paula Prass, Authentic by Sweetwater and Rouenneries by French General $6/yard. (while supplies last)
Fabric.com: 50% off spring fabrics and patterns; 20% off outdoor fabrics. (through tomorrow only, 3/8/10) Take a survey and receive a coupon code for 20% off the knitting & crochet category. (through 3/12/10 midnight ET) Free shipping on orders $35+.
Fat Quarter Shop: 50% off Bonnie Blues America from Marcus Brothers and Maid of Honor from Maywood Studios. (while supplies last)
Hancock’s of Paducah has thousands of fabrics on sale, including select Kaffe Fassett, Robert Kaufman, and Timeless Treasures. (while supplies last)
Hawthorne Threads: Fabrics newly on sale include Tula Pink’s Hushabye $5.99/yd; Camelot Cottons’ From the Garden $5.99/yd; SEI’s Chick-a-dee, Chick-a-doo $5.99/yd. (while supplies last)
jcaroline creative! is shutting down the fabric-selling side of her business (read more here) (sigh) so she’s having a big inventory clearance sale, with steep discounts on most fabrics in the shop. (through 3/15/10)
Marie-Madeline Studio: Nashville Cotton Co. classics and pinks 20% off. (through 3/12/10)
Pink Chalk Fabrics: Garden Fresh by Gail Kessler 40% off. (end date unknown)
Pink Panda Fabrics: 10% off My Happy Garden by Cloud9 (through 3/31/10) Free shipping in Canada, no minimum required; free shipping to USA on orders $99+. Bulk discounts on orders $50+.
Rosebud Quilter: Remaining Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley $7/yard. (while supplies last)
So Fun Fabrics: Patty Young ModKid patterns 15% off (through tomorrow only, 3/8/10); Sandi Henderson’s Meadowsweet $6.99/yard (through 3/12/10). Weekly Stash Builder Sale: Road Signs from Riley Blake’s Wheels collection $3 for 1/2 yard. (end date unknown)
Virginia Quilter: Free shipping on orders $42+. (through 3/12/10)
Daily Swatch: Pattern Types – Half-Drop Repeat
Here is a continuous, closely packed floral pattern, from the collection of myglorydaze on Flickr.
It’s easy enough to spot a half drop with simple designs like the one shown earlier this week, but little bit trickier with busier patterns. What you have to do is pick one element/motif, look for it to appear again vertically, then look for the nearest one again horizontally. Connect the dots — if they form a triangle, you have a half-drop. This is easier shown than explained!
And if your connect-the-dots forms a rectangle, you have a block repeat. Remember the graphic from last week?
Here’s that half-drop grid superimposed on this fabric.
As I mentioned before, half-drops are really just complex block repeats. Most of the repeating unit is shown below, it would actually extend past the image boundary on the right some.
As for how you make them? I’m still puzzling that out myself!
I had a hard drive meltdown yesterday, so sorry for being scarce. I will continue to look at half-drops next week and catch up on the new fabric releases!
Daily Swatch: Pattern Types — Half-Drop Repeat
I think it’s neat how the apple-filled apples (or are those pumpkin-filled pumpkins?) from the textile collection of giddy giddy on Flickr are connected by the wavy stripes.
More Ruby Star Rising
Since I posted the sneak peek of Melody Miller’s debut collection for Kokka, Melody’s blog has become one of my all-time favorites. It’s so different and the illustrations are just the bee’s knees!
Melody and her biz partner Allison wanted you all to see one more print from Ruby Star Rising — themishmash crazy patchwork of various motifs from the collection will span the entire width of the fabric. It’s called Ephemera. Thanks for the exclusive, ladies!
Textile Stew: 3/3/10
I was ready to pick the pace back up today, but then my computer’s hard drive started dying. So if I disappear for a couple more days, you know why. Third one in as many years … thank goodness we’ve gotten better at backing things up.
The winner of the copy of Alabama Studio Style by Natalie Chanin is #63, Lena Nozizwe (“the original Ugly Betty” — Wow!). And a couple people have written see if I announced the winner of the Patty Young giveaway — I did on Twitter, but I will be sure to post here too from now on. The winner was stitchmama, #157.
New sewing and quilting patterns! Feed Dog Designs, Bari J., Shearwater Kaftan by Make it Perfect.
Giveaways! Yvonne of Bunte Fabrics is giving away some of her winning Spoonflower bird print; Pam of Uberstitch is giving away a FQ bundle of Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley + the DS Quilts book.
Rosalie Quinlan’s next collection for Lecien will be called “Sweet Broderie.” No pics yet though!
Revisiting Ms. Bird & Banner’s amazing vintage stash
A peek into the Liberty of London fabric archives. Remember that Liberty + V & A collection I posted about a few weeks ago? It’s now available through the Liberty and V&A websites.
Pattern Review’s 2009 Hall of Fame
Cynthia Mann of Fabric Worm and Birch Fabrics featured in Sew Hip (UK).
Cross Stitch Ninja has gone back to school for textile engineering and this is the fabric s/he wove for a project. Wow. (via CRAFT)
Make It Digital on Antoni & Alison’s digital textiles
A sneak peek at BKHDesign’s new prints.
Want! I need to get in the Japanese craft book/magazine loop. This magazine is all about fabric prints.
Daily Swatch: Pattern Types – Half-Drop Repeat
For a block repeat, you take your motif or group of motifs, bounded by a real or imaginary box, and line up the boxes straight up-and-down and side-to-side. But for a half-drop, every other column is staggered. (See graphic below.) The half-drop draws the eye diagonally in both directions and creates a pleasing balance — that’s why it’s the most common type of repeat. Above is the half-drop at its simplest — from the collection of myglorydaze on Flickr.
P.S. Sorry posting has been slow lately — life is kicking my butt! (Nothing bad — just busy.)
New Print from Oilcloth International
Though you have to be careful with what you make out of Oilcloth International’s products (see safety info here) I find their prints quite irresistible, especially this new one, called Kenya, which comes in three colorways. Birds! Crazy color blocks! Just my thing.It’s not in stores yet as far as I know, but your best bet online will be Oilcloth Addict on Etsy.
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