Ellen Rushman and Madeline Roberg met each other while studying at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Nebraska. They became fast friends and took a road trip together to the Fall Quilt Market this past year. Inspired by the things they saw and the people they met, they formed The Printed Bolt and [...]
I’ve always been fond of David Walker’s charming kids’ collections for FreeSpirit. His newest, Get Together, features bears, pigs, squirrels, birds, and hearts. So sweet! I’m also interested in how this collection is all novelty prints (with a lot of floral action mixed in) — in this case he is playing with density and scale [...]
In the last section of A Field Guide to Fabric Design I write about whether or not formal schooling in textile design is necessary to make it in the field. The short answer is no, but it’s an invaluable experience if you are able to enroll in a program. You will have the time set [...]
In case you missed the news, True Up now has a Fabric Design Forum to support the book and hopefully be a community hub for aspiring and working fabric designers worldwide. I’ll periodically post hot topics here so the left arm knows what the right arm is doing. Lots of pretty cool people — including [...]
The book is coming very soon! I made forum to serve as its companion, a place to go to ask questions about fabric design, to share your work, to find new resources and inspiration, and to be whatever else it morphs into. Once the book is out I plan to post downloads there, like free [...]
{ the Peacock Lane collection. Photo by Red Pepper Quilts, used with permission. And see what she did with it! } With Fall Quilt Market being only six-ish weeks away now, manufacturers are feverishly putting together samples, designers are sewing 24-7 to show off their new patterns and collections, everyone’s printing up a fresh [...]
The submissions to Connecting Threads’ Fabric Design Contest are closed and the voting has begun! There are a lot of amazing designs here. The entries are divided up into Characters/Animals, Floral/Botanical, Geometric/Decorative, and Novelty, so be sure to look through them all. You can vote for as many as you like. Feel free to campaign [...]
Are you familiar with Connecting Threads? They are the only fabric manufacturer I know of that sells their fabrics retail directly to the public, rather than opting for wholesale distribution. No middleman = lower prices, and they’ve got a wide variety of styles represented in their collections (including some beautiful modern designs). And now, they [...]
Guess what? I wrote a book! I’m in such a surreal state, being able to finally announce it and show you the cover! I can’t don’t think I can form a coherent introduction, so here’s a disconnected list. It’s called A Field Guide to Fabric Design, and it is set for release in October of [...]
Denyse Schmidt has a new quilting pattern with McCall’s based on her Spool quilt. The Project Selvage deadline has passed, but there are two weeks left to submit a pattern for the Steven Alan Pattern Design Challenge on Threadless. Ever Kelly has great tips for sewing felt. And over on BurdaStyle, a nice detailed article [...]
{ Habitat by Jay McCarroll, photo by Laura Singewald of Spool Sewing in Philadelphia } In part two of my interview with Jay McCarroll (here’s Part 1), I asked him to take us through the story and inspiration behind Habitat, and to talk about the process of creating each print and how they fit into [...]
Thanks to this interview on the Colette Patterns blog, I now know that Mena Trott (famously of Six Apart, Movable Type, et al.) is back in the sewing blog world (anyone remember Sew Wrong?) with The Sew Weekly, and of course she’s kicking ass and taking names. The Fat Quarterly is pitting 64 modern fabric [...]
In advance of their upcoming trade show in New York City from January 10-12, 2011, Printsource has released a Top Ten list of print ideas for Spring/Summer 2012. The list was compiled by surface design studio Pattern People to highlight trends in the fashion and home textiles markets. (By the way, Pattern People is an [...]
I got to meet the lovely Ms. Kate Spain for the first time, and let me say she is just the nicest person, and so easy to talk to! She had her first booth at Market to show off Central Park, her fourth collection for Moda, as well as her other surface design work for [...]
{ Fields of Honey organic sateen by Harmony Art } Today we welcome independent fabric designer/producer Harmony Susalla to talk about her company, Harmony Art. I was thrilled to get to meet Harmony earlier this year when she visited Austin. I’ve featured Harmony and her fabrics before, as part of the Organic Fabric series and [...]
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