Showing posts with label Cotton and Steel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cotton and Steel. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Quilt Market Report Spring 2014

-jaime

Amber and I just returned from 4 whirlwind days in Pittsburgh to attend the 2014 Quilt Market! This is a trade show where we get to see and order all the upcoming fabric lines, meet the designers and authors, get inspired by new quilts, and brainstorm ideas with other shop owners. We are always so inspired to sew after we go to Quilt Market! Here are our top picks for new and exciting fabrics coming up.

April Rhodes in her awesome booth!
Art Gallery Fabrics has a new Limited Edition division they have launched. April Rhodes, Sew Caroline, Sara Lawson are the three new designers for these collections, which we love! All of these limited releases include voile and knits in addition to quilting cottons. April Rhodes' Arizona fabrics will be here later this month. Her booth at quilt market was stunning, displaying her very cool collection.

Next at Art Gallery, we met the charming Caroline Hulse of Sew Caroline. Her bright, poppy collection Gleeful will be available in July, for cheery summertime sewing.

Sew Caroline in her sweet booth!
Thomas Knauer was at market to promote his new book, Modern Quilt Perspective. The "12 patterns for meaningful quilts" each have a really interesting story and concept behind their design. We were able to see the quilts from the book in person and chat with Thomas about the story behind each one. We are thrilled to host him in Denver this November for a book signing event so stay tuned to find out the details.

Mr. Knauer signing books in his awesome booth!

Speaking of new books...Tasia of Sewholic was there from Vancouver! Tasia was promoting her new book, Sewtionary. It was so great to meet her--look how cute her top is out of her newest pattern, the Belcarra Blouse! Sewtionary is an awesome resource book that every sewist will want to have in their library. We can't wait for it to get here in early July.

Tasia of Sewholic - isn't she cute?!
We recently featured the new American Made Brand fabrics on our Instagram (@fancytigercrafts), but we have to show you again because they are so exciting. These are new cotton solids from Clothworks that are entirely grown, spun, woven and dyed in the USA. Modern quilter, Heather Jones is the spokesperson for this new fabric and has made some beautiful quilts out of it already. The icing on top for this sustainable fabric is a very affordable price point. These should be here this June.


Heather Jones!

Violet Craft has a new collection for Michael Miller, Brambleberry Ridge. Oh man, did we love this. The mix of sweet florals, geometrics, and woodland creatures were all highlighted with metallic ink - so precious! Her upcoming quilt pattern features paper pieced animals and birds - I am going to make a hawk pillow stat. Brambleberry Ridge will be here this July.

A new Violet Craft quilt pattern on the left and a detail of a print from Brambleberry Ridge on the right.

Alison Glass was debuting her newest collection for Andover, Handcrafted. This collection was really different from anything we saw at market. Alison designed these prints using the traditional wax-resist method of making batik fabric, but they have a look that is all Alison Glass. All these fabrics will be hand-printed and therefore completely unique with no yardage exactly the same. This printing method also means the fabrics have a lovely hand that will lend itself well to both garment and quilt-making. Alison's booth was inspiring with her lovely quilts and embroidery.

Us and Alison Glass in her awesome booth
Some of Alison Glass' amazing quilts. Those are her new fabrics draped on the chair...
We loved this new quilt design by Alison Glass, Timber.

You know how we feel about Nani Iro around here. It's no surprise that we are in love with Naomi Ito's newest collection. These dreamy prints will be here in June, but Amber and I were able to come home with 1/2 meter bundles so we can sew up quilts before then. We can't wait to show you what we make...


Ok, the moment you've all been waiting for...Cotton and Steel! Yes, we saw it! Yes, it was amazing! Yes, we ordered it all! Yes, we love them! It is just as awesome as all the hype would suggest. This new division of RJR headed by none other than Melody Miller is so great and you are all going to be sewing with it this summer. Start planning, people. There are 123 bolts of delicious fabrics coming our way this July in quilting cottons, voiles, and linen/cotton canvas. Are you ready?

OMG!
The ladies of Cotton and Steel from left to right: Alexia Abegg, Melody Miller, Rashida Coleman Hale, Kim Kight, and Sarah Watts
Highlights from the Cotton and Steel booth
We will be implementing a new uniform policy where staff at FTC can only wear this print from Alexia Abegg.
Just kidding, but seriously you guys!! 

Friday, November 01, 2013

Quilt Market Fall 2013 Report

Amber and I just returned from Houston Texas for the fall Quilt Market. This is where we get to preview and buy new and upcoming fabric collections! We were able to meet all sorts of fabric and pattern designers, chat with other shop owners, and get completely inspired by all the amazing things happening in the fabric industry. Here is our report of the most exciting things we saw this fall.



The people over at FreeSpirit and their parent company Westminster Fibers have a lot of amazing designers on their roster. Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Parsons Grey, Ty Pennington, Tula Pink, and Denyse Schmidt all have new collections that they were debuting at market. So much awesome stuff! Anna Maria Horner's new line Dowry is scheduled to be released first (any day!) and we love it. Dowry is classic, beautiful Anna Maria Horner style and we ordered it all. Her booth featured an amazing inspiration wall for Dowry and of course, tons of color!


Amy Butler's new collection, Hapi features Amy's bold florals and interesting geometrics. Her booth was bright and fun - we love the fabric wrapped, rustic god's eyes.


Tula Pink's new line, For Field won't be out until next spring, but it will be worth the wait. Ponies, bunny-dots, foxes and feathers grace the prints of this new line. Now you, too, can upholster your Louis XV chair in pink ponies!



Speaking of ponies...Sarah Jane's new line Wee Wanderer for Michael Miller Fabrics is a collection that perfectly captures any little girl's dream childhood. Lightning bugs and ponies frolic across the fabrics in beautiful hues of green, blue and pink. Perfection!


Birch fabrics is getting ready to release their highly anticipated collection of Charley Harper fabrics. We are hoping to get these in this month (soon!). We were excited to see things sewn up in them and even more excited to find they have added canvas, knits, and flannel prints to the quilting cotton collection - all organic cotton.


Leah Duncan has another beautiful collection coming out next year for Art Gallery Fabrics. We can't get enough of her unique illustrations and love the saturated green colorway she has in this new Meadow collection.



Ellen Luckett Baker has another collection coming out for Kokka. Garden features her bold graphic style on the cotton/linen canvas base we all know and love from Kokka. Her booth was adorable and we loved meeting her! Ellen has some inspiring projects for her fabrics in her books, 1,2, 3, Quilt and 1, 2, 3, Sew.


Just chillin' with Carolyn...surrounded by her beautiful work.

One of the collections we are most excited about is Carolyn Friedlander's Botanics for Robert Kaufman. Botanics features Carolyn's fine line drawn style in soft and bold colors. A few of the prints have a hint of metallic gold that is used perfectly. Get ready to sew with these fabrics in December and January.

the ladies of Cotton + Steel: Alexia, Sarah, Rashida, Melody,  and Kim

The talk of the market was the announcement of a new division within RJR fabrics formed by Melody Miller including herself, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Alexia Abegg, Kim Kight, and Sarah Watts called Cotton + Steel. Cotton + Steel will release their first fabrics next July so we don't have any prints to show you, but we know it is going to be awesome. Stay tuned to see what these ladies have up their sleeves for us. You can learn more by watching their awesome video here.

Look for all of these amazing fabrics and more to hit the shelves of Fancy Tiger Crafts in the upcoming months. Thanks, Quilt Market!