Better Know A Crafter: Valerie Sutton

Valerie is working on the cutest handmade wardrobe ever! She keeps coming into the shop and blowing us away with her crafty style. Recently she caught our eye in an adorable Anna Maria Horner Socialite Dress, which you may have seen when we shared it on our facebook page. Her newest creation is this organic cotton bicycle blouse. Valerie has not been sewing very long, but she is already seriously inspiring us.

Valerie Sutton

 

Tell us about what makes you crafty.

I'm an engineer by day and a sewist by night! I love to craft really unique things. Mostly I sew my own clothing and I also make jewelry.

Tell us about your bicycle blouse.
I made the Sencha blouse from Collete Patterns in a Birch Organics quilting fabric. It looks especially cute with a belt!

When did you learn to sew?

I took my first sewing class in June this summer! I learned right here at Fancy Tiger Crafts.

What is your favorite animal?
My 90 lb husky/lab, Sammie.

Thanks Valerie! Happy sewing!

Two New Organic Fabric Lines!

New Julia Rothman Miscellany organic fabrics are here! We love Julia's hand drawn illustrations and can't wait to make quilts and shirts and bags out of her fabric line from organic fabric company, Cloud 9. It's part of their price-sensitive collection, which means these prints are just a couple dollars more than our conventionally grown cotton fabrics. Come by soon if you would like some--they are flying out the door!

Storyboek, the newest organic collection from Birch Fabrics, is a sweet and imaginative collection inspired by childrens stories. The soft colors, adorable animals, 100% organic cotton and eco-friendly, low impact dyes make these fabrics the perfect choice for sewing projects for a special baby!

There are so many fantastic organic fabrics out now, and in order to make them easier to find we have rearranged things and dedicated a whole section of the store to organic cotton prints. Come by to see all the earth-friendly goodness!

New! Avalon Organic Prints by Birch Fabrics!

Avalon is here, the highly anticipated organic line from Birch Fabrics! Avalon features totally rad cruiser bicycles and birds perched atop bike seats and wheels.It is a light cotton organic fabric and is bright white with saturated color pops of summery teal, lime, cherry and grape. Yum.

We are super lucky--we entered to win this little quilt at the Birch Fabric booth at Quilt Market trade show and just found out we are the big winners! You can make your own cute bike quilt with just a yard each of the bicycle print and the birds and wheels print.

Epic Quilt Market Report: Spring 2011

Amber and I just got back from Salt Lake City, Utah for the 2011 Spring Quilt Market! Salt Lake City was beautiful. We enjoyed excellent weather and were treated to great food and friendly faces everywhere we went. Here's our report on all the amazing upcoming new fabrics!

We were super excited to see Lizzy House again. Lizzy calls SLC home, so she had lots of great recommendations of where to go and took us to some great spots. Lizzy's booth was beautiful with her brand new 1,001 Peeps collection made up into gorgeous quilts! The patterns for these quilts will be in her new book coming out this summer and the 1,001 Peeps fabrics should be here any day. We also got a sneak peak at her Outfoxed line coming out this fall.

Lizzy House and her new quilts featuring 1,001 Peeps

The organic fabric company Birch Fabrics has some great new collections coming out. The Avalon collection will be here soon and we love that it features bikes - we can't get enough bike fabric. Later this summer, look forward to their sweet, Scandinavian, Storyboek collection with beautiful soft colors.

Avalon on left, Storyboek on right

Moda fabrics always a great booth and this year was no exception. We were really excited about using their photo booth which we took advantage of several times. We also got to spin a wheel and won a sweet wet/dry vac. Thanks Moda!

The Moda photo booth was soo fun!

Here we are winning a prize with our wonderful rep, Melody!

We loved the Northcote Range collection by Cabbages and Roses which features super pale roses on pale background - lovely! 

Northcote Range by Cabbages and Roses

We also can't wait to get the new Aneela Hoey collection Little Apples this fall. It will be perfect for back-to-school outfits!

Aneela Hoey with her new line, Little Apples

Quilt Market is our one chance every season to check out the Japanese fabrics from Yuwa. Yuwa produces some our favorite fabrics of all time and this season was no exception. We were floored by the new collection from Japanese quilt designer Yoshiko Jinzenji. Jinzenji's fabrics are abstract prints on a huge scale with sparse and interesting color combinations. This fabric is so unique, we think you will love it!

Yoshiko Jinzenji's new line of fabrics for Yuwa

Anna Griffin is known for her stunning florals and she did not disappoint. This floral dress sample displayed on floral wallpaper was one of my favorite things from quilt market - beautiful! She is also releasing new patterns to work with the recent Fifi and Fido collection so you can sew a bone pillow for your pup friends or make a miniature Scottie dog.

Free Spirit Fabrics have so many great designers and they have lots of exciting things coming up. Most interesting (and causing us the most anticipation!) is the new needlework collection from Anna Maria Horner that will debut this fall. Anna Maria has designed fabric using cross stitch designs that could be used as is, or could be stitched onto and then used in a project. The result was stunning and it is even better with her new line of embroidery floss and pearl cotton. We can't wait! Also from Anna Maria, LouLouThi will be out soon and includes voiles and printed bias tape (hooray!)

We finally met Joel Dewberry! Joel Dewberry and his wife Laurie were so charming. Joel's new collection, Heirloom includes some of his signature color combinations, but we were pleased to see him exploring new colors as well. As always, the results are fantastic and we can't wait for them to get here in July! Laurie has designed some sweet new patterns for adult garments and bags that we will soon be out with Heirloom.

Tula Pink already has another collection coming out! We are still recovering from the amazing-ness that was Parisville and now we are ready for Prince Charming. Prince Charming is another stellar collection and guess what? There will be voiles. That's right - now we can have luscious fashion fabric from all of our favorite designers! Tula Pink's booth was amazing as always (she even won a prize for it!) and she showed off the new fabrics in her fun new quilt patterns.

Michael Miller fabrics has some exciting things going on. Sandi Henderson has a new collection coming out called Secret Garden that is going to be amazing. We feel this is her best collection to date and can hardly wait to get our hands on it! Sandi also won a best booth award!

SarahJane is a new designer for Michael Miller. In addition to her first collection, Children at Play, she also has adorable embroidery patterns. Yay for embroidery!

Super-Cute Sarah Jane Embroidery Patterns

Amber and I usually run straight to the Seven Islands booth as soon as Market opens. Somehow we feel an urgency, like they might sell out right away or something if we don't place our order their first. This time, however, we saved Seven Islands for last. It was our reward for 3 long days of looking at hundreds of prints and talking to tons of people and walking miles in a convention hall. Seven Islands is the distributors of all things Japanese and amazing! We ordered fabrics from all of our favorite Japanese designers, but here are some highlights...

Echino has another Nico line coming out featuring cars, buses, scooters and London in her signature bright colors. We also ordered the Echino webbing in bold coordinating colors for all your bag-making needs.

Heather Ross has a new collection, Far Far Away 3. This is my favorite one yet because in addition to her sweet fairytale prints, there are prints of little girls playing with horses (eek!). Don't worry - we ordered it all.

Melody Miller was new last Quilt Market, but she has fast become a favorite of ours. Her newest collection is soo awesome! We are already hyperventilating because there are only 6 prints (all 62" wide sheeting!) so keep your eyes out for when they arrive - they are sure to go fast.

Also new and exciting from Seven Islands are a new Nani Iro collection and (drum roll please...) Hello Kitty fabric!

So what does this all mean? It means that this summer and fall will be amazing! We will keep you updated though this blog and facebook as all these new fabrics arrive... stay tuned next week to hear about all the new patterns we brought back. If you've been thinking of taking up sewing, now is the time people!

So Much New Fabric!

We've been busy getting some exciting new fabric collections out in the shop! Here's the low-down on what's new...

Cloud 9 Fabrics and Birch Fabrics are two amazing companies that focus solely on organic prints. We love being able to carry 100% organic cotton printed with low-impact dyes. To top off the awesomeness both companies support independent designers!

Cloud 9 Nature Walk

Birch Fabrics Marine

Birch Fabrics Circa 60 Beach Mod

Ty Pennington's Impressions quilting cottons and home dec fabrics are here! This is a huge collection and the prints are all really beautiful and well designed. We love the color palette with its chartreuse, coral, charcoal and soft grey-blues.


Jane Sasseman's new Garden Divas fabrics are bold and bright. We love the way she illustrates flowers and insects and birds, almost like stained glass windows or paper cutouts.


Denyse Schmidt's Greenfield Hill collection is a little bit 50s and a little bit goth. We are imagining some amazing mens shirts out of some of these prints...more on that soon.


And I will end with some of my favorite new fabrics. I am a sucker for prints of tossed cute things. This mish-mash of new fabrics is from all different companies. Can you even handle the kitten heads?


Happy sewing!

Fall 2010 International Quilt Market Report!

Amber and I were just in the lovely state of Texas attending the Fall Quilt Market. This is where we get to preview and order new fabric collections, find new pattern companies, and look for any other sewing/quilting related products we can find. Here are some of our highlights:


There are all sorts of famous crafty people at Quilt Market--we were super-excited to run into Meg McElwee who designs and owns Sew Liberated patterns. We love her Schoolhouse Tunic pattern. Amber happened to be wearing one of her Schoolhouse Tunics which Meg spotted right away. She was so nice and looked adorable wearing the original Schoolhouse Tunic which you may recognize from the pattern cover.


Amy Butler's booth is always filled with inspiration and ideas! She was showing off her highly anticipated collection, Soul Blossoms, at the market and we can hardly wait to get these fabrics in this December.


We always love visiting the Seven Islands booth. Seven Islands distributes fabric from Japan so we order all sorts of amazing-ness from them. This market, they were debuting a new line from our favorite Japanese designer, Etsuko Furuya, who designs all the Echino prints. Her new collection is as colorful and striking as ever and we even ordered laminates of it! Here we are with her and a weirdly cute deer mannequin.


Seven Islands was also debuting a new designer, Melody Miller, who has a 60's inspired collection coming out for Kokka. We love the interesting colors and the vintage kitsch designs. Check out the impressive explosion of Kokka sewn goods on display!


We also picked up some new Japanese sewing kits to make these precious creatures. How can you resist?! These are available now to purchase in the store and include English translation.


Hokkoh is another Japanese company that does some crazy prints! We loved the candy they offered to keep us going--too-cute Mameki Neko cat candies.


Michael Miller had some awesome new prints coming out - our favorite were reproductions from mid-century designer, Tammis Keefe. We ordered so much fabric from Michael Miller that I got to spend 30 seconds in their "wind-of-fortune" room. This experience made me really glad I've never been a game show contestant. I did manage to collect enough dollars to win 2 charm packs from their upcoming "Bonnes Amies" collection!


We love the embroidery patterns from Penguin and Fish and were pleased to see Alyssa is coming out with new dog embroidery patterns. These fancy embroidery patterns are just available in a few breeds, but we can hardly wait to get them in stock, they are soo cute. She also has a new sewing pattern out for a sweet alligator toy.


FreeSpirit Fabrics are really killing it this season. They have so many great designers and collections we can hardly contain our excitement! We are absolutely loving the new collection from Tula Pink. Parisville is a fantasy explosion of ships, hidden mice, geometric dot damasks and lion wigs. It is really inspiring us and we will be sure to post when we receive it!


Ms. Pink herself was delightful as she shared with us stories of living on her hundreds-of-acres ranch in small-town Missouri. Her booth was beautiful and really showed off the Parisville collection.


Jay McCarroll's new collection and is very different from his first two and we love his new direction. Habitat is really fashion-oriented and are dreaming of sewing up tops, skirts, and dresses out of these prints. Nice work, Jay!

Anna Maria Horner was there promoting her newest collection, Innocent Crush. We just received all of the home dec, cotton velveteens and voiles from this collection and it was great to get inspired by her booth. Anna Maria is always pushing the envelope with her fabric choices. Last year she brought us her beautiful voiles and this year we are excited to be carrying her cotton velvelteens. These fabrics are super soft and we love that they are made of natural cotton! Ms. Horner also had some bias tape made up from the collection and we really hope this goes to production so we can carry it! Anna Maria spotted me from afar in my brand new Innocent Crush top and so of course we had to stop for a photo-op.


Ty Pennington of TLC's Trading Spaces and ABC's Extreme Makeover is expanding into the world of fabric design. His collection for Westminster was the talk of the show and he was swamped with eager fans getting autographs.


Some of the smaller fabrics companies are our favorite ones to visit at quilt market. We get to talk with the people who are designing and manufacturing their own fabrics. Birch is one of these companies and it was so great to meet Cynthia, the woman behind it all. Cynthia and her husband, Jason, collaborated on their newest collection, Avalon. We know you will love the bicycles and birds - together at last!


Another small but amazing company is Cloud 9 Organics. Cloud 9 is introducing 3 new collections by 3 new designers - Heather Moore, Julia Rothman and Geninne Zlatkis. Each of these designers has a very distinct style and we are looking forward to these more sophisticated and grown up collections from Cloud 9.


Last, but not least, we got to meet Lizzy House! Lizzy is the designer behind the Castle Peeps collection and has another new collection on the way. She was adorable and sweet and we are excited to get to know her better. That's right, Lizzy will be in Denver next Spring so stay tuned for uber-exciting-hang-out-crafting-action!


I know you all are probably as excited as we are about the new fabrics! Most of these will be coming out starting in January and then throughout the beginning of the year into spring. We can all look forward to tons of amazing sewing projects in 2011!