Victorian Goth Ladies Pouf It Up

Yuwa fabrics from Japan makes some of the best prints. Take this off-black print with Victorian ladies on it for instance. I'm not sure what's happening over in Japan, but I like it. I had to make something with this and the Victorian ladies demanded pouf. I decided to go with the tried and true Ysolda Pocket and Ties skirt. This pattern is a free pattern you can download here and was created by Ysolda Teague when she came to visit us a couple of years ago.

The skirt features elastic gathering in the front and back for maximum pouf volume. I went with our cotton/silk in grey for a lining and ties which means I don't need to wear a slip when pairing this skirt with tights in cooler months. The Victorian ladies feel right at home in this skirt and they are lookin' great.

If Victorian goth isn't your style, you may want to try some tiny macaroons, Rococo children, or a 19th century hats and shoe print with acid green polka dots. All of these are now available to spruce up your fall wardrobe! Happy Sewing!

New Yuwa Fabrics are Here!

Two fabric collections just arrived from Yuwa and they are blowing our minds!

The first is from quilter extraordinaire, Yoshiko Jinzenji. A textile artist with a truly unique aesthetic, Yoshiko's fabrics are minimal and celebrate hand-made. The fabric is sparsely decorated with drawn lines and brushstrokes. Some of the fabrics reproduce her amazing quilts, down to the stitch marks. See her book Quilting Line + Color for more inspiration.

Japanese illustrator, Anyan's first collection with Yuwa has just arrived! Her Cotorienne line, with drawings of animal friends touring together, are too cute! Wonky geometrics, botanical prints and birds--every print in this collection is fantastic.

See you soon!

Amber and Jaime's Summertime Violet Shirts

Summertime is here!! We love sewing in the summer. So many cute skirts, dresses and tops to make and wear while playing games in the park, riding bikes, or picnicking. We are really inspired by the newest shirt pattern from Colette, the Violet. It is a simple and stylish button-down blouse that can be made with short sleeves or a puffy 3/4 sleeve.

Jaime 

I've already made two of these cute shirts--I love the Violet pattern so much! My first was made in a My Folklore print by Lecien. The sweet and small floral design and the burnt gold color give this blouse a vintage French feel. Slightly mismatched shell buttons add some unique character.

Once I knew I loved the fit of my first Violet top, I decided to splurge and make one out of a Liberty of London fabric. I've had my eye on this graphic print for a while and the lightweight lawn fabric is perfect for this shirt. Sweet little cream corozo flower buttons lend a feminine touch. I love it!

Amber

On a recent trip to Portland I visited the adorable fabric shop, Bolt. I had fun meeting Gina, the sweet shop owner, and spent the afternoon perusing their fabrics and seeing both familiar fabrics and fabrics that I hadn't seen before. I fell head over heels for this Yuwa print in coral, cream and blues--and when I brought it home decided it would make an adorable Violet.

My favorite thing about this button-down is the darling Peter Pan collar. I chose an ivory Kona cotton for the collar and skipped the interfacing--the quilting weight cotton is heavy enough that you don't need it. Seven sweet mother of pearl eyelet buttons finish it off adorably!

This light weight blouse is perfect for a day of croquet in the park!

We are winners!

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!