Today’s fabric is a cheerful vintage feed sack floral print. Enjoy!fabric friday: feed sack floral
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Today’s fabric is a cheerful vintage feed sack floral print. Enjoy!Category Archives: fabric stash
Today’s fabric is a cheerful vintage feed sack floral print. Enjoy!fabric friday: indigo tie-dye cotton
Here’s a fab indigo tie-dye cotton from Dali City, Yunnan in western China. It was once a hair scrunchie, but the elastic gave out. I couldn’t bear to just throw it away, so I cut it open and saved the fabric to use in a miniature quilt or maybe some jewelry.
If I had known any better of course I would have bought yards and yards of amazing indigo in both tie-dye and batik. At the time (1993) I was unfortunately not a quilter, so I hadn’t a clue of the wonderful things that one could create with fabrics like this. I did know at least, that I really liked the indigo fabric, so I bought various articles made from it. The local women were not only talented in making the fabric, but they also sewed up all kinds of clever articles to sell and help support their families.
Here’s one of the indigo vendors and her roadside shop. She is wearing traditional dress and you can see some colorful embroidered tote bags as well.
Here’s a view down an alley in Dali.
Taking a break from the city sights, that’s me in the middle.
happy fabric hunting! =(^_^)=
fabric friday: hand painted silk
And the winner of the Twitter Fabric Friday Poll is … drum roll, please … hand painted silk.
I sun-painted this silk with Pebeo Setacolor transparent paints, then over-painted freehand doodles with Jacquard Lumiere metallic paint. It’s really easy and fun to do … now that June gloom is finally over, I think I will go outside and sun-paint some more!
(You don’t actually HAVE to go outside in the sun to sun-paint, I’ve heard that you can sun-paint indoors using a lamp. It just doesn’t seem right to me to sun-paint without the sun.)
muse monday: got scraps?
I’m sure we all have some of these. Every once in awhile it’s fun to get the fabric scraps out and just play! As a bonus, if you use them up every so often, you are less likely to drown in them.
Here’s what I like to do with my fabric scraps. Using the sew-and-flip method, I piece them together crazy quilt style. I try not to think too much about which pieces go next to each other. I grab two pieces and stitch them together. But if the occasional combo really bothers me, I don’t use them next to each other, after all this is supposed to be fun.
Next I flip the pieces open, finger press and grab another piece to sew to that unit … sew and flip, sew and flip, and so on.
Once I get a bunch of them pieced together, I sub-cut them further into little shapes: squares, circles, rectangles etc. On the wall hanging below, I cut them into inchies (1″ square fiber art pieces) and appliquéd them onto a black wool felt background. I love how the black really makes the colors pop!
If you look carefully, you’ll see that my “squares” are not really square. That’s because I simply laid them onto the felt and stitched around them with a zig zag stitch: no basting, no pinning, no fusibles web. I let the sewing machine gently stretch them out of shape into these lively dancing shapes.
If you prefer your shapes not stretched out of shape, just iron some fusible web onto the back of your pieced scraps before you sub-cut them into smaller shapes. Then you can fuse them to your background.
Have fun with the design. Try geometric as well as freeform layouts before you commit to sewing or fusing them down. Or better yet, make two wall hangings: a geometric AND a freeform.
While you relax and play with your fabric scraps, your mind will have a chance to wander. By the time you finish you may very well have several new ideas to choose from, and you’ll be ready for your next big project.
happy quilting! =(^_^)=
fabric friday: bunnies!
This fabric makes me smile. I love the adorable white rabbits peeking in and out and the blue checkerboard background. Just the right amount of whimsy and fun! It’s a Japanese cotton pique from Maeda Importing.
fabric friday: red vintage kimono
I just LOVE this red vintage kimono silk. The design reminds me of little white beads or cross stitch. It would be fun to make a little purse out of this fabric or perhaps use it as a border for a sashiko design done in red silk floss or maybe just collect more kimono silks and make a charm square wall hanging. Of course its also nice to simply sit back and admire it.
fabric friday: mystery floral
Here’s a fantastic floral print. I just love the mix of large and small scale flowers, and of course the vivid colors. Usually I can only find florals with extreme variation in scale like that on vintage kimono fabric. It makes a very dynamic look and is so fun to use when making stuff.
I bought it from the Sew What table at my guild meeting last night for 25 cents, approximately 1/2 yard worth. It’s very stable, so it will be easy to sew. I’m not sure what the fiber content is. I tried a burn test for fun just to see what would happen. It burned easily, right down to a crushable black bead of ash. Since I wasn’t willing to smell the smoke (which could very well be toxic) I missed out on a key clue to what the content is. Guess I’m not really cut out to be a fiber detective. Doesn’t matter really for me though. I’m planning to use bits and pieces of this fabric in art quilts and fiber jewelry.
happy fabric hunting! =(^_^)=
fabric friday: la tramontane
Souleiado (a word in the Provençal dialect, meaning rays of the sun, breaking through clouds after the rain) got its start in the 1930s making hand-blocked print fabric with a collection of 17th century hand-blocks in Tarascon, France. Today Souleiado produces authentic French Provençal linens for the home in France and quilting-weight fabric in Japan.
This Souleiado print is called La Tramontane, named for the north wind which blows through the French Mediterranean. What I love most about it is the vibrant green background. It’s not the usual deep cool green found in French Provençal designs, but with its traditional dark red and golden yellow accents, it coordinates fantastically with the rest of my French fabric collection. Another great detail about this print is that the larger scale contrasts nicely with Provençal geometric florals, which are usually smaller than La Tramontane but larger than American calicos.
I buy my French fabrics at the French Connections booth each year at the Road to California quilt show in Ontario. You can find Souleiado and other French fabrics as well as African fabrics on the French Connections’ website.
fabric friday: vintage kitties
Introducing Fabric Friday, where you can come each Friday to get a quick weekly fabric fix.
Today’s fabric is a vintage cotton print with whimsical kitties done up in cheater crazy-patch style on a golden tan calico background. From the colors I’m guessing 1970s.
Enjoy! =(^_^)=
tip tuesday: how to choose fabric color combinations that sparkle
If you hang around fabric stores long enough you’re sure to see the handy color keys on many of the selvages. They’re useful for making sure you don’t miss any of the less obvious hues in multicolor prints when you’re selecting fabric for a quilt. Who knew there was a cool gray and a light apricot color in that brown polka dot print below?
Don’t get me wrong, selvage color keys are a great place to start; but stick too precisely to the color key and your quilts may occasionally come out looking a little bit manufactured. Sometimes it’s OK to color outside the color key lines. I grant you diplomatic immunity from the quilt police.
Have you ever overheard people discussing vintage quilts? One of the most common comments is “You know, I would never have put those fabrics together, but they look great.”
How many of the fabrics on the far right would you put in a quilt with the green and pink focus fabric? (click on the image to enlarge) They range from pretty close to downright clashing, and that cream with orange print simply came out of left field. But surprisingly enough, if you group them all together in the right proportions, your quilt will sparkle with a charming personality.
Be sparing with the hot pink so it doesn’t overpower the quilt. If the clashing greens bother you too much, don’t arrange them next to each other. Still uncomfortable? Start with the color key on your focus fabric and closely match all but one or two fabrics. Make sure you have a dark dark and a light light for balance and variety.
Here are my fabrics all laid out together. Just imagine what a stunning quilt they would make with some simple blocks in the middle, a narrow pink or brown border, and then the green and pink focus fabric in a wide border.
Why not shop in your fabric stash with new eyes. Look for possibilities that go beyond the color key and make your next quilt sparkle! (no bling required)