Spring 2011 Quilt Market: Yuwa, Daiwabo, Cloud9, Jen Giddens

Well, that was some weekend. Busy classes, busy shop, the Silverlake Jubilee and a sew-along! This is the last Quilt Market fabric-related post, but before I get to the fabric part I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who joined us for our cat blanket sew-along last night. We made 15 finished blankets and have 5 more in the works... just waiting for the next meetup. These blankets used up all our scraps and will be donated to the L.A. Animal Services 'Cat-a-palooza' adoption event in June. I'll post on Facebook when we meet up again if you'd like to join in! We are still taking scrap donations of quilt weight cottons as well, you can drop them off at the shop anytime. Take a look!



Okay. Now for the serious fabric part of the post. Last Sunday was the last day of Market, and this is when I walk around talking to new people and figuring out the last bits of what I want to order. I had already earmarked Yuwa as a place to check out because I love Megumi Sakakibara's whimsical designs - and when I got to their booth everything ground to a halt. The following fabrics are designed by a quilt artist named Yoshiko Jinzenji, and it was easily my favorite fabric at the entire market. The fabric is either 55% linen/45% cotton or 100% cotton sheeting with the last fabric pictured printed on a lightweight canvas, and we'll be getting this gorgeousness around the end of July.















Sigh. I just love the graphic quality and the use of color. I am planning dresses and coats and bags and skirts!

The next stop was also quite tempting. Prints sometimes really jump out at you, but woven yarn dyes are among some of my favorite fabrics for a more subtle beauty. Daiwabo has the best yarn dyes out there, IMO. Many of the fabrics can be used both right side out and wrong side out!




Two beautiful, soft plaids for fall dresses & shirts - either would make a killer Negroni!



Cloud9 Organic Textiles is just the kind of company I like. The two talented ladies who run it - Gina and Michelle - decided there was a lack of eco-friendly modern cottons in the world so they started designing some their own darn selves! The fabrics below are from their 'Miscellany' collection, printed on 100% organic cotton with low impact dyes, and it will ship to us in mid-July. Extra bonus - it retails at $11.95 a yard!






The last stop was meeting up with a very talented young lady named Jen Giddens, who is not only designing her own line of handbag patterns (which we already have in the shop - she's snappy!) but also her own fabric line. I'm very excited to keep an eye on this up and coming artiste! I whipped up her Pleated Clutch yesterday and am definitely planning a class...

Usually when I travel to Quilt Market, no matter where it is I try to take one day off to walk around the city and get a good feel for it. Last Monday was that day - but sadly most museums are closed on Mondays so I ducked out of the Market a little early to head out to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on the University of Utah campus. I had mastered the train schedule at this point, thankfully - and it was so beautiful up on the campus!


My last post in this series will be up in a few days, and it will show you some of what I saw at the museum and wandering around Salt Lake City. Sunday evening saw me heading back downtown for a delicious dinner at Eva with Lizzy House, Michelle and Gina from Cloud9 and L.A. artist / fabric designer Marisa Haedike - who had taken classes at Sew L.A.! It's a very small world, my friends.