Spring Fabric is Starting to Arrive: Nani Iro, Echino, Amy Butler...

It's our favorite time of year! All the fabric we ordered at last fall's Quilt Market is starting to show up at the shop - deliveries almost every day! Here's some of the newest:

Organic canvas from Rashida Coleman Hale for Cloud9:

Goodnight Moon organic cotton!

Carolyn Friedlander's Botanics and Architextures collections:

Organic cotton knits from Monaluna:

The latest from Echino:

Tomotake for Kokka:

The always-amazing Nani Iro:

Joel Dewberry:

Martha Negley:                                                                                         Denyse Schmidt:

Parson Gray's 'Vagabond' collection:

Amy Butler's 'Hapi'

From Anna Maria Horner's 'Dowry' collection:

...and more coming soon from Alexander Henry, Robert Kaufman and Yuwa!

Spring Quilt Market 2012 - Kansas City! Part One

It's that time again... Quilt Market time! This year, the spring market was in Kansas City, MO from May 18 to May 20. This is where we get all of our late summer / early fall fabric, and it's where designers debut their latest collections - so it's pretty exciting if you're a fabric junkie like me!

Christine and I both made the trip this year, and it was fun for me to introduce her to all the great folks who make our fabric-buying job so pleasant. Plus, it's great to meet up with other shop owners across the country and gossip! 

What's Coming: New Nani Iro and Assorted Cuteness!

I got to order some lovely Japanese fabric for the shop recently, and here's a sneak peek at what I picked out. Keep in mind that it will be about six more weeks till this fabric actually gets here - and rest assured that I will tell you all when it arrives! First off, some new prints from on of my favorite designers, Naomi Ito of Nani Iro. She's come up with a gorgeous knit in three colorways - perfect for our Serger classes!

Ivory

Slate Blue

Gray

 

And of course, I love it when she gets graphic - here are both sides of a new border print.

    

    

  

 Two versions of polka dot double gauze... 

From Kokka: Hedgehog / Ladybug / Shamrock

And two large scale abstract florals to round out the goodies!

Schoolhouse Tunic Makeover!

We all love the Schoolhouse Tunic from Sew Liberated. It's pretty easy to sew, it lends itself to many different types of fabric, Sew Liberated was one of the first indie pattern companies, and it's EASY TO ALTER! This tutorial is great if you have already taken our Schoolhouse Tunic class or if you are sewing at the intermediate level.

I personally need a little bit of shaping at the waist, even if it's a garment that I want to pull on over my head. So I added waist darts to my first try... and quickly realized that I wanted to close up the front so I didn't have to wear a camisole all the time.

Here's an EASY method for closing up the front of your Schoolhouse - you can add waist darts or not - if you do, make sure it still goes over your head easily by sewing a muslin first from your altered bodice pattern!

You'll need a pencil, your clear ruler and your pattern - just cut around the front bodice pieces and the placket to separate them, don't cut your size out yet. If you are working from a pattern that has already been cut, you may need to add a bit of tissue to the bottom edge if you are adding a waist dart.

Colette's Macaron Dress and a Quick Skirt Change

Dress post! I finished my Macaron dress just in time for my friend Jimm's wedding. As usual, I was handsewing practically in the car on the way to the ceremony... this seems to happen at every formal event I ever go to. I have had my eye on this dress ever since it was released by Colette - especially after seeing all the cute versions of it being made all over the country - and when Christine decided to do it as a class I thought I'd try it out.

The pattern features a top contrast yoke and a really cool sweetheart illusion neckline. It has little cap sleeves and a bit of a bubble skirt with pleats with secret pockets. The bubble part was the only thing I changed as I really don't need that shape on my body. It looks great on a lot of peeps though! I chose fancy fabrics since this is a more formal dress - Nani Iro's 'Fuccra Rakuen' in peach and a silk/cotton blend in espresso for the contrast:

Spring 2011 Quilt Market: Melody Miller, Heather Ross and Nani Iro

Even though it's called Quilt Market, this is where I find the majority of the fabric that we carry at Sew L.A. There are hundreds and hundreds of businesses in attendance - most of them are still pushing quilting fabric but there is a trend towards garment-friendly fabric that has been growing the whole time I have been attending. Good news for us!

I had only ever been to Salt Lake City once before, very briefly, so I was not sure what to expect. The Market took up most of my time, but I try to take a day off whenever I travel to check out the city & talk to the people. The weather was stunning - blue sky with huge fluffy clouds, warm & sunny for the most part, and the views of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking. One thing I was really unprepared for was the blocks being a whole acre long. Since I was walking, I definitely ended up walking a lot!

There is so much new fabric coming that I'm going to divide these posts up into five sections. The first four will be all about the new fabric, and the last post will be about the city!

Here's what the market looks like from the middle of the floor:



That's a lot of fabric. And sometimes, it's a little overwhelming to find the good stuff! Never fear, though - find it I did. First stop is new fabric from Melody Miller, Kokka and Nani Iro with a few bits of amazingness thrown in.

Melody Miller's new line is called 'Ruby Star Spring', and she explains that she wanted to create two distinct collections for fall and spring, like Etsuko Furuya does for Echino. So we have insects! It's printed on a lightweight cotton/linen - just perfect for drapey summer dresses!











There were a few fabrics from Kokka that really stood out. First, two from a collection called 'Luluca':



Kokka never fails when it comes to cuteness! So we also chose two colorways in both of these next fabrics. I'm excited because the anchors & ladybugs are a double gauze!





Lest we not forget that there is some sophisticated fabric to be had, we expect the new Nani Iro collection to be arriving any day now. Here are two examples of her lovely work, followed by two colorways of Ecrulat linen:





We also ordered these two wovens from Westex - the detail in the weave is so intricate!



And finally, to top everything off, we have some pictures of the newest Heather Ross collection called 'Far Far Away III' - my favorite is the owl absconding with the underwear.







I really love the last three flower prints! Such beautiful colors - can't wait for you all to see them in person. The last little thing I'm excited about are these spring clasps for tiny purses! We got two sizes, this little guy and one that's a bit larger for a clutch. Guess what will be a class for the summer!