Quilt Market Videos

Did you miss Quilt Market? Catch up with videos from the moda designers along with notions videos from products available from United Notions.

Barb and Alma from Blackbird Designs


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Thank you to Stewart Videos.

Mary Jane Butters: Glamping!

Though she exemplifies all that is genteel, refined, and ever-so-slightly old-fashioned, Mary Jane Butters has been on the cutting edge for years. During her childhood, long before it was trendy, she and her family lived close to the land, raising and preserving their own food and sewing their clothes. In her 20s she worked in Utah as one of the first female wilderness rangers in the United States and the only women hired to build houses at Hill Air Force Base. In the 1980s she raised her children in a house with wood heat, no plumbing, and no television. And in 1989 she became intrigued by organic farming: today she sells over 60 dried organic products through Paradise Farm Organics.

With a background like this, it’s apparent that Mary Jane isn’t afraid of hard work. As her organic farm prospered, she shared her environmentally conscious, health-minded lifestyle through MaryJanesFarm magazine, an “Everyday Organic” newspaper column, and four books. She runs a bed and breakfast on her Idaho property, created Pay Dirt Farm School to teach the business to new organic farmers, and founded Project F.A.R.M. (First-Class American Rural Made) to help energize rural businesses.

And now Mary Jane is a fabric designer. Her new line of fabric will be hitting the stores early in 2013, and she couldn’t be more excited.

“My mother and sisters, we quilted constantly—my mom made hundreds of quilts,” she says. “In junior high and high school we sewed every day—that’s how we got our clothes. We had a big ping pong table in the basement where we cut them out. My mom has passed on and won’t get to see it, but I know she’d love that I’m designing fabric.”

The new line, Glamping, will feature the light-hearted, feel-good imagery that abounds in her latest book, Glamping with Mary Jane (glamping is a combination of glamour and camping—a term Mary Jane coined when she set up her canvas-wall tent B&B). Bloomers and bras run up flagpoles, vintage trailers and cast iron bathtubs, and coffee cups with cheerful sayings keep the mood playful.

“I’m all about fabric,” says Mary Jane. “I walk into a fabric store and I just salivate.”

Amidst the farming, writing and editing, and activism she finds time to do more than salivate: she sews. And not surprisingly, her machine of choice is antique. “I have a treadle sewing machine mounted in my Airstream trailer,” she says. “I grew up using a treadle and I love and collect them. I just can’t resist them.” Old-fashioned or cutting edge? In Mary Jane’s world, it’s a little of both. 

New Town & Country Pattern by Artful Offerings

By Karina Hittle, Artful Offerings

NEW! for Fall Quilt Market...My “Town & Country” Pattern

I knew that for Fall Market I wanted to design a clutch.  I had several ideas popping around in my head, but hadn’t settled on a specific style…that is…until I happened upon Moda Fabrics “Little Black Dress” by Basic Grey…H-E-L-L-O, it was love at first sight for me!!!  This fabric collection encompasses my absolute favorite colors.  The beautiful patterns and stunning classic hues ranging from pure milky ivories and warm nickel greys to rich ink blacks…they are simply gorgeous…PERIOD!  I have been a fan of the original “little black dress” designer, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, for years and I immediately thought of her when I saw this collection and the “Town Clutch” design was born!  My taste being eclectic, I enjoy the juxtaposition of almost everything, so I thought about what would contrast nicely with a glamorous night on the town, and then decided that “Town & Country” would be the perfect title for my new pattern.



Clutch with Pearl Collar and Bow Tie Accent

Clutch with Beaded Collar and Button Accent

I was so excited by the prospect of tying-together my classic pattern design and Coco’s influence of simple, functional elegance to capture the sophistication of the “Town”.  Slip your hand under the unique hand strap to keep the clutch secure and close.  The collar can be left plain, or easily embellished with pearls, beads, sequins and accented with a bow tie or a button.  The interior divided pocket helps to keep things nicely organized.

For the “Country” element, my inspiration came partly from the 2012 Olympic equestrian events of this past summer and my love of the simple silhouettes that became popular during the mid-nineteenth century.  I chose to design a functional roomy tote so that it could feature a large silhouette of a thoroughbred horse with a button-braided mane on a quilted background. This striking feature is so easy and fun to achieve by using the fusible applique technique and adding small round buttons for the button-braided mane.  Easy-to find hardware adds a clever harness-look detail.  The back of the tote features a convenient exterior pocket and 2 extra-large interior pockets keep things organized. 

Tote Front

Tote Back

So whether it’s a night on the town or a day in the country, these pretty pieces are sure to keep you in high style!  I hope you enjoy making the town clutch and the country tote as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Karina Answers 3 FUN Questions From Moda

What is your one guilty pleasure in life? Hmmm…I would definitely have to say the Salted Caramel Sauce by Williams-Sonoma.  I could eat this rich and creamy sauce by the spoonful!  It is wicked delicious when heated up and generously drizzled on french vanilla ice cream from Sullivan Farms (our local dairy creamery shop) and topped with fresh blueberries or heavily dolloped on a piece of plain New York style cheese cake with or without fresh berries…hold me back!

Where do you do your best thinking? While I am constantly inspired by my surroundings in what ever I do, it never fails that I seem to come up with some of my favorite ideas when I am in the shower or late at night in bed when I am trying to get to sleep.

What do you listen to when you work? I LOVE music, so I have an extensive iTunes collection, which I play on my Apple Macintosh computer through external stereo speakers and a subwoofer.  The music I play depends on the mood I’m in or what project I’m working on and whether or not I need to keep a good pace to get things finished or a slower pace that is perfect for times when meticulous sewing needs to be done.  Whether I have the tunes cranked up until the windows are bulging to the beat or turned down low and in the background, music is a big part of my life here in my studio.  I am a fan of Country, R&B, Classical, Pop, Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Electronica and of course Christmas music during the holidays.  Right now, I’m listening to the oh-so-talented Michelle Branch!

Many thanks to Moda United Notions for inviting me to blog here on The Cutting Table and getting a chance to share my newest design with your loyal and enthusiastic bloggers.  It’s been quite enjoyable! 

Town & Country Pattern Cover (Pattern No. 2012141)

Our Town & Country pattern (Artful Offerings Pattern No. 2012141) along with the model/samples will be featured at the Fall Quilt Market trade show for wholesalers in the Moda United Notions Booth (October 27-29, 2012).  Wholesalers, please order through United Notions and retail customers please order through our website at www.ArtfulOfferings.com.  Happy stitching!

Kind Regards, Karina

Sweet Celebrations Blog Hop *Winner*

Drum roll please...Our winner is Tiffany from {Pinks Sweet Treats}! She has won a fat eighth bundle and a copy of Sweet Celebrations with the Moda Bake Shop Chefs. Congratulations to Tiffany and thank you to all of our readers for participating in this fun blog hop. If you missed some of the stops, you can still stop by each blog and pick up a recipe card with a seasonal treat. See the full blog list {here}.

No Strings Attached

Mama’s Sunday apron, Sister’s first sundress, and the pièce de résistance—my red polka dot romper, were all to be found in the quilt Great Aunt Nell made. And find them I did. . .over and over and over! I’m not sure it wasn’t an early symptom of OCD, but oh how I loved to look for favorite fabrics as I lay under it and to see where they had been used (and how often) in the quilt. 

I didn’t take an interest in quilt making until entering young adulthood, but when I did, my favorites were quilts with a profusion of different fabrics and a variety of shapes. This “more is more” inclination has continued through my career as a pattern designer, resulting in a number of quilt patterns that involve string piecing on a foundation. (See them at www.seamsndreams.com, and order a free copy of “String of Diamonds.”) 

I recently got to celebrate Christmas early when I received a box full of Fat Eighth packs from Moda. What a treat to open it and look at all those beautiful bundles!

But what do you do with Fat Eighths? One of the first things to come to mind was string piecing. I’d made a curvy table runner several months earlier and thought one of these gorgeous collections would be perfect for the pattern cover sample.

  

As I began playing with the idea—and trying to recall how I put together the original table runner!—I hit upon a way to achieve the look of string piecing with its variety of shapes, but without the need for a foundation (for stability) and without the kind of waste that usually accompanies it. 

So, I loaded up the car with sewing equipment and supplies and, of course, the box of Fat Eighths and drove to Texas to spend a week creating quilts with my mom. While my dad did some major pattern packaging, “Nana” and I made several quilt tops that will become quilts in the next few weeks. They will then be photographed for the covers of Seams & Dreams’ new patterns for Fall Quilt Market.

I’ve found in the past that a design that looks difficult can be a hard sell to quilting consumers, so it may be a challenge convincing them that this technique is EXTREMELY simple. A number of these patterns are in the works and will be designated with a “No Strings Attached” logo.  I can’t wait to see if other quilters get as excited about this fun technique as I am!

           

Lisa Bongean: Wool—You CAN Take It With You!

In 1997, when Lisa Bongean’s children were small, she took them to swimming lessons. While waiting for them poolside, she saw a woman stitching a quilt. “She was hand quilting and I asked her all kinds of questions, like ‘How do you cut it up and then know how to put it back together?’” she says. The woman directed her to her local quilt shop where Lisa says, “I took my first class and fireworks went off.” Today Lisa is the owner of the Wisconsin quilt shop Primitive Gatherings and designs fabrics for Moda under the same name—her newest line is Old Glory Gatherings. She’s also a prolific designer of patterns and kits. “I started designing quilts almost from the beginning,” she says. “I just took to it.”

It was in those very early days that she also took to wool.

“I love wool’s texture, the feel of it, and the way it looks mixed with cottons or flannels,” she says. “It’s very versatile and stitching it is relaxing and meditative. And you can take it with you and work on it—you're not tied to your machine.”

She finds wool appliqué has broad appeal. “I’ve met people who say ‘I’m a piecer, I can’t do appliqué,’ but what they mean is that they don’t enjoy needle turn appliqué,” she says. “But wool can make everyone an appliquér.”

Lisa made this miniature quilt with Old Glory Gatherings and a few bits of wool

Lisa offers these tips to make working with wool even more pleasurable:

1. “A lot of patterns and instructions call for freezer paper,” she says. “But I use fusible web, because it helps hold all the fibers together, keeps the fuzziness in check, and prevents fraying. My favorite is Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite. You can’t overheat it like some of the others, it doesn’t add a lot of bulk, and the steam helps integrate the wool with the background fabric."

2. While perle cotton adds a lovely look to wool appliqué, Lisa says any thread is acceptable. “For your first projects, if you’ve got embroidery floss left over from cross stitching, go ahead and use it,” she says. “Just make sure to scale it to the size of your project. You might want to use just three strands, or two. If you’ve got very tiny pieces, even one strand might be enough. If you decide you love wool appliqué and want to keep at it, then you can build up a thread stash.”

3. Lisa also recommends a number 24 needle. “You need a big eye to thread perle cotton through,” she says. “The difference between a 22 and 24 is significant. Using a 22 is like trying to use a nail!”

4. Wool, especially hand-dyed wool, can be pricey. But Lisa notes that combining wool with cotton or flannel not only provides visual and textural interest, it can reduce the cost of a project. “You can use small pieces of wool for the appliqué, while the largest piece of fabric—the background—can be wool or flannel,” she says. Lisa notes that her Moda Wool and Needle Flannels give the look of wool without the price.

If you’ve never stitched on wool, give it a try. A small project, like a pin cushion, not only gives you the chance to try your hand at wool appliqué, but makes a perfect gift to give during the upcoming holidays. 

Web Tips: What is a Hashtag?

If you are on Twitter or Pinterest, then you have probably seen phrases or keywords that begin with a #. These symbols are referred to as hashtags when working in social media websites.

Hashtags are used to label or categorize a tweet or a pin for easy filtering or searching. You may want to use a hashtag when posting your own pin or tweet so other people can easily find what you are talking about. If you are the one searching for a specific topic, then it makes it easier to find conversations or pictures that have to do with what you are looking for.

An example for a Retail Shop using Hashtags might look something like this... New Bella Solids now available in stock! #modafabrics #bellasolids

Consumers can then search on one of these hashtags to see pictures and conversations regarding that topic.

If you want to use a hashtag that is already trending, use a site like Twubs or Hashtags.org.

Try using hashtags when searching and marketing through your social media sites.

Lazy Girl Designs Mixes Passion, Engineering, and Fabric to Create Purse Love

I'm Joan Hawley, owner of Lazy Girl Designs pattern company. My long-time love is bag design. However, it isn't just the final design that intrigues me. The journey, or construction method, is my passion. Let me introduce you to my Gracie Handbag (LGD118) design and show you what I mean. Gracie is one of my all-time favorite designs and I've personally worn out a couple.

Let's take a quick look at what makes Gracie so special. She's got a great size, combined with the dip along the top edge of the bag at the flap, which allows her to be slung over your shoulder one handed. That means the dip allows just the right amount of space for your elbow to swing through with your arm bent. That allows for the shorter strap length (which keeps the bag nicely tucked under your arm) to work like a longer strap which would otherwise allow the bag to hang lower, closer to your hip.

One-Handed Operation
What I'm saying about this dip and the handles is that rather than use your left hand to pull a bag onto your right shoulder with your arm straight like you would pull a sleeve onto your arm, you can raise your right hand (like doing a curl with dumbbell) and there's enough clearance for your bent arm to swing through the handle area. I love this. One-hand operation is really, really convenient.

Handles
Notice the top of the handles. They are folded and topstitched for a thin profile. That narrowing at the top of the handles means they take less space on my shoulder, and that means they stay on my shoulder! Love, love, love that.

Use Inside Pockets From The Outside...Sorta
I also love the inside pockets, of course. The flap closure creates two openings at the top of the bag. This is perfect for reaching into your bag without opening it. That allows these inside pockets that operate as outside pockets. Imagine your cell phone in one end and your wallet in the other. Awesome! But even more awesome than that - I can stow my water bottle in one of these openings for easy-peasy access. Is my love showing yet? Because the bag is open at the top, but partitioned off by the flap, it creates a little cubby hole for a water bottle of almost any height.

Pocket Panel
The inside of the bag hosts a pocket panel that wraps from one side, across the bottom and back up the other side. Now, this is really cool - where it wraps across the bottom it creates a pocket for a Lazy Girl Designs Bag-E-Bottom purse support - sweet! How tidy is that?

Look at that stand-up-i-tude!

Outside of Bag and Batting
Here's the body of the bag. It's three simple panels sewn together. Lay that right sides together with the lining/pockets, place atop batting/fleece and sew all around. Leave an opening to turn and viola - you are nearly done.

Look how simple this is. It's like a big 'H'. You can do this!

Lining and Pocket Panel
Here's the lining and pocket panel. You can't see the pocket stitchings, but the panel is divided into three pockets for each half of the bag.  These same pocket stitchings go through all layers of the bag and result in topstitching on the outside of the bag, defining the three panels we started with - love it! The lining is one piece of fabric.

Flap Closure and Handles
Next add a simple flap closure. Choose a contrasting fabric to make the most of this design element. Here I've used some of the lining fabric to tie everything together. Add simple handles. I used a little soft fusible interfacing for nearly invisible support for the handles.

Finish Gracie
Stitch the side seams and box the bottom and you are good to go! I used Clover Wonder Clips (shown in red below) to help hold the layers together and flat during stitching the side seams and boxing the bottom corners. They worked great! Love those little clips!

After sewing across the points and turning the bag right sides out, these points tuck into the bottom pocket panel, too! They are totally hidden for a fantastic clean finish to the lining of Gracie. Nice!

Here's a video demo of me making Gracie and talking you through her construction.

Function, Beauty, and Tips
I love the engineering involved in making Gracie and in making her so totally functional. When all the elements of a pattern come together like this I say the pattern 'sings', and until it does that, it doesn't get published. As with the rest of my designs, there are design/engineering/functional elements throughout what may otherwise seem like a simple design. Best of all, each pattern offers some tip or technique you can add to your sewing tool kit and bring to other projects.

Enjoy!
Joan Hawley
Lazy Girl Designs
Lazy Girl on Facebook

Watchus Quilting Charms

We are in LOVE with these new Pandora-like quilting charms. 

WATCHUS has pulled out all the stops when designing this beautiful line of specialty charms just  for us quilters, sewers & knitters. 

They have made these adorable charms so easy to use that you can quickly make a bracelet, necklace, earrings or pin to show off your addiction love of quilting. 

WATCHUS has collections of already prepared jewelry as well as kits to build your own.

I have tried to pick a favorite but it is impossible! 

Browse through their collection and let us know which are your favorites... 

Ask for the WATCHUS Charm & Jewelry Collection at your local quilt shop! 

Shop owners, make sure to visit the United Notions booth at 

Quilt Market to see this collection in person.

A Sweet Celebration...

We are very excited to announce the second book in the Moda Bake Shop series, Sweet Celebrations, published by Stash Books. Following our first book, Fresh Fabric Treats, this book also has exclusive quilts and projects from your favorite Moda Bake Shop Chefs that cannot be found on the Moda Bake Shop website.

Join in on the celebration and learn a little more about each Chef featured in the book.  Plus get a sneak peek of some of the projects and quilts that you will be able to make yourself. With easy to follow step by step instructions with pictures, it is great for any sewing level. Be sure to visit each blog and collect the recipes along the way to put with your book so you will be prepared for every occasion!

Plus you won't want to miss the giveaways that will be at each location. YUM!

Blog Tour Schedule

October 1 - StashBooks and Moda Cutting Table

October 2 – Melissa Mortenson and Melissa Corry

October 3 – Mary Lane Brown and Natalia Bonner

October 4 – Lissa Alexander and Corey Yoder

October 5 – Jane Davidson and Angela Yosten

October 6 – Jo & Kelli Kramer and Stefanie Roman

October 7 – Sherri McConnell and Megan Jimenz & Heather Andrus

October 8 – Angela Mitchell and Ellie Roberts

October 9 – Katie Blakesley and Aneela Hoey

October 10 – Amy Smart and Angela Pingel

October 11 – Vanessa Christenson and April Rosenthal

October 12 – Moda Bake Shop

October 14 – Readers have until midnight on the 14^th to comment on all the blogs for the giveaways.

October 19 –Winners announced on all the blogs.

 

Leave us a comment and YOU could be a lucky winner of your own copy of our Sweet Celebrations book PLUS a Moda Fat Eighth Bundle! 
 

LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!