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:: September 1, 2006 Fabric Friday: Vintage Fabric From the States
This week I received this book from Giant Robot -- I wish I could remember the blog on which I first heard about it so I could give proper credit. It's a lovely little book with an English title on the cover but (sparse) Japanese text within. Not much text, though, can be found in its 200+ pages. There are hundreds of fabrics inside, grouped by sections such as "Dutch," "Checks," "Kitchen," "Ribbon," and "Kids." I was slightly scandalized at first because I recognized some of the fabrics from my own collection as well as Hillary's, as seen on our vintage fabric Flickr group. I mean, I thought they were lifted directly from our Flickr photos. But there are some additional stylized shots of the fabrics with cute vintage tchotzkes and Caucasian babies, so my conclusion was that whoever put the book together must have bought their stuff from the same eBay sellers as I did. Not as if I have any claim to these prints anyway!
It's absolutely a book worth having if you're a vintage fabric fan. I like it especially because there's nothing showy or capital-D Designer in here -- just everyday vintage prints grouped and catalogued in a simple, beautiful way.
posted by in Books , Fabric , Fabric Friday :: Comments (6) :: link :: June 2, 2006 Fabric Friday: Sukie
I haven't done a Fabric Friday for quite a while because I haven't come across anything that grabbed me. But thanks to Print & Pattern I've been turned on to lots of amazing stuff, like British shoppe Sukie. They don't make yardage, but just think of their silkscreened handkerchiefs and dishtowels as fabric with hems.
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (1) :: link :: April 14, 2006 Fabric Friday: Cloth
I'm pretty sure that I found Cloth through Kathreen, but that could just be because they're both Australian. In any case, thanks! Cloth is a three-person company led by designer Julie Paterson that hand-dyes and silkscreens their fabrics. The fact that there are no prices on the website for the yardage or the beautiful products tells me If You Have to Ask You Can't Afford It, but we can be inspired nonetheless.
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (1) :: link :: April 8, 2006 Fabric Friday: Orange
The site went down yesterday, so here is a late Fabric Friday combined with a late Orange Friday. The swatch above is from Jane Sassaman's Paradise Garden collection.
Japanese Patchwork import at Reprodepot
My favorite from Heather Ross' Lightning Bugs & Other Mysteries line
Design Essentials - Rafia Texture spotted at Cia's Palette
Fundamentals stripes by Cynthia Hart and Yolanda Fundora (another great line from FreeSpirit) posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (2) :: link :: March 11, 2006 Fabric Friday: Japanese Imports
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (1) :: link :: March 3, 2006 Fabric Friday: Field Study Glimmer
The new Denyse Schmidt line from FreeSpirit is getting all the (well-deserved) hype, but when you go over to the FreeSpirit site to drool at it, don't overlook their other new line, Field Study Glimmer by Kristine Baerlin. It's kind of Kaffe Fassett meets William Morris, and it's very, very pretty. I'm not usually into the muted colorways, but this is nice.
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (5) :: link :: February 20, 2006 Go Underdogs Go!
About two years ago I went to The Quilt Store in Austin to cobble together a starter kit for my mom, who was just getting interested in quilting. I picked a bundle of solids and a fat quarter pack with some nice prints. A store employee surveyed my choices and I explained my mission. She looked at me piteously and explained how solids are boring and any quilter worth their salt poo-poos them. I bought them anyway, thinking that my mom and I weren't salt-worthy yet anyway so what does it matter. The only quilts I could conceive of making at that point were nine-patches with alternating squares of prints and solids, so a good palette of solids seemed like a necessity. The Denyse Schmidt book and The Modern Quilt Workshop book have changed my thinking completely. Solids are not starter fabrics, and they are absolutely not boring. In introducing the Plain Spoken pattern in TMQW, Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle write, "Solid fabrics are the underdogs of the fabric world. They sit alone in forgotten corners of quilt shops, losing out in the competition for your attention to shelves of flamboyant prints and trendy batiks. We designed Plain Spoken as a reminder of the power and beauty of solids." And thankfully it seems like Denyse Schmidt never heard about real quilters and salt or any of that -- she writes "Try to maintain a ratio of about 70 percent solids to 30 percent prints. Though certainly not written in stone, this approach tends to yield balanced designs that are both pleasing and surprising." I ordered many Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton* solids for my Plain Spoken semi-blindly, only seeing the colors by looking on the web and in the Hancock's of Paducah print catalog. I only went for this brand at first because of the selection, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, once you go RKKC you'll never go back to $1.49/yard Joann's brand. Anyway, the result of my ordering-from-afar meant that many of my choices were either not-Paletas-by-any-stretch or truly barfilicious**. I had been too excited to wait for a sampler card to come in the mail. When I realized that the Denyse Schmidt Way may be my calling for the forseeable future, I ponied up for one. So here it is. It just makes me so happy, like a pile of paint chips or a new box of crayons or a new pad of construction paper. If you are bored by solids, your inner child is dead. * No, I am not getting any throwbacks for product placement, but I wouldn't mind payment in yardage, if any RK folk are listening in. posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (16) :: link :: February 18, 2006 Fabric Friday: Marimekko
For some reason I didn't know much about Marimekko outside this famous flower print. Thanks to Whip Up for the education and the pointer to the new spring line -- some fresh, unique, and exciting stuff here. I'm also surprised at how widely available Marimekko fabric is. It's pricey, but a yard or panel seems worth it if you really love a print.
(You need to see the kids' print above up-closer ...)
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (1) :: link :: February 10, 2006 Fabric Friday: Blue
I don't even like blue all that much, but this is some good stuff.
The movement of this one reminded me of my prized vintage quilt squares ... it would look cool cut up into little squares and paired with something loud. At Reprodepot.
I discovered this fabric recently through somebody's blog and I've spent the last half hour looking for the entry so I can thank and link but I can't find it -- if it's you, raise your hand! So yes. Tree rings. Rowan. At eQuilter, for one.
Unlike most of the rest of the line it comes from, this one could be either cowboy or not-cowboy. At eQuilter for two.
OK, more turquoise than blue, from Reprodepot. I like the orange a lot too. Hooray for interesting calicos. Now would be a good time to mention that there's a sale going on over there right now. posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (3) :: link :: January 24, 2006 Fabric Couldn't-Wait-Till-Friday Edition
From Quilter's Buzz: A sneak peek at Denyse Schmidt's "Flea Market Fancy" fabrics, to be released in spring. What do you think? If you noticed the peacock blue, orange, lime green, and brown theme in the book, you won't be shocked at the colorways. I especially love the dotted leaves, the polka dots, and the geometric calicos. They're actually not as vintage-repro as I thought they were going to be, but still so nice! UPDATE: Jessica has a beautiful photo of the fabrics in more colorways here . I don't know how she managed not to grab them and run away, laughing maniacally. She went to a DS workshop! Her full report is here. *Swoon* posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (8) :: link :: January 15, 2006 Fabric Friday: Sunday Edition
I don't think anyone is out there taking roll, but blame my lateness on cedar fever, which is right up there with tree roaches on the Reasons You Don't Want to Live in Austin list. This week: non-eBay sources for vintage fabric!
Sharon's Vintage Fabrics has a huge selection of vintage fabrics and feedsacks, as well as vintage aprons, handkerchiefs, and every other kind of vintage textile imaginable.
Revival Fabrics has a variety of cotton and apparel fabrics, mostly from the 50s-70s.
Antiquefabric.com: "We are your new source on the Internet for antique fabrics from the mid-19th century through the 1960's. While we specialize in cottons for quilters, we also have a selection of 1930's-50's rayons for costumes and swing era dresses; lawn, dimity and organza for doll costumers; and silks, satins and brocades for crazy quilters. We also offer vintage feedsacks, antique cigarette silks, lace, trims and buttons."
Make Me Fabrics has a real-life store in Asheville, NC. In addition to cottons from the 50s and 60s and some synthetics and upholstery fabrics, Make Me has some of the best selections of vintage trim and patches I have seen out there. That deer fabric makes me feel faint. posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (9) :: link :: December 23, 2005 Fabric Friday: Kitty Craft
Kitty Craft has the most insanely great fabrics I have probably ever seen in my young life. I found it through a comment Hillary made on Amy's site. I thought the $3-5 I was seeing was the price per yard, but stopped peeing in my pants when I figured out the prices listed are for a QUARTER yard. Oh well. I'm glad to know it's out there and maybe will influence American fabric companies in the near future.
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (4) :: link :: December 9, 2005 Fabric Friday: Candy and ... Wish Lists
I bet that even if she doesn't like these candies in particular, that Super Eggplant would love this fabric collection.
Found at eQuilter. They even have a pillow panel. Pillow panel! Speaking of eQuilter. I posted a long long time ago at Sew Wrong about eQuilter's wish list function. If only they allowed Amazon-style link-tos -- unfortunately we have to mutually divulge email addresses to check each others' out. But if you show me yours I'll show you mine ... kmel at excitementmachine dot org. I'm not fishing for gifts here, I just like to share tastes/ideas! Born to Quilt also has a wish list function here. Do any other online stores? I'm on the case. posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (7) :: link :: November 18, 2005 Fabric Friday: Tammis Keefe
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (8) :: link :: November 11, 2005 Fabric Friday: Lucienne Day
Starting in the early 50s, Lucienne Day brought abstract design to fabric. She and her husband Robin were a mid-century design power duo, often referred to as the British Eameses (only I think her textiles are far more interesting than those of her Yankee counterparts). Her designs were so groundbreaking and enduring that people still refer to them by name.
The most famous "Calyx" Lucienne Day talks about Calyx here. An excerpt: Robin used it in his section and it was so popular that Heal's entered it for an award in New York that year. Calyx won, so the Festival of Britain was the beginning of my career. Suddenly one could produce designs and firms would be able to produce them because their looms would no longer be dedicated to making blackout material. They were set up again for producing things designers wanted to make. There was a feeling that the years of the war were behind us and that it would be a rosy future. And some notes on Day's design genius, from this site: Creating repeat patterns for textiles is a laborious process, but Lucienne's designs convey an impression of effortless spontaneity. "It is not enough to 'choose a motif', nor enough to 'have ideas' and be able to draw," she observed. "There must also be the ability to weld the single units into a homogenous whole, so that the pattern seems to be part of the cloth." Visually stimulating, but not over-insistent, her patterns are sophisticated and multi-layered, with cleverly balanced assertive and recessive elements, thereby working both from a distance and close up. Day's textiles are being reproduced by The Centre for Advanced Textiles at the Glasgow School of Art, but the cost is extremely prohibitive. Still, we can dream.
The other two are here and here. posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (8) :: link :: October 28, 2005 Fabric Friday: Ode to the Polka Dot
This week is devoted to the humble, classic, perfect polka dot. When I started sewing a few years ago there was a surprising dearth of polka dots on the market. Now they seem to have made a comeback. Today's selections were found mostly on eQuilter and the Virginia Quilter (links go directly to their dots category pages). They are best in red and white, I think.
Less dense = less headachey.
More colors (and sizes) ...
The Straight Dope ponders what distinguishes "polka dots" from regular old dots. These might flaut the polka-ness but are equally good:
posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (3) :: link :: October 21, 2005 Fabric Friday: Brown
In the neverending search for regular content ("content" ... ahh ... so 1999) I will cave to consonance* and post about fabric I like -- centered around a theme -- every Friday. You should too! This week and probably most weeks it'll be fabric you might actually be able to afford, but sometimes it'll be fancy, inaccessible, expensive, purely inspirational fabric. The above is from Alexander Henry, found at Cia's Palette.
"Counting Crows," currently on sale at Repro Depot
Very Vintage Fruit Palette oilcloth, found at eQuilter posted by in Fabric Friday :: Comments (8) :: link
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for my birthday. The most prolific and well-known designer in the handkerchief world appears to be Tammis Keefe. I couldn't find out much about her, except that she died too young, at age 40. She also designed other linens and maybe some fabric too. She sometimes went under the pseudonym Peg Thomas, but I don't know why -- maybe to flout some contractual obligations.
