International Quilt Market is already here again and we are seeing quite a bit of preparation happening at Clothworks. Capsets and sales boards are getting cranked out, fat quarter bundles are being cut and tied, meetings are being set, quilts are being made for the booth AND we are talking with a handful of wonderful Clothworks designers who will have their own booths in Portland. There will be a series of posts about the designers who will be there, booths that will be featuring quilts and projects made with Clothworks fabric, classes that will be offered by Clothworks designers (they’re called “Schoolhouse”) AND some tidbits about the chaos here.
Here is a little summary of what I know so far about spring market.
What: International Quilt Market
Where: Portland, Oregon
When: May 17-19, 2013
Who: Quilt Market caters to the trade, so it’s packed with fabric companies like us, pattern and textile designers (like many of you) and all kinds of other folks who make great stuff for quilters–like sewing machine makers, thread makers, batting makers, ruler makers, and all manner of gizmos to make our lives easier and get us to sew more!! And, then, occasionally, there are some moms and kids and husbands and friends who have guest passes so they can see their loved ones in action.
And, since it’s in Portland, Clothworks will have the honor of bringing a bunch more of our lovely staff to see the Market and talk with a handful of designers who make fabric designs for us. One of the best parts of market is walking the show floor and looking at all the beautiful quilts and projects, getting new ideas for projects and talking to folks who might want to share patterns and ideas with you folks via The Works. I’ll be posting pictures on facebook while I am there and hopefully recapping all of that once I get back!
To start you off, here is a list of the folks who will be at Quilt Market and these links go to the collections that they’re launching at Market.
Feathered Star Productions
The Quilt Patch
Beach Garden Studio
Penguin & Fish
La Todera
Secret surprise! I can’t say more than that, but we’ve got some pretty good stuff up our sleeve at Clothworks. Stay tuned for that (and it WILL include giveaways, of course!!)
Hello there! This is Anshu from Blooms And Bugs. I’m back with another dress pattern and tutorial perfect for fall.
Ever since I have drafted a peasant dress pattern, I have been playing around with different design elements to make the most of it. Here is a cute dress made with mixing a bunch of Clothworks collections ( Suzette, Picnic Pals, Safari Sweet) and adding in some fun details like ruffles, belt, easy appliques etc.
Supplies:
Coordinating fabrics in different prints
I chose the following fabrics:
Suzette for bodice and ruffle at the hem – half yard
Picnic Pals for Sleeves and belt fabric – half yard
Safari Sweet for skirt – half yard
Orange felt fabric
Approximate time: 2 hours
Skill Level: Beginner
[click to continue…]
Hello Clothworks readers! This is Anshu from Blooms And Bugs. I write about sewing kids clothing over there and today I’m here to show you how to sew a full sleeved peasant dress for your little girl.
I have a love-hate relationship with peasant dresses. I love how easy they are to sew and I absolutely love how they look on my daughter. However, I hate that the pattern is so difficult to get just right. I mean I can get it to look decent, but getting it perfect is another story…and I’m not really crazy about the elastic at the neckline that seems to be the classic feature of a peasant dress. So there, that is the dilemma I have with peasant dresses. They are too cute and easy to leave them alone and too difficult to sew them all the time. I took them up again recently with some hesitation but also with the resolve to draft the perfect peasant dress pattern. I did something like this earlier also, but at that time I dealt only with knits which are much more forgiving. Here are my earlier versions of peasant dresses for your viewing pleasure.
But this time I got the pattern right at the first go. I can’t tell you how cute this simple dress looks on my little one. Maybe my sewing/drafting skills did improve after all…
Anyhow, here’s the skinny on how to sew a peasant dress in 12 mos – 18 months size
Supplies:
Pattern: Download the 4 pages free pattern for peasant dress here( 12-18 months). Print on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with Margins set to 0.
Approximate time: 1 hour
Sewing Margin : 3/8 inch on internal seams
1/4 inch on hemlines and neckline
Construction:
Cut out the pattern pieces. You should have four pieces. One for front, one for back and 2 for sleeves.
Sew the pieces together as shown in the picture.
Now about 3 inches from the end of sleeve, sew three rows of shirring( Here is a great tutorial on Shirring). This fabric shirred beautifully, but if you are really scared of shirring, you could always use a piece of narrow elastic and sew it down, or you could even skip this step and go for bell sleeves.
Sew along the sleeves and the sides of the dress as shown above. Repeat it for the other side too.
Turn out. You’re almost there.
At this point it will be a great idea to try the dress on the child if she is available. For my daughter, the neck was big enough to slip through her head and small enough that it didn’t slip off her shoulders. So I just folded the neckline twice on itself and sew a seam along the neckline ( quarter inch margin). But if you find the neckline too big on your child, you could sew a couple of rows of shirring or an elastic to make it just right.
Now sew narrow hems on sleeves and the dress.
Make a pair of matching bloomers (coming soon), or not. The dress is cute either way. A full sleeved stylish dress for the fall!
Visit me at Blooms And Bugs for more free sewing patterns and tutorials for kids clothing ( and mommy’s too)
Thank you all so very much for your lovely comments!! I, too, really enjoy that collection and everyone at Clothworks is excited to see it getting doubled and rolled–one step closer to stores and your sewing machines!
The random number generator produced the number 4 so the 4th person to comment is the lucky winner!! I guess the early bird gets the worm on this one. Congratulations Lucy D.!! We’ll be in touch with you about your mailing address!
Though I could go on and on about all of what I saw at Quilt Market (my first one!), I think I’d rather share with all of you what others are saying. There have been quite a few lovely blog posts full of pictures, ideas and praise for designers, new collections, sewers and thoughts on what’s trending. I think I’ll leave it up to those folks to tell you more.
True Up: Kim has been featuring fabric companies, quilt designers and the like. Her posts all have tons of delicious photos and I particularly like this one about a quilt designer whose work is very striking, Carolyn Friedlander.
The Long Thread: Here’s a blog with lots of high quality content that is fresh on an almost daily basis. If you scroll down to the bottom of this one, you’ll read a little blurb on her thoughts about organic fabric. I second her on that one! And, she’d like to see magazines and fabric companies mixing collections in their quilt and project designs. I heard that more than once while at Market and it really resonates for me, too.
Generation Q: Despite having just put out a lovely first edition of their new print mag, Gen Q continues to pack their blog with great content. This post just happens to mention us (YAY!) and features the Picnic Pals FREE Quilt Pattern so I am, of course, partial to it, but there is also a really darling picture of pattern coming out of Oliver + S’s new branch: The Straight Stitch Society.
Enjoy these projects sent in by sewers, quilters and crafters!
Baby Quilt using Safari Sweet by Alyssa Thomas of Penguin + Fish
Made by Maria in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She said she made a mistake and put borders on, but then decided to do it everywhere. I know how that goes!! That looks like an accident worth making again.
Maria’s got two favorite quilt shops–one is a store she hits on business trips in Maine: Mainely Quilts The other is Quilt Essentials, in Auburn, Maine.
Composition Book using Nature’s Walk by Leere Alrich. Pattern: Composition Covers by Indygo Junction
Made by local sewer extraordinaire, Jean Seamster (that name says it all!!)
