- Cotton and Steel by RJR
5 designers. Watch for their fabric in September.
- American Made Brand
Solids by Clothworks in Seattle
Having trouble finding fabric that is
truly Made in USA? Look no further. American Made Brand Fabric by
Clothworks is here. 100% cotton shirting, grown in America, woven in
America, dyed in America, and at a price point you can afford. Now
that’s cause for a quilting celebration! Let’s raise the Betsy Ross. But
first take a minute to run your hand across some beautifully soft
cotton made by your neighbor. It feels wonderful and is only available
at independent quilt shops and other fine fabric retailers.
* We'll be getting packets of solids of these at our June WSM meeting! The challenge will be to bring a small quilt to the Fall Open House.
Click here to see the AMB fabrics we have now.
They're doing a blog tour of all 50 states. Check it out here!
- Stitchery is in! We're seeing lots of substantial stitchery on quilts, not red-work style but to accent your quilt. This book is a good resource and is in our shop and on our website.
- Hexagons are Huge
Big or small, hexagons are everywhere. We'll be offering our Sexy Hexies class again this fall.
- Civil War/Period Pieces are coming back and being used in different ways. Mix them with large scale prints and solids.
Here's what we have now! Reproduction Fabrics
- Houndstooth is everywhere! Cozy Cotton Houndstooth
- Low Volume Prints are being used for backgrounds.
Here are some starter staks.
- It's the Year of the Deer!
Deer are showing up everywhere.
- Metallics are making a comeback. Look for subtle dustings and tone on tones. These will mix well with other cottons.
Batting! Batting! Batting!Carol Parks and Janet Murdock gave us all kinds of information about batting.- Did you know that batting is directional and has a top and a bottom?
- The smooth side goes down if there's a scrim on the outside.
(Scrim is the binder or thin netting/fabric that the cotton is needle punched through for stability. It is sometimes on the outside and sometimes on the inside of the batting) - If the scrim is inside the batting, the ball side goes down.
- Dark fabrics can show more bearding, so use dark batting.
- If you want lots of loft and to see definition with your quilting, double batt it. Put the wool on the bottom and a cotton or poly on top.
- If you are making an "Art Quilt" or want a flat quilt, use a thin batt or even a flannel, just so the stitches have something to sink into.
- The crinkled look comes from the bating shrinking when washed. Check the packaging for shrinkage percentage. Pre-wasehd fabric with non-preshrunk batting achieves the best "pucker".
- Wool batting is actually the coolest and lightest batt because it breathes.
- Heat Press Batting Tape is a fantastic product for joining scraps of batt together. "It's the duck tape of batting."
- Silk and wool batts are nice for hand stitching.
- The tighter the quilting, the less warm and cuddly the quilt will be.
New Books just in:
Click on the book to get more information and look inside.
Show And Tell
Betsy's Mystery Quilt - She didn't like it until Janet Murdock quilted it. 
Elisa's Fall Leaves
Janet's Scrap Cross Quilt - with low volume background fabrics
Carol made a cross quilt using scraps and a low volume background fabric. She calls it "O-Positive"
Lauren - used Marcia Derse fabrics
Mallory's - Pop Rocks
