Kansas City here I come

By Annie on May 15, 2012 in Misc

Today (or tomorrow, depending on when you’re reading this) I’ll be on a flight to Kansas City for Spring Quilt Market! I’m so excited. Last year when I went to Fall Market the shop hadn’t launched yet, and it didn’t felt quite real. But now the shop is open, I know what to expect and I’m really looking forward to it.

So what does one do at Quilt Market? Well here’s what I’m doing. First of all, I’ve booked in a load of meetings with the distributors I buy fabric from so I can see all the new collections in person and place some orders. Everything I blogged about in my Quilt Market previews I will finally get to touch and examine and buy. It’s like a massive, slightly exhausting shopping trip. Second, I’m going to take a couple of seminars on business finance and strategy. Last year I signed up for half a dozen sessions, filled every spare time slot, and regretted many of them. This year I took a different approach and was very selective. Finally, I’m going to have some fun! I’ll catch up with friends, meet people I’ve only “met” online and new people too! I feel so lucky to be a part of this amazing community and I love getting out from behind the computer and meeting people in real life.

About half the LMQG wanted to come along to Quilt Market and I’d be the first to admit that having a second pair of eyes (or third, fourth, fifth) would be very useful for the shopping portion of the trip. But since I can’t take you all with me, please let me know what you wish you could see, who you wish you could meet, what you wish you could ask, and I’ll do my best to share the experience in my daily recaps!

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The London Modern Quilt Guild exhibition

By Annie on May 15, 2012 in Quilting

We’re always doing really cool things at the London Modern Quilt Guild – if I weren’t in it I’d be seriously jealous! In June, we’re going to be exhibiting a gorgeous selection of mini quilts at the Bistro in John Lewis on Oxford Street. Every month John Lewis features the artwork of a different local organisation and earlier this year I applied for the LMQG and we were accepted. It’s going to be so cool!

We decided that the theme should be “What modern quilting means to me” and at our last meeting everyone showed off what they created. Every quilt was totally different and reflected the creator’s style. Having gotten to know these women (and man) over the past few months, I think I could have actually matched many of the quilts to their makers in a blind test! (well not a blind test, but you know what I mean.) You can head over to our Flickr group and read this thread to see all of the mini quilts.

Here’s mine. It’s a nod to Ashley at Film in the Fridge because her blog was one of the first places I discovered modern quilting and one of her string quilts was the first example of that. I used her foundation piecing tutorial which was so easy to follow. I also cut into some favourite fabrics in my stash, from Good Folks to Habitat to Echo, and a few silvers of new collections on the shelf. Can you recognise them all?

Please do come by the Bistro beginning the first Wednesday in June and admire our work! I’ll be so proud.

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Fat Quarterly Retreat name badges

By Annie on May 14, 2012 in Embroidery

Wow, so much happening, so little blogging. For shame! But I couldn’t go without posting my Fat Quarterly Retreat name badge, which I am so very excited about!

My badge was made by Laura at Needles, Pins and Baking Tins. She saw that I like to knit and she crochets so she incorporated that into the design. I didn’t get a picture of the back but it has a pin so I can wear it either way. It also came wrapped in this lovely fabric!

The package came when Maddie was over and she thought it was so cool. Seriously she couldn’t stop looking at it or asking me questions about it. Finally I let her wear it for a little while. I have to agree it’s lovely – I am so pleased.

I, on the other hand, am a very bad swapper, and I’m 99% sure the recipient of my name badge thinks I’ve forgotten her. I didn’t realise these were supposed to be done at the beginning of May! But I AM working on it. Here is a peek, before the name goes on. If you haven’t received your badge yet, this might be yours so don’t be sad…

This is my first ever attempt at embroidery and I enjoyed it so much! This design is from the Embroidery Companion by Alicia Paulson which is such a great book!

Here’s the back – pretty tidy, eh? Get me!

I’m pleased, but Maddie says it’s not as nice as the one I received. Hopefully she’ll change her tune when it’s finished – and it WILL be finished!

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The Valentine’s Day table runner

By Annie on May 9, 2012 in Quilting

Yes, I know Valentine’s Day was months ago! But this is the project I created way back then for our February London Modern Quilt Guild challenge. I wanted to use red and pink without going to cute, so I picked up the Tree Pods print in Red from Saffron Craig’s Magical Lands collection and made a super-simple table runner.

Here it is in the photo we finally got round to taking for the shop’s homepage. Doesn’t it look great?

We staged this photo at The Kitchen Table, a lovely little breakfast/lunch place on Mill Lane in West Hampstead. The customers are all locals and they helped us set up the shot – one lent us the teapot off of her table and others helped us arrange the flowers. If you’re in the neighbourhood pop in – I can’t recommend the bacon and peanut butter sandwiches highly enough. Good peanut butter is hard to find in this country!

I’d argue you don’t need a proper pattern for this, but here are the basic steps. You need a half metre of treepods (two quantities in the shop), a half metre of Kona Bone (two quantities in the shop) and a metre of insulated wadding (one quantity in the shop). The finished size will be approximately one metre long and 32cm wide.

1. Take a half metre of treepods and cut off the sides so you’re just left with the red print like you see above

2. Cut the excess into 2″ strips and use it for your binding.

3. Use insultated wadding and Kona Bone for backing (if you buy the treepods too I’ll know what you’re up to, but you can email me to make sure I cut it that way for you).

4. Quilt with minimal random straight lines (I used Gutermann Sew-All in 001).

5. Take those binding strips and bind.

6. Optional: Make up a set of simple napkins in Carnation and Rich Red.

Easy right? But so pretty! You can find a kit in the shop right here.

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Flock has arrived (and a giveaway!)

By Annie on May 8, 2012 in Giveaways, In the shop

I’m excited to tell you that Flock has arrived in the shop! This fun, retro, 70′s-style collection from Thomas Knauer is based on the episode of the Brady Bunch in which Greg gets to turn his dad’s den into his bedroom. Ed says the Brady Bunch isn’t so well known here, so I found a video for you to watch if you’re so inclined (there is some URL hijinx in this link to get around the UK block, so do not be alarmed). I’ve hand-picked a mini collection of seven prints from Flock for the shop, and you can find meterage here.

I also want to spread the word that the London Modern Quilt Guild is hosting Thomas at Tricolette on 7th July at 4pm. If you’re in London come on by and hear his talk and meet him in person! He’s only passing through London briefly so this is the only time you’ll get the chance.

Starting today we are running a giveaway with Katy over at I’m a Ginger Monkey. There are two bundles up for grabs that include these seven prints and five coordinating Kona solids. You know how I love to coordinate with Konas! That giveaway ends Monday, so head on over!

Here’s what you can win:

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An interview with Lucie Summers

By Annie on May 4, 2012 in Interviews

I only briefly met Lucie Summers at Quilt Market in November, but her debut collection for Moda, Summersville, seriously stuck with me. I was awed by the quilt she’d made for her “boothlet” and went just completely mad for the collection. To me it feels like it belongs in the beach house I’ll never own, in which the decor is minimalist but cozy with lots of white and pops of colour (just google image beach cottage chic if you can’t picture that). Perhaps because of that picture in my head, there is something about Summersville that calms me and just makes me feel happy. Does that make any sense?

I’m not alone in my passion for Summersville, because the collection has entirely sold out (as in it’s all been sold to shops, like this one, which will have it in stock very soon!) Since Market I’ve been in touch with Lucie quite a bit and as a result she’s hosting screen-printing workshops for the London Modern Quilt Guild at her studio. The first has already taken place and the attendees have come away thrilled. Lucie also agreed to do an interview with me for this here blog, so I’ll get to the point and share it with you! Thanks Lucie!

Credit: Lucie Summers

The Village Haberdashery: How long have you been designing textiles? Where did you learn the craft? When did you decide to make a career of it?

Lucie Summers: My background is in printed textiles, which is what I had a special interest in at art school, then after that, I opened up a patchwork shop with my mum called The Colour Room. In those days, quilt stores like ours were not usual in the UK, and we were quite ahead of our time. We did workshops and got a reputation for selling ‘bright’ fabrics – I had very strong opinions about what I liked and didn’t like, and the result was a very non-traditional mix of colours and textures! Once I had my first son, I decided I just wanted to be a ‘mum’ for a while so we closed the shop. It was a fabulous time, but helping other people with their work was actually rather draining and didn’t leave mum or I the time or energy for our own work.

After my second son was born, nearly 7 years ago, I decided to pick up where I left off at art school and started to play with screen printing again. After discovering Flickr, I began uploading some photos of my work…one thing lead to another and after encouraging comments from my Flickr contacts, decided to open an Etsy shop called lusummers. To begin with, I mainly sold paper collages – with two small boys it was easy to pick up and put down my work at a moment’s notice! I started to combine the collages with screen printing, then got back into quilting. I didn’t want to use the fabrics everyone else was using so set about creating my own, and Summersville was born, and much to my surprise became quite a hit.

Credit: Lucie Summers / Quilt Market quilt

TVH: What is the story behind your collaboration for Moda? Were you discovered?

LS: I’m so excited to be described as a ‘Moda’ designer, especially having been a fabric retailer in the past! It’s a bit of a long story, but basically, I asked my friend Katy to help me compile a list of the best fabric manufacturers and sent off emails to a few of them asking for their submission guidelines. I kept the guidelines in my inbox to spur me on to submit some ideas, but didn’t really get around to it – I was lazy, and actually, I was afraid of failure. Then, about a year later, completely out of the blue, I received an email from Moda asking if I was still interested in submitting – they’d been looking at my blog and liked what they’d seen. So of course, this was just the kick up the bum I needed! I sent off examples, received an email saying they loved them and that the samples were being sent off to the mill…fast forward to a year later, and my ‘Summersville’ collection is out in quilt stores across the world and I’m waiting for samples of my second collection!

Credit: Lucie Summers

TVH: Can you tell us about a typical day in the life of a surface pattern designer?

LS: Well, I’m very lazy and get out of bed the latest I possibly can, around 8am. We try to be out of the door for school at 8.40 and I’m back from dropping the boys off at about 9.10. After a coffee, I sort out emails, print out any orders etc. I don’t like people having to wait for their orders, so I try to print and package that day. Now we don’t live in town, I don’t go to the post office especially but fit it in with other tasks. Even so, I’m usually waiting in line 3 or 4 days a week!

My work is so varied – some days I might be playing with fabric for a quilt, others I’ll be scanning and manipulating my drawings into designs for fabrics or for a company that sells my mugs. Sometimes I might be writing magazine articles, writing blog posts, thinking up tutorials…just the way I like it – there is no real typical day!

Credit: Lucie Summers

TVH: You have such a distinct, recognisable style and colour palate. Will future collections complement Summersville or will you take a new direction?

LS: My plan for the moment is to stick with my hand drawn, distinctive look. It might change down the line as my work develops, but certainly with the second collection it will compliment Summersville rather than be a totally new look. Because it was designed at the same time it probably is more of a ‘proper’ collection. With Summersville some of the designs were created up to two years apart because they were already designs i was selling in my etsy shop. I sent Moda my whole back catalogue of designs and they picked the ones they like the most so they were a mix of older and new designs, it’s quite eclectic. I’ve got an idea that’s a little more, i don’t know, risky? for my third line, but we’ll see what happens there!

Credit: Lucie Summers

TVH: What do you have planned for the rest of 2012 and into 2013? Are you showing a new collection at Spring Market?

LS: The second line will be seen at Fall Market so I won’t be there this spring. It would be nice to have a few lines out a year, but we’ll see – it’s up to Moda and whether they like my ideas! I’ve got something quite exciting up my sleeve for the rest of this year, I can’t say too much about it yet because it’s not set in stone, but if it goes ahead I shall be very busy this summer. I’m also beginning to teach – I’ve a few workshops booked in London, and locally.

Credit: Lucie Summers

TVH: What are your favourite things to sew? When you’re not sewing with your own fabric, whose do you sew with?

LS: My favourite thing to sew are mini quilts or 12 inch pieces for walls. I definitely err on the side of improv and I rarely make anything from a pattern. I enjoy making stuff up as I go along. I’m definitely not a fabric snob, I couldn’t care less about who designed what or whether it’s the latest cool collection…I’m more drawn to bright fabrics than anything else and I’m partial to spots and dots. I’m always on the look out for nice vintage stuff in charity shops and I’m getting quite a nice collection of scandinavian style designs. I’ve got some of Aneela Hoey’s Sew Stitchy collection and I keep stroking it. I’m far too scared to cut into it! Some of them go brilliantly with Summersville so I shall make something gorgeous soon!

Credit: Lucie Summers

TVH: How do you feel about Summersville selling out?!

LS: Amazed. Humbled. Thrilled. Excited. I just hope to heck the second line isn’t a flop!

Thanks Lucie! There is no WAY your second collection will flop!

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Handwarmer pattern adjustments for kids

By Annie on May 3, 2012 in Knitting

Maddie loved the handwarmers I knitted myself so much that I decided to make her a pair too. Manos Silk Blend comes in such a massively generous skein, it was possible to make both sets with yarn left over!

These are such an unphotogenic garment – basically a tube with a hole – but I got Ed to take some snaps anyway to show you just how far this yarn goes. She absolutely loves these and they match her purple coat perfectly. If there’s a plus side to all this rainy nonsense, it’s that she can still wear them a bit longer!

I haven’t gotten around to adding my pattern adjustments to Ravelry, so I thought I’d give it to you quickly here. First, grab this free pattern from the Purl Bee and a skein of Manos Silk Blend in your favourite colour. You’re going to follow the pattern except:

For a woman:

Cast on 40 stitches on 3.5mm bamboo DPNs
Knit 60 rows
Work 11 rows for the thumb hole
Knit 15 rows from the top of the thumb hole to the end

For a seven year old girl (these will stretch and grow with her for at least a couple of years):

Cast on 35 stitches on 3.5mm bamboo DPNs
Knit 56 rows (these cover more arm than the grown up’s at Maddie’s request – you can adjust to your kid’s preference)
Work 9 rows for the thumb hole
Knit 10 rows from the top of the thumb hole to the end

There’s a kit in the shop here if you want to try these yourself. Enjoy!

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Little Man shirt and shorts

By Annie on May 1, 2012 in In the shop, Sewing

Here is a peek behind the latest project featured on our homepage! It’s about time I show off a project idea for boys, don’t you think? Read on for more about how we made this stylish little outfit, or just head to the shop and buy a kit.

I think the Curious Nature collection by David Butler for his textile brand Parson Gray (such a mouthful, David!) is brilliant. It’s the most man-friendly collection I can think of and David did a fabulous job of showing off its versatility at Quilt Market. Here is his booth – ignore the horrid photo please, I was nervous and only had my phone! It was jam-packed with inspiration.

I have loads of ideas for Curious Nature but the first project I wanted to do was this “Little Man” shirt and khaki shorts. It’s the Sketchbook Shirt and Shorts pattern from Oliver + S. I liked the contrast of a sophisticated colour palate and modern print in a size 3T shirt. This little boy is cool! Don’t get me wrong – I’m mad about the cute boy prints out there, like Backyard Baby, but I wanted to show something a bit different! The shirt is made in the Trade Blanket print in Oyster.

I also love that we have so many neutrals that can be used for little boy khakis, from Straw (seen here) to Ash to Olive. I lined the pockets on these with more Trade Blanket. A bit matchy matchy but you can’t see unless you look!

The pattern, as is to be expected from Oliver + S, was easy to follow and full of details, like this faux fly front.

I’ve put a kit in the shop if you’d like to make your own Little Man shirt and khaki shorts!

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Maddie’s May Kona Picks

By Annie on May 1, 2012 in In the shop

When Maddie picked out her Konas this month she really got down to business! She wants to sell more so she asked which colours are the most popular. She didn’t end up using the biggest sellers, which is fine by me – I think she has great taste – but I loved that she put thought into how to create a more appealing product. What a brilliant marketer she could be someday if her plan to be an astronaut for NASA falls through. She’s seven, by the way.

So without further ado, here are the picks for May: Azure, Tomato, Bright Pink, Canary and Tangerine. What do you think? You can find them in the shop here.