The Fabric Game

Last August, as I was working away in the shop, there was a knock at the door around 3:00. I was working with Casandra, and I told her that I would see who it was and let them know we were just about to sit down and finally eat our lunch. Maybe they could come back later? It turned out to be Cheryl and Lissa from Moda Fabrics and the very talented Joanna from Fig Tree and Co.
They looked around a bit and then somebody finally said, "You know, we should work together!" - at that point we all sat down at the back table in the notion room and began plotting out how FG was going to start designing fabric for Moda.
That was over six months ago, and finally, on Friday, I saw the fruits of our labor! Over 50 scraps of printed florals and solids came in a large overnight envelope - I had to quickly sort through each one and determine which ones I loved and which ones I could live without. We had given Moda all sorts of small scraps of inspiration and color ideas and they had taken the old French rural look and ran with it. I wasn't sure if they would be able to really make new fabric look and feel old - as if it had been around forever. I am happy to report that they can! Some of the samples looked identical to the 100 year old pieces we had given them.  Although not home decorating fabric, Moda has printed one pattern, our Oiseaux Bleu, on a 56" wide enzymed washed cotton - in thee color ways: red, pink and chocolate. The rest of the fabrics are 44" wide cotton - perfect for crafts, quilts and clothing! I didn't have much time with the fabric swatches - I had to pack them up and return them so they could go back to Japan and be tweaked a bit - to make the colors perfect. The fabrics will premiere in Pittsburgh at the International Quilt Market in May and be available in sewing and quilting shops around the world in the Fall. 

And to think I almost didn't open the door that day in August!