Inspiration in Dallas

Once in a great while, I am lucky enough to get invited down to Dallas to visit Moda and see the fabric and quilt masters up close. This past week I popped down for the Moda retreat - once a year they invite their customers and designers to come take a few classes, listen to inspiring speakers, eat wonderful food, as well as get a peek at the upcoming lines. After teaching her classes, Joanna Figueroa and I got a chance to sneak off to the library to look for inspiration to use in our new fabric lines. I've only been in the document textile library once before - it's a small room packed with all sorts of bits and pieces that Cheryl, the design director, has picked up over the many, many years she has worked with Moda. Eighteenth century French toiles, English chintz, American quilt squares - you name it, it's there. Tucked into small drawers, they have organized each category of fabric- so when you are looking for a 19th century French fantasy floral - you look through not one, but many pieces that represent this style. It's a fabric lover's dream. My favorite part - the part I dream about, are the old French fabric sample books. Falling apart - held together with just a crusty old spine, these books are filled with pages that have small squares of fabric glued down to each page - some of the books are 4" thick!
Later that night as I was going to sleep - the strangest thing happened - I kept having random designs of fabric pop through my head - like small flashes of color and shapes - it was as if I had looked at so many designs that my brain was on auto-design. I loved it!
I'll post photos of our newest line, Maison de Garance next week - lot's of old reds, chocolate browns and tea stains - once I receive the fabric samples we'll have a grand giveaway!