Andover Fabrics Blog

Greetings from Annie at ByAnnie.com! I am the creator of ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable and also write patterns for useful bags and sell hardware and zippers to finish your creations. You can find me on Facebook at Patterns by Annie and ByAnnie.com or at my website, www.ByAnnie.com.

In preparation for Spring Market, I needed to make lots of samples of new patterns. Luckily, with all the beautiful fabrics from Andover, it wasn’t hard for inspiration to strike!

First off is the too-cute Forest Friends by Makower UK. Foxes and other woodland creatures are all the rage right now, and this fabric fit in perfectly with my outdoor-themed patterns. Potluck Pals offers a sheltered container for taking casseroles and pies to your next potluck. These carriers keep a 9″ x 13″ casserole pan or 10″ pie handy, fresh, and secure.  Features include an easy-to-grab handle, zippered enclosures, and interior mesh pockets for holding ice packs or serving utensils.

Picnic in the Park holds everything you need for a picnic. The lid zips open fully for easy access to the interior. An abundance of mesh and slip pockets keep everything organized. Picnic in the Park is extra roomy to hold plates, cups, utensils, a tablecloth, beverages, food and more.

Doesn’t that fun tree fabric just make you want to run to a park and climb a tree?

When I got to a big quilt show in Portland last summer without the key to my cash box or my Square readers, I knew that my next sewing project needed to be an all-in-one-place organizer for cords, chargers, iPad, cash box key, scanner, and other electronic gear.

 Now traveling with electronics is easy with my new Power Trip! This handy organizer features an outer pocket (a perfect spot for that cash box key!) and easy-grab padded handle. Inside are zippered pockets and divided mesh pockets on both sides. Ex Libris by Alison Glass really makes this bag pop.

Perhaps the most beautiful way the ExLibris fabric was used was in this Daytripper 2.0. I love how the simplicity of the bag showcases this beautiful focus fabric. Daytripper 2.0 is a cinch to make, too, making it a quick and easy project for a beginner.

Thanks for reading along! Now, which bag is your favorite?

Please SHARE the news: Little House on the Prairie is coming to Andover Fabrics!

Stay tuned to see the premier Little House on the Prairie collection, featuring designs inspired by illustrations from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s novels, florals of the time period, and the TV series, which became a touchstone of our American identity.

Hi there! I am Cheryl Kuczek of Paradiso Designs. I love to design edgy eclectic clothing and handbags that are fashion trend setters with a bohemian twist. My company mission is to offer solid construction methods with my patterns that inspire the home sewist to make fun & cool garments that really do fit. My Paradiso construction methods also allow the handbags to look fabulous for a long time.

I had a blast making my 2 newest patterns, The AlisonG4 Hobo, and the Lorelai Skirt Formula out of “Handcrafted” by Alison Glass. Handcrafted is one of the most stunning fabric collections that I have worked with in a long time. It inspired the patchwork inset on the Lorelai Maxi Skirt, because all the different fabric designs and colors work so well together, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Any Paradiso clothing pattern with the word formula in the title means that the pattern is cut based on your measurements, and the patterns work for plus sizes too!! My Paradiso handbag patterns have designer touches to them with strong hardware & pleather straps. I developed the techniques to sew the pleather into straps, and you can reference my pleather techniques on my blog under the “Gospel of Pleather” tutorials that covers 4 techniques to use and sew pleather in my patterns or in your own handbag designs. And Paradiso has Hardware Kits & Pleather Kits to accompany the handbag patterns!!

And because I want you to have complete sewing success when sewing with Paradiso Patterns, please feel free to contact me with any questions at cheryl@paradisodesigns.com.

Happy Sewing!

www.paradisodesigns.com
www.paradisodesigns.blogspot.com
instagram = @cherylofparadiso
twitter = @asewingdiva
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I am giddy with excitement to share something fun I’ve been working on!  I got the chance to play with some wonderful fabrics from Andover Fabrics to display at the International Quilt Market in Houston October 25-27.

Rewind several months, and you may remember that this summer I went on a trip to NYC to meet up with some of my sewing blogger/designer friends and shop around the garment district.  I still owe a post on that trip – it was so amazing!  While we were there, we got to visit the offices of Andover Fabrics on Broadway and meet with several lovely people and fawn over fabulous fabrics!

We got to see this new line of fabrics from Alison Glass called Handcrafted and all of us were threatening to take the production samples home in our bags!  It’s a modern take on batik and the colors are just amazing!  Alison gave a nice overview of the inspiration for the different designs and the backstory of the line on her blog.

Needless to say, I literally jumped at the chance to sew something for the Andover booth.  Not only will my design and work be on display for thousands of people at market, but I got to be one of the first to sew with these amazing fabrics!

I decided to sew a design I’ve been working on for almost a year.  It’s been evolving over time, and you may remember theversion I made in linen this summer.  I’ve removed the center front seam from that version and changed up the construction just a little and I’m so pleased with how my vision is coming to life!  Only one problem… I just discovered that there’s already a lovely pattern with essentially an identical fold-back collar.  So, I’ll ponder that and see if I can change up my design a little to better differentiate them before offering a sewing pattern under Jennuine Design!

The dress has no closures and a comfy elastic back that’s formed from a self-casing made by sewing a line just below where the skirt and underskirt attach to the fully-lined bodice.  This way there’s no exposed elastic, and no extra work to install a separate casing.  This was one of those construction methods that I dreamed up and it sewed exactly as I had hoped!

For this version to showcase the fabrics I used two different fabrics from the Handcrafted line.  The outer fabric is ‘Petal’ in Eggplant and is this amazingly saturated shade of purple and the flower print is scattered becoming more dense along the borders.  The center of the panel has no design, and I used this area for the bodice so it gradually builds as you approach the hemline.  The lining is called ‘Bouquet’ in Ruby and is is an all-over design that looks like spatters, which really shows off the contrast of the colors.

To really play up the “handcrafted” nature of these fabrics and to highlight the fold-back collar detail, I handstitched a pick stitch, or I guess really a running stitch along the neckline with chartreuse perle cotton.  I love adding little details like this and I think for this dress in particular it is the exact right finishing touch.

Arden and I took advantage of one the last warm days of Autumn and the little strip of woods along a creek in my brother’s back yard.  Doesn’t she look like a woodland nymph with the rich colors and the fall backdrop?

So if you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with me!  And if you happen to be lucky enough to attend Quilt Market in person, I’d love to hear about it as well as whether you spot my little dress in Andover’s booth!

And now how ’bout that giveaway I hinted at in the title?  Andover is offering one happy reader a chance to get your own Handcrafted to enjoy!  Three one-yard cuts from the Handcrafted line are yours if you are chosen by the wonders of the Rafflecopter widget here!

Greta Songe is a native of South Louisiana, but has lived in Coralville, Iowa for quite a while now. Most of her design work is strongly rooted in the handmade with most work beginning as paper cuts, prints, or ink drawings. She loves the happy accidents and textures that come along with that method of working. Also, she is a compulsive doodler with the edges of any notebook that she takes into a meeting and many scraps of paper around the house filled with with lots and lots of characters and design doodles!

When she’s not sewing or making designs, she loves to cook, bike, swim, and garden. Some of her best ideas have come from when she’s been out on a ride or spending time outdoors.

To view her work, visit www.gretasonge.com.

Stay tuned to see her first collection, Flower House, later this week.

My name is Sue Pfau and my pattern company is called Sweet Jane’s. I am a pattern designer. Usually I say I am a quilt pattern designer, but I have recently branched out into bags! I have been bitten by “the bag bug”. I love piecing as well, so I like to combine the two to make pieced, patchwork bags. This particular bag works great with Kim Schaefer’s Hand dyes fabrics. The rich colors and the similar tones make this fabric perfect for this bag!

If you have never tried to make a bag, you should make the leap! I started making bags about 1 year ago and I really enjoy it. I try to keep my bags simple. I find myself intimidated by bags that have too many pockets and zippers, or a bag I need to buy special hardware for. My bags are quick & easy to make, and don’t require any tricky handles or snaps! I love making bags because they take less fabric than quilts, work up quicker, and make great gifts. This bag is fully lined and has one large pocket inside. No need to put in a zipper if that intimidates you! One great thing about bags is you really can customize the inside if you have experience with zippers and pockets, so keep that in mind. If you have a large stash, you can make a bunch of bags without even going to the fabric store….you have to love that! I made the bag above with scraps.

Usually I quilt my bags, but I used a medium weight interfacing to line both the outer bag and lining for this one. It looks great, and it is a lot easier than quilting the bag. I wish I could make another bag in the reds, purples and orange/rust in this line, I just don’t have quite enough material in my house.

These strips will have to be made into a smaller project!

I used my fabric on this extra long table runner below. You can see all of the beautiful color combinations that are possible with this line of fabric, and how great they would look made into my bag! You can make a table runner like this one using 2” strips. I just cut the strip sets into varying widths and sewed them back together.

If you are interested in this bag pattern, or are curious about my other patterns using precuts and fat quarters, head over to my Etsy shop for a look! I hope you are feeling inspired!