Fenestella

Here's a quilt and a vocabulary lesson, all rolled neatly into one blog post. Stephanie Sheridan and Linda Leathersich of Stitched Together Studios recently designed this quilt for Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. Its name? 

Fenestella

"Fenestella" by Stephanie Sheridan and Linda Leathersich;
featured in Quilter's Newsletter magazine June/July 2013 

As in, fenestella (n):
a small window or an opening in a wall

As much a dimensional illusion as a work of quilted art, this design is a modern approach to the classic Attic Window concept, showing Paula Nadelstern's Fabrique-istan and Extreme Colors collections. Stephanie and Linda shared a bit about their stunning design with us. 

The name of this quilt, Fenestella, sounds like a Harry Potter character! Where did the name come from?

Stephanie: Yes, we did name this quilt, but not after a Harry Potter character! The word "Fenestella" means a small window or opening in a wall. With this design being a modern take on a traditional attic window block we felt the name was a good fit ... and it is just a fun word to say!

The fussy-cut squares really pop on the black. How did you decide on the design? Was it inspired by something?

Stephanie: This design originated in Mom's mind and we worked through the design process together ... which means that she drew it with colored pencils on graph paper, then took a picture with her cell phone and texted it to me. That is as far as her technical skills go ... then I took over with EQ7. Our goal was to create a modern design that really showcased the "Prima Donna" fabrics as Paula called them.

Why did you decide to make the squares different sizes?

Stephanie: The feature fabric in the smaller windows is a smaller scale design, so it called for smaller blocks.

Love the contrast of the teal windowpanes with the black background. Was teal your first choice?

Stephanie: We colored this design in several of the Fabrique-istan colorways, but we both love the color teal, so this was definitely our first choice. The Extreme Colors fabrics that Paula designed to compliment the Fabrique-istan line provided us with exactly the shading and contrast we needed to give Fenestella such a modern feel.

Talk about the machine quilting design you used.

Linda: The quilt called for unique, modern-style quilting and the asymmetrical diagonal wiggly lines fit the need. Using YLI invisible thread, I ditched the panes and blocks to make them pop off of the background. In the blocks I simply followed the designs of the beautiful fabrics. Love my older model non-stitch regulated Gammill longarm machine!

People often find Paula's fabric intimidating to work with. Can you talk about why this design works so well with her fabric?

Stephanie: I also used to find Paula's fabrics a bit intimidating, but once I got brave enough to cut it for the first time I fell in love with the versatility of the prints. This design highlights the focus fabrics with fussy cutting and the window frame colors.

Linda: I also use a lot of Paula's fabrics; I love making tote bags with them! I find them easy to work with, whether I am striving for perfect matches, or cutting asymmetrically (or willy nilly). I love the fact that all of the colors blend so well together, even between colorways. Paula's Extreme Colors are the perfect blenders for any project.

What do you like best about the quilt?

Stephanie: We love the clean lines of this quilt and the updated modern twist of the traditional Attic Windows block. 

Find out more about Stephanie and Linda here.

See the entire Fabrique-istan collection here and Extreme Colors here.

Find Quilter's Newsletter Magazine here.

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May Blog Hop: Day 2

Today we're back with Ebony Love from Love Bug Studios, who is using Extreme Colors to make an e-reader case. Do you know Ebony? She's a fantastically talented designer and machine quilter and you'll find plenty of eye candy on her site. 

Hi, I'm Ebony Love, and I'm a quilt designer, author, and lover of Benartex fabric. I have been designing and making quilts for Benartex for just over a year now, and it's thrilling to work with fabric before it's released to the general public. The only drawback to that is not being able to share my projects with you until the fabric line is released! 

One of my favorite fabrics this year has been the Extreme Colors line by Paula Nadelstern, and it's no wonder. This fabric is bright and cheerful, and comes in 13 different color ways. There's enough pattern in the fabric that it provides interest and texture, but not so overwhelming that you can't coordinate it with other fabrics. I was so excited when the quilt I made using this fabric made the cover of Quilt Magazine last month, and I just can't help making more projects with it. One of my friends pointed out to me the other day that I'm always making things for other people, but I rarely make anything for myself. So I decided that before my entire stash of Extreme Colors disappears, I would make myself something from the line. A sleeve for my Kindle seemed the perfect thing, since I take it with me everywhere.  
This sleeve fits my Kindle whether it's inside or outside the leather case; if you want to make a similar case for your e-book reader, you might need to adjust the dimensions slightly. My pouch finishes at 6-1/2" h x 10" w.  

Materials

• Assorted pieces of Extreme Colors for exterior
• Approximately 1/2 yard coordinating solid for exterior
• Fat quarter for lining
• 2" fusible hook and loop tape

 

Cutting and Piecing

The exterior of this pouch was made using die-cut triangles and 2-1/2" strips, which I pieced using an improvisational technique. If you don't have a die cutter, you could rotary cut these pieces instead. I'm aiming for a piece that's approximately 11" x 18".
 
You can chain piece triangles to strips, which I have done here, but if you want to be able to cut the triangles apart at an angle, you need to leave plenty of space between your shapes. I did not do this (which is perfectly fine too) but it meant having more odd angles to work with and pieces to fill in.  
As you get more pieces stitched and cut, you can start piecing them together to form interesting shapes. Don't be afraid to hack off pieces of the triangles and strips in order to get the shapes you need to piece together.  
At some point, you need to start squaring off the shapes so you can get the size fabric you need for the exterior of the pouch. I selected these two large pieces plus an extra strip to stitch together into my final base fabric.  

Quilting and Assembly

Once you have the size fabric you need, square it up, and baste it to a layer of batting only.
 
Secure the pouch exterior to the batting using whatever quilting you like. I just used a straight stitch across the width of my pouch, and aligned previously stitched lines with various places on my presser foot to get different spacing between the lines. The thread I'm using is a 50 wt cotton thread by Aurifil that matches my solid fabric.
 
Once you have finished the quilting, square up your exterior fabric to 10-1/2" x 17-1/2". Depending on how densely you quilt your piece, you may lose a little bit of length and width anyway, so squaring it up is a good idea! You also should cut a lining piece to the same measurement. Now here's the scary part of the pouch making: cutting the angles for the flap closure. Because of the random angles in the piecing, I thought it appropriate to also have random angles for the flap closure. A little tip here when you are cutting off corners: make sure you aren't cutting more than 5" deep along the longest side so your pouch folds correctly. I have aligned one side of my ruler with the 45-degree angle, and you can see that I'll be cutting off about 5" of length on that side.  
Rotate the piece and cut another angle, this time a little shallower than the first. It's up to you whether you want your angles to meet in a point or if you want a straight section at the edge.
 
Layer your pouch right sides together with your lining piece. Cut the lining to match the angles on the exterior piece.
 
Pin the pieces together, leaving a few inches on the edge opposite your flap open for turning. I've marked the starting and stopping points with two pins.  
Use a 1/4" seam allowance and stitch around your pouch between the pins. Backstitch at each corner to reinforce those areas. Cut away the seam allowances at each corner, close to your backstitches. This will allow us to get nicely squared & full corners when we turn our pouch right side out.  
Turn your pouch right side out, using a point turner to square the corners. Press the piece flat around all sides. Fold under the opening 1/4" and pin closed.
 
Topstitch the opening close to the edge or handstitch closed. Here is where the straight line quilting on my pouch comes in handy - my topstitching blends in with the rest of the quilting so no one knows that's where I closed my pouch. Except you, 0f course! Before we finish up the pouch, let's position the hook and loop closure. Cut down the hook side only to approximately 3/4" and round off the corners. I wrapped the pouch around my Kindle to get a rough position for the hook tape. You want to position the hook side so that it is well inside the flap (about 1" to 1-1/2" from the tip.)
 
 Follow the manufacturer's instructions to fuse the hook tape to the outside of the pouch. (You can also secure the tape with stitching if that makes you feel better.) Fold up the pouch and pin the sides.  
Starting at the folded edge of the pouch, stitch approximately 1/4" from the sides around the entire edge of the pouch, backstitching in the corners and where the two pouch layers meet. Stitching 1/4" from the edge allows you to stitch through only 6 layers of fabric instead of 10, and adds a nice pop of color by exposing the lining along the sides.
 
 The last step is to position the loop closure on the inside flap. Leave the piece long, but round the edges before fusing it to the flap. This allows you to adjust the flap closure for the contents of the pouch. For example, if I wanted to carry my phone and my keys in the pouch, there's enough room in the flap to expand and still close with the hook side without seeing it. I like using hook and loop tape for the quick closures it makes, but it's not the most attractive to look at.  
That's all there is to it! This is such a great gift for the bibliophile in your life, or for yourself if you want to carry around bits of your favorite fabric with you everywhere you go.
 

Now, if you're sad because you don't have any Extreme Colors of your own to work with, Benartex has a special prize for you. You can enter to win an awesome fat quarter pack of the entire line of Extreme Colors (that's 13 fat quarters!) by doing just two things. 
 
First, sign up to follow the Benartex blog (either by Google Friend Connect or email) - both options are in the right hand sidebar. Then, pop over to the LoveBug Studios Blog and leave a comment on my blog hop post telling me what you would make with this fat quarter pack if you win. You need to do this by 11:59pm on May 31st in order to win, so good luck!

Thanks Ebony! 

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FFF: Fantastic Fabrique Foursome!

Raise your hand if you love Paula Nadelstern's kaleidoscope-style fabric but feel a little hesitant about cutting into it.

(Okay, we have to ask...did you actually raise your hand even though we couldn't see you?)

Wendy Sheppard's "Fabrique Foursome" design, featured in the Summer 2013 issue of Easy Quilts, has the answer. Check it out:

"Fabrique Foursome" designed and machine quilted by Wendy Sheppard
and pieced by Sherry McConnell;
featured in Easy Quilts summer 2013
Photo courtesy of Fons & Porter

We asked Wendy for some tips on cutting Paula's gorgeous fabric, and she was happy to share, along with some additional photos of her quilt.

We love how you used Paula's Fabrique-istan fabric! Can you talk about how you cut into it and how you figured out how to do that?

When I look at a large fabric print pattern, I try to look to see if there's any symmetry first.  Then, I try to see if I couldn't take advantage of the symmetry and cut in a way that would efficiently use the pattern print.  In this case, I saw a large star print which is symmetrical, and proceeded to quarter the star to be used in constructing a block. 

Did you purposely select each sashing plus sign color to match the fussy cut squares?

Yes, I did.  I used the bright sashing fabrics to counter the black in the fussy cut squares.

Any tips for fussy cutting?

Definitely do a test sample.  Sometimes with fussy cutting, I don't press my fabric before cutting because heat from the iron tends to slightly distort the fabric weave that would make precise fussy cutting a little challenging, especially if I have to rely on straight lines in the print pattern.

Favorite thing about the quilt?

The colors!!!

Favorite thing about the fabric?

The prints and colors that just draw the viewer to want to submerge in all those colors.

Tell us about your decision to add the outer black outline border.

I find black to be the best blender when using a lot of colors in a quilt design. That "black" black fabric seems the perfect choice in "reining" in all the bright and bold colors scattered all throughout the quilt, and seems to provide a nice boundary within which the other colors can show off.

Any advice to quilters out there?

I always try to encourage my quilting friends to try out color palettes that aren't "their" thing necessarily -- sometimes, the effect can be stunningly and strikingly beautiful and out of the ordinary!

See more photos and learn more about this quilt on Wendy's blog.

See the entire Fabrique-istan line here and Extreme Colors line here.

Find the kit for this project here.

Find Easy Quilts here.

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Extreme Color in Action

Everyone loves tonals, but just what makes a truly great tonal print? 
We think it involves texture, depth, and beautifully saturated color. A stand-out tonal will compliment the prints it is paired with when used as a "solid," but will also shine if you give it a starring role.

We've shown you Paula's Extreme Color collection as the trusty sidekick to the dynamic, pattern-filled Fabrique-istan line, but today we're letting these tonals take center stage. 

Here's "Whirligig," by Ebony Love of LoveBug Studios, 

made using a Drunkard's Path block. 

Color saturation at it's best! 

 The pattern for this quilt is featured in the April-May issue of Quilt magazine. You can order a kit (including die-cut Drunkard's Path units!) here.

We think it's a fantastic choice for the cover! 

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Where is Fabrique-istan?

If you're looking for some serious inspiration, today is your lucky day! You may have seen Paula Nadelstern's new collection, Fabrique-istan, but now you can hear all about it straight from the designer herself!

Paula talks about her "prima donna" prints, shows one of her favorite ever all-over prints, and shares her philosophy about using complex fabric to create simple quilts.

Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate, or tea), and get comfortable for this exclusive interview with one of the industry's master designer's, Paula Nadelstern.



You can see a few of the fabrics Paula discusses below; head over to our Facebook page or our website to see swatches of the entire mouth-watering line.

Are you in love? We're glad; we are too! 

With fabrics like these, the possibilities are endless. Check back later this week to see the simple quilt designs that Paula's friends made with these prints. 

Visit Paula's website here.

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