Sew in Love {with Fabric}: Butterfly Fandango

Ann Lauer's new Butterfly Fandango collection debuted at Quilt Market. These fabrics are truly elegance in motion, and they're laced with metallic for added flair. We're going to let Ann introduce the fabrics to you:

This is your second butterfly collection, right?

Yes, Butterfly Forest had more realistic butterflies, and these are more stylized. Butterflies are a shape and a creature that I really like. These just have an incredible amount of detail. That’s one area Benartex really does well—they don’t just stamp out flat color. These butterflies printed beautifully.

Can you tell us about the overall look of the collection?

People say it has an Asian flair. I didn’t think of that specifically. I wanted layers of detail and shapes. I like the way the shapes interlock.

Tell us about some of the prints.

I think the line has a fantastic focal print. It works really well in places where you’d use a panel. And the biggie is—there’s a stack and whack made with this that is fabulous (shown further down in the post).

The background on the large focal print is so interesting—swirls, touches of other colors, and flowers are laced through it. Because the background has so much going on, you can have so much fun with fussy-cutting; you don’t have to simply fussy cut the butterfly.

The smaller butterflies are set on the simpler swirl texture background. They have the same details as the larger butterflies, only smaller.

The stripe came from the focal fabric background. I think it’s really fun to have it swirl. It’s different from my typical stripes, and it can be used in blocks, borders and sashing.

The medallions—holy cow, look at the details in those. They’re great for blocks and sashing.

The black print with gold butterfly outlines is just super cool. The background is simplified, but the butterflies still have so much detail. It printed wonderfully.

How do the metallic accents enhance the collection?
The gold metallic is in everything except the swirling texture print. I think it’s just the right amount—just enough gold to add sparkle, without being too heavy.

Here's Ann's Stack and Whack quilt, shown at Market--so much fun with only three fabrics!