Improv Blog Hop: Day 4

Here comes inspiration! You've seen what Amy Friend has made with her new Improv fabric collection; for the rest of the week we have five bloggers sharing what they've made with these fun, modern fabrics. Be sure to stop by each day to see a new project made with Improv! (And if you missed our original interview with Amy, find it here.)

Today Nichole from Wild Boho is sharing what she made with a selection of lighter prints from Amy's Improv collection. (Hint: It's in a hoop!). Wait until you see the embellishments she added to her piece! 

Nichole says:
"When I saw the delicate colors of these fabrics, my thoughts immediately went to wispiness of hydrangeas in a summer garden. I chose to work with several of the white fabrics for my hydrangea flower, with the leaves and background both out of the same print but one in a subtle peach version and the other with an almost electric lime green color! When I finished embroidering my hydrangea, I added clusters of champagne colors sequins, because what would a fabric hydrangea be without sequins?!! This is a beautiful line of fabrics that can work as both neutrals or focal pieces...especially in floral and garden inspired projects!" 

Head over to Nichole's blog to see her entire project and find out how you can enter to win a bundle of Improv fabrics.

Follow along with our Improv Blog Hop:

Tuesday: Stephanie @Spontaneous Threads

Wednesday: Sharon @Color Girl Quilts

Thursday: Charise @Charise Creates

Friday: Nichole @Wild Boho

Saturday: AnneMarie @Gen X Quilters

Click here to see the entire Improv collection. (Be sure to ask for it at your local quilt shop--it's shipping to shops now!)
Click here to visit Amy's website.

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Irresistible Iris

Ann Lauer's newest collection, Irresistible Iris, is bold, bright, and beautiful! While irises take center stage, the coordinates themselves are equally eye-catching. We interviewed Ann to learn more about her iris line, so keep reading! 

What inspired you to create a line based on irises?

I think irises are an old-fashioned flower for a modern age. I’ve had lots of people email me, saying ‘that was my mother’s or my grandmother’s favorite flower.’ I think irises can be used in traditional or modern quilts.

We were able to take a beautiful flower and add artistic license—I think it’s very realistic looking, but it’s not exactly like the iris in your garden would be—we added a bit more color, a bit more variation—that’s the beauty of art.

One of the great things about Benartex’s printing is how well the details show. The printing brought out all the tiny details in the iris throat. It’s just exquisite.

Let’s talk about the colors.

While I love purple, I didn’t want the line to be all purple irises. Of course in today’s world, they’ve got huge numbers of variations. We have the purple, yellow, pinks, and blues in the main flower. Then the medium flower print we brought out more red and yellow.

Tell us about the background in the main prints.

On the background this time we’ve used something really different—a lacy medallion look. It can be traditional or modern. It’s very subtle, but it adds a real nice texture.

And that design translates over to the coordinates?

Yes. We took the lacy medallion that’s the background and added color, depth and value. I think it’s just fabulous—a really pretty all over print. It works like a solid but better—it’s a great tonal background for any pattern as well as a backing fabric.

I’m particularly excited about the coordinates in this collection. I think they’re unusual, and they add great texture and depth. The swirling beads are a great example. They bridge the colors in the collection and make me think of Mardi Gras beads. Plus each bead has texture.

The Vari Recs print actually comes from the stripe. In the stripe, there’s a skinny section of variegated striped lines. We took chunks of that in rectangular segments and colors it three ways.

And then the kaleidoscope. You can fussy cut a whole bunch of different kaleidoscope looks from it, and you can even use it as the focal print if you want to make a quilt using this collection without irises. If you cut it up, like for a bargello, it has great movement. And of course it’s beautiful as a quilt back.

What’s your favorite print?

Probably the stripe. I really love how magnificent the iris is  in the main print, but in the stripe you get it all—the iris, the medallions, the cool stripe on each side, the composition. It’s wonderful to use as a border!

There’s a coordinating embroidery collection from OESD as well, right?

Yes! I was very excited that OESD chose to digitize it. The color, depth and detail of the embroidery is just amazing. They did a really nice job. The embroidery isn’t just an iris—they also digitized medallions. I’ve designed two patterns that combine the fabric with the embroidery designs.

Ann designed "Abundantly Iris" which is available as a free quilt pattern on our website. 

Click here to download the pattern. 

Here's a peek at some additional patterns Ann has designed using her Irresistible Iris collection. You can find them on her website. 

Walk About

Spring Fling

Pinwheel Party

Stardom

Click here to see the entire Irresistible Iris collection.

Click here to see the Irresistible Iris embroidery collection from OESD.

Click here to visit Ann's website and see her Irresistible Iris patterns and kits. 

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Irresistible Iris Embroidery Special!

Remember last week when we shared a sneak peek at Ann Lauer's Irresistible Iris embroidery designs? 

We've got great news today! The embroidery collection is now available from OESD, and since it was voted to be the next new release on their website, it's being offered for $10 off through June 10! Note the coupon code in the image (VOTE10OFF) and click here to find more details and/or purchase the collection.

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Embroidery: Behind the Scenes

This week we’ve been sharing some of the embroidery collections that coordinate with our fabric lines. Today, we’re going behind the scenes. We talked with two experts at Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design: Tony Warriner, Design Center Manager, and Christy Burcham, Product Manager.

How are motifs from fabric lines chosen to become embroidery designs?

Christy: There are some artists who we have an established relationship with. Those artists have an idea of what motifs they’re drawing that they’d like to use for embroidery. That makes our job easy. Other times we go ‘shopping’—we look at new fabric lines and see what might add value to our embroidery lines.

Do you typically choose the focal motifs from fabrics?

Christy: Usually, though our digitizers can see things in fabric artwork that the average customer might not see as a motif. They pick out those pieces—even out of the background of a fabric—and make a really interesting piece.

Tony: There are a lot of really awesome background designs that work well for what we need.

Is there a range to the number of designs, or the complexity of designs that you like to have in a collection?

Tony: We try to cover a bit of everything. On average with a fabric line, we are looking for 20 designs to round out a collection. We’ll have 5 or 6 main focal point designs. Then we’ll have smaller elements that go with the main designs, as well as borders, corners, line work, and appliques.

How does a motif become an embroidery design?

Tony: We’ll start out by looking at the design. If there is a large open area of one color, we’ll decide we want to make that motif an applique. We’ll choose colors that match, and put some additional shading into it. We try to look at the embroidery from the perspective of the end user. We don’t want to have too many colors, which leads to lots of thread changing, but we use our techniques and a limited amount of colors to create what looks like twice as much. I think we do a really good job at keeping the colors and the amount of sewing time to a minimum.

What are some easy ways for a quilter to get into embroidery?

Christy: Getting your hands on it is where you want to get started, and there are lots of opportunities to do that. Many of our dealers offer classes where they’ll provide a machine. We do that too—we’ll go into a store and do a hands-on workshop. The customer doesn’t have to have used a machine before; she can come in and make a project during the class. If you have a friend with an embroidery machine, ask to try it. I think people will find it’s far less scary than they think it is.

How has embroidery evolved?

Tony: We used to actually lay out the artwork—as big as  poster—and take a ruler to mark off angles and points. Everything was so manual. It was done stitch by stitch by the digitizer. Now it’s all done on the computer.

Christy: The other thing that has changed dramatically is that the type of designs is so vastly different. Embroidery used to be industrial focused—mascots, logos, things you’d stitch on the chest of a shirt. Now our focus is heavily involved in what the creative user wants to do. It’s not about making clip art, it’s about the experience of a customer making something. It’s about what’s going to inspire someone to make something beautiful. Our biggest customer group is quilters. A lot of times people think that embroidery is a different sewer than a quilter. Embroiderers love to make quilts. Our most popular collections, our most popular products, are quilt-related. Quilting is big time.

Thanks, Tony and Christy, for taking the time to talk to us. 

Click here to see all Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design has to offer.

Click here to see the OESD designs that coordinate with our fabric lines.  

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Announcing our four winners from Cherry Guidry's pattern giveaway last week:

Chickasaw Lake:Natalie F

Dogwood Star:Alesha Klein

Lakeside Ride:Quilter

Sunday Ride Minis:QuiltShopGal

Congratulations, ladies! You'll be hearing from Cherry via email about getting your pattern prizes. 

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Focus on Embroidery: See what coordinates with our fabric!

We're focusing on embroidery here on the blog this week; today we're showing the embroidery collections that coordinate with some of our designers' fabric lines. 

Jackie Robinson has embroidery lines that coordinate with her three most recent fabric collections. 

A Mum for a Mum

Father Frost

Chickadees & Berries

Nancy Halvorsen has an embroidery collection for her Christmas Pure & Simple line, as well as some of her older lines.

Amanda Murphy has embroidery collections for two fabric lines:

Carina

Sparkle (consider this a sneak peek of one our holiday 2016 collections!)

 Susan Rooney has an embroidery collection for her Breezy Blooms line.

Cherry Guidry has embroidery collections for her two most recent lines:

Soul Blossom

Sunday Ride

Click here to see OESD's embroidery collections, including those featured in this post.  

p.s. We're launching an exciting giveaway (a sewing machine!) on Facebook. Be sure to check our Facebook page Wednesday evening for details! 

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Focus on Embroidery: Splash of Color

Not all quilters are embroiderers, and not all embroiderers are quilters. But when you do mix these two art forms together, the results are pretty incredible! 

This week we'll be focusing on embroidery here on the blog--specifically embroidery collections that coordinate with some of our fabric lines. If you already love embroidery, consider this a heads-up of some of the fun designs available for your next project. If you haven't jumped on the embroidery bandwagon, we hope you'll consider this week's posts an introduction to what is possible. Enjoy!

What do you get when you combine beautiful fabrics with stunning embroidery? A quilt like Sarah Vedeler's "Splash of Color," which is currently being featured as a series in McCall's Quilting. 

"Splash of Color" by Sarah Vedeler; machine quilted by Gina Perkes;
features in McCall's Quilting

We asked Sarah to tell us about "Splash of Color," and how this quilt design developed. 

How did Splash of Color get started?

I designed a quilt for McCall's using my new [at the time] fabric line, Transformations, and some of my newer embroidery designs. They loved the quilt and wanted to use it as a series quilt in 2016. (Instructions for making the quilt are spread out over six issues, beginning with the January/February 2016 issue of the magazine.)

Tell us about why this quilt design works so well with your Transformation fabric line. 

I designed it so you can do a certain amount of fussy cutting. I used the infinity circle print in the borders--they're each one row of circles, and the quilt was designed around this. For some of the appliques, I fussy cut the fabric--for example, I used the stripe in the scroll heart, and then I fussy cut the tree of life fabric to center it in a heart shape as well. 

Tell us about the applique work. 

I created the quilt using my embroidery machine; the applique is all digitized so it can be done on the embroidery machine. But because of the strength of design of the fabric, it's more applique work done on the embroidery, and not your typical embroidery with so much stitching. The embroidery actually features the fabric. I have a signature satin stitch that has a triple stitch around the outside edge and a triple stitch around the inside edge. It gives a really nice 3-D look and creates a beautifully clean satin stitch. It's kind of a satin stitch plus. 

How can quilters purchase the embroidery designs?

They're available on my website. The digital downloads include the designs in two different styles:  basic embroidery designs that highlight the applique, and then embroidered applique designs with solid fabrics to show off the gorgeous threadwork in the designs. I also created a Facebook group so anyone making the quilt can follow along, post photos, and ask questions. 

An example of the embroidered design used on solid fabric.

Click here to see Sarah's Transformation fabric.

Click here to visit Sarah's website and find the Splash of Color designs. 

Click here to find McCall's Quilting magazine. (The May/June issue, pictured below, is #3 out of 6 in the series.)

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