Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Happy afternoon everyone!

How are you doing lately? It's been a while since I wrote you... I hope everything is going well with you: much happiness and much sewing!! 

Here at my studio same thing: LOTS of sample sewing for Quilt Market, designing the booths, ideas about how to format School House to make it fun and engaging --YES, we are coming to School House!!! I'll have 2 sessions and soon I can tell you everything about it :-D

And there is the excitement to present my new collections, as well as AGF In-House and of course Bari J.!! I face it: every time Quilt Market is around the corner, for each day less to Market, the excitement and adrenaline in my body is inversely proportional... it goes up! I'm so happy that I can't wait to meet you all and show you what's new :)

Because I can't stay still, I'd love to show you here a sneak peek of what's coming. Let's start with INDIE!

This line is a cultural fusion of designs from around the world, with exotic florals and geometric global inspired prints. I've been wanting to create a collection like this for many years, and now I feel I was ready to deliver :)

Get in the INDIE mood with this sneak peek!

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll preview my second collection for this upcoming season. 

*hint hint* Are you ready for a little romance, this girly girl is ROCKIN!!

Love,

Pat

This months sewing room post goes to Messy Jesse. I will say that the name does not fit this lovely and tidy sewing room. The room was completely remodeled into a sewing haven complete with a victorian fireplace and built in shelves. Read on below to see how she did it and what some of her favorite elements are. Messy Jessie we LOVE your space!

Our First Home: Craft room update

Well here it is, this is my new sewing room / studio for messy jesse. It's the perfect craft space, with lots of shelving and storage for my growing fabric collection. A new addition to this room is a wall-mounted TV over my desk yippee!

Wowee such a difference hey, It's so amazing what a lick of white paint can do! I haven't got my new scalloped blind or a light fitting in yet so it's not quite there but I couldn't resist giving you an update. I was lucky enough to already have the wall shelves there when we moved in so all they needed was a rough sanding and some fresh paint. The thread rack is handmade by a seller I found on Ebay. I also found a cute little place to hang my bunting :)

Note the victorian fireplace I painstakingly restored for DAYS! I haven't got a proper picture of it before I started on it annoyingly, but it was covered in a ultra thick layer of cream paint which I stripped down using nitro mors solution and a little metal scraper, hopefully won't have to do that again : I My trustee expedit holds my sewing books and my prized collection of Golden Hands encyclopedia's (mentioned in a previous post here). As well as lots of paper-crafting bits and bobs. The ladder shelves house an array of sewing notions, threads, trims and paper patterns. I'm still working on this part, I'd quite like to have more of these things on show but I'm not sure how to work this yet.

I've got a new desk by up-cycling the old kitchen counter-tops we ripped out downstairs. It's so sturdy, and a great neutral colour for the room. My old desk from IKEA bowed with the weight of my sewing machine so hoping this won't do the same?

 And the crowning glory... the fabric collection! I've arranged it with vintage sheets, curtains and pillowcases on the bottom four shelves and modern fabric on the two shelves above that, then fat quarters all arranged my colour, topped off with some larger yardage pieces including some beautiful linen I brought back from Turkey on a holiday this year (going to be turned into a couple of sofa cushions). Some CK fabric, and a stack of vintage embroidery bits and bobs I've been collecting from charity shops this year. 

Haha my scrap bucket! what a disaster it looks but it actually works quite well for me. I need my scraps relatively easy to get to and not too tidy where it takes me forever to tidy. Do you have any good scrap organising tips? though I'm hoping to clear a lot of it in the new year with some scrap-busting projects.

A shelf of my vintage sewing baskets and tins store less-frequently-used items, like press studs, zips, alphabet stickers, and button poppers. Hmm have I missed anything out, let's see: deer ornament collection over the mantelpiece, vintage Singer sewing machine and spools of bakers twine = my perfect studio.

Thank you so much Messy Jesse for submitting your sewing room. I love the white furniture and rugs with the pop of color being your accessories and fabrics. Your Etsy store is packed with handmade goodness and I am sure everyone loves seeing where the magic happens :)

Ladies and Gentlemen if you have a sewing space that you would like to share please email us at [email protected].

Happy Sewing ladies :)

This months challenge really took a lot of you out of your comfort zones and pushed your limits. Some of you spent countless nights planning and sewing and slaving away for this challenge. Many waking up in cold sweats because of this table runner... well I would like to inform all of you... YOU DID A GREAT JOB!

The runners were fabulous! They show each one of your styles perfectly and we LOVE it. Now we can only choose 1 winner (and honestly we kick ourselves about that fact each time)..

But on with the show, the winner is........................

Brenda Fyles

*cheers and applause*

Brenda you are the proud mommy of 10 yards of Art Gallery Fabrics!!!

You were not afraid to use color in this challenge and you got the most use out of the Pures as well. You played well with the geometric requirement in this challenge. That's a lot of sewing and piecing young lady!

You also won the public vote for this challenge. Great job!

Challenge # 4 is already in motion... so ladies make it work :)

Some of the other entries below: (in progress)

Congrats to all of you and a big THANK YOU for your ongoing support and participation!

<3 Anais

Alright ladies I know the table runner was a toughie and therefore we decided to give you a small break this month.

April's challenge is a "Saddle Bag." The term "saddle" refers  that fact that this purse is worn to one side. This bag features a long strap so that runs across the chest and a unique shape.

This is a free month... So that means that we give you a break in the requirements and on size. You can let your imagination run wild and create the bag however you want it...

We used Chocolate Cherry Oval elements for this bag and accented the style with a tassel. Simple and cute, right?  The strap is made using White Champs Elysee's from the Dreaming in French collection.

Well,  as always the rules are:

1. Join our Facebook group to enter into the challenge, and "like us" if you want...
2. Must use Art Gallery Fabrics ONLY to make the projects.
3. Must be completed and submitted in the allotted time.
4. Must let your imagination run wild!

All entries will need to be submitted by midnight, Monday, April 30, 2012

Have fun with this one... there are no limits :)

Judging:  We will have 7 more people voting this month ...  AGF team (5 votes), our great designer & creative director Pat Bravo (1 vote) and  our awesome designer Bari J. (1 vote.)

May your thread be strong and your machine be speedy! Get set GO!!

XOXO, Anais