Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Hi everyone!

Summer may not be over yet, but a special time of year has begun. Can you guess what it is? It’s that time of the year most kids dread and crafty mommies love because they get to make time for sewing. It’s Back to School season! For some, school has already started but for those of you who still have some time, we bet you’re hurrying up to make everything perfect! Don’t worry, AGF is here to help!

A backpack is one of the most important school supplies any kid can have. So, we’ve put together a list of our 5 favorite bag patterns that are great for back to school. Check them out!

1. The Milla Bag

First, let’s start with one of my favorite backpack patterns designed by the girls here at the AGF HQ. Makers, I’m happy to introduce to you the Milla Bag! This spacious bag was first featured in the Millie Fleur fabrics by Bari J. look book as a messenger bag. The pattern is so versatile that it was then slightly modified to have backpack straps (picture above) for the Pastel Thrift fabrics by AGF studio look book. I simply love its vintage inspired design and the unique look the front straps give this backpack.

2. The Reflected Bag

If you have a daughter that’s a fashionista, this Reflected Bag designed by Pat Bravo is perfect to arrive the first day of school in style! We decided to make this bag with Artisan fabrics by Pat Bravo since it’s a feminine yet artistic collection. If you would like to experiment with different fabrics, I can totally imagine this bag being made with Nightfall Fabrics by Maureen Cracknell.

3. Pack the Back 

Another great pattern designed by the girls here in the AGF HQ is the “Pack the Back” pattern. This adorable backpack is great for any of you that have kids in elementary school. This backpack is spacious, cute, and simple to make! I’m sure you’re little one will love it as soon as they see it. For the version you see above, we decided to use Amy Sinibaldi’s sweet and youthful collection, Playground.

4. The Study Haul Bag

For those of you who prefer making something more classic, you’re going to love the Study Haul messenger bag designed by Sharon Holland! This bag is sturdy, stylish, and will look great throughout the school year. To make it extra durable, we decided to make it with “Outburst” canvas fabric from Sharon’s Sketchbook collection.

5. The Slouchy Backpack

Last but not least, we have the Slouchy Backpack pattern designed by our designer Bonnie Christine. As you can see we loved this pattern so much, that we had to make it every color of our textured denim fabric. This pattern is unique because it has a relaxed look yet is spacious enough for tons of books, snacks, and anything else your kids may need. My favorite one is the blue one made with the “Bluebottle Field” denim.

I hope you enjoyed our selection of bag patterns for back to school. Feel free to download all the patterns and make one of each! Let me know in the comments what your favorite bag is and what collection you would use to make it.

Happy Sewing!

Stephanie

Hello fabulous makers!

How’s everyone doing? Here at the AGF HQ we’re getting ready for a few releases happening over the next few days (Observer by April Rhodes and Nightfall by Maureen Cracknell, wink wink).  While we get all the fabulous projects with those collections ready, I have to show you what our AGF Sewcialite, Mister Domestic has whipped up!

A few weeks ago we released, the Playground fabric collection by Amy Sinibaldi. This sweet collection took us back to simpler times when we drew hopscotch on the pavement, played tag with friends, and flew kites on breezy days. When Mister Domestic told me that he wanted to make a few outfits with this collection for his daughter, I got really excited to see what he would make because I thought this collection would suit his little girl perfectly!

Here are his fabulous projects:

Outfit #1 featuring “He Loves Me Plum” in Voile fabric.

Outfit #2 featuring “Tire swing Bubble” in Knit fabric.

To read more about his fabric choices and the patterns he used in these outfits, visit misterdomestic.net.

As always, stay creative and thanks for inspiring!

Xoxo,

Stephanie

Hello, dear makers!

I'm really happy to announce that I finished the dress! It was a long and difficult ride, but I made it thanks to my awesome sewing teacher, Amantha! Today, I will explain everything I did all these past days; from making the lining to the finishing touches!

After practicing with the muslin fabric, I quickly started the lining of my top and skirt. It looked way better than the mock up I did before, which made Amantha and I very happy (then, she knew she wasn't wasting her time teaching me how to sew)! After having the lining done, I started sewing with the voile fabric!

Oh! Also, there are some things I would like to mention. Sewing is an art but applying a zipper goes beyond that! It's very difficult (at least for me). I have to admit, I broke a needle! I got super scared when that happened but Amantha explained to me that when you are beginner those things happen all the time. As you can see in the pictures, both garments have zippers.

The skirt has an invisible zipper and the top has a separating zipper. I used a separating zipper for the top because it made it easier to put on. Also, sewing darts is very difficult too! I had to sew 6 darts ( 4 on the top and two on the back of the skirt) so the outfit would fit me perfectly. It took me such a long time but it was worth it! You know, the best garments are all about the perfect fit. Now, that I know how to sew I can say I'm a maker! (I've wanted to say that since I started working at AGF!) 

Well my friends, this was quite an experience for me! I had fun and learned something new and honestly I never imagined myself sewing but I loved it! I really hope to make more garments in the future and possibly learn to quilt too! As I said before, being surrounded by beautiful quilts and fabrics just makes my world go round!

Now, that I sewed something for the first time. I'm a little curious to know:

What was your first sewing project? 

Lots of love,

Caro!

Hello awesome creators!

We all share a love for fabric and we simply can’t get enough of the variety of colors and prints that we can choose from. It’s almost impossible to come home from the fabric store with just the one fabric. Yes, we know the struggle! It's great to have tons of colors and prints in your stash but remember, low volume fabrics are essential too. This is why we featured them in this month’s ColorFun series.

Today we want to inspire you with some projects made with ivory prints. This creamy vanilla color is a wonderful blender and matches almost all color combinations! Take a look at these delicate and neutral projects we've chosen for you. If you love them, check out the patterns to make your own version of them.

1.Shortcuts quilt

Turn your bedroom into a romantic retreat with this quilt made with fabrics from the Wonderland Collection by Katarina Roccella. We especially love how this diamond ivory fabric (WND-2534 "Diamond Flush Gold") blends with other prints from that collection giving it a delicate feel. The subtle shades of this quilt will make it a really nice touch for any home.

2.Maker Sewing organizer

We all know how important it is to have the sewing space tidy. This sewing organizer will help you sort all the sewing notions that are usually scattered across your sewing space. The cream fabric prints from the Maker collection (MKR-3887 "Make Patterns" and MKR-3891 "I'm a Maker") will inspire you to create awesome projects!

3.Ruchie dress

How about sewing this cute dress for your little girl? It’s perfect for hot and humid Summer days. We love how classic and stylish the dress top made with ivory dotted fabric (ESS-II-354 "Specktacular Blush") from Pat’s Bravo collection Essentials II looks on this cutie! The low-volume fabric nicely complements the vivid colors of the dress bottom.

4.Spectrum Quilt

This projects represents perfectly how you can successfully blend ivory with almost any color. This quilt is made with prints from the Prisma Elements collection by AGF studio. The Gold triangles fabric print (PRE-811 "Pearl and Gold") creates the perfect background and the quilt will match perfectly with any modern home decor.

5.Three Quarter sleeve Jacket

You can never have enough jackets in your closet! Especially those jackets you can grab in the morning without wondering if they are going to match your outfit. We love how the grid ivory fabric print (GSS-6244 "Mesh Joy") from the Gossamer collection by Sharon Holland adds sophistication to this jacket. Plus the light color is timeless and fresh!

I hope you are inspired to use more of ivory fabric in your quilting and garments sewing! Take a look once again at the prints featured in August and stay tuned for the next month's ColorFun episode!

As always, happy sewing!

Ola

Hi AGF fans!

I’m super excited to be able to introduce myself today as a new contributing member to the AGF Creative Blog!  My name is Christine Mahecha and I’ve been behind the scenes at AGF for a while on the product design team, designing quilts, sewing clothes and making plushies.  You may have seen my semi-awkward cameo appearances in the Millie Fleur and Pandalicious lookbooks (Disclaimer: I studied fashion design, not modeling). 

Let me say, for a lifelong maker working at AGF is a dream!  It’s the greatest pleasure to be able to combine my love of sewing, textiles, art, color, design, and DIY EVERYTHING in my job.  You’d think that as a recovering fabric hoarder this would be a dangerous place to work at, perhaps you’re thinking of dire parallels like a chocoholic working at that chocolate factory from that I Love Lucy episode… but let me tell you- it’s been the best!  I used to impulse buy tons of questionable prints just because they were on sale before and end up with piles of unusable fabric that would leave me thinking “what on earth possessed me?”  Nowadays, most fabric prints just aren’t up to snuff, even if they’re on sale.  Yup, I won’t lie, working at AGF has turned me into a bit of a fabric snob.  My favorite part of working here is when the advance yardage comes in and we finally get to see what the actual fabric looks like and start to make the products we’ve been designing.  It’s the best! 

Introductions out of the way, now that we’re old internet pals, I’m excited to announce… (drumroll please)… that I’m expecting my first baby in October!  He’s a little boy and I’m super excited!  I’ll be visiting the blog from time to time to share DIY tutorials and sewing projects for the expectant mother.  Whether that’s you, or someone you know that you’d like to sew a gift for I hope you’ll enjoy the posts!

See you soon!

Christine 

Hey there!

I hope everyone is doing great! Today, is a special day for us because we’re helping the Electric Quilt Company celebrate their 25^th Anniversary! Yay! Since this is a huge milestone for them, they’re having a yearlong celebration and we get to takeover for the month of August. :D

Over the past years, Electric Quilt has not only changed the way makers design quilts but also provided resources for people learning how to quilt. It’s amazing how Penny and Dean, the founders of EQ had a vision to improve the way quilts are made and they changed the lives of many makers!

Here’s a little video that shows the first time Penny showed the software to the public on national TV. I encourage you to read the history of EQ, it's so interesting!

In addition, every year Electric Quilt provides downloads of a variety of fabrics scanned to scale for you to instantly visualize the final look of your quilt. These extra downloads for the software are known as EQ Stash. AGF has been happy to be featured in many versions of EQ stash (you can read about the 2016 download 1 and download 2 here)! This is why we’re excited to announce that we’ve paired up with EQ to have an EPIC GIVEAWAY to celebrate their 25 years!

Have a chance to win the latest version of Electric Quilt 7 (Value: $189.95) along with a half yard bundle of AGF prints featured in the 2016 downloads of EQ Stash! Simply fill out the form below to enter the giveaway. But the fun doesn’t stop there! Visit the EQ blog for a chance to win 15 YARDS of our fabrics! Just imagine the possibilities with Electric Quilt and AGF…

Best of luck to everyone!

Xoxo,

Stephanie

Giveaway will run from August 10^th -25^th. Winner will be chosen using random.org and will be announced on August 25, 2016 by 12:00pm EST.

*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED*****

CONGRATULATIONS Jennifer Hack, you've won the Electric Quilt 7 software and a curated bundle of AGF! Check your email.