Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Greetings to all fabric enthusiasts and aficionados! My name is Juana, and I'm thrilled to introduce myself as the newest member of the amazing AGF Team. As a fellow lover of all things fabric, I'm delighted to be a part of this wonderful community.

Having the opportunity to work with talented and kind individuals has been amazing. Access to a diverse selection of prints from the AGF warehouse will spark inspiration for a fresh selection of fabrics for your next project.
AGF has given me insight into the process of creating a collection from start to finish. Through “Auditioning Fabrics,” I’ve learned valuable tips and tricks about how fabrics can complement each other, especially when it comes to mixing various collections. When making a fabric pull, it’s important to consider color palettes, scale, blenders, and solids to achieve a perfect balance in sewing projects. I’m thrilled to introduce our new collection of Blenders, ‘Checkered Elements’ and demonstrate how to incorporate them into your fabric pull. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to create something beautiful the next time you dive into your fabric stash.

Let's Get Started!

1. Start with one collection of prints. 

Begin by selecting one print collection to guide your next steps. For this fabric pull, we will use prints from Hazelwood, featuring beautiful trendy greens and terracotta colors that complement any project. From the collection, I've chosen three prints that balance in scale.

*Featuring fabrics: Wild Flora Sunlight, Hidden Land Moss, Underwood Sprouts Pale from Hazelwood by AGF Studio

2. Select your blenders, in this case, it’s Checkered Elements. 

Next comes our favorite fabric category, BLENDERS, featuring our latest collection, Checkered Elements. These classic yet modern designs will blend effortlessly into your next sewing project. The Houndstooth and Tweed Editions come in various colors and add a textured look. When selecting the "blending" fabrics, I chose neutral and golden tones to complement the main prints. I looked for these common tones and then chose the blenders that best matched those hues.

*Featuring Fabrics: Tweed Vanilla, Tweed Saffron, Houndstooth Solar from Checkered Elements by AGF Studio

3. Add Solids to Give a Pop of Color and Balance. 

Our Pure Solids collection is the perfect way to add a pop of color and balance to your sewing projects. Adding solids can make your project more visually appealing by breaking up patterns and prints. By using a solid color that complements the main prints, you can create a balanced and cohesive look in your creation. Our solids collection offers a wide variety of hues to choose from, ensuring that you will find the perfect color to enhance your project. 

*Featuring Fabrics: Pure Solids

4. You have prepared a selection of fabrics for your next project. 

Now that you have assembled a fabric collection, it is time to let your creative juices flow and start creating something unique. You can use these steps to assemble a group of fabrics to create something beautiful and unique that will stand out from the crowd. Whether you are making a beautiful quilt, apparel, home decor items, or something else entirely, you can use these steps to make sure that your project is one of a kind. Let your creativity guide you as you take your project to the next level!

That is all I have for you today! I hope that these tips will be of great help to you as you search for fabrics to bring your creations to life. These can make a huge difference in the look and feel of your finished product, so it's important to choose them wisely. 

Let us know what you would create with this stunning fabric pull by leaving a comment below!

Until next time,

Happy sewing! 

-Juana

Hello makers and fabric lovers!

With a new season upon us, what better way to honor the bright colors of spring with new shades of a couple of our most popular blenders: Floral and Decostitch Elements! These six new colors of each are perfect to add to your stash of AGF blenders since they make up a few missing shades between some, and they work well with others. 

If you’re unsure what blenders are and how to use them, check out this previous blog post that gives you great ideas on how to use these non-directional fabrics. 

Introducing our new Floral Elements in Sweet Peach, Victorian Brick, Antique Rose, Chalk, Washed Denim, and Storm Winds.

Introducing our new Decostitch Elements in Topiary, Airy, Timber Wolf, Desert Rose, Abyss, and Rosebud. 

In addition to our new prints, we have also revamped a few of our patterns using the new colors. First up, we have our checkered bucket hat using a variety of different Florals and Decostitch to create this soft statement piece that is perfect to add to your wardrobe. For this hat we used our Florals in Washed Denim, Storm Winds, Antique Rose, Sweet Peach, Victorian Brick, and Chalk, and our Decostitch in Abyss, Timber Wolf, Airy, Rosebud, and Desert Rose. 

To view the video tutorial for this hat, click here. 

We also have a PDF version of this hat pattern that we created with flannel if you would like to download that as well. You can find that here. 

For strip set 1, we used Floral Victorian Brick for fabric A, Decostitch Rosebud for fabric B, Floral Antique Rose for fabric C, Floral Sweet Peach for Fabric D, and Decostitch Timber Wolf for fabric E. For strip set 2, we used Floral Storm Winds for fabric F, Floral Chalk for fabric G, Floral Washed Denim for fabric H, Decostitch Airy for fabric I, and Decostitch Abyss for fabric J. We used Decostitch Desert Rose for fabric K, which is the lining. 

Next up I have another statement piece for your wardrobe, this Artsy Tote that we made using a combination of new and timeless Decostitch colors in Cloud, Caffe Latte, Blue Minerale, Indigo Sky, Skyline Blue, Granite, Timber Wolf, and Abyss, in addition to our linen blend in Soft Sand. This tote has a combination of rectangles, squares, and half and quarter circles to form a trendy catch-all that can be taken anywhere you go; the beach, farmers market, the coffee shop…anywhere! 

To view the PDF pattern for this tote, click here. 

Last up are two new combinations of our Florals to make our favored Alegria computer cover. The first one includes Antique Rose, Sweet Peach, and Victorian Brick and the second one includes Washed Denim, Storm Winds, and Chalk. We used high loft batting to make this computer case perfect to protect what’s inside while also adding velcro to keep the flap closed. 

To view the PDF pattern for this laptop cover, click here. 

The excitement to sew with these fabrics was growing and I was so happy when I finally got to cut into these beauties. With spring upon us and summer coming quickly, I know that I will get a ton of use out of the bucket hat and tote bag, and I can’t wait to show these projects off to friends and family. 

I want to see what you make with our new Florals and Decostitch! Share your photos on social media and use the #ArtGalleryFabrics so I can share the love! 

Happy sewing everyone! 

Hello Sewing Friends, 

 I am welcoming December with open arms and a big smile on my face! I have always loved counting down the days til Christmas with each passing day my excitement grows in anticipation for spending time with family, eating holiday treats and creating memories that will last a life time. Today I have a fun quilting tips video about how to attach your quilt as you go blocks in two different ways using the stitch in the ditch method and the binding strip method! 

If you missed out on my last quilting tips video all about the basics of Quilting As You Go make sure to check this video out for a great scrap busting tutorial! Use the  blocks you create in todays video and sew them up to create a table runner or full size quilt! 

I decided to get into the holiday spirit and whip up some AGF Holiday inspired free block patterns! Choose from two great patterns or sew them both, the Winter Wonderland Block is a gorgeous tree pattern and the Bauble Block is the cutest ornament block perfect for showcasing large scale fabrics!  

Enjoy the video tutorial below! 

Happy Sewing, 

Melissa

Hello Makers,

Have you started sewing for the Holiday’s yet? With just a few short weeks of Summer left Fall is coming quicker than we think. This morning it was in the lower 50s in Minnesota and I already started unpacking my winter clothes! In a matter of days department stores will have their holiday decor set up and we will already be thinking of people on our gift giving list! As makers we make more then we buy present, or at least we try too!  So to avoid stressful sewing and all nighters getting a quilt finished in time, it’s best we all start sewing today!

I am so happy to share with you a Fabric Haul video featuring Cozy and Joyful Fabrics by Maureen Cracknell! This collection is filled with holiday cheer showcasing traditional holiday elements such as nutcrackers, gingerbread men and reindeer. There are also so many great blender fabrics that can be used all year around in your quilting. For holiday sewing inspiration and to learn more about Cozy and Joyful watch my fabric haul video. Make sure to check out our Fabric Project Catalog for more sewing and project ideas! 

Happy Sewing,

Meli

Hello Makers! 

Who loves making pillows? Are you new to quilting and sewing? Pillow's are a perfect project to tackle as your first project. Even if you are an expert quilter, pillows are a great fast finish that can be quite rewarding. I love making them as gifts as well as making a variety of pillow covers for all the different seasons. Changing out your pillow decor really helps to liven up a space throughout the year! 

Pillows are a great Fat Quarter friendly project, today I am sewing with AGF Studios Terra Kotta Fabrics and some AGF Pure Solids to match. You can choose to make a solid fabric pillow or if you want to get a bit more creative and quilty, feel free to cut strips in different widths and have fun choosing which strips you will sew together to create your pillow top.

When I first started quilting I was such a perfectionist and took forever to finish a project. The more experience I got I realized its not about perfection, though perfection will come with time it’s really about learning as you go and finishing a project from start to finish. You will always find the flaws as the person making it but I promise you, whether  you are gifting your make to a family member or keeping it for yourself, when you look back at the project a year from now… you will be like why did I beat myself up about this, looks pretty darn good!

All the materials you will need are listed below. Have fun following along to the video and I want to see your amazing makes so make sure to use the hashtag #AGFTutorials or email your pictures to marketing@artgalleryfabrics.com!

Materials to construct a 16” finished pillow:

Pillow Top Pieces:

One 17” square of fabric

One 19”  square Batting piece

One 20” square of fabric (pillow top backing)

Envelope Backing Pieces:

Two 17”x 22” rectangles

Two 17” x 11” rectangles of batting

Fabrics used:

AGF Studio Terra Kotta Fabrics

AGF Pure Solids

Other Supplies You May Need:

Rotary Cutter

Clear Quilting Ruler

Iron

Quilting and sewing thread

Pins

Did you know we have tons of free sewing patterns to add to your to sew list. Endless amounts of quilts, handbags, home decor and of course PILLOWS! I don’t know about you but I can never get bored of making pillows. Now that you have your first pillow project under your belt and know the basics to construct a pillow with an envelope backing I highly suggest you continue with more pillow projects to get your sewing mojo going. Next time you can try different type of piecing, or try your hand at a different quilting motif. There are so many possibilities! Below I listed a few fun pillow projects you can sew up next. Make sure to check out our free sewing pattern section on liveartgalleryfabrics.com to see more!

Other Pillow projects to try:

Scaped featuring Flowerette by AGF Studio

Any half square triangle fans out there? To make this pillow whip up some 2 1/2" HST's and squares of fabric and piece together this beautiful 16" pillow! Flowerette Fabrics mixed with one of our fabrics from the AGF Denim Studio which adds such a cooling, relaxing texture to this design! 

Spell On You featuring Spooky and Sweet by AGF Studio

With minimal piecing make these festive Halloween pillows using Spooky and Sweet fabric panels! These large graphic designs are great for large scale projects like pillows or even clothing! 

Blooming featuring Trouvaille by AGF Studio

The Blooming pillow may look super complex and intricate but with a simple strip piecing technique and cutting magic you can make this stunning design! AGF Studios Trouvaille fabrics add a pop of colorful florals thats sure to add happiness in whatever space you add this pillow! We also added some AGF Floral Elements to the mix which is the perfect blender to choose to marry well with Trouvaille fabrics! 

Quilla featuring Patcha Capsule by AGF Studio

Here is another simple strip piecing project we created but we used a triangle template to cut out sections of our pieced strips and sewed them back together to create this geometric framed design! AGF Studios Patcha Fabrics has some super cute designs great for sewing for kids and sweet doodle like blender prints that we mixed and matched with our Decostitch blenders! 

Happy Sewing, 

Meli

Hello Makers!

I hope you guys are doing well as we get accustomed to our new “normal,”. We just want to say we're extremely grateful for your support as we try our best to keep our heads high and continue with new releases. As many of you are at home doing what you can to stay happy, we are doing the same. We are always striving to push our limits and proceed forward with our passion on bringing you beautiful fabrics - which brings us to today!

We are very excited to show you our NEW GROUPS OF COLLECTIONS FOR 2020! Featuring new color palettes, Fusions, and even some nostalgia. … Just in case you didn’t get to see it on social media, here’s a quick rundown what’s being released!

Available June 2020

▸ Trouvaille by AGF Studio

▸ Pacha by AGF Studio

Available July 2020

▸ Cozy & Joyful by Maureen Cracknell

▸ Terra Kotta by AGF Studio

▸ Flowerette by AGF Studio

Available August 2020

▸ Daydream by Patty Basemi

▸ Hooked by Mister Domestic

▸ Pure Solids by AGF Studio (New Colors!)

Available September 2020

▸ Serenity Fusion by AGF Studio

▸ Picturesque by Katarina Roccella

For more details on availability, prints, and upcoming free patterns, check out our “Digital Catalog Season 2 Jun - Sep 2020”. 

There are so many beautiful things to look forward to in this upcoming season! Which collection are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments below.

Till next time,

-Trisha