This is the story of how the #Babyontrend Fabric collection came to life. Designing Fabric had always been on my dream list of things to work towards. Through the years there have been opportunities but they never turned out to be the right opportunities to bring a Fabric Collection to life. Last year while working on some projects an idea sparked in my head. Having worked in the Quilting industry for many years one thing that I saw missing from the Market was Modern and Contemporary designs for Cot Panels. I saw lots of Cot panels with fluffy ducks or Noahs Ark or character/cartoon style animals or people but nothing like what I was picturing in my head.
I wanted to take my Quilt Pattern designs and turn them into a Panel so that there would be some Modern options for all the sweetly decorated nurseries I could see on Pinterest and other Social Media pages. So I set about designing a Collection that would feature one of my most love Quilt Designs - the End Game Quilt and then some Blenders and Designs that would essentially work as the Backings and Binding for the Cot Panels but also as fabrics that could make some projects in their own right.
Narrowing down the Colourways was tricky, I wanted to offer both Boy, Girl and Unisex options in the colours but have them Neutral enough that they would compliment modern Nursery decor. I worked up Mood Boards and searched for lots of pictures from Store Catalougues and Colour Paint Chips to put the palettes for each collection together. Usually I am a Brights girl - I love working with bold and bright colours but knew that the palette for this collection would draw on softer tones. I eventually settled on the three Colourways - Dove, Blush and Woodland and then went about working out what colours in those palettes would go where in the designs.
#Babyontrend consist of 3 Colourways - Dove, Blush and Woodland with each featuring a Panel Print and then 4 Blenders that go with each of the Colourways.
Two Green Zebras in collaboration with Robert Kaufman Fabrics have been onboard and behind me on this project from the start. The team at Two Green Zebras have been amazing to work with to bring this collection to life.
Working through the steps of Designing Fabric was certainly a learning curve - from how Sampling of the fabrics worked to Colour Corrections - this was all new to me and I am thrilled with how it has all turned out in the end. While world events slowed down the production and release of #Babyontrend, I am so excited to see it now hitting stores and for people to make their own projects and Quilts using these fabrics I designed.
I know how busy our lives are and I wanted this Fabric Collection to be a way that people who don't have a lot of time or quilting Skills could make a Quilt or project that they could have in their own Nursery or would make the perfect gifts to celebrate New Arrivals. Hence with the Quilt Panel and all the fabrics that co-ordinate to make the Backing and Binding this is a great way to make even your first Quilt. No matter what your Skill level or greater experience then you can make something beautiful and creative with these fabrics.
I will never forget the day that this stack of #Babyontrend Bolts arrived in my Studio. It was so surreal to see the idea that I had originally had turned into fabric that people could actually sew with - defiantly one of those "pinch me" moments.
Earlier I had received some Sampling of the the fabrics so I was able to work up some Quilts and Projects with these. Here are the Quilts that I made with the Collection.
#Babyontrend is now available at Local Quilting Stores and you can find the Entire collection at these Stores below
Happy Quilting
Jemima x
