Our pre-cut Taupe fabric assortments have never been so beautiful, and our crew here at One World Fabrics has never spent so much time preparing them for sale.  Our customer base has grown tremendously since this time last year, so we are stocking larger numbers of our customer favorites, the Taupe fabric packs by color group.

For those of you new to One World Fabrics, our specialty is Asian Taupe fabrics, both prints, and the hard-to-find, fancy yarn dyes that are so characteristic of this genre of fabric.  We buy Taupe fabrics from many manufacturers, so we can regularly put together collections of these fabrics by color group.  We offer 9 different color groups in the Taupe palette - red, green, blue, yellow/gold, gray, brown, plum/lavender, black and pearl. Our fabric choices are purposefully broad to incorporate all the "inbetween" shades that fall between these colors, Here are our newest fabric groupings, just posted to the website. If you like a color group, just click on the photo to see larger photos, or to order.

We offer our packs in pre-cut sizes of half yards, fat quarters, and fat eighths (which are very popular with appliquers). They are produced 3 times per year in limited quantities. To be sure of getting the colors and cut sizes you want, we offer the Taupe Stashbuilder's Club. As a member, you can reserve the packs you want and have them shipped to you when they are ready. Club members also receive 10% rebates, free or discounted shipping, and occasional free gifts. What could be better?

Most of the fabrics in these collections are available as yardage also, but in very limited supply. So if you find a fabric you really love in one of our packs, place your order for yardage quickly because when they are gone - they are gone.

Please let us know how you like the new color groupings.

Happy sewing!

-Steven

We have been waiting a long time for these new colors of Olympus Sashiko thread to arrive. It seemed we heard about them months ago, and have had them on order forever. We usually would not go crazy over 3 new solid colors of anything, but Olympus does not change their line very often, and these new colors are deep, bright and saturated. 

Color 21 is a deep fushia Pink and color 22 is a bright signal orange. Neither of these colors is for the conservative stitcher. They are loud enough to show up well on light fabrics, and still bright enough to show up great on dark fabrics also, making them very versatile. Terrific for anyone wanting to try a little more contemporary slant on a traditional Sashiko design. 

The third new color is a bit more traditional, and a really lovely color. It is a rich, dark Periwinkle Blue/Purple. This is a stunning color, and it will stitch up beautifully in high contrast on lighter fabrics. I can't wait to give these new colors a try.  They are available on the website now under Sashiko Supplies, or Specialty Threads.

Would love to hear your comments about these new colors. Or, better yet, send us a photo of your latest Sashiko stitching project to info@oneworldfabrics.com

Happy Stitching,

Steve

We have just returned from Quilt Market, where we found wonderful new products. The fabric lines were very trendy, and we loved some of the new patterns that were introduced.

One of these is from a pattern designer local to us, in West Linn, Oregon, Busy Bee Quilt Designs. They have a really terrific line of designs, that are mostly contemporary. They work well with Batiks and Solids, and also are quite beautiful made up in Asian Taupes. We have already begun making a sample of "Elliott" in a scappy mixture of Taupe prints.  The pattern is available on the website.  Just click on the photo for more information.

Another design that caught our eye is called "Buttoned Up" from Mountainpeek Creations in Colorado. These gals always have a great display at Market and are consistently producing new designs that have a contemporary flair and are very useable with a wide variety of fabrics.  Buttoned up was displayed in solids, but we feel would sew up nicely in larger scale prints, like the Aboriginal designs, or African Wax Prints. Each panel is surrounded by a contrasting frame to separate the focus fabrics.  I can't wait to begin experimenting with this one. Table runner and placemat patterns are both included.

Happy Sewing,

Steven

There has been so much controversy and argument about what rights pattern designers have to prevent buyers of their patterns from making the subject item for sale. With a topic like this, there will never be an end to the opinions, however, for quite some time, I have been really surprised at how many pattern designers try to prevent or strongly limit the use of their patterns.  I have on several occasions, asked a designer permission to make a quilt, bag, etc,  from their pattern for sale, or for auction, or to donate to a charity, and had them refuse permission. While I do not claim to know for sure the designer's rights in every case (this would be for the courts to decide), I can say one thing with great certainty. Designers who try to prevent buyers from making items from their patterns for sale are foolish.

Regardless of their rights to do so, it would be almost impossible to enforce buyer's restrictions on the use of patterns.  Clearly a pattern buyer should not copy the actual pattern and sell it, or reproduce instructions from the pattern and sell them, or use them in another published work. This is common sense.  But trying to limit a buyer's use of the pattern to make products is not only unenforceable, it really makes the designer look bad, costs them time, effort and money, and yields them nothing. Designers who allow their patterns to be used for this purpose do not loose sales, in fact, they increase the visibility of their designs and increase sales of their patterns.

Here is a link to an interesting article on copyright law as it applies to quilt and knit patterns. Again, not the final word, but really does open your eyes to a few simple principles.  I suggest everyone read this, but particularly designers.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/CopyrightLaw/Quilting/Quilting.shtml

-Steven

     I am the first to admit that while I am in love with Asian Taupe fabrics, sometimes I have a hard time deciding on a project and committing the fabrics I want to use.  We have all said the line, "it's just to beautiful to cut up", and for me, that always applies to my Taupe fabrics, especially my yarn dyes. But now I have started to cut and piece my next project, a log cabin quilt.

     I have always been a fan of the entire Taupe color palette, but there is something very special about the yarn dyed fabrics. They not only have the color palette I love, but they also have this wonderful texture, so uncommon in American quilting fabrics. I love the variations in weight, yarn thickness, and weaves. Beautiful "joker" threads are common in these fabrics, popping up here and there and adding even more visual interest.  I can look at the same fabric again and again and still see something new.

     Inspiration for my projects has always come from the Japanese quiltmakers, who use these fabrics regularly, and piece and applique them into the most extraordinary pieces of art. I hope some day to have half the talent of these masters, but for now, I am simply inspired by them to create great quilts of my own, that incorporate some of the ideas from these Japanese pieces.  One of the concepts I learned early on, that is common in these quilts, is the use of a huge variety of fabrics. Anyone following early American quilting is very familiar with this. The idea of using up scraps, and trading "charm squares" to increase variety in quilts, dates back to the Pioneer days. The Japanese quilters have embraced this notion for two reasons. First, they are learning and patterning their projects frequently after early American, traditional quilts, and second (and perhaps even more important), fabrics are expensive in Japan. Most quilters in Japan purchase small collections of fabrics, pre-cut into charms, and small pieces similar to our fat eighth assortments. They frequently do not have large pieces, so the patterns they create are detailed, and involve lots of little pieces of fabric. Instead of a 12" star block that you or I might make out of 2 or 3 fabrics, the Japanese quilter will typically make nine-4" star blocks to occupy that same space, each with different fabrics. Time consuming  - yes,  Beautiful  - absolutely!

     My Log Cabin blocks are sized to finish at 9" and each contain 17 different fabrics. I have blocks made in blue tones, and red tones. Some in lavender,  green, yellow, and even shades of black Taupe. The visual display will be terrific, but I need a border that contrasts with the very square log cabin piecing design, so I am experimenting with 4.5" LeMoyne stars (each one of different fabrics, of course).  I also have to decide whether to hand or machine piece these stars. With the Y-seams, hand piecing may be quicker and easier than using my little Featherweight, and more enjoyable as well!

     I will keep you updated as to my progress.  Any suggestions?  Please leave a comment.

Happy Quilting!

-Steven