Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Top Ten Favorites of 2009

TrueUp.net, a blog I love to follow, is asking readers to give them a list of favorite fabrics and designers of 2009. Here's my Top 10 noteworthy entries:




• Favorite Quilting Weight Cotton Collection: Amy Butler "Midwest Modern II." I think the majority of the  accessories I've sewn for myself this past year have had some of her fabric in them.

• Favorite Home Decor Weight Fabric: Jessica Jones "Modern Flora." Beautiful prints that are easy to work with.

• Favorite Juvenile Print: Michael Miller "Orange Mono Bot." I came across a small remnant of it somewhere and I want more. I don't even have kids to sew for at the moment, but never mind that...

• Favorite Color Trend: I can't believe I'm saying this, but ORANGE. I grew up in the 60's and 70's and hated orange then (along with avocado green), but these sherbet oranges I see now are adorable.

• Favorite New Fabric I Worked With in 2009: My favorite fabric is actually an ancient fiber: silk. In all these years, I had never worked with it till this past year. Now I don't know why I waited so long. It was a dream to sew and the projects turned out beautiful. I used China silk, raw silk, silk kimono fabric, it was all good. Try some, really!

• Favorite Handprinted Fabric: Lotta Jansdotter. When I grow up, I want to be her. I love her aesthetic.

• Favorite Solid/Nonprinted: What else- Kona Cotton. I discovered Robert Kaufman makes a Color Card for their Kona Cotton line, so I invested in one. I love being able to match up prints I've picked up here and there with solid colors on the card, then ordering the solids online, since I can't find many of them locally.

• Favorite Overall Designer: Denyse Schmidt. I'm not much of a quilter, but if I were, I'd want to be like Denyse. I'd love to "get in her head" and experience her creative process while working out a project. Amazing.

• Favorite Local Fabric Store: Denver Fabrics. No, this has no relation to the DenverFabrics.com online store. This is local only, no website. I like Denver Fabrics because I'm never sure what I'm going to find there. About half of their fabrics are ordered from manufacturers, but the other half come from various sources- end bolts from the garment district, left over fabric from design houses, imports, you never know. On my last trip there I discovered some rolls of silk kimono fabric, a bolt of cashmere wool that was as fluffy and soft as a cloud (think snuggly cardigan), and a tiny houndstooth check wool in soft pink and grey that came from a New York design house. I love the thrill.

• Wildcard Category: I love it when I find product packaging that I can sew with. This past year, Purina started making its dog food bags out of a plastic coated mesh material that's very easy to sew. It would be great if others followed suit, like the big bags of flour and sugar at Costco. Then there's the big bags of rice packaged in burlap. Those are great too. Here's to more reusable packaging in 2010.

To see all the Favorite Lists on True Up, click here. To read about the Favorite Fabrics event, and even participate by January 15, click here.