Fall For Solids - Guest Post from Shea Henderson from Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio
Hello everyone! Today Shea Henderson of Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio, one of our fabulous judges for the Fall For Solids contest is guest posting about her love for solids. You can easily see by the photos she chose that it was a no-brainer choice for me to ask her to be a judge. Shea has an impressive line of patterns (which we carry in our shop of course) that really lend well to solids. The Crosshatch pattern is really a perfect guy quilt don't you think? One day I hope to her AWESOME Seeing Squares quilt! I see this pinned up on Pinterest everywhere! I had the pleasure of meeting Shea (who is super nice!) at Quilt Market and seeing her work in person! It's stunning. An excellent example of solids in action.
Enjoy today's guest post by Shea. And make sure you add our blog to your RSS Reader and sign up for our Fall For Solids contest on Threadbias!
Sewing friends of mine know that I have a very big love for working with solid fabrics. I use solids from just about every manufacturer, as the spectrum of colors available today is simply wonderful (so are those handy color cards many of them sell!).
Using solids is important to me for several reasons, but here are my top three:
1) I know I'm going to be able to get just the right shade of the color I'm hoping to use. Matching a color from a print has never been easier!
2) Stretching my fabric dollars is crucial and solids are a great way to do just that.
3) Since solids are reprinted over time (unlike prints), there's little to no risk that I won't be able to find the fabric again.
That last statement is important to me as a pattern designer, as I want my patterns to have as long of a shelf life as possible. This is why you will almost always see my pattern cover samples in solids rather than prints. I know many people want to make something exactly like the cover sample. I always show photos of multiple finished samples in my patterns to demonstrate the variety you can achieve, but it is ultimately the cover sample I see replicated most often. Making that sample from solids means the customer isn't out of luck eight months after the pattern comes out.
I often get e-mails from sewists who are showing off their version of Seeing Squares in the cover colors. Paula, one of my testers, actually made the cover sample. Once I saw the quilt on that door, I knew I had to switch what I'd planned for the cover and use her quilt! (And I also knew that I'd need to make one of my own just like it to use in trunk shows!)
As far as favorites... I'd have to confess to a very big weakness for shot cottons. The slight differences in the warp and weft thread colors makes for an amazing texture and sheen. I love using shot cottons in quilts, but also for clothing! I've made several dresses for my daughter using Oliver + S patterns and shot cottons. My favorite would have to be Kaffe Fassett shot cotton in Spruce, used here in the yoke and hem of my daughter's Ice Cream Dress.
Or, maybe my favorite is Lichen, used here in the Playdate Dress I made for her two years ago.
I can have two favorites, can't I?
If I had to pick an all-time favorite project made from solids, I'd have to go with my No Prints Allowed quilt, made for our Robert Kaufman Kona Solids challenge here in the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. It's made with the "Brights" set of Konas - charm pack pieces in the centers and two Roll Ups used for the rest of the blocks. It's my interpretation of Nate's Quilt in Malka Dubrawsky's book, Fresh Quilting. It's cheery and I love it. It hangs in my sewing room and looking at it just makes me smile.
That's all for now, everyone. I'm really looking forward to seeing the creations that come from this contest! So.... go grab some solids and get sewing!
