Behind the scenes at Quilt Market 2018

International Quilt Market was filled with inspiration as usual. Fabric. Notions. Quilts. Friends.

I filmed several Facebook Lives during Market. They are on our Facebook Page, so take a look and get a closer view at some of what inspired me. I toured Moda Fabrics, FreeSpirit, Northcott, RJR, and Benartex on the Market side of the floor. I also did an interview with Cathy Wiggins about her leather saddles in the Festival side of the floor.

Overall, I found that while I still found some brights in familiar lines, eg, the lines from In the Beginning and Westminster/Free Spirit, I did notice that colors were more pastel and a bit dustier. Backgrounds had more cream/beige than whites, as in the past. I saw also saw more small prints.

Garment patterns continue to be a strong addition to Market.

And tuffets were everywhere. It seemed every designer had a specially created tuffet to match her/his new line.

Here’s just a bit of what I saw

Fabrics

Michael Miller introduced 38 new color ways to its Color Couture line, which now features 214 colors for 2019. The colors seem to be a bit dustier or toned down, so it’s a swing from the very brights that we’ve seen in the past. I did a tour of the booth showing several new lines, which you’ll see on Facebook.

Forest Gifts, from Axelle Design and Michael Miller, is based on a family walk through the woods. The prints feature mushrooms, nuts, berries, leaves, and birds.

Susan Emory’s fun new line with Michael Miller is called Goat Island. She was inspired by an island in the Lake Gaston (NC) area of Pea Hill Creak. The line features, of course, goats, as well as a plaid, small prints, fish and sailboats.

In the Beginning Fabrics has digitalized its Dit Dot collection with the Dit Dot Evolution line with 40 colorways. The tiny dots make a great blender fabric.

Paula Nadelstern is celebrating 20 years designing with Bernartex. Her newest collection is More is More. The 22-piece collection includes an exquisite medallion panel to cut apart, a complex “fusion” allover, an interesting stripe, and lots of rich, textured allovers in brilliant colors. To celebrate the designer’s 20 years, Benartex hosted a scavenger hunt throughout Market. In addition to the fabric, Paula had two of her quilts on display as well as some large opulent beaded ornaments. 

Modern Quilt Studio in conjunction with Bernartex’s Contempo Divison has released its 18-piece Warp + Weftcollection. These yarn dyes are full of color — reds, pinks, yellows, and greens — and texture — plaids, stripes, and wovens. They pair wonderfully with MQS’ Dots Crazy and Printology collections.

Northcott Fabrics is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Stonehenge fabric brand. The newest collection is called Stonehenge Solstice. It features a panel representing the Stonehenge in England and 22 other complementary pieces. 

Linda Hahn introduced her first collection with Northcott’s Banyon Batiks brand. Titled Island Vibes, the nine pieces have a definite beachy vibe.

Machines + Notions

Bernina has introduced the Q 20 foldable table. This longarm sit-down machine opens to 47.25″ and folds to 9.” The size is perfect for those who need to put your machine out of the way at the end of the day. The SRP is $8999.

Quilters Select? and Alex Anderson introduced Free Fuse, a semi-permanent fusible powder. This powder creates a semi-permanent bond between most fabrics, battings, and textiles. The bonding agent is activated by a medium heat iron and is needle-friendly and easy to use. It comes in a 2 ounce shaker and refills are available. Available in 2 ounce shakers.

Pudgie Parrot LLC has added four new colors to its Your Nest? line. Your Nest is now available in Martin, Flamingo, Hummingbird, Peacock, Bluebird, Cardinal, Raven. Your Nest is perfect for sewing or office supplies, even your phone, to keep yourself organized. It’s handy is so many places beside your sewing room. SRP is $18:95.

Special Exhibits

In addition to the premiere os Quilts: A World of Beauty, the judged show of the International Quilt Association, the show included nearly 50 special exhibits of quilts and more. Some of the exhibits that I enjoyed were the Power of Women; OURstory: Human Rights Stories in Fabric; the Best of Dinner at Eight Artists; Rising Stars — Jill Kerttula and Cecilia Koppmann; and Tactile Architecture?. You can see pictures of the winning quilts in the IQA exhibit here.

We were also treated to exhibits that were not quilts. Quilted Leather Art Saddles featured quilted, one-of-a-kind art saddles. You can see a video on our Facebook Page with Cathy Wiggins, the artist. And Cheryl Sleboda shared her Adventures in Comics and Cosplay. The exhibit featured Cheryl’s new cosplay-centric product line and her quilts, which were based on a series of techniques of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby and reinterpreted.

It’s your turn!

What did you see at Market that struck you?