Happy Holidays!!!

Wonderland look book

Wonderland look book is out and it looks so pretty!!! It's packed with many inspiring pictures and projects to make.





You can also see my previous posts from Wonderland blog tour to see more interesting ideas and creations!
There is also the fabric giveaway going on, so be sure to visit the Art Gallery fabrics blog for more details.

Happy sewing!
xx, Katarina

Introducing Avantgarde, my 6th fabric collection for Art Gallery fabrics

As the Fall Quilt Market is just about to start, I thought that this may be a good moment to introduce you my next fabric collection, Avantgarde that will be shown at the Quilt Market and will be available in December.

With this collection, I wanted to embrace a bit of the art history and the period that played very important role for the Modern art and everything that came after - Avantgarde movement.

up left: Gunta Stolzl weaving, up right: Eva Hesse ink drawing, bottom right Kazimir Malevich black cross painting and bottom left Josef Albers color study

The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of Modernism, pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm.

Modernity began with a series of theories that have destabilized the weather contributed to suspicions of our beliefs and our certainty. All this has had an effect in the history of art that has become less and less certain of its fundamental principles. It is therefore understandable that many artists have expressed the temptation to minimize artwork on almost - zero: from Malevich’s suprematism, aesthetics developed by Bauhaus school till minimalism and conceptualism.

"In the early part of this century there began to appear, first in France and then in Russia and in Holland, a structure that has remained emblematic of the modernist ambition within the visual arts ever since. Surfacing in pre-War cubist painting and subsequently becoming ever more stringent and manifest the grid announces, among other things, modern art’s will to silence, its hostility to literature, to narrative, to discourse. As such, the grid has done its job with striking efficiency. The barrier it has lowered between the arts of vision and those of language has been almost totally successful in walling the visual arts into a realm of exclusive visuality and defending them against the intrusion of speech.
 
In the temporal dimension, the grid is an emblem of modernity by being just that: the form that is ubiquitous in the art of our century, while appearing nowhere, nowhere at all, in the art of the last one. In that great chain of reactions by which modernism was born out of the efforts of the nineteenth century, one final shift resulted in breaking the chain. By “discovering” the grid, cubism, de Stijl, Mondrian, Malevich . .. landed in a place that was out of reach of everything that went before. Which is to say, they landed in the present, and everything else was declared to be the past. There are two ways in which the grid functions to declare the modernity of modern art. One is spatial; the other is temporal. In the spatial sense, the grid states the autonomy of the realm of art. Flattened, geometricized, ordered, it is antinatural, antimimetic, antireal. It is what art looks like when it turns its back on nature. In the flatness that results from its coordinates, the grid is the means of crowding out the dimensions of the real and replacing them with the lateral spread of a single surface. In the overall regularity of its organization, it is the result not of imitation, but of aesthetic decree."(The Originality of the Avant-garde and Other Modernist Myths by Rosalind E. Krauss)

A pioneer of the Avantgarde textile design, Sonia Delaunay, a painter, print-maker, and designer of objects from tapestries to alphabets, removed all representation from her paintings in order to concentrate on the visual power of shapes and colors. With her husband, Robert, they developed avant-garde theories of Orphism (nonrepresentational color abstraction) and Simultanism (color as a major element in the creation of form and movement in drawing).

So, the portrait of Sonia Delaunay can be seen on "Simultaneous" print from this collection.
Also, the Bauhaus was the most influential modernist art school of the 20th century, one whose approach to teaching, and understanding art's relationship to society and technology, had a major impact both in Europe and the United States long after it closed. It was shaped by the 19th and early 20th centuries trends such as Arts and Crafts movement, which had sought to level the distinction between fine and applied arts, and to reunite creativity and manufacturing.
The school is also renowned for its faculty, which included artists Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and Johannes Itten, architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and designer Marcel Breuer.
Johannes Itten was one of the first people to define and identify strategies for successful color combinations. Through his research he devised seven methodologies for coordinating colors utilizing the hue's contrasting properties. These contrasts add other variations with respect to the intensity of the respective hues; i.e. contrasts may be obtained due to light, moderate, or dark value.
He created this very popular color wheel (the following picture) and that was the starting point for me while developing this collection's colors.

My interpretation of the wheel with my choices of colors....

And here is the final collection, divided in 2 colorways: Allusion and Enlightment

Can't wait to show you the projects and fabrics with my Avantgarde.
xx, Katarina

Wonderland fabrics - blog tour recap

After 15 days, filled with gorgeous Wonderland creations by my amazing creative friends, I am so happy to do a recap! The photos here will not do the justice as are small, but please be sure to visit theirs blogs (linked to each name) for more eye candy and more info with some tutorials too!

So, let's start:

1. ERICA TOOLE created this wonderful hatbox and a matching dress for this sweet bunny (bunny was created by Heather Mormon)

 
2. LAURA SCARAMELLA of SIMPLE LIFE COMPANY  made three little girls dresses and a table runner and she managed to make a sweet little tea party to show off her amazing creations-pattern info on her blog

3. DANA BOLYARD blogged about the different fabric substrates- knits, voiles and canvas that are fantastic additions to each AGF designer collection.

 
4. RACHAEL GANDER created adorable PJ's for her sweet daughters

 
5. HEATHER and MEG of QUILT STORY made this adorable dress for sweet little Lucia

6. JOELLEN KEMPER of SEW ILLUMINATED created this amazing quilt and you can get the pattern too

 
7. STACY BARRETT of a VINTAGE FAIRYTALE created this stunning quilt using one of the great Pattern Jam patterns!

 
8. ERICA JACKMAN made this fabulous flowering snowball quilt and you can get the pattern info too :)

 
9. KATHLEEN RIGGINS made this beautiful tunic using Painted Portrait Blouse, which is an Anna Maria Horner pattern

 
10. LYNNE GOLDSWORTHY made this divine quilt that will be featured in the next issue of the Quilt Now magazine, so you will be able to make your own version very soon

 
11. SVETLANA SOTAK made this stunning pillow in combination with Essex Yarn Dyed Linen for sashing and borders

 
12. KYLIE KELSHEIMER of SEW KYLIE made this very bold and beautiful curvy quilt

 
13. ALEXIS WRIGHT of MY SWEET SUNSHINE also created not one but three amazing outfits for these adorable girls-you can get the pattern info from her post

 
14. MICHELLE WILKIE made this amazing small quilt using her own pattern

 

15. HEMAMALINI made this beautiful knit dress for her darling daughter with knits

16. MARIJA VUJČIĆ is making an adorable quilt-will post the updated picture soon ;)

There are so many other inspiring creations by many talented makers that I was so delighted to see on Instagram, so be sure to check the hashtag #WonderlandFabrics to see them or please, if you are a flickr user and you created something with Wonderland fabrics, be sure to add yours in my Wonderland fabrics flickr group, it's always such a joy to see my fabrics in use :D

Thank you all for participating and creating with my fabrics! :D

Until next time,
xx, Katarina

Wonderland fabrics blog tour

On Monday, the Wonderland tour begins, can't wait!!!!
Here is the complete list with names and dates of the fantastic participants - the wonderful and talented makers that will show, share and inspire with theirs creations featuring Wonderland fabrics:

1. ERICA TOOLE - October 5th
2. LAURA SCARAMELLA of SIMPLE LIFE COMPANY – October 6th
3. DANA BOLYARD - October 7th
4. RACHAEL GANDER - October 8th
5. HEATHER and MEG of QUILT STORY - October 9th
6. JOELLEN KEMPER of SEW ILLUMINATED - October 10th
7. STACY BARRETT of a VINTAGE FAIRYTALE - October 11th
8. ERICA JACKMAN - October 12th
9. KATHLEEN RIGGINS - October 13th
10. LYNNE GOLDSWORTHY - October 14th
11. SVETLANA SOTAK - October 15th
12. KYLIE KELSHEIMER of SEW KYLIE - October 16th
13. ALEXIS WRIGHT of MY SWEET SUNSHINE - October 17th
14. MICHELLE WILKIE - October 18th
15. HEMAMALINI - October 19th
16. MARIJA VUJČIĆ - October 20th

Here are some fabric pics for better introduction;)
The fabrics are currently available in many shops and you may visit Art Gallery fabrics store locator to find out more...









Can't wait to see all the Wonderland creations!!!
You can follow my daily updates on Instagram or join me here on 21st of October for the final tour wrap :D
xx, Katarina

Welded quilt pattern - AGF stitched

Here is another episode of AGF Stitched with Kimberly, featuring the Welded Quilt as part of great collaboration between Fat Quarter shop and Art Gallery Fabrics. Of course, as well as with other videos and patterns presented by Fat Quarter shop, this one is no exception.
You can watch the entire clip with detailed tips and step by step instructions:



Get the pattern : KIT and backing set
and get the FREE pattern HERE

Welded quilt pattern is featuring Pat Bravo's beautiful latest fabric collection, Artisan, it looks so pretty and and it sews very fast.

 Be sure to see all stunning versions of the quilt that brilliant makers participating in this episode made with different AGF collections.

AGF Designer, Caroline Hulse of Sew Caroline

Kitty of Night Quilter

Dana of Old Red Barn Co.

Michele-Renee of Quilt Matters

Corey of Little Miss Shabby

Christina of Sometimes Crafter

Jess of the Elven Garden

Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting

Svetlana of Sotak Handmade

Natalia of Piece N Quilt

Megan of Quilt Story

Cara of That Crafty Cara

John of Quilt Dad

Sinta of Pink Pin Cushion

Jemima of Tied with a Ribbon

Riane of Vessel Quilts

Kaye of Miss Print

I got my latest Wonderland collection just in time for sewing the Welded blocks and I decided to challenge myself and instead of making a quilt, I made a dress and LOLA drawstring bag packs using the blocks from the pattern.







For the dress, I used the bodice pieces from my Bianka dress pattern and just added the skirt part, where I incorporated the blocks. I love how it turned out!





I loved seeing all the different fabric interpretations of this versatile pattern and hope that they will inspire you too to create something with the Welded blocks!!!

xx, Katarina