Checking out the Quilting Scene with Jessica Pollak

On Monday I hopped on the first bus to NYC so I could check out the latest trends in patterns, illustration, and stationery.  I spent the whole day walking the Surtex (Licensing Art & Design), National Stationery Show and ICFF (Furniture). Getting a glimpse of new products and patterns was both incredibly inspiring and completely overwhelming!  I left feeling exhausted but very excited to incorporate some of these trends into my patterns for REPEAT.

Simpatico by Michelle Benscko - Cloud 9

When I got home I started looking through photos of the Quilt Market to see if there was any overlap in trends.  I was pleased to see that many of the same colors were at the quilt market; yellows either very bright or mustard, limey greens to olive greens, aqua, peachy pinks, greys and neutrals with a pop of bold color.  I also noticed a lot of solids and very simple graphic prints; chevrons, geometrics and polka dots. (as seen in Cloud 9’s Simpatico by Michelle Benscko) I love how fresh these fabrics look together and I think they would look fantastic in almost any quilt because they are so simple.

Field Study by Anna Maria Horner

I was even more excited to see designers who are willing to be daring with color and motifs. Like this Field Study collection from Anna Maria Horner.  Seriously, animal print, florals and geometric patterns all together in the same collection??  That’s pretty bold! All of these fabrics have such interesting textures and dynamic color that they will look great cut into smaller pieces and quilted together. I also love her pattern on this dress!

Lastly, I love Denyse Schmidt’s new collection Chicopee.  Once again her vintage inspired designs are very simple, many of them only have two colors.  But when you see them all together her collections feels so rich and cohesive.  I think it would definitely lend itself to any of the quilt designs from her new book, which I’ve had my eye on. Denyse’s limited palette approach is what makes these traditional inspired quilts feel modern and fresh! If I was going to make a quilt with any of these fabrics it would probably be something fairly simple or kind of loose and improvisational like this quilt by Film In The Fridge! ( Ellen, thanks for mentioning this blog!) Researching for this post got me so excited about the possibility of traveling to Quilt Market in October! It would be such an amazing opportunity to meet designers, talk with other fabric enthusiasts and get my foot in the door of the quilting industry! Big thanks to everyone for voting again and the judges for their hard work too!