To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
One piece of advice I see in or on just about every quilting blog, forum, magazine, book—you name it—is that if you care at all about your quilting (which you obviously should), you absolutely have to buy “quilt shop quality” (QSQ) fabric. If any rule can be broken in quilting, I think this one can once you have some experience under your (piecing) foot.
It’s difficult to explain to a new quilter what good quality fabric feels like—drape, good weave, and hand are hard concepts to describe with words. So blanket rules may save some heartache, but that limits the rest of us—rule breakers, experimenters, or just people with a solid grasp of the craft—to a fraction of the fabric that is out there.
Reasons why not to buy big-box fabric
There are valid reasons why not to buy big-box fabric.
We just finished up our Missouri trip, ending up in KC the same day a lot of you quilting industry people were leaving Quilt Market. Along the way and in KC itself, I managed to stop in a few different shops, and ended up with a fair little haul:
Sew To Speak in Columbus, OH is one of my favorite shops, and I couldn’t keep myself from picking up a few various FQs, including one from the Ghastlie Family Reunion.
In the 18 years I lived in Kansas City (or 21, if you include going home on college breaks), I never once stepped foot in a fabric store that wasn’t a JoAnn or Hancock (well, except for that fancy special occasion place on the Plaza). Now that I only make it back twice a year or so, I am so sad that I missed the opportunity to be part of what seems to be an awesome Modern Quilting community there—and am jealous of the shopping opportunities.
During this last trip, I finally made it to two shops in the Missouri/Kansas region—one in Overland Park, KS and one in Camdenton, MO (the Lake of the Ozarks). I really restrained myself, as I hadn’t budgeted for fabric shopping on the trip, but both will definitely be stops on future trips.
My weekend went from “no buying any more fabric, Rae” to “well, it’s Saturday and we have nothing to do, so let’s go check out that shop in Rome.” I was on a mission, but actually didn’t find anything to buy. Then, Facebook let me know that the Utica shop was open on Sunday for a special shop hop, and so of course I had to continue my mission (and actually succeeded). And you benefit: it means another On the Road, even if it’s all quite close to home.
