Our Nancy's Corner segment once again goes on location
to the Quilt Expo in Madison, Wisconsin,
to give you a preview into how fabric is designed.
With me today is Jane Sassaman,
award-winning quilter and fabric designer
with bold, beautiful color.
Welcome, Jane, to our segment of Sewing With Nancy.
Thank you, Nancy.
Now, you are known for, as I mentioned, color, design.
It's got a lot of impact.
Tell our viewers what you told me
about what someone classified your workmanship as.
Well, actually, it was my brother-in-law.
And he said,
"Jane's work is William Morris on antidepressants."
[LAUGHTER]
Well, it's beautiful work.
Well, I think it was a compliment.
I think it was too, and I think what we'd like to share
with our viewers is how you go about,
the process of designing fabrics.
And you brought along some illustrations
that show where you begin.
Well, I'm a nature girl, so everything starts there.
And very often it's something I have growing in my own yard.
And I love Millefleur prints.
And so, for this particular design,
I just started drawing characters
of favorite flowers.
And then I actually cut them all apart
and arranged them into a repeatable design.
So what you see from the black and white now
is in your repeatable design.
Right.
And here.
And then I can scan it into the computer
and start working with color.
And with a line of fabric,
for me anyway,
it's usually three different color ways
that sometimes talk to each other
because they have some of the same colors in each color way.
And then when you send the fabric art to the manufacturer,
you choose the colors and where it goes.
And we have to have big blocks of color, at least 2",
so they scan
and match the color.
And it really is amazing when you get your strike-offs back
that they are so good
at picking these odd kind of greens, for example,
but they can really
match them up.
A beautiful arrangement of 12 colors here
that make this fabric just pop.
Mm-hmm.
What is your most challenging part, Jane,
of designing fabrics?
Well, I think these days
it's that I have to do two lines a year.
Ah.
So that just means I'm designing all the time,
and so scheduling can be difficult
because one line just came out,
so I have to show people what's made with that.
I'm designing another line at the same time
and getting strike-offs from another line all together.
So keeping that straight is not necessarily an easy thing to do.
Now, strike-offs, to our viewers,
means the preliminary fabric.
The first round that really isn't for sale.
It's maybe on fabric that's not quite as up to par.
Right, and it's usually hand screened.
So that's where you check your lines and your colors
and your bleed and all of that
and give it the thumbs up or the thumbs down.
Now, a quilt that you have made with this fabric
that you designed, our viewers can see now.
It's a lovely combination.
You really do-- a lot of times I noticed in your work--
you have blocks on point and some simple styling,
but, wow, what impact it has.
The fabric does the work.
The piecing is very, very simple,
and that's one thing I've learned.
The bigger the print, the bigger the pieces you cut out.
You just let the fabric do the work for you.
It would be a shame to cut this into little pieces.
Well, I totally agree, and that's why I promote
making shower curtains and duvet covers and pillowcases
and all of that.
Things beyond quilting.
I think it has a bigger life than that.
Well, keep up the work.
I know it maybe seems like a treadmill, but as a consumer,
I appreciate your work and admire you.
Well, thankfully I actually enjoy
every minute of it, so thank you very much.
And it shows. Thank you, Jane. Thank you. ¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶
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Thanks for joining me.
Bye for now.
Donna Fenske has written the book
"Cuddle Buddies: Hat and Scarves"
which is used as the reference for this one-part program.
The book includes full-size applique patterns
It's $12.99, plus shipping and handling.
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