When I began designing fabrics and quilting/craft patterns lots of years ago, I guess I never really expected it to stick. I had always jumped back and forth between interests and creative endeavors and really considered that fashion and costume design would still be my "forever" career. When my first collection hit Fall Quilt Market all those years ago, I knew there would be no turning back.
There was one print in that collection that was the standout and, to this day, continues to enjoy its place in the quilting world.
Playing with Marbles (renamed Moda Marbles) continues to be manufactured and sold to this day. I don't personally know of a print that has survived for 23 years and had such success in the industry. I've had quite a few prints since then that have "hit" and become staples in quilters' stashes and as we begin the journey of bringing yet another fabric company to market, I think of how
Patrick Lose Fabrics was born from that experience and my desire to bring more of my prints to the creatives who help to make them become staples.
I've always loved to design conversational and novelty collections but any good quilter knows that blenders are what tie those collections together. It's fun to come up with the cute characters or kitschy motifs I like to use in my novelties, but the real work of designing a collection, to me, is creating the blender prints that not only make it easier for a quilter to use the group, but also just might be the one print that they want me to pull out and offer in lots of colors to help coordinate the fabrics in other quilt projects they see in their future.
Basically Patrick is a collection of blenders and basics I put together a couple of years ago that has been so enthusiastically embraced by quilt shop owners and their customers. It made sense to me to develop a family of prints and recolor them in similar palettes that have been proven to be most popular with those who work with my fabrics. Quilters confidently choose and add these prints and colors to their stashes, knowing they will find their way into a project,
eventually, rather than ending up at the bottom of the stash, never to be used.
My
Basically Patrick 2016 offerings feature four new prints (and another in the works!) that will help us transition BP to the new company (click the images to see all of the colors):
Bubbly - a re-imagined version of my super-popular Fizz print in 36 effervescent colors
Festive - a celebratory print in 24 jump-for-joy colors
Speckles - a freckle-faced print in 36 colors
and Hooray! - a life-of-the-party print in 5 colors
The existing BP prints are being reevaluated and, although some will move forward at a later date, they will not be offered at FQM. My textural
Lily's Linen print is being slowly reintroduced at market within my
Let's Go Camping story, in several new colors, but
Hexies,
Suds,
Stars and
Dapple will not be available in the BP 2016 offerings. Whether or not we move forward with these prints, you should know that all of the current colors are being phased out by RJR Fabrics and if we reintroduce these prints at Patrick Lose Fabrics, it will be an all-new color palette! So, if you need those colors, grab them up while you can.
As we launch
Patrick Lose Fabrics, you can be sure that
Basically Patrick - A Quilter's Rainbow™ will be its cornerstone. I couldn't possibly stop designing all of the
other types of prints I love to offer, but more of the blender and basic prints, like those offered in BP, will always be in the works at Patrick Lose Fabrics.
I hope you'll
visit the website and take a look at what's on its way. It's a nice sneak peek at what will be offered at FQM.
If you're a shop owner/buyer and would like to apply for an account, you can choose a username and password to gain entry into the wholesale side of the site and order directly from us. You may also choose to
order from your favorite distributor on our list.
Retail customers will be able to see each print offered, in all of the colors and larger detail. We would really appreciate it if our retail customers would ask their local shops to carry my collections.
Shop owner or retail customer, if you're reading this, you're most likely someone who has been instrumental in my design process, through your selection and use of the products I create. I would greatly appreciate your continued support and loyalty as we start down a new road on this journey.
We're nearing our 18,000 Followers milestone on
Facebook and when we reach it, we'll be celebrating that and Halloween season by giving away a couple of panel prints from my
Happy Halloween collection! To be entered in the drawing, comment below and tell us which new BP print is your favorite. Then
jump over to our Facebook page and LIKE and FOLLOW, if you haven't already, so you can watch for the giveaway. Let your friends know too and we'll hit that 18,000 mark sooner :)
CONTEST HAS ENDED
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Cheers!
Patrick
