Join us for our NEW Table Toppers Club!

Announcing the launch of our newest club, Table Toppers for All Seasons! Read about it here and there's a link to join at PatrickLose.com, below.

After 8 successful years of the Party with Patrick Club, we knew before even bringing that club to a close we would need to have a new one waiting in the wings for our loyal members. After several rounds of surveys on social media, we got a very strong response to the idea of a club that would deliver a different table topper each month.

We wanted to offer some extra value with this particular club that would make it an easy decision for you to want to join us. So look at everything you’ll get with Table Toppers for All Seasons:

    - A new table topper project each month for 12 months
    - Four table runners, four placemats and four centerpiece mats
    - Complete instructions including color illustrations and all templates for appliqué projects
    - TWO BONUS THROW QUILT PROJECTS delivered at the 6th and 12th months! $24 value!

An added bonus for those who are machine embroiderers or use digital cutters: We will also include the machine embroidery files and SVG cutting files for any project that includes Patrick’s trademark fusible appliqués designs at no additional charge.*

These are quick, colorful and easy-to-finish projects to dress your tables for Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Optional kits will be available for purchase.

The price to join Table Toppers for All Seasons is $59.99 for one year. That’s $5 per month for all of the digital downloads, but you’ll also receive the two BONUS throw quilt patterns at an added value of $24. Machine embroiderers and those who use digital cutters get an even greater value with the embroidery and .SVG files, included at no extra charge.

Projects will be delivered in digital format - PDF and, when available, SVG files. Embroidery files, when available, will be delivered in .art, .dst, .exp, .hus, .jef, .pes, .vip and .vp3 formats.*

If you have a small online shop or sell at craft shows we’ll offer licenses to create these projects for sale. There will be no charge to licensees but we do need to have you register with us to sell these designs.

Those who have been with us for Party with Patrick, Monthly Mug Mats or the other clubs we’ve offered know how much fun it is to anticipate and receive a new “surprise” project each month. We hope you’ll join us for our new Table Toppers for All Seasons club!

For more info or to join, click here.

*Machine embroidery designs will be delivered in the size used in the project. We do not offer in various sizes and you must have the hoop size needed to stitch the design.

Here are some examples of the types of projects you can expect to make in the club. These aren't the actual projects which are a surprise each month:

Click to enlarge

   

Growing Pains

As a young fabric company, it's a nice problem to be having growing pains already, but it can be frustrating - not only for us, but for our customers.

On a daily basis, we receive emails or social media comments from retail customers asking where they can purchase our fabrics. Because we have not yet fully developed a network of independent reps to service our quilt shops, many shops purchase from our distributors and the information on those shops is not provided to us. We're getting a lot of areas covered with reps but they have only been out in full force for a couple of months.

We are working to come up with a list of brick-and-mortar and online independent shops that we can recommend. In the meantime, we'd like to ask for your help.

Please understand that we strongly feel that you should support your local independent quilt shops who are doing their best to offer what retail customers want and to provide support and inspiration to their customers. If you can't find what you're looking for in your local shops, you should be asking for it. A good shop owner listens to the requests from their customers. If they don't carry what you want, there are other shops that do and some of those are online shops.

Shop owners - We'd love to send customers your way and hope you'll speak up on our Facebook or Instagram feeds when you have something a customer wants. Email your information to gary@patricklose.com and we'll put you on our list. It's easy to quickly get the Patrick Lose Fabrics your customers ask for. You can even order directly from us by using our website, by emailing gary@patricklose.com or by calling 623-414-9464 for assistance. It's fast and easy to set up your account using the application link on this page.

Retail customers - Thank you for your patience and, if you've had a good experience with a shop carrying our collections, please recommend them to your creative friends and on our Facebook or Instagram feeds. Your fellow quilters will appreciate your advice.

Please feel free to post shop info as a comment to this post, also!

The interest, feedback and support we're getting is phenomenal and much appreciated. Thanks for all the excitement you're showing for Patrick Lose Fabrics!

An announcement and a giveaway!

"Free" Patterns

There's something I feel like I need to weigh in on because there's been a lot of talk about it recently among designers and shop owners who are trying to navigate some challenging times in the quilting and other creative industries.

The number of free quilting, sewing and crafting patterns being offered everywhere you turn is seriously hurting the livelihoods of those who publish quality patterns of original designs and offer them for sale. All of these easily-accessible, free patterns are making so many of those who use them think that all patterns should just be free of charge and happily handed out for nothing. Do they really believe that they’re getting the best quality patterns? Do they think that the free patterns have been tested and proofread to the extent of those that are sold in the marketplace? Are they getting original designs or just another rehashing of an old standard with minimal instruction? Even those have a monetary value when someone has put a lot of their time, effort and talent into making the pattern something from which the end user will benefit, by making their own efforts easier and more enjoyable.

As a pattern designer, I’ve actually had to explain to some people why we sell our patterns instead of giving them away and, even then, some have become disgruntled and behaved almost as though they thought we were stealing from them by selling our work. They’re probably some of the same ones who also think it’s okay to just share patterns among friends - which most of us would never consider. I’ll never understand it.

Designers deserve to make a living from their honest, hard work, just as everyone else does. The vast majority of us do not give our patterns away for free and our businesses shouldn’t suffer because of those who distribute them for nothing online. We’re just trying to offer something valuable to those who enjoy what we do and that should be worth something. We hope that you’ll help to educate those in your own circles who don’t understand everything that goes into creating and making a design and then writing and proofing a pattern to make it suitable for your use. I can tell you, from my own experience working with companies who offer free patterns, you get what you pay for with many of those “free” patterns.

I do want to thank those who support what we're doing at Patrick Lose Studios/Patrick Lose Fabrics by purchasing and using our products and doing such great things with them. We love seeing your work and appreciate your spreading the word about how much fun you have making the projects I design. You're a part of the hope that designers have in being able to continue their work of making sure there are innovative, inspiring and exciting patterns available to the creative people who want them. You're the best kind of ambassadors we could have representing us.

On that note, stay tuned for some information coming very soon about our new Patrick Lose Brand Ambassadors Program. Maybe you'd like to be a bigger part of the work we do and the fun we have at Patrick Lose Studios...?

Cheers,
Patrick

We're very close to reaching 20,000 followers followers on Facebook and, when we do, one of those followers is going to win a “Christmas Cheer” Bundle of Fun™ tower!

Please tell all of your quilting and sewing friends to LIKE and FOLLOW Patrick Lose Studios on Facebook for a chance to win the collection of 39 (!) fat quarters valued at over $125.00.

When we reach our milestone, we’ll post contest details so be sure to stay tuned. It’s a great time to spread some “Christmas Cheer”! See the entire collection here (panel prints not included in the Bundle of Fun™): http://bit.ly/2eSW0jv

Be sure to ask for Patrick Lose Fabrics at your local independent quilt shop.

*****

Precut Assortments Debut at Fall Quilt Market

If you're a fan of precuts and want a little bit of everything from a collection, you're in luck. Patrick Lose Fabrics is offering lots of new precut assortments from the new collections we'll be debuting at market.

Anna's Garden and Let's Go Camping will be packaged in complete collections but the Basically Patrick collection of blender prints is so large that we've broken it down and assorted in color stories. Land and Sea is an assortment of Basically Patrick blues and greens, as shown below. Autumn Garden is made up of the oranges, yellows and earthy neutrals. Razzle Dazzle is a grouping of pinks, reds and purples and Tuxedo offers blacks, whites and grays.

We even have a catalog featuring all of our Fall 2016 Precuts, so you can take a look and choose your favorites and, if you're looking for fun and festive autumn, Christmas and winter prints, don't forget our Seasonal Celebrations collections and precuts assortments also!

Which collection's precut assortment do you like the most? Let us know in a comment below this post and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a Charms² pack from that assortment! Winners will be notified in a reply to their comment so keep an eye on the blog to see if you've won. Please note that comments are moderated due to SPAM, so yours may not appear immediately.

Please share this information with your local shop owners and tell them you'd like them to carry Patrick Lose Fabrics. If you're a shop owner, please stop by and visit with us as we celebrate our big launch at Fall Quilt Market - Booth 1546!

Basically Patrick and Beyond

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

Comments here are moderated for SPAM, so you won't see yours appear immediately.

Cheers!
Patrick

#thisisreallyhappening

I've always enjoyed and have been proud of the work that I've done in quilting, crafting and publishing. I've been doing this for 23 years but I can honestly say I've never been more proud of what we've been able to accomplish in the last 11 months.

Just about everything we've worked on in that time has been to bring about the launch of Patrick Lose Fabrics at Fall Quilt Market in Houston at the end of this month. It has not been easy but I think I speak on behalf of everyone involved when I say it has been exciting.

We had a soft launch of my first designs for the new company in June with Seasonal Celebrations 2016.  Seasonal Celebrations is a collection of my autumn, Halloween, Christmas and winter prints that we consider my seasonal "basics". 

Collections under this umbrella - such as Santa's Stash™ - will evolve from year to year as new prints are added and others retired, based on trends. We wanted to have the soft launch of SC 2016 in order to get them out there for those who didn't want to have a season without Patrick Lose holiday fabrics, but we knew that the majority of shop owners might not actually see the collections until our Fall 2016 releases at Quilt Market. It's hard to believe it's almost time for that.

So I'm really happy to announce that the digital version of our Fall 2016 Collections catalog is available as we prepare to celebrate the launch of Patrick Lose Fabrics at Houston Quilt Market! Shop owners - get an early look at all of the fun stuff to inspire your customers, including my newest Basically Patrick prints. To our retail customers and fans - flip through the digital catalog and start dreaming up your next projects and please tell your local shop owners what you would like them to carry for you. If you let them know what you like, they'll be more successful with what they offer in their shops.

Most of all, we ask that you share this information with your creative friends and tell them what you love about Patrick Lose Fabrics to help us make this new endeavor a big success. Even though I've been doing this for the last 23 years, this is a very exciting new beginning for me and the team that helps me bring it to you. We'd love for you to join us in this journey and appreciate your continued support!

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"A New Spin on Drunkard's Path" Blog Tour

I was really flattered and excited to be asked to be a part of the blog tour by my friend and fellow quilter, John Kubiniec, to coincide with the release of his new book, A New Spin on Drunkard’s Path available from C&T Publishing. But I have to start out by saying I’ve never actually made a Drunkard’s Path. Don’t let this minor detail keep you from reading on because I really want you to know about this book.

If you came to quilting from garment sewing, as I did, you probably conquered your fear of sewing curved seams long ago. I enjoy working with curved seams when I have the time to put just a little bit more effort into my sewing sessions than what it takes to make a project with all straight-seamed piecing. If you’re a novice quilter with no experience in stitching curves, I’d be willing to bet you’re more than a little intimidated. But thanks to the clear and concise instructions in John’s book, I think it’s time you give curves a try. Drunkard’s Path curves are among the easiest and once you have this basic technique under your belt, you’ll be ready to take on some of the more complex patterns involving the types of curved seams that you could only manage to envy from afar, heretofore.

John credits a good deal of his success to using acrylic templates. They make cutting the Drunkard’s Path patches much easier. For all of the quilts featured in his book, he used the Large Drunkard's Path Set by From Marti Michell. Marti is another greatly-respected friend and I can personally attest to the accuracy and quality of the From Marti Michell products.

I credit an even greater portion of John’s success as a quilter and an artist to his willingness to jump outside the box for inspiration and to take a simple block in so many directions in search of yet another striking composition. Not only has he assembled a collection of 12 really innovative, impactful and interesting options, he’s offered multiple variations of each, generating so many possibilities in the colorful 82-page book. In A New Spin on Drunkard’s Path, I know you’ll find inspiration for your own journey into the realm of the Drunkard’s Path with the examples such as these:

TEST PATTERN

63˝ × 63˝

 

I love the spinning pinwheel or windmill look of this one. 

 John calls it "Test Pattern" and I can see that, too.

BEACH BALLS

66˝ × 84˝

 

I was excited to see what he had come up with when he told me one of the quilts in the book was made with prints from my Basically Patrick collection. I think "Beach Balls" is a particularly playful design and a great use for the colorful ball prints atop the sandy beach background.

 SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

48˝ × 48˝

I'm always a sucker for a red-and-white quilt, and this is sharp one!

BOWTIES

86˝ × 92˝

 It might surprise those who know me, but this is actually my favorite of John's Drunkard's Path quilts from the book. There's a "motion" to the blocks that almost undulates across the quilt in every direction. But, probably best of all, look at all of the color possibilities!


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Many thanks to John for including me in his blog tour and to thank you all for taking the time to check out his great book, we'd like to have a drawing here. John and C&T Publishing are giving away an awesome prize package of a copy of his book and a set of the Large Drunkard's Path Set by From Marti Michell. U.S. resident winners will receive a hard copy of the book and international winners will receive a digital copy. In addition, Patrick Lose Fabrics is giving away a 6 pack Basically Patrick FQ Bundle of Fun™ to help start you off on a Drunkard's Path! That didn't sound quite right but....sound off below for a chance to win :)

All you have to do is tell us in a comment below which of the quilts shown in this post is your favorite! Please give us your answer by midnight EST on Sunday, October 9th to be eligible.

Although today is the last day of the blog tour, be sure to check out the other bloggers who had great things to say about our friend, John, and his book A New Spin on Drunkard’s Path . You may even find more giveaways on their blogs! Good luck!

September 26, 2016
Jenifer Dick
C&T Publishing

September 27, 2016
Sara Lawson
Heather Kojan

September 28, 2016
Bill Volckening
McCall’s Quilting 

September 29, 2016
Teri Lucas
Bonnie Hunter

September 30, 2016
made by ChrissieD
LoveBug Studios

October 1, 2016
Kathy Patterson
Teresa Coates

October 2, 2016
Carl Hentsch

October 3, 2016
Generation Q Magazine
Lisa Calle

October 4, 2016
Linzi Upton
Nicole Daksiewicz 

October 5, 2016
Marti Michell
Debby Brown

October 6, 2016
Melody Crust
Kim Niedzwiecki 

October 7, 2016
Patrick Lose
John Kubiniec

Blog Tour tomorrow

Be sure to stop by tomorrow morning as a part of the blog tour to help promote my friend, John Kubiniec's new book, "A New Spin on Drunkard's Path". You might even win a copy of the book and a set of awesome templates by From Marti Michell! Of course we'll be giving away a little something, also! Check back here any time after 5 AM EST, tomorrow.

A New Adventure

Ten years ago we bought our first RV and started out on a brand new adventure we didn’t even expect at the time. In some ways it’s been awesome and, in others, not so awesome.

Owning a house on wheels is a major undertaking and we learned that quickly but we didn’t let the challenges keep us from creating family memories that will last and entertain us for the rest of our lives. The road trips and weekends at the lake with Katie and the girls have been a blast and we hope the day doesn’t come too quickly when the grandgirls outgrow their excitement for them and when hanging out with us in an RV isn’t cool anymore.

When we told them it was time to trade in the Winnebago for something newer and bigger, they cried and begged us to keep it, maybe worried that their memories would go with it. We assured them that those were theirs to keep and they’re beginning to get used to the idea that all of the fun will continue in our new home-away-from-home on wheels. Wish us luck today on our first little road trip with Lily, Anna and Charlotte in our new Discovery. If all goes well, she'll be taking us to the Iowa State Fair next week!

 

 

 

For those who have been patiently waiting, the schedule for the classes I'll be teaching at the Iowa State Fair has been posted and you may now register!

This year's classes feature the panel prints I've designed for my Seasonal Celebrations 2016 collections and all classes are perfect for beginners or anyone who wants to be able to quickly and easily make placemats, table runners, hot pads and more in the air-conditioned classroom in the Fabrics and Threads Department in the Varied Industries Building.

Here's a link to a post from last year's fair if you'd like to get an idea of what it's like. The Iowa State Fair truly is a GREAT state fair!