Fresh Fabric Giveaway £90's worth up for grabs!

Seamstar's October Competition is this Fresh Fabric Giveaway with your chance to win gorgeous fabrics by Saffron Craig. £90's worth up for grabs!

We have 3 bundles to win, each containing quarter meter pieces from different Saffron collections including Owl Fabric, Fields Range and Fantastic Fairies. Of course each bundle also contains a quarter meter piece from the new Bird Tree collection.

Each bundle contains 6 fabrics - so 1½ meters in total of fabric loveliness - each worth over £30!

Free to enter:

1. First chance to win - Leave a comment on our blog below answering this question –
What would you make from the Bird Tree Collection?

2. Second chance to win – If you follow our blog leave a second comment letting us know you are a follower. Please note you need to post two separate entries. If you post it all in one entry you only be entering one chance to win!

THREE lucky winners will be picked at random after Tuesday 9th November.

If you can't wait for the draw you can purchase fabrics from all of Saffrons collections in our shop now.

Good Luck!

T&Cs
The winner will be announced on this blog so please sign up to the blog (not compulsory but if you win this is where you find out – we won't track you down to claim your prize – we just don't have the time!).
Winners will be sent the prize free of charge after the draw has taken place.
Non-UK people can enter but free postage is only up to UK post value and you will have to make up the difference.
All prizes must be claimed within 30 calendar days.

An Interview with Saffron Craig on her new Bird Tree Collection

Recently arrived at Seamstar is the brand new collection from Saffron Craig.

Bird Tree is a truly wonderful collection, both in design and uses. Lovely purples alongside limes, greens and yellows. We can see this collection as a quirky skirt for an adult, a funky dress for a little one or unconventional curtains and cushions. It is also quite timeless in terms of seasons and we think it will work all year around.


For those not familiar with Saffron's past designs they include;

Surreal Elk landscapes....
Great Owl fabrics – this one has just been reissued and resized. The red and white lends itself to Christmas gifts.....
Wonderful Koala Softies. Again just released in a new colourway and gorgeous!

We caught up with Saffron to ask her about Bird Tree, design, sewing and life!

Where did your inspiration come from for your latest collection?

Saffron: The inspiration for the Bird Tree fabric range came to me one day when a flock of tiny yellow birds landed on a leafless tree. From where I was standing the birds appeared to be the leaves of the trees. To me it was one of those precious moments that nature shows me. I am lucky enough to have been able to recreate it onto a fabric and build a range around this truly inspiring moment.

This is the original colour way which we are expecting in a few weeks....

It shows the wonderful blue sky and a graphic drawing of the tree. It is surrounded by floating blossoms carried by the a warm summers breeze.

What is the best thing you have seen so far made from the Bird Tree fabrics?
Saffron: I have seen a lot of things made using the Bird Tree range, from skirts to quilts and cushions, even curtains. But one of my favourite is a little stool my husband painted and I upholstered for my daughter.

This range seems to have resonated with a lot of people because the colours are so different from what is available. Also the design is quite ageless and seems to fit with a lot of age groups.

What are you currently working on (both currently sewing and design work)?
Saffron: I have just finished three fabric ranges due to be released 2011. Today I have been sewing up some summer frocks from the Bird tree range, it's heating up down here in Australia! I also had to pull apart a quilt I started and will sew that up again. It needs more white as it is intended as a wedding gift. I also should receive the Bird Tree in blue this week so I will have to photograph that, upload it to the website and write about it.

You have to make a last minute present for a friend, what would you make (and preferably out of what fabric too)?
Saffron: I would probably make one of these dolls that are rather like a sculpture for a friend my own age. I've made them in the past and they're so much fun create.

Last week I made a girl's skirt to take to one of my daughter's friends birthday party, I thought it would be far more fun to make a skirt than go to the local toy store and buy something. I had it sewn in an hour.

Freya loved it and wore it for a week to preschool. I'm also known to make a quilt in a day if a baby is born. I love the energy of a new born baby and I know how precious they are, mothers just love wrapping them up in a snugly quilt.

Who is Saffron Craig and what is your design background?
Saffron: I am really a creative and happy person. I love nature and creating fabrics. I was born in Turo in the UK to hippie parents, who now live down the road. I grew up in Australia and graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with an honours degree in design. My background is mainly in fashion design. I had my own fashion label for years before focusing on designing fabrics.
I am married and have a beautiful daughter, who inspires me everyday. Oh, and I love to travel. I have a little game I play with myself that every day I have to go to somewhere I have never been before. It can be as simple as standing under a new tree and waiting for another moment of inspiration.

Great answers! A really big thank you to Saffron for taking time out to give us an interview!

The stunning Bird Tree Bundle is available at Seamstar now.

Blog readers (if you are reading this then that's you!) get 3 meters of ribbon worth over £2 for Free when buying the Bird Tree Bundle. Just mention 'blog ribbons' when checking out to claim yours.

An Interview with Kate Conklin…..

We are so excited to now have quilt patterns by Kate Conklin Designs in the Seamstar shop!

The patterns are both fresh and modern and you can check them out here. As if that wasn't enough Kate has very kindly taken the time to give us an interview which includes some great tips so read on. Perfect timing for me as I'm about to start my first quilting bee (scary!).

What is your design process when creating your quilt patterns?

Kate: Sometimes it starts with a sketch and sometimes the fabric inspires the design. I usually have a few different designs stored away in the back of my mind, just waiting for the perfect fabric. With "Dandelion Windows" it started with Saffron Craig's Field's fabric. It was just so beautiful I couldn't cut up those large prints, but I didn't want to leave the fabric in large squares either. The idea of seeing the fabrics though a window meant I could cut it up, but still show off the large prints.

I always sketch a number of designs on graph paper first (and play with the design in my mind for a few weeks), then I import pictures of the fabric into my Electric Quilt 6 program so I can see what the finished quilt will look like. Sometimes I change my mind half way through, but I usually plan the whole quilt out before I start. As I'm designing my quilts I think of the easiest and quickest way of doing something. I love 'stack and slash' for that reason. I've used it in many of my designs because its a way of making an improvisational style quilt quickly and without fabric wastage.

You can check out the Stack and Slash method in these quilt patterns: 'There's a Square in There' and 'Pine for You'

Where do you get your inspiration from for your quilt designs?

Kate: It comes from lots of different places, anywhere really, for example "Charm Bracelets" was inspired by all the beautiful charm bracelets my friends were wearing and the fact that fabrics are my 'jewels'. I'm fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the world right next to the beach and national parks, so I'm surrounded by nature's inspiration. I find hiking a great time to dream up new quilt designs.

Fabric is a primary source of inspiration for me. I feel like I've entered the quilting world at an exciting time. The fabrics coming out are so interesting and beautiful and modern. Often the fabric will dictate to me how it should be cut and the general direction of the quilt design. Quilting blogs have been another wonderful source of design ideas - I particularly love improvisationally pieced quilts. We're so spoilt to be able to share ideas and help each other push the boundaries of quilt design even if we live half way across the world.

In terms of design, what do you think makes a great quilt?

Kate: I love quilts in which the fabric is allowed to shine. I learned a great tip from Denyse Schmidt in her book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts, to only use patterned fabric for 30% of your quilt, and solid fabric for the rest. Although I use more than 30% patterned fabric in my quilts, I try to remember to let the fabric be the star.

Another thing that makes a great quilt is something that creates interest and movement in the quilt. In "There's a Square in There" I added little solid strips of fabric randomly to create interest, and in "Charm Bracelets" I varied the size of the squares slightly to give it some movement. I think quilting can add so much to the design of a quilt. If you take a look at many of Denyse Schmidt's quilts - they look deceptively simple, but the quilting is exquisite. I enjoy a mixture of machine and hand quilting on my quilts.

Who is your favourite fabric designer or favourite fabric collection?

Kate - There are so many gorgeous fabrics (many of which can be found at your shop) but its no secret I love Saffron Craig's fabrics. I keep gravitating towards them because the designs are so beautiful and interesting, the fabric's very soft and the colour's rich. The mixture of small and large designs create exciting possibilities for using them in quilts.

For example, the animals in the elk landscape could be fussy cut for the centre of blocks, with multiple borders using the coordinating fabric, or it could be used as a landscape as I did in "Sierra's Forest". I've met Saffron, and she's absolutely lovely and has such passion for her work.

For non-quilters like me fussy cutting is when you want to center a particular part of the fabric to fit within the size of your quilting block. So in Kate's example you would fussy cut the size of square needed around the elk so that the elk would be the center of the block.

You can check out Saffron Craig's fabric in our shop here.

Do you have any more quilt patterns in the pipeline?

Kate: I always have a number of quilts in the pipeline! I've almost finished a quilt using Laurie Wisbrun's Donkeys and Boots fabric. It's another 'stack and slash' quilt similar to "There's a Square in There" but this time its wonky and fun and very bright. Another design I'm very excited about uses free form curved cutting (stack and slash style again) and then piecing the curves without pins (something I've just discovered).

At Seamstar we totally love Laurie Wisbrun and are really looking forward to the entire Tufted Tweets collection arriving next month!

Who is Kate Conklin and what is your design background?

Kate: I live an hour north of Sydney Australia with my husband Todd and 2 young children aged 2 and 3. I work as a speech pathologist during the day and quilt designer at night after the kids are in bed. I never thought of myself as creatively minded before I discovered quilting two years ago. I was more mathematically inclined, but I have since discovered that maths comes in handy when designing quilts. As I dream up quilts in my mind, I can often calculate the different measurements for various block configurations before I even put it on paper. Discovering my love for quilts and design has been such an exciting journey, almost like falling in love. My father is a graphic designer, my grandmother a professional seamstress and I have always been surrounded by art and music so maybe it's in the blood.

Thank you so much to Kate for giving her valuable time to talk to us!

We hope you enjoyed our first venture into interviewing. Next month we have another interview (this time with a lovely American fabric designer – watch this space!).

Australian Fabric Day!

I'm really pleased that lots of new fabrics have arrived from Oz......

Firstly Saffron Craig's entire new collection called Forest Elementals was delivered last week. It's a move away from the quirky owl and fairy characters of the last two collections. This time Saffron has created 'mythical scenes' with Elks, Birds and Flowers. Here are a couple of prints from the Purple/Magenta colourway (we also have the Aqua/Brown colourway):

Now I'm yet to make a quilt but have been inspired recently both by Lily's Quilts blog and having seen the quilt kit from Saffron Craig to make this Forest Elementals quilt.

I have put a couple of Elk Quilt bundles in the shop with PDF Pattern to make the gorgeous quilt above. Check them out here.

Also Fat Quarterly have a brilliant article on Quilting Blocks they have made using the collection (and thanks to Fat Quarterly for allowing me to use their pics). I think it is wonderful how you can give different people the same collection and they each come up with something totally different and gorgeous:

My favourite Quilting Block is this one (because they've even managed to sneak one of my favourite collections in - Wonderland by Momo);


AND I found some Snip Snip Sky in my fabric unit - When I saw it I couldn't believe it hadn't been sold as it was so popular and then I realised it was because it wasn't on the website - doh!!! I've just added the last 4 meters of Momo's Snip Snip onto the website.

It complements the Aqua/Brown colourway so I may make an attempt at my first Quilting Block myself.....

Also from Australia I've had a new delivery from sproutdesign to add more fabrics to our current collection. As always, these are gorgeous. Hand printed on heavier weight cotton so perfect for light upholstery or extra special project. Here are a couple of prints but you can check out everything we have in stock by following the sproutdesign link above:

That's all for now. I had hoped to be able to show some finished sewn items but alas no matter what time I stay up until there just is not enough hours in the day!