Monday, November 18, 2013

Guess what I won...Hooray!

I've been sitting here with a secret the last few days and it's been killing me not to post anything.  I've had to sit on my hands every time I get a bit itchy.  But now I can scratch that itch!

I won the Connecting Threads 2013 Design Contest. Yep, I did.  I have been singing and dancing internally for a couple of days now.  Wheeeeee!


It was quite a long process really and each week when CT published a blog post displaying another finalist's collection I'd get nervous and start sweating.  Each finalist brought something different to the table and it was easy to see how this collection or that collection could or would appeal to a certain cross-section of the fabric buying public.  I think we all worked really hard and all of us had high hopes of winning.  I say thanks to each of them because I know just how hard it is to create designs that come straight from the heart and then to sit and wait to hear the results. 

One thing I've learned over the past couple of years is I never really know what people will choose I can only hope what I've presented is what they want.

I like the CT process.  It is a popular vote first and then the CT experts step in once the votes are tallied.   In my mind both sets are expert..the voters because they vote for what they like and the CT folk because they know what is needed for their specific market.  They outlined the process of choosing the winner in the email to all of us finalists.  There is a panel of 20 people with various connections to the quilting community or industry. They all rate the designs by a variety of factors that are important to them and then tally the numbers.  Everything is anonymous too.

I don't know the final numbers but I'm thankful that my collection tallied the highest.  I really have to thank the voters and especially the CT folk who are so easy to work with and are so generously helping all of us by answering questions we might have while developing the collections.

And the biggest thing for me is thanking them for helping me realize my dream of having a collection of fabrics out in the world with my name on the selvage.  It's a huge thrill.

Go give CT some love,  buy some of their fabrics! Oh yeah, and a comment on their blog post would be fabulous too. 

xoxoxo,
Virginia


Saturday, November 16, 2013

Coordinates or no?

I do a lot of work at Spoonflower.  A lot. Just ask my family how often I'm working on a design.  Hey, in my defense at least they always know where I am!

Generally I make focal prints. I don't always create coordinates.  If I do, it's usually only 2 or 3 and they rarely sell as well as my focal.

The decision to do a coordinate often lies in the ROI.  It takes time to create a coordinate and it needs to be able to stand alone as well as coordinate with the focal.

I see a ton of folk making coordinates sometimes there are dozens of coordinates for one focal. 

So the questions are: Do you buy a focal print at SF and purchase coordinates at the same time? Or do you buy only the focal and run to your local brick and mortar for other fabrics? Is it a matter of economics? It's no secret that it's a lot less expensive to buy from a big box store. 


If you're a sewer/sewist would you buy all of these or would you piece it out?  If you're a designer how many coordinates do you create and what nudges to create coordinates?

You can view the original collection of my African Inspired designs here clicky