Seed Bead Starfish

I'm the Featured Designer for Fairfield Processing this month!

You won't find these beauties at the beach, but luckily you can make them for yourself in a rainbow of colors.

Seed Bead Starfish are easy to make using scraps of fabric. Mix and match fabrics for the tops and bottoms to create your own individual color and pattern combinations. My favorite fabrics are some with surface interest, such as Michael Miller's Fairy Frost designed by yours truly! :) Or make them very modern and use Mirror Ball Dot!!

These brightly colored starfish seem to be jumping for joy and can be used to adorn a wide variety of projects. On pillows they add a cluster of sparkle here and there. Add a clasp and use to keep your scarf closed, or pinback as jewelry for a lapel or hat brim. Fill a glass bowl with starfish to use as a centerpiece or add a braided loop to decorate packages or as ornaments. Glue a magnet on the back and use it to post notes on the refrigerator or a suction cup for a window display. The possibilities are endless!

These are addictive to make and when it comes time to glue on the beads, the process reminds me of decorating cookies with colorful sugar crystals.

Click here to download the free pdf for the project.

Mirror Ball Dot: Summer Release

Aloha All!

I thought as today is a holiday, that I would break away from my normal routine and sit and write a very, very, VERY long overdue and much promised post: 

The release of the second installment of 

Mirror Ball Dot

I held off writing for a while because installment #2 wasn't going to ship until last month, and I didn't and to seem like I was being a tease by showing all these beautiful new colors and wonderful inspirations, and the fabric wasn't available in the stores. Now I am certain that retail establishments are stocking their shelves with the collection that was shown at Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City in May, and might even be available at your local fabric or quilt shop. (There is a store locator link on the Michael Miller Fabrics website that lists establishments that carry Michael Miller Fabrics, but not necessarily Mirror Ball Dot - so be sure to check with your favorite store first.)

I guess I never considered myself someone that would actually attract fans, and all because of fabric. But the unmistakable fact is that Mirror Ball Dot has done just that for me. Part of what I do to stay on top of what is going on with my fabrics is to scour the web looking for images of product using the MBD pattern. 

One of my first connections was with Jamie Mueller, and this is one incredible story of someone who has grit and determination:

"Okay ya'll,
I spoke with the President of Michael Miller Fabrics and BEGGED him to reprint the Mirror Ball Dots because they are AMAZING! I asked if a petition would help and he said yes! So please if you have photos of this fabric upload it and SIGN the petition! I started this POST (discussion). Just leave a comment saying you will sign and I will create a list and email him!! We can do it, he seemed VERY willing to reprint if I got a lot of people involved! :)
Thank you so much!! We can do it!!" October 2010

Thanks Jamie! 

And thanks to Dory! She's started a Mirror Ball Dot Pinterest board!!! 

http://pinterest.com/worthygoods/mirror-ball-dot/

I'm sure she'd love to include your Mirror Ball Dot projects too!

Here is  photo of "My Stash" by Dory Smith Graham of Worthygoods Textiles; Mirror Ball Dot colors from the original release and are only to be found, if at all possible, in very limited quantities and in very specialized venues on the web.

As I have been told, now that the design has been re-released, fans of MBD that have been coveting their stashes are beginning to feel less possessive about keeping their fabrics and have started releasing them from their confinements and using them in current projects.

2 pictures of  "Charlie's  Wobot" at Stitch Outside the Ditch by Elisa Albury.

This is a smart and festive little dress made by Kuky Ideas. You can visit her original post here: Butterick 4919

Unconventional Gift Wrap
Wonderfully creative gift toppers which invoke in me the intricate detail of origami by Wisenheimer Crafts

These are very inspiring as I have always thought of Mirror Ball Dot as being very sophisticated and high tech: round hard-edged circles and a reflective ink but these samples, made by Linda Solovic of Chit Chat from Linda Land show how the delicate hand embroidery reminiscent of red work can temper the look of the fabric and move it into an entirely different realm of sophistication.

This is called A Seasonal Fruit Smoothie by Sew Karen-ly Created. I don't quite know what to say about this except, perhaps. "WOW!"

This is one of those concepts that makes me want to hit myself on the head and go, "DOH!" I think this is brilliant and very classic! You can find the original post here by Rose Hip.

Tammy's Trees by Hadley Street Quilts on her blogpost Mirror Ball Dot Redux. The 7"x10" piece is made all from scraps - see even Mirror Ball is good to the last dot!

 

Stephanie K of Sew With Sass and I have made a real connection regarding MBD. Talk about a devotee... a few years ago Stephanie contacted me to see if there was any more fabric available, and unfortunately for her there was not. But did that stop Stephanie? NO! She went ahead and contacted Michael Miller Fabrics in hopes they might have some fabric, stashed somewhere but alas, there was none. 

But this story has a happy ending - to date there are 20 colors available with the promise of perhaps a dozen or more before the end of the year, or soon to follow. 

And for those of you that wonder about the process of developing a fabric design, here are the photos of the new colors, released last month, as they were received by me from the Michael Miller Fabrics New York office. They are being merchandised with Fairy Frost (also one of my designs) and the Cotton Couture solid fabric collection.

I suppose now you can imagine how excited I was when I received these photos in an email. This stuff is just jaw-drop-on-the-ground gorgeous!!

Please visit the Michael Miller Fabrics website to view thumbnails of the collection by either clicking on the link, or by accessing the collection with the link on the sidebar to the right.

The Return of MIRROR BALL DOT

Sometimes -- okay MANY times - I find that I am ahead of my time when it comes to design. I suppose I must have an innate knack for spotting a hot trend way before it's even a trend, or perhaps it's because I have the attention span of a dead flashlight battery and get bored easily - or more accurately it's probably both. It's a good thing that almost never works for me because I am more than likely ahead of the curve and the acceptance of the general public.

"I truly believe they (the fabrics) were ahead of their time."

Disco Dot is one example of a lucrative trend that's still alive in the market, and that I happened to hit upon at the right time. About the same time that dots became the new black, a hot trend appearing in the market was to embellish quilts, clothing, etc. with glitz and bling, rhinestones, sequins and metallic threads. Fairy Frost, in part was, developed because the mixing of metallic and pigment dye-stuff allowed the printed fabric to be "pre-embellished".

Then came the marriage of the dot and the pearlized pigment. I had a print in the market called Altoid Dot (the dots were about the size of an Altoid). At the same time, I was developing product for a client that did private label manufacturing based on their customer's theme, which was Hollywood Glamour. One of the easiest way for me to maximize design is to tweak or revise an existing design, which means at the printing mill, using screens that are already engraved and available.

In my thinking, Hollywood Glamour = pearlized pigment, and a pre-existing design that was a good candidate was Altoid Dot which also meant I could see test print samples quickly (of course, deadlines always seem to be the day before yesterday!) 

The name was taken from a Jennifer Saunders (Edina of Absolutely Fabulous) comedy pilot called, "Mirrorball". The opening is of a mirrorball spinning and flashing and throwing off glints of light from its multi-faceted, reflective surface. Epiphany!

Unfortunately for me on one hand, the program for which the design was developed fell though (don't worry; I got paid for my services) but on the other hand, I had a fantastic design at my disposal and knew it was too good to let it just fade away.

I presented the design to Kathy and staff at Michael Miller Fabrics, and it was a go. We did it in forty colors, and it did well... not a well as Fairy Frost was doing at that time, but it held its own for a while. It had all the right variables to be uber-successful but it just kind of okay. Why? We were asking ourselves. Perhaps it was too specific a shape - the dot - opposed to a non-specific texture. Perhaps it was too late at the end of the frenzy of the dot... maybe it was that people just didn't get it (after all, it took about 5 years for Fairy Frost to catch on fire!)

So, the design just lived its short life but not without attaining a bit of a cult following. The people out there that got it LOVED IT! They wanted more; they scavenged and scoured stores and online sites for every last inch of the available fabric. I've recently come upon a few of these connoisseurs, these coveters of a long unavailable fabric and they are thrilled beyond belief... 

"There were 2 fabrics that started it all. Michael Miller's Mirror Ball Dot fabric by Mark Hordyszynski in Rice and Toffee. We got them in the store this summer and have loved them ever since. I went searching for others a while back, just to find out there were 40 of these fabulous fabrics, all of which are not in production anymore. Oh the humanity! I couldn't believe they weren't making these wonderful fabrics anymore!"

The Big Island: Hawai'i

Designed by Mark Hordyszynski and made by Marinda Stewart

The time is now - the market is showing every indication that a broader audience exists to embrace this design... Debi, the sales manager at MMF was the first to recognize the importance of re-releasing the design. She put the bug in my ear - of course I would love to see this design come back! Kathy is brilliant at listening to the whisperings of the needs of the shop owners, e-tailers, and manufacturers and their customers.

MIRROR BALL DOT CHEVRON

by Marinda Stewart

(Click on the name to go to the page for the free quilt pattern)

As of the end of last month, 5 colors were introduced: Onyx, Platinum, Rice, Silver and Snow, and were all used in the quilt at left, with lots more to follow throughout the rest of the year and the full collection making an official debut at the Fall International Quilt Market in Houston in October.

 "More Mirror Ball Dot shimmery goodness is on its way? Cue angel song. I'm pumped to hear about just which shades are coming out, too!"


"I know how you feel! I just started to use some of the colors I've been clinging to. The promise of new fun shades makes it okay to start sewing with them again."


"You have no idea how happy you have made me!! I know it sounds crazy, but I think I could shed a tear!!! This is my all-time favorite fabric line and I cannot wait to be able to get more of it! I have been hoarding it and now feel safe using my stash! ;) Thanks!!!!!"


Photos: Google images, Mark Hordyszynski, Michael MIller Fabrics, SK Burton Designs and Worthygoods Textiles. Quotes from adoring MBD fans.