I received an email this morning from Kathy Miller, design director of Michael Miller Fabrics. It was a link to Sew4Home where a tutorial explains how to make the Jumbo Fabric Tub using my Kimo fabric in color Onyx. The project is sponsored by Fabric.com.

To view the entire article click here:

Re-imagine & Renovate - Put A Gift In It: Jumbo Fabric Tub

I don't know about you but I think this project is ONO! (Hawaiian translation: the best or #1)

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.

The Adventures of DA BONE

Aloha!

I am going to post a fabric - design - work related entry every Wednesday so keep checking back as I relay some of the goings-on of the past year, and get you up-to-date on what can be expected in the coming year.

I was thrilled when Kathy, co-owner and Head Stylist of Michael Miller Fabrics, agreed to allow me to display my new Halloween group APOTHESCARY at Quilt Market in Houston this past fall. It's a nine-piece collection of prints geared for the little mad scientist in all of us, and our junior chemists and pharmacists in the family. The great aspect of the collection (from a merchandising standpoint) is that the group transcends the frightful holiday and individual designs can be placed in other categories. Here's the link to the collection on the Michael Miller Fabrics website:

http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/MMF/Swatch4.cfm?&Gnam=Halloween

Also, all of the designs in the Halloween category are mine, and it's going to get bigger as I have a few more patterns which I am shooting to debut at the Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City this year.

Once I got the okay to proceed, the process of designing my space began. I, at first, wanted to do a mad scientist's lab - stone walls, bubbling beakers, etc. but it just didn't settle with me 100% - there seemed to be something lacking. Then I remembered that MMF had 2-color damask patterns in an array of combos, so I hoped to find one in red-and-black... BINGO! And better yet, there was one in a black ground with a charcoal grey metallic design. This what it!! Suddenly Sweeney Todd meets the Addams Family meets Dark Shadows came to mind and the design of the booth was born.

As a designer I'm always saving pages from magazines that are inspiring, and years ago I came across a project technique in one that took newspaper, formed into the basic shape of a bone, and then was covered in plaster coated gauze bandage (similar to what would be used for a cast). The article also showed a very large bone resting against a wall, and it was then that I knew I was destined to create this dino-sized femur.

So, the process began. I enlisted the help of a couple of my very talented and artistic friends Keri and Penny. What do we use for the inside armature? How to we make it rigid and shippable yet light enough not to be cost prohibitive? Plaster vs. foam? Soon, the answers came to us.

The long portion of the bone would be wire window-screen stuffed with air bladders used for shipping. How big should we make it? I don't know... let's use the entire roll of the screen (approximately 7'.) The ends would be papier-mache balloon shapes, held together with glue and masking tape. The entire structure would be covered with strips of muslin soaked in plaster of paris.

DA BONE

Pre-Production: Paper-mache globes (Penny trying them on for size), roll of wire window screen.

After the center was wrapped with the fabric-and-plaster strips, the ends of the screen were slit and the globes attached to the ends of the bone. Here's Keri who was fearless about making a mess and getting her hands dirty.

The bone, drying, on my design table (the table is 60" long.) Photo taken one morning from outside of the lanai where my office and studio is located. It was finally sealed with gesso and tea-stained to give it an aged appearance.

Fitting the bone in its cardboard casing for shipping. I wrapped it in bubble wrap, and Penny suggested using insulation foam in a can to secure it even further. Brilliant packing idea!

The bone arrived safe and sound in Houston. It was my second piece of checked luggage for the $25.00 luggage fee (it measured 7'3" packed and weighed 25 pounds.) You should have seen the spectacle I caused at the airport checking this in!

Unwrapping the bone at the convention center.

The bone on display in my APOTHESCARY space in the Michael Miller Booth. The black-and-charcoal metallic damask fabric was adhered to the walls using liquid starch. The picture frames display the fabric collection, and strangely enough, most of the props in the booth are things that I own and have collected over the years :/

And thus ends the saga of the 6'9" plaster-of-paris and fabric bone's journey from Haiku, Maui to Houston, Texas. It now lives snuggled in it's packaging in a warehouse in New Jersey.