Fabric Friday: My Heather Bailey Obsession

I am thinking about starting a regular posting tradition of blogging about fabric on Fridays. I will try it for a few weeks and see if I like it. You all know I love fabric even more than sewing! I have talked a bit to my modern quilter friends about how I have way too much Heather Bailey fabric. They have bugged me to reveal how much I really have - so here it is! It all started with Freshcut. I stumbled upon Freshcut on my favorite etsy store's site - SewLoveFabrics. It had been released for ages but I had never seen fabric like it before - it was gorgeous! I spent quite a bit of money on many yards and ended up making a curtain, bumpers, and a quilt out of it (in anticipation of the birth of my first child- I made another nursery bedding set for a boy- crazy, I know). Later, I made another quilt for a grad school pal. This is what I have left: There are large scrap pieces, fat quarters, and a few yardage pieces. It's honestly not as much as I thought I had. Now here comes the mother-load. I went a little CRAZY for Heather Bailey's second fabric collection, Pop Garden. Even though I do have too much, I have to say that I still love it and I am not planning on parting with any of it anytime soon. It is the perfect collection for me because I love large scale prints, it's bright, and it's appropriate for adult projects. I love bright fabrics and it's easy to find bright colored children's prints, but when it comes to making stuff for adults - a lot of collections are quite subdued. So far I have only made one quilt and two bags out of Pop Garden - but I have many more projects planned. My favorite print is the red peonies print - I am planning to back a quilt with it. Upon this recent assessment of my PG stash, I have to confess that I feel a little panicked that I only have two yards of the pink peonies print - I will have to get more of that eventually :)

Initially I was disappointed by Nicey Jane. The color palette felt too pastel and some of the prints I didn't care for at all. It has grown on me now. My stash of Nicey Jane is mostly fat quarters - received at Christmas and subsequent swaps.

The way I purchased my Heather Bailey stash is not the way I would purchase fabric now. I honestly went into hoarding mode - feeling like Freshcut and Pop Garden were the only modern fabrics ever to be produced. Years ago, when I saw a fabric I liked, I would buy two yards. Now I almost always limit myself to half a yard and any purchase over 1 yard is usually quilt backing fabric. I have learned that when quilting, a little bit of fabric goes a long way.

I have also learned that most fabric collections stick around for a while, most companies reprint (and if they don't, it must not be in demand anyway - so it's not going to be hard to find), and almost EVERYTHING goes on sale eventually. I feel that Free Spirit collections are especially ubiquitous, so there's really no need to go into panic mode.

I am looking forward to Heather Bailey's next collections - she is so talented and I love her color choices. I did hear a rumor that she is coming out with a home dec line but there is no sign of it yet.