May 26, 2012

Fabric by the mile

Filed Under Fabrics 

I hope this doesn’t bust WordPress.

First off let me direct you to a couple of excellent blog posts, one by Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio and the other by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill. They’ll each give you a taste of Spring Market in Kansas City.

This was the view from my hotel room. The convention center is the long building on the right. Très convenient, no? I was going to be staying at a hotel far removed from the epicenter, but through a series of conversations that went sort-of like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, I ended up with this splendid room right in the middle of the action! My friend Carmel talked to her friend Bettina Havig, who talked to Marti Michell, who had an extra room reserved, and then it went back down the chain to me! When I checked in, the Marriott even told me I was a VIP!

Across the way, Jersey Boys was playing in the Music Hall so I went to see it Thursday night. Fun!

Here’s my new book in the Martingale booth, prominently displayed with the other April releases. Seeing stuff like that makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Now for the main event of this post. One day at Market, I had tromped all the aisles and had about an hour before going to see some people about some stuff. I decided to make it my mission to take a picture of every single fabric company. I held my camera in my hand and went down each aisle once more, not trying for photography perfection but just going snap, snap, snap. I think my camera’s going to need new batteries, and by the time I covered the floor, I tell you, my dogs were barking.

Thankfully I learned how to use a feature in Photoshop to resize and optimize all the photos for the web in one fell swoop, and now WordPress can import multiple files, so that saved a bunch of time. I then set about the task of linking all the pictures up to the websites of the fabric companies. I think I got them all pretty well.

Keep in mind that these companies largely sell only to the wholesale trade, so consumers may not be able to order fabric directly from them. But you should bookmark this post! It’s a fabulous resource for when you want to go window-shopping for fabric online!

Enjoy my photo essay, Fabric by the Mile.

Alexander Henry

Rowan

Rowan

Rowan again, and that is Amy Butler on the left.

Amy Butler's Cameo collection from Rowan

Amy Butler's new Cameo collection

Andover

Art Gallery Fabrics

Art Gallery Fabrics

Avlyn

B. Black & Sons

B. Black & Sons

Batik Textiles

Batik Textiles

Benartex

Benartex

Birch Organic

Birch Organic

Blank Quilting

Blank Quilting

Blend

Blend

Blue Hill

Blue Hill

Camelot Cottons

Camelot Cottons

Chewie and Darth

Chewie and Darth

Choice Fabrics

Choice Fabrics

Clothworks

Clothworks

Daiwabo

Daiwabo

David Textiles

David Textiles

Dear Stella

Dear Stella

Diamond Textiles

Diamond Textiles

Elizabeth's Studio

Elizabeth's Studio

Ellen Medlock

Ellen Medlock

Exclusively Quilters from Classic Cottons

Exclusively Quilters from Classic Cottons

EZ Fabrics

EZ Fabrics

Fabri-Quilt

Fabri-Quilt

Fabri-Quilt pigs, chillin'

Fabri-Quilt pigs, chillin'

Fabri-Quilt sheep

Fabri-Quilt sheep

Fabric Finders

Fabric Finders

Fabric Freedom

Fabric Freedom

Foust Textiles

Foust Textiles

Free Spirit

Free Spirit

Frond Design Studios

Frond Design Studios

Golden D'Or

Golden D'Or

Hamil Group

Hamil Group

Henry Glass

Henry Glass

Hoffman

Hoffman

Island Batik

Island Batik

In The Beginning

In the Beginning

Kanvas by Benartex

Kanvas by Benartex

Robert Kaufman

Robert Kaufman

Kinkame Shigyo

Kinkame Shigyo

Kona Bay

Kona Bay

Lakehouse Dry Goods

Lakehouse Dry Goods

Lecien

Lecien

Liberty Art

Liberty Art Fabrics

Marcus Fabrics

Marcus Fabrics

Maywood Studio

Maywood Studio

Michael Miller

Michael Miller

Michael Miller circus elephants

Michael Miller circus elephants

Michael Miller inpiration wall

Michael Miller inspiration wall

Moda

Moda

Monaluna

Monaluna

Needlecraft

Needlecraft

Newcastle

Newcastle

Northcott

Northcott

Oilcloth by the Yard

Oilcloth by the Yard

P&B Textiles

P&B Textiles

Print Concepts

Print Concepts

QH Textiles

QH Textiles

Quilt Gate

Quilt Gate

Quilting Treasures

Quilting Treasures

Project Linus from Quilting Treasures

Project Linus from Quilting Treasures

Red Rooster

Red Rooster

Riley Blake

Riley Blake

Rimmon

Rimmon

RJR Fabrics

RJR Fabrics

Rockland Industries

Rockland Industries

Shannon Fabrics

Shannon Fabrics

SPX by Spectrix

SPX by Spectrix

South Sea Imports

South Sea Imports

STUDIOe

Studioe

Textile Creations

Textile Creations

Timeless Treasures

Timeless Treasures

Tonga Batiks by Timeless Treasures

Tonga Batiks from Timeless Treasures

Trans Pacific Textiles

Trans Pacific Textiles

Treasures by Shabby Chic

Treasures by Shabby Chic, sorry dude caught you drinking a Coke

Troy Corporation

Troy Corporation

Tula Pink

Tula Pink

Windham

Windham

Yara African Fabrics

Yara African Fabrics

Yuwa Shoten

Yuwa Shoten

And I didn’t even get them all…

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Comments

13 Responses to “Fabric by the mile”

  1. Mary on May 26th, 2012 7:22 am

    OMG! Did you get through everything?I think my mind would bust and I’d go into convulsions with all the colors, texture and just plain awesomeness(a word?) of everything. Congratulations on the book display. It’s another one of your books I have to have.

  2. SewLindaAnn on May 26th, 2012 7:36 am

    This is a post I’m saving to go through slowly. I’m trying to get a good look at all the fabrics and patterns. It’s wonderful, thank you for all of it. You had a great picture, I think I saw it in my Newsletter.

  3. maritza on May 26th, 2012 8:11 am

    Fantástica la exposición!!!! y los trabajos y fotos están preciosos….

  4. Carrie P. on May 26th, 2012 11:13 am

    You probably walked a couple miles. That is a lot of photos.

  5. Angie in SoCal on May 26th, 2012 11:23 am

    Thank you for this post! I, too, will save it and study it carefully. Then I plan to go to the sites and find where online I can buy their fabrics. I don’t have much luck with my LQSs and I can’t travel to those far away in SO Cal.

  6. marcella Peek on May 26th, 2012 4:43 pm

    Wow, I haven’t even heard of all these fabric companies! Think of all the fabric I’m missing :-)

  7. Debbie St.Germain on May 26th, 2012 7:11 pm

    Wonderful post and photos with links, I need to learn that trick. I have the newest version, but so many new things to learn on photoshop and new computer and camera.

    Debbie

  8. Betsy on May 27th, 2012 4:17 am

    Thank you for sharing Kay, they are wonderful.

  9. Lisa on May 27th, 2012 5:55 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing all these. I hope you were able to soak those dogs afterwards. I know you must have been exhausted!

  10. Diane R on May 27th, 2012 7:04 pm

    Wow! What an awesome job you did putting all those websites with the pictures! I am very impressed! Thank you.

  11. Sue on May 31st, 2012 5:44 pm

    WOW – Thanks SEW much for taking me on a photo trip to market. Would love to be able to go to market sometime…

  12. Loris Mills on June 5th, 2012 10:36 am

    What a treat to see all these pictures! Thank you for taking us with you :-)

  13. TheaM on June 6th, 2012 6:27 am

    this is fantastic! I’ve bookmarked, cause there is way too much here for just one day!
    thanks for posting – what a treasure!