Ombre, borders and awesome garments
One of the nicest things to happen to fabric design in the last many years is the use of the full width. Selvedge to selvedge design means you have no "horizontal repeats" in the fabric. Japanese designers have been doing this for a long time (think Echino, Nani Iro, Koseki Suzuko. We're seeing more and more of it in North American modern fabric design, with Jane Sassaman and V and Co exploring ombres last year, and several of the Art Gallery designers adding a border print to their collections.
This season Melody Miller channeled her Japanese influences (she used to design for Kokka fabrics) and created "Confetti" in three beautiful colours for her Jubilee collection. These prints are striking and start you thinking about your patterns in totally different ways. Iron out the fold from the bolt and lay out your pattern pieces horizontally instead of vertically to take advantage of the fabric pattern and you're cooking. You can use a really simple pattern and let the fabric do all the work. The sample in the picture is from Melody's booth and has a great vintage vibe, but you could also make a simple shift dress or little a-line sleeveless for summer and the colour bands would create an excellent profile.
Lots of fabric inspiration this winter!
The highlights for me were the Japanese fabrics, there are some terrific goodies making there way here. I also loved the new Bluebird collection from Cotton + Steel, and together with Alison Glass' Handcrafted Indigo, the world is turning bluer. Lots of beautiful blues in many collections. I also loved the new Carkai from Carolyn Friedlander, the Ombres from V and Co and a few sparky collections from Cloud 9.I'm back now, and not going anywhere for a few weeks so I can catch up with the rest of my life, put my house back in order, and start thinking about making something (so many ideas, so little time).