Tuesday, October 29, 2013

April Rhodes Pattern Giveaway with the Cabbage Rose!

 
We have been HUGE fans of April Rhodes ever since her very first design hit our shelves! The Staple Dress has proven to completely and utterly live up to its namesake and become a staple in any wardrobe it finds a happy home in! Caroline has made a whole heap of these simple and flattering dresses (can you say, addicted?) and has even taught a class! All of her students all looked amazing in their new dresses! Such a flattering dress for any body shape and size!


 
April recently released her second pattern, The Date Night Dress + Simple Slip and my, oh my...this one is as pretty as ever. I just love those flirty sleeves, perfect for a fabulous night out or a special event. Caroline whipped up one for herself with some GORGEOUS Amy Butler Rayon! What's really awesome is this is truly two patterns in one! You may need to create a Simple Slip to go under your Date Night Dress if you use a lighter and more see-through fabric like Voile, but its also darling on its own as a swimsuit cover up, a nightie or a sundress for those extra hot days!
 
 
We got to meet up with April at this year's Fall Quilt Market in Houston and she was sweet enough to give us one of each of her patterns to GIVEAWAY to our Cabbage Rose Customers!! The Giveaway will be open through next Wednesday and we'll announce the winner here on the blog! There are lots of ways to win!! You can Follow us on Twitter or SIGN UP for our Newsletter, those count for 2 entries each! OR for one entry each, you can tweet about the Giveaway, Like us on Facebook or Leave us a Comment on this post with what fabrics you'd use to make these dresses!
 
GOOD LUCK Y'ALL!
 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Handmade Halloween - Quick & Cute Ideas from Martha Stewart!

 
Let me guess, you're semi-stressing about Halloween costumes for the kiddos? You want to make something cute and memorable but our already busy schedules simply don't want to budge all that much for...costume making. It's a tough predicament, I know! But don't worry, the original Queen of Crafting is here to save the day again! I found some SUPER CUTE and oh-sew-simple costume ideas on the Martha Stewart Blog and they are all excellent ideas for last minute handmade goodness!!
 
For instance, this easy-peasy Red Riding Hood ensemble is really just a handmade cape! And Martha's got a FREE PATTERN for it right here. All you need to do is find some red fabric! Any kind of dress will do for your little lady! Just make sure she has a basket for Grandma's house and Little Red Riding Hood will be ready for trick or treating in YOUR hood!

 
This idea may have made me squeal a little from the cute! I just LOVE the petal collar and pistil headbands! Easy to create in one dedicated evening! Pair it with a simple t-shirt dress and fun tights! If you have several kiddos this Flower Bouquet is a great group idea!
  
 
How stunning are these Madam Butterfly wings? A bit of a step up from the other costumes, but still simple enough to get done in time! There's a template for creating the wings and the best way to let these beautiful wings stand out is to dress your kiddo head to toe in black!
 
 
And probably the simplest of them all to pull off, your child can be their very own SUPERHERO (with a little help from Mom)! You can either fish out a plain, long-sleeve t-shirt out of your kiddos dresser or grab one super cheap at Target! Use metallic or crazy leggings for girl bottoms and maybe go with pajama pants for boys! Now, how exciting you get is up to you! I love the idea of appliqueing their initial on the shirt or a fun symbol of their choosing! If you need a template, you can get them here! Belts, headbands, masks and capes can be made SEW simply with fabric and embellishments...just be creative! You can even make cool cuffs and belts with duct tape, then you can draw on neat details with a Sharpie if you're artistic!
 
I don't know about you, but I am totally ready for Halloween now! These are great jump off points and I've gotten so many ideas just brainstorming with these! See the rest of Martha's awesome handmade costumes for kids post here for even more great ideas!


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Handmade Halloween - Feathered (Fabric) Friends!

 
I just found this ADORABLE tutorial for handmade wings on the Prudent Baby blog and what a great idea for a quick and affordable Halloween costume! You could grab some pretty and bright fat quarters, use a charm pack or empty out your scrap bin!! Get a solid blue shirt and black leggings and use blue fabric with strategic bits of black and white to create a blue jay! Go all red and create a cardinal! Earthy tones like brown, gold and orange would make a fabulous owl! And loud and crazy brights could yield an exotic parrot!!
 
 
You don't even need to know how to sew to create these! You could easily glue these feathers down with your trusty glue gun! All you need is a little patience for cutting the shapes!
 
Have several kiddos needing quick costumes? Make a whole flock of these fun wings!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Come See us at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo!!!

 
So, we're really excited about the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo coming to Fort Worth this year!! Having such a fabulous quilt show right in our own backyard is just too cool! This show has so much to offer, we really hope all of you in the metroplex and beyond will come out for all the inspiring presentations and demos, trunk shows and WAY more...just read on to see what all is happening! And don't forget to find the Cabbage Rose Booth #516! We'll be directly across from The Spot so be sure to stop by and say hi! Especially if you're from another state! We'd love to meet you!
 
 
Stage Presentations, demonstrations, trunk shows and fashion shows are FREE with your General Admission ticket. You'll get renewed energy, inspiration and lots of how-to's from these lively 30-minute sessions.


Sit down and sew great accessories and gifts with Beth Bradley and Jessica Giardino of Sew News, Creative Machine Embroidery and Sew It All in the Make-It Center. Try out luscious new fabrics, cool new notions and enjoy doing what you love most – making things!
 

See what Expo designers, teachers and experts are doing these days, as you get up close for how-to demonstrations and presentations in The Spot – a more intimate setting. FREE with your General Admission ticket.


Patterns...fabrics...style you can sew! Take a break from shopping at the FREE 
Runway Fashion Shows and get a look at dozens of fashions from independent pattern designers while live models walk the runway.

Watch an Expo designer affect a style transformation, and find ways to update your own wardrobe. Put your name in the hat and YOU could be the winner of a FREE Style Makeover and Expo shopping gift certificate.


Make-It Take-It projects
are a great way to learn new things at the Expo. They're quick little projects that put your hands on new techniques and products in an informal, fun atmosphere.

Join us for a FREE social, open and informal gathering to show us what you've made or what you're going to make at the I Made It Myself Event. Enjoy snacks and even prizes! 

Today's young sewers (ages 9-18) can show off their projects and share the fun of sewing and quilting with a live audience in Sewing's Next Generation. Get an insight into the interest and talents of our newest sewing enthusiasts as they show off their latest accomplishments.
 


October 17, 18 & 19, 2013
Will Rogers Memorial Center  Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Building
3401 West Lancaster Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76107
www.meetinfortworth.com
 
Exhibit Hall Hours: Thurs./Fri. 10am - 6pm; Sat. 10am - 5:30pm
Lots of amazing things to do in Fort Worth! Come for the show and stay for the fun!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Get to Know Ya Time with Tula Pink!!

 
 
Tula Pink is one of the most colorful people in the quilting industry and I had the pleasure of chatting with her recently about her latest (and AMAZING) new collection Acacia, her successful career in the quilting biz, and other fun tidbits about her creative life, including some advice to young creatives looking to make their passion their business!
 
 
 
 
CABBAGE ROSE: Your new collection Acacia is way too fun! I especially adore those rad raccoons!! What was the inspiration for this collection? 
TULA PINK: Acacia is essentially a daydream. I live in the mid-west. There are small pockets of cities and suburbs but the majority of the space out here is tall grasses and rows of crops that edge right up to the city lines. Being a city girl all of my life, I grew up in Los Angeles, Those pastures are about as mysterious to me as the open ocean or the surface of the moon. Acacia is my explanation of what goes on in all of that dense wild ground. Most of my fabric collections are just me imagining what is happening in areas that I can't see. My imaginary reality is much more colorful than the one I see when I open my eyes and look around.
 
 
 
CR: Can you tell us a little about your design process? What is the most fun element of the process and the most challenging part for you?
TP: My design process is fairly straight forward. I draw everything out in pencil first. I scan it in and redraft it digitally and drop in the colors. I draw to scale and figure out the repeat in the pencil sketch, you can literally lay my drawing on top of the finished fabric and it will be nearly identical. I try not to let the computer do the work for me. I like to have a bit of my hand in the finished design. It gives it personality. The funnest and the most challenging is definitely getting the first test swatches from the production mill. I am always really nervous to open the box. This is the moment when I find out if all of my ideas really worked or if I totally missed the mark and it all needs to be rethought. It can be the highest high or the lowest low. 
 
 
 
 
CR: Your fabrics are brilliant at combining vivid and vibrant colors with some seriously bold patterns. What’s your secret to making a lot of loud elements work so harmoniously together?
TP: I like a bold pattern and I love color. I look at each piece of fabric I design and I think "would I NEED this fabric" if I saw it on a shelf. If I don't get that feeling then I can't imagine that anyone else will either. That's where the boldness comes in. I spend a lot of time moving elements around and changing colors a shade this way and a shade that way. There is a moment in the design process when everything falls into place. It's a gut feeling when I know that something is working. I try to take everything right up to that line of going too far. 
 
Tula Pink Originals!
 
CR: I find your quilt designs to be especially imaginative! How exactly did you get started creating such incredibly original quilts?
TP: When I sit down to make a quilt I don't think about the "how" to make it until the end. I think about what I want to make, I think about shapes and the overall impact of the quilt. I let my imagination run wild and I figure out the "how" later. I try not to restrict myself with practicalities. I like to think that I am painting with fabric.
 
  
So, you totally have the portfolio of someone who's been doing this their ENTIRE life! Just what exactly were you up to before Tula Pink became a thing?
TP: Before designing fabric I worked as a exhibit designer at a museum in Los Angeles and then as an art director in the music industry. I went from a very quiet environment to a very loud one, it took some adjusting. Designing fabric and patchwork started out as something that I did to blow off steam. I used to spend my days realizing other peoples' creative visions and I used patchwork and fabric design as an outlet to explore my own ideas in my free time. Now I design and sew all of the time and I don't have free time.
 
Who is your biggest creative inspiration? Favorite designers of the moment?

TP: My interests change frequently. I am mostly drawn to people who do things that I can't or don't do. I get excited about painters and illustrators that do unexpected things like Mark Ryden, Barry McGee and I love the wit of Gary Baseman, the darkness of Camille Rose Garcia. Jenny Saville is my favorite figurative painter and Tauba Auerbach does amazing things with pattern and type. 
 
 
From Tula's book, City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks
 
 
CR: Are there any other mediums you enjoy creating with?
 
TP: I have been in the quilting zone for quite a while now. Every thing I think about adds up to fabric and patchwork. I love it!
 
 
 

CR: What advice would you give young creative types about to enter the work force?
TP: My advice to young creative types entering the workforce would be to choose a job carefully. Don't go for the biggest money or the fanciest name on the door choose your job by who you want to learn from. You will get more from your career out of a great mentor than you will out of an extra couple of dollars in your paycheck. Once you get there, soak up everything you can about design, production, business and anything else you can get your hands on. The first few years of any job is learning the ropes. I see a lot of young creatives making the mistake of thinking that their only job is to be creative and while that is a big part of it you can't move up the ranks if you can't understand the bigger picture and how you fit into it and where you can make a bigger impact.
 
CR: How do you go from just being concerned with supporting yourself to actualizing your dream job?
TP: You eat a lot of Ramen Noodles until you can afford to buy real food, lol. I just kept my head down, made the best work that I could make, worked every opportunity that came my way and over time my dream became a reality. The most successful creatives have an equal amount of business savvy, I like to call it "hustle" to an equal amount of talent. The talent is what people will buy but it takes the hustle to make them realize that you exist in the first place. It's a yin/yang situation. I am lucky enough to be fairly one track minded. If I love what I do then that is enough to keep me going. It got me through some of the rougher parts of trying to make this my career.
 
 
CR: Okay Halloween is right around the corner...are you a handmade costume kinda gal?? If so, what's the best one that you've created (or seen)?

TP: I have been at International Quilt Market almost every Halloween for the last several years so I usually spend it in my hotel room complaining about how much my feet hurt. The best costume I have seen was a girl dressed as on Oscar, the statues they hand out at the Academy Awards. She was basically naked with a shaved head and completely painted gold. I think that was the best budget costume I have ever seen. All she needed was a can of paint and a razor! Well, that, a lot of confidence and a killer body!
 



CR: HAHA! We know that feeling! Quilt Market/Festival foot pain is a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL! Okay, what's usually playing in your studio while you sew, draw or dream up your next creation?

I am very moody and extremely particular about my music selections in the studio. When I am frantically making a million quilts for a new fabric line it's all pop, dance and electronic music. When I am designing it's a tense kind of mellow, some Jazz maybe or some dark classical music I like a lot of dramatic sound when I am thinking creatively. If I am relaxing and figuring things out but more mellow, my go to is old school hip hop. Like I said I can be a little schizophrenic when it comes to my music selections.
 

 

CR: How about your workspace? Is it neat and tidy or are you all about that chaotic creativity?

I am definitely a neat and tidy sort. i can't think in a mess. When I am trying to be creative my brain moves about a million miles a minute. The chaos in my brain can't be competing with chaos in my environment as well. I like to keep the workspaces clear in case I have a sudden such of creativity. When that happens I need to get to work immediately which requires a clear space and I can't be bothered with having to figure out where I put my rotary cutter or which pile that particular piece of fabric I need is in. So tidy is definitely necessary around here.
 
 
 
 
 
CR: It really does seem like there is no end to your imagination! What's in store for Tula Pink in the coming year?
TP: More, More, More! I have new fabrics, new quilts, new everything! It's hard to stop so I just don't try to anymore.
 
 
Thanks so much for your time, Tula! She's such a fun and inspiring person! AND, she's a huge supporter of Local Quilt Shops, which you know is a very near and dear quality in our hearts! We are all just loving the new collection and we hope you all enjoy the color and creativity as well! This collection is fabulous for lots of different handmade Christmas gifts from throw pillows & quilts to clothing and bags! Shop our Patterns and get inspired!!
 
Happy Creating!
 


Thursday, October 3, 2013

Welcome, October!!

 
 
Its here again...October! Time for cozy hoodies and tall boots. Knit sweaters and Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Chilled air and warm homes. Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year and its an absolutely fabulous time to be creative, get inspired and even learn something new!!
 
 
 
 
We have got a lot of awesome Classes scheduled this month! Head on over to our Events page to see even more months of fun! And be sure to check out the official Cabbage Rose Classes page to see ALL of our available classes and their times! Learn something new this Fall!!