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Andover Fabrics Blog Making excellent fabrics for quilters!Home About ← Older posts Storm Relief Efforts Posted on September 13, 2017 by Andover Fabrics As we’ve been preparing for next month’s Quilt Market in Houston, like so many of you, we’ve also been following the storms that have affected so many in Texas, Florida, and the surrounding regions. Five years ago, when Sandy struck us here on the East Coast, the pain was profound and long-lasting. We know that the recovery of business, property, and peace of mind doesn’t happen over night; it takes time, resilience, and kindness. For our part, Andover Fabrics will be making a donation of $10,000 towards foundations supporting victims of the recent storms. We’ll also be working with stores in the affected areas to help them and their communities get back on their feet. Quilting and sewing are where so many people find their voice and their bliss. It’s truly our privilege to continue to support our extended community. Sincerely, DavidThe Andover Family Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Storm Relief Efforts Celebrating 25 Years of EQ7! Posted on September 10, 2016 by Andover Fabrics UPDATE! Congratulations to Erin of Quilt by Starlight ! You are the winner of your very own Electric Quilt design software! Electric Quilt Company has been a leader in innovating the way we design quilts for an incredible 25 years. This groundbreaking software has changed the face of quilt design. From novice quilt makers working at home to professionals working at the top of the quilting industry, this remarkable program is a must-have for all quilters. Have you got EQ7? Well good news, if you don’t. To celebrate their 25th year, we are teaming up with EQ7 to bring you not one, but two giveaways! Here’s how it works. To win your own copy of EQ7, just leave a comment on this very blog post. Now how would you like to win a Fat Quarter Bundle of Alison Glass’ Handcrafted Patchwork? To win this beautiful array of fabrics, simply go to Electric Quilt’s blog and enter to win this bundle. Click here to enter. Both giveaways close September 25th at 9 AM ET, so leave a comment below to win your own EQ7 and head on over to EQ’s blog to enter to win these beauties… Posted in Uncategorized | 345 Comments Charlotte Newland Sews Lizzy House Posted on August 10, 2016 by Andover Fabrics I’m Charlotte Newland – a dressmaker, mum and scientific editor living in London, UK. I’ve been making stuff since I was a little kid and love to quilt, sew clothes, and knit. I am the winner of The Great British Sewing Bee 2016, and blog at charlottenewland.com . On a recent trip to New York, I was invited to meet the team at the Andover offices where Daryl loaded me up with approximately three metric tons of fabric, including some unbelievably gorgeous Lizzy House double gauze. This was so exciting to me, because it’s nigh on impossible to find in the UK, and I love to make clothes using unconventional prints (foxes, typewriters, fruit – you get the picture). Having never sewn with double gauze before, I spent longer than usual deciding what to make, finally settling on a dress made up of the basic bodice, cap sleeve, and all around pleated skirt from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book by Gretchen Hirsch . This book is my current obsession, and I plan on working my way through the whole thing by Christmas, if not before. It includes a whole load of separate bodices, skirts and sleeves, which mix and match to make a huge number of possible dresses. Heaven! As always, I prewashed the fabric before cutting, and then gave it a good press. Double gauze has a beautiful soft texture and a fair bit of loft, so I found it really helpful to tape the fabric to my cutting table so it stayed nice and straight during cutting. I also used pattern weights and a rotary cutter to make absolutely sure it didn’t shift. Because the fabric was so light in colour and double gauze has a fairly loose weave, I chose to line the bodice with white voile. This had the dual effect of providing extra brightness and contrast to the print on the bodice, and helping to avoid visible undies. I also used the voile for the pockets because I didn’t want to risk the butterfly print showing through to the skirt. The skirt itself was left unlined to make the most of the gorgeous breeziness of the double gauze – perfect in hot weather. Not that we get much of that in the UK, but a girl can dream. All in all, I’m delighted with the fit of this dress. The fabric is so comfortable and the print is just perfect. Thanks so much to the team at Andover Fabrics for the opportunity to sew with this gorgeous substrate! Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments Foundation Paper Piecing with Kitty Wilkin Posted on August 3, 2016 by Andover Fabrics GUEST BLOG POST BY KITTY WILKIN OF NIGHT QUILTER There’s a quilting style near and dear to my heart that often gets a bad rep. I often hear, My brain hurts! … or… it’s too hard for me! … or… Now I have to remove all this paper. Le sigh. That last one all but gave it away, but yes, foundation paper piecing is one of my favorite quilting techniques. I love it. There is no other method that can result in such crisp, clean lines, perfect points, and fabricly composed images of literally ANYthing with such ease. Many patterns are perfect for using up small scraps, too. With foundation paper piecing, you can create two identical blocks without too much muss or fuss about seam allowances. Once you wrap your brain around the process, learn a few tricks of the trade, and put in your few hours of practice, foundation paper piecing is a fabulous skill anyone can add to their fabric-love repertoire, as it opens a whole new world of quilting and fabric play. Hi, I’m Kitty! I am a quilter, designer, photographer, and the busy mom-blogger behind Night Quilter . When Giuseppe invited me to write a guest post on the Andover blog, I knew I wanted to spread my love of foundation paper piecing. Today I’m excited to share a basic tutorial for how to foundation paper piece, some tips along the way to help you set yourself up for success, a fun peek at how to fit fussy cutting into your FPP projects, and some links to extra surefire tips to ensure your foundation paper piecing journey is smooth sailing. When I was first getting started with foundation paper piecing, once I wrapped my brain around the fact that I was sewing something backwards while looking through a mirror, it all clicked. I’m a very spatial person, so once I could visualize that the picture was being created on the BACK, I was fine. Yes, the lines along which you sew will be on the back, or wrong-side of your sewn design. Think about that for a minute, and then let’s begin. Take your time, and have FUN! For this tutorial, I’m using my newest pattern Constant Flux , which is a geometric foundation paper piecing pattern perfect for beginners or advanced FPPers alike. You can buy the pattern in my pattern stores here ( Craftsy or Payhip if you’re in the EU), or you can apply these methods to any foundation paper piecing project you choose! Let’s get started! Preparation Assemble your tools. You will need: – patternpaper ( I use regular printer paper. Some prefer velum or tracing paper, but I really like the sturdy foundation provided by regular 100% recycled printer paper ) – fabric ( I created Constant Flux with Handcrafted Patchwork by Alison Glass in mind, with Lizzy House’s Constellation from her Whisper Palette as a background, and some Andover Textured Solid in grey to round it out. Thank you, Andover Fabrics for the consistently gorgeous fabrics! ) — thread ( I do all of my piecing with Aurifil 50wt 2600-Dove, my panacea thread ) – rotary cutter and mat – scissors ( be sure to use non-fabric scissors to cut out your pattern. I suggest having fabric scissors, craft scissors, and small scissors for trimming threads ) – ruler ( add a quarter rulers work well, but so do any quilting...