Thomas Knauer, a fabric designer for Andover Fabrics had not one but two fabric lines on display during Quilt Market! Someone’s busy!
‘Frippery’ and ‘Asbury’ (in the second graphic) are both full of amazing colors and graphics. I just love the amusement park prints depicted in the ‘Asbury’ collections, they are so nostalgic and it’s amazing how well they all work together…even the supporting prints are quite quite amazing!
Thomas Knauer’s ‘Frippery’ fabric collection
Thomas Knauer is one of the nicest fabric designers you could ever come across…here he is all decked out in his Asbury fabrics! Rock it Thomas!!
This is a star quilt that Thomas (head chopped off) and my friend Kim are holding up. Kim made this quilt for Thomas with his ‘Frippery’ fabrics. I didn’t get a close enough photo of the quilting, but it’s quite amazing…this quilt was long-armed by Lisa Sipes who is a pure quilting genius. This quilt was a gift for someone very very special. Don’t you love it?
Here she is giving it one more squeeze (yeah, there’s the quilting I was talking about):
I did a little interview with Thomas, and here were his answers to my questions:
You have 2 new fabric collections coming out before the end of the year, ‘Frippery’ and ‘Asbury’. You seem to be such a productive designer, what is your designing schedule like with 2 lines coming out within a few months of each other?
To be honest the schedule is simply insanity; I’ve been doing a collection every three to four months since Pear Tree first hit the shelves. But that is kind of how I’ve always worked; through my entire career as an artist (stretching back to the 90s) I’ve barely been able to keep up with the ideas. I used to try to keep track of them all, but now I just let ideas sit and if they keep nagging me for weeks on end that is when I actually start working on them. I generally work on an collection for about three months before I even make the first sketch: I write, I research, and think, rethink, and think some more. When I finally sit down to design it pretty much falls into place.
As far as my schedule around launch time I just hold on for dear life. I am starting to ask for more and more help because I seem to have project piling up left and right. I make as much as I humanly can and ask some of the wonderful people I’ve met if they want to play along. With collections coming out this close together there simply is no down time, but since I still feel like I am figuring out what I am doing here in the fabric world I really appreciate the opportunities to figure new things out with each collection.
‘Asbury’ are such nostalgic designs, and I think all of the prints are really strong. These are the perfect fabrics for a quilt, as I feel like, in my mind, each print cannot exist without the others (although the text or ice cream cones would make an awesome dress!). What was your design process like for this line? Which prints came to you first?
Thank you. I always try to design coherent collections, ones that just cry out to be with each other even as they can certainly work on their own. The first print to be designed was the soft-serve cones; Bee had these bubbles and the containers looked just like soft-serve cones and that set off a whole set of memories: I spent my summers as a small kid in the town next to Asbury Park, NJ. The collection is really about a nostalgia for something that never existed; in my time Asbury Park was already far past its prime. It is a fantasy collection, but I hope that the rich autumnal colors suggest the reality beneath the fantasy. I don’t think of it as a dark collection, just one that is grounded: rich earthy tones rather than those more associated with fanciful collections so that I hope it speaks to adults and children alike.
Two bags made with ‘Frippery’ and ‘Asbury’ fabrics
I know that you also make quilts. Do you feel that it’s important to you as a fabric designer to also create your own sewn items?
I don’t think it is important for all designers to sew, but it really has been a pivotal part of my learning curve. I feel like I started out designing prints for paper and trying to translate them to fabric. Now that I have started to really get my bearings as a quilter I believe my fabric designs feel more integrated, more essential to the fabric. They have become part of the cloth rather than merely sitting on top of it. A lot of the time now I am designing quilts for a collection even as I am designing the collection; I think that helps me see the holes in the collection, how it might be used and what opportunities I am missing. Of course that gives me a skewed idea of the collection because most quilters don’t make quilts like mine, but there is a whole big part of me that really does just design for me and hope the rest works out.
What ideas are interesting to you right now for future fabric lines?
I’m really keen on type right now. I’m also really interested in small-scale prints and seeing what I can do if I make ultra-modern designs but use them in more “traditional” quilts. There are so many great large-scale modern prints out there, but they can be tough to chop up into one-inch squares. I recently did a quilt with over 1,000 one-inch squares out of repro fabric and that got me really interested in trying to figure out some good modern analogues to that.
What is your favorite thing about being a fabric designer?
There are a lot of really fantastic things: seeing someone in a shop actually buy my fabric is still a total thrill. It has also opened up a lot of other opportunities for me, which is amazing. Working with Andover has been incredible simply because they give me so much design freedom. Not that it is a bed of roses, but when I get to make a quilt for Bee out of fabric I have designed and she looks up at me and says, “Papa, that is gorgeous!” it all just makes sense. That is probably my favorite part right now, the fact that is really seems to make sense for me to be doing this right now; it fits the entire family’s life and that really is an incredible thing to have.
‘Asbury’ has a lot of great prints, but my favorite one from this line was the text print that you can see on the outer border of this quilt. Text prints have so many possibilities, but this one has different fonts and colors…double-score!
Frippery is available now, and Asbury is due out soon!
Today, I'm joining in as part of the Back to School Blog Hop on Hunter's Design Studio. Sam Hunter is a brilliant teacher and quilt pattern designer, and I've purchased several of her quilt patterns (since we're Doctor Who fans in this house, both her Tardis and Dalek patterns). Sam also has a continuing campaign called We Are $ew...
Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know about a contest on Sew Mama Sew! This is a bag-making contest with nearly $1,000 in prizes! All you need to do is make a bag using one of my patterns (book patterns, free patterns, pdf patterns, or paper patterns). There's nearly 50 patterns to choose from. The contest is...
This post is part of Purse Palooza 2013.
For full schedule of guest post pattern reviews and prizes, click here!
Penny from Sew Take a Hike has a lot of fun quilty things going on at her blog, including a page chock-full of free tutorials! Be sure to check out her blog!
I am so excited that Sara asked me to participate in...
As I sit here, barely able to type out of exhaustion, my inner self gives a little "yippee!!" as I am happy to introduce Alison Glass's new line for Andover Fabrics called 'Clover Sunshine'.
Alison has a lot of fabric coming out this year, including 'Sunprint'. However, 'Clover Sunshine' is full of whimsical and bright prints that are sure to delight your...
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is #178 shawn. Hello everyone! I am delighted to be the 3rd stop on Amanda Murphy's blog hop for her new book, Modern Holiday, with Stash Books, which is out now! You can find it right here on Amazon.When I was preparing to write this blog post, I thought I would reference some...
I'm excited to announce that I will be teaching a lecture and bag making class next month at a quilt shop in Arlington Heights, Illinois (a Chicago suburb)!! They will be held at Quilter's Destination, which is a great shop!On Friday, July 26th at 6:30pm, I will be doing an hour-long lecture about bag interfacing. The cost of this...
I'm sure you've already seen a ton of things on the internet regarding last week's Quilt Market in Portland, but I just wanted to share a few photos that I took, so I thought I'd start with Tula Pink's booth. I got the most photos of her booth than anyone else's, so it seemed like a good place to...
I just finished up two Aeroplane Bags today. I had the huge pleasure of making these bags for Thomas Knauer using his new 'Thesaurus' line for Andover Fabrics. Andover has a lot of fresh, modern prints coming out this spring, including 'Full Moon Lagoon' by Mo Bedell and 'Field Day' by Alison Glass. I really like the direction that they are moving in.Fat Quarter...
If you know Thomas Knauer Sews, you know that his fabric is known for well-thought-out themes and bold colors. His latest line, 'Asbury' contains images of vintage theme park, everything from ice cream cones to bumper cars. Across more than one of his lines, these fabrics have appeared, which are called Jellybeans (pictured above). I know Thomas hates the...
So, let me preface this post by saying that using a blog post entitled 'The Bag That Made Me Turn to Drink' is probably not the best way to sell a pattern that you have made and designed yourself. Hopefully you'll read most some of this post and at least hear me out. ;-)I had two last minute bags to...
I don't often buy fabric bundles. I just don't. But something about 'Lucky Penny' by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics took my hand and said "you need this!". I bought my bundle from Stash Modern Fabrics and it just came in the mail about an hour ago...I love it!! I already arranged it in sort of a prism order, although at this...
Need something pretty to wear over the holidays this year?? Come on, don't pull out that black outfit you usually wear! Make something new!To get you going, announcing the Sis Boom Rebecca Shift Dress Sew Along! If you have never sewn a dress before, this is THE perfect dress pattern for a beginner! And if you *have* sewn clothing before,...
Thanks so much! I believe this is the best interview of a fabric designer I have read. Thanks so much to both of you…. And btw, LOVE both lines… Scale, graphics & palattes all wonderful & with perfect surprises! Thanks again!
I really like both lines of fabric! I also like Thomas Knauer’s blog. He is amazing and his wife must be a real gem. And Bee is so sweet!
Oh those legs!!! My eyes, my eyes! x
Thanks so much! I believe this is the best interview of a fabric designer I have read. Thanks so much to both of you…. And btw, LOVE both lines… Scale, graphics & palattes all wonderful & with perfect surprises! Thanks again!