Happy Friday!!

Yes, it seems I've fallen into a Friday blogging routine. This worked out for you guys because you got an extra couple days to enter the QuiltHome Heaven & Helsinki contest. I'm sure you're all dying to know who won, so without much further ado, the randomly selected winner is...

#55

melissamo19:46 AM

I LOVE the Fair Isle Stripe in Orange! I love it all!!! Looking at this fabric line inspires me to dream up all sorts of girly, ruffly dresses and skirts!!! It is soooo much fun to sew with many different coordinating fabrics! Especially bright fabrics!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Melissa! Please send your mailing address to info@modkidboutique.com and the wonderful folks at QuiltHome will send you this little bundle of goodness!

So... who's excited about the Olympics? We are! In our househod we have one little gymnast...

And one little swimmer...

So, you'd better believe we'll be keeping our eyes glued to the TV set the next few days.

On work front news, we are putting the finishing touches on the FAll 2012 Sewing Patterns... I cannot wait for you to see what we have in store this time! And... strike offs for my Fall Fabric Line (no, that is not what it's called, but I'm keeping it hush-hush for now) arrived this morning, and I am IN LOVE! I've also recently signed a couple of other licensing deals so you'll be seeing a lot more Patty Young on other [non-sewing-related] products in the next few months! More on all of that soon, I promise!

Have a great weekend, everyone! xoxo

Free Fabric Friday, Part Deux

Well, it wasn't planned out to be a weekly event, but it's just so happened that way, so let's just roll with it, k? If you missed out on winning some awesome bundles of Heaven & Helsinki last Friday, here you have another chance, courtesy of the awesome folks at Quilt Home.



Quilt Home and MODKID go way back! Jon and I met Heidi and Roland Porth years ago when we launched my debut line with Michael Miller Fabrics, Andalucia, and we had an instant connection. A husband and wife team, whose kids are actively involved in the business... a business that they are deeply passionate about... what's not to love? Needless to say, we saw a lot of parallels with our own business. Over the years, the support we've gotten from Quilt Home has been amazing. I once saw someone on Twitter say that they love Quilt Home because "they stock deep". That phrase resonated with me because it is so true. While most other online retailers will retire fabric lines after the first run, Quilt Home will keep reordering (and reordering BIG) until they can no longer get it from the manufacturers, so you are bound to find older lines that most other places don't stock anymore. Just the other day, someone asked me on Flickr if I knew where she could find the doll panels from Playdate (a line that has been out of print for about 2 years now). I knew where to send her immediately!

So... needless to say, when Heidi called me earlier this week to ask if I wouldn't mind hosting this giveaway on my blog, I didn't hesitate to accept.

In their words, "The giveaway is a package of five half yard cuts. It includes three fabrics from the Heaven & Helsinki Retro Palette and two coordinating Cotton Couture Solids."



For a chance to win this package, leave us a comment below and tell us what your favorite print from Heaven & Helsinki is, and why. It doesn't have to be from this bundle, you can take a look at the entire collection here and let us know.

We will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday, July 25th and Quilt Home will send the package directly to the lucky one!

Good luck!

Free Fabric Friday

I don't know about you guys, but my Friday came rather fast for me this week, not sure why. ;) I say we petition to have every Wednesday off from now on. :) I hope you guys had a great Independence Day celebration. We had two parties to attend, so I made a patriotic fruit salad, which was a TON of fun to prepare, and my kids' personal favorite party food: deviled eggs.

But I'm sure you're all wondering what my title up there ^^^ was all about, right? Well, if you all enjoy free fabric (don't we all?) then you're in for a treat! I am over that the Michael Miller Fabric's blog, Making It Fun, today chatting it up about my new collection, Heaven & Helsinki and I even give you a peek at my mood boards, my color palettes and my design process. I know you guys always enjoy behind the scenes stuff like that. Well, the best part is that they are giving away 1 yard cuts of EVERY fabric design in Heaven & Helsinki... that's 31 yards of fabric! Run, run, run...

And as if that wasn't cool enough, Fat Quarter Shop's blog, The Jolly Jabber, also has a fabric giveaway today, but this one's a bit tricky... you have to guess what the fabric is, and I'm not giving any hints! ;) Go, go, gooooo!

Stay tuned for a giveaway of our own... we are putting it together as we speak, er, type.

Spring 2012 Quilt Market Recap

Yes, I know it's been almost a full month since we went down to Quilt Market in Kansas City but I've been a bit preoccupied with too many things to count. This was my 9th Quilt Market attending (my 8th exhibiting) and I've finally learned the secret to it all: Get Help and Have Fun! I can't lie and tell you that doing these type of shows is not a hair-splitting, brain-aching, back-breaking experience, but this time I was determined to change that. And yes, I still stressed over all my public appearances, because after all these years, I still haven't gotten over my stage fright.  So, between schoolhouse and 3 book-signings I got so many butterflies in my tummy I could've just floated away... but I survived, I had fun, and I'm here to tell all about it.

Our booth this Spring was all about Heaven & Helsinki and Sewing MODKID Style. We started building this booth literally months ago at our studio. Our walls went up before Spring Break. We chose this purple hue called Robes For the Queen (from the Disney by Behr collection at Home Depot, which they just discontinued, sadly) because it was the perfect match to the darkest purple in Heaven & Helsinki. Soon enough, we were filling our booth up with fabric-covered goodness.



There were a dozen kites, some suspended above us, others perched on the outer wall. We had a wonderful quilt, made again by members of the Central Illinois Modern Quilt Guild, then finished, quilted and bound by the über-talented Betty Woodruff, who also concepted the original design based on my Fair Isle print.

We had these larger than life banners facing the main aisle that showcased photos from our MODKID Fashion Show video, which we also played on a flat screen TV in the booth...



We had plenty of sewn samples, some on dress forms and some on hangers, along with pillows and fabric-covered chairs...



A wall of framed fabric swatches formed a nice colorful border around Lars, who was the main attraction apparently...



We brought some help along with us this time, so here are Emalee (left) and Jessica (right) on the last day of the show, right before tear down. We seriously couldn't have done all of this without their help and positive dispositions.



And since my mission was to have fun, I couldn't leave the show without capturing this silly shot of Team MODKID!



Now, I mustache you... what do you think of our booth?

To everyone who hiked all the way to the far end of the convention center to see us, I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! It's always so nice to see familiar faces and meet new friends. xoxo

Heaven & Helsinki KNITS!

I spent all last week in Kansas City at the International Quilt Market, then half of this week in Des Moines at the Meredith Corporation headquarters, but more on all that real soon (as soon as I download my 300+ pictures and wrap my head around everything I experienced in the past 2 weeks). But, more importantly, I am way overdue for a new knits reveal! I promised to blog this last Friday, but time got away from me, so I apologize. This all worked out for the best, though, because now I can actually share the video we all got to see at schoolhouse last week... YAY!!!



First of all, let me tell you a little bit about the new Heaven & Helsinki knits. These new knits are jerseys (not interlocks, like my previous ones) with a fiber content of 58% Cotton, 38% Poly and 4% Spandex. They are seriously the softest, smoothest knits I have ever worked with. The addition of that teeny-tiny percentage of Spandex means that you can use these for bindings or anything that requires extra stretch, like neck bands, sleeve bands, waistbands or yoga bands, because they have amazing stretch and recovery.

But what most of you will be pleased to hear (as was I) is that the addition of Poly means an incredible decrease in the shrinkage factor. I couldn't believe it when I heard that these new knits shrink less than 1% so I needed to find out for myself. I cut a piece of fabric at 36" long by 63" wide (the full width of fabric!). I took it home and washed & dried it in Normal cycles. As a matter of fact, I just threw it in with some laundry I needed to do because I wanted to make sure it didn't get any special treatment. When it came out of the dryer, I laid it flat and it measured 35.5" x 62", which means it had shrunk a grand total of 1/2" on the length and 1" on the width!! I let it sit over night and then I took it to the studio to sew up my schoolhouse dress... it did not shrink any further over night and as a matter of fact it had almost gone back to it's original length by the time I started cutting! Wooohooo!



So, what about the designs? There are 20 prints in this collection including 6 near-solids which we are loving for bindings, waistbands and such. There are some prints that you'll also see in the woven version of this collection and a few that are new and unique to the knits.

Here is the whole collection, but you can also see it here. They ship in August, but if you want to see them for yourself, we do have some knit scrap bags on the website (along with some Heaven & Helsinki woven scrap bags!) Make sure you specify you want H&H, or you might get an assorted variety.



Now, without much further ado, I want to present to you the video that we showed at schoolhouse last week. It features all the projects from my book, Sewing MODKID Style, sewn in Heaven & Helsinki. This was definitely a labor of love and we couldn't have done it without the help of our assistants, Emalee and Jessica, our adorable little models and the contributions from our sponsors, Chooze Shoes and Fox & Hounds Studio.



Hope you enjoyed the video! Let us know what you thought of it. An abridged version will be found next week on our Amazon page.

Now, for a few quick links:

• Purchase signed copies of Sewing MODKID Style here
• Purchase Heaven & Helsinki KNIT scrap bags here
• Purchase Heaven & Helsinki WOVEN scrap bags here
• See Heaven & Helsinki and pre-order it for your store here
• Join the Sewing MODKID Style Flickr Group and share your creations here

xoxo

Evolution of Lars

(and a book winner!)

I have a super fun project to share with you guys today as we head out to Quilt Market, but first, I need to announce the winner of the Sewing MODKID Style book copy. Thank you all for your lovely comments and for following along with the tour. Random.org chose comment #15, which is.... drum roll please...

VickiT 4:14 PM, who said:

I cannot wait to see Heaven & Helsinki Patty. Of course, I'm still in LOVE with Lush. I am still hoping to buy some of that gorgeousness this month.

Anyway the first thing I would love to try making from your book when I get my copy (hopefully one I will win) would be the Yoga Pants and also the Bloom dress. I might even attempt making a shortened version of the Bloom dress as a shirt to go with the Yoga Pants.

Congrats, Vicki!!! Please email your address to info@modkidboutique.com and Wiley will send you a copy of my book right away!

So, who is this Lars character, you ask? Well, he's nothing less than our Heaven & Helsinki booth mascot! We are so in love with him... we've even joked about buying a crate for him to travel down to Kansas City and putting a leash on him, water bowl, treats, etc.

He started out when I spotted him at our local Neighborhood Thrift while Jon, Emalee and I were shopping for Mid-Century Modern furniture for our booth.

He was made of resin or something, not quite sure, but we all knew he'd be perfect (with a few minor alterations)!

We spray-painted his antlers, hooves and nose.

Then we spray-painted it again and again and again until he had full coverage (boy, that hot pink color is hard to cover!)

Next, the girls took our hundreds of Heaven & Helsinki scraps and Mod Podged him. Oh, the fun they had! I did learn a valuable lesson that day: always put my hair up in a bun when working with Mod Podge! My hair is so long now that even with a ponytail on, I couldn't keep it from dipping into the glue pan and splattering everywhere.... niiiice!

Anyway, after he was completely covered in scraps, we let him dry overnight. The following day, I blinged his eyes... each eye has about 25 rhinestones! Yes, Lars is quite in touch with his feminine side, wouldn't you say?

A couple coats of Polyurethane Spray to make him nice and shiny, and VOILA!

If you'll be at Quilt Market this week, come meet Lars at our booth (Booth #3024-26) and take away one of our catalogs ... you can't miss it!

Spring/Summer 2012 Releases

Heaven & Helsinki and 5 new patterns!

We are gearing up to exhibit at the International Quilt Market next week (May 17 - 20) in Kansas City and are just so excited to show all of our new goodies! In addition to the Sewing MODKID Style book and the Andalucia reprint, we are also showcasing a brand new fabric collection and five brand new sewing patterns! So without much further ado, let's get started...

My newest collection for Michael Miller Fabrics is titled Heaven & Helsinki:



As the name and logo imply, it is a Scandinavian collection with a nod to Mid Century Modern design. Those two things, by the way, have been an obsession of mine for most of my life. I grew up in a very "Mod" home designed by my own father, who at one point studied under a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright's. The furnishings and décor in my childhood home were also very "Mid-Century Modern"in style... we had a Danish dining room table and some pretty funky Mod lamps throughout the house. I clearly remember our family room sofa, low profile, straight lines and with that wide wooden frame around the cushions, a style typical of Scandinavian design.

So I drew inspiration from all of this plus from some of my current furniture pieces and décor, and sprinkled in some current trends in fashion and design, to bring to you this collection, which makes my heart go pitter-patter every time I gaze upon it.

The collection is made up of 31 prints, divided into two colorways, Retro and Metro, printed on premium quality quilting cotton.





We have had a blast creating pieces with these prints and I simply cannot wait to show these off...



Let's begin with the garments, which are always my favorite part. Here you see from left to right: a Gretchen dress, a Julia skirt with a piece of fabric wrapped around the torso (for lack of time to make another top), a Hannah 2-pc short set (new Summer pattern), a Natalie & Nate girl romper, and finally an adorable Claudia dress (another Summer 2012 pattern).



Here are some close ups. Don't you just love those Puffy Birds?!



The little houses, which I call City Block, are so fun to use for borders and skirting like this...



And of course, we have Tulips galore!!!



Check out this chair Emalee covered in my Loves Me Not (Metro) fabric. The pillows are from our newest mini-pattern...



Of course, my mom has made some AMAZING purses for us to take to Market. That woman never ceases to amaze me! Check these out!! We will be making patterns for future releases out of these, for sure!



Here are a couple of close-ups...





We also made an AWESOME quilt, of which I'm only showing you a tiny portion, because it really deserves a post all its own. It involves the Central Illinois Modern Quilt Guild again.... you guys are gonna LOVE this one!!



Finally, we will have 5 new patterns at Quilt Market, and these are so new they're not even up on our site yet. You are seeing these here first! :) And I promise to do a full write up of each of these when I return from Market.

CLAUDIA
Claudia is a sweet dress with a paper-bag-style skirt, a Peter Pan collar and side-seam rounded pockets. The pattern includes options for 3 sleeve lengths, all with ruffled trims, plus a long sash-style belt. Zipper closure at center back for easy dressing. Mix and match designer fabrics for a boutique look! Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)



HANNAH
Hannah is a set of adorable flat-fronted shorts and capri pants with inset pockets, contrast cuffs and a flared hem reminiscent of nautical sailing pants. Pair them up with our easy-to-sew Carefree Cropped Top and she will be the cutest girl at her next beach or pool party.  Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)


MORGAN
Morgan is a playful, color-blocked dress with a very Mod style for knit fabrics only. It features side inset pockets, a contrast hem band and inverted box pleats in the center front and back. Mix and match designer fabrics for a boutique look! Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)



MINI-ADDISON
Here by popular demand!!! Dolly version of our very popular Addison dress, with the same vintage style as the girl's version. For 18" and 15" dolls.



NORDIC SNOWFLAKE PILLOW
Our newest "LITE" pattern! Pieced and quilted pillow cover. Fits any standard 18" square pillow form.



So there you have it! There is one more reveal (for the Heaven & Helsinki knits) coming up next Friday, the 18th, but I would LOVE to hear what you guys think of the new goodies! And for those of you attending Quilt Market next week, here is the schedule of events again:

Thursday, May 17:

Schoolhouse at 12:45 - 1:15 p.m., Room 2503B

We will preview all the new fabrics and patterns,
then show a MODKID Fashion Show video (first time ever shown!)

4 books will be given away at the end, courtesy of Wiley,

and EVERY attendee will receive a free pattern from our Summer 2012 line!

Friday, May 18:

Book signing at 11:00 a.m. at the MODKID booth, Booth #3024-26

The first 20 books are free, so be sure to get there on time.
After that, books will be available for purchase at wholesale price.

Saturday, May 19:

Book Signing at United Notions, 3:00 p.m., Booth #110-117

Sunday, May 20:

Book Signing at Brewer, 11:15 a.m., Booth #2824-2833