Karen Lewis Textiles

Karen Lewis’s debut collection for Robert Kaufman features her signature screen printing overprinted onto Kona® cotton solids. Blueberry Park is an excellent representation of her passion for textiles, pattern, and color, featuring a wide array of bold and bright colors with uniquely printed patterns. We’ve been fans of Karen’s work for quite some time and were so incredibly thrilled by the opportunity to create a coordinating thread collection.  We had a chance to chat with her a bit about her process and what she loves most about this collection. Read on for a sneak peek into Karen’s world, and don’t miss out on the AMAZING giveaway!

KarenLewis-CollectionPromo

THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Karen Lewis Textiles
100% Aurifil Cotton, 50wt
Large – 1422yds each, 12 Colors, Large Spools
Small – 220 yds each, 10 Colors, Small Spools

For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.

KarenLewisCollections-open

THE INTERVIEW

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you first came into this amazing world of textiles?
I have always been a crafter thanks to my very creative Grandma but it was always a hobby that I drifted in and out of. After I became a Mum of 3, I took a break from my career as a teacher and went back to sewing on a more regular basis. This was around the time that the internet took off along with social media and it was very easy to see what crafters and communities all around the globe were up to. I was very drawn to discovering screen printed fabrics and bought them from designers and makers in Australia and South Africa to use in my sewing.

KarenLewis6

When did you first start screen-printing and was there a particular ‘aha’ moment that you just knew it was what you wanted to do?
I started screen printing about 5 years ago. I loved sourcing and using printed textiles. As my now formed textile business was developing I knew I wanted to design and use my own fabrics to make my work more identifiable as me. I booked onto a screen printing course at my local studio and literally from the first minute I was completely and utterly hooked! I loved the whole process and haven’t looked back since.

KarenLewis1

You’ve been working with your own screen-printed fabrics for quite some time… how did the partnership with Robert Kaufman first come about and what has that process been like for you?
I was using a lot of Kona cottons in my work, printing directly over the top of them. One day it came to the attention of the peeps at Kaufman who loved what I was doing. It really was a dream come true having my designs put onto yardage. RK made the whole process a really positive one and I just love the result we have created together. Right from the beginning, RK focused on the fact that I am a hand printer and wanted to recreate the same technique but on a larger scale. I just love the fact that my fabrics are an overprint, just like they are when I personally print them by hand. It feels like a natural and true reflection of my work.

KarenLewis2

What is your favorite thing about ‘Blueberry Park’? Do you have a favorite print or colorway?
What a hard question! I think my favourite print wold have to be Allotments because of it’s versatility. It is really about 9 prints in 1! I also have a big soft spot for Scruffy Daisy as it was my very first print that I ever designed. As for colours, by the fact that I struggled to narrow down Kona’s 330 colours to just 70 for the collection tells you how hard that was!

Are you still running screen-printing workshops and what is your favorite thing about sharing your passion with a classroom full of eager students?
Yes, I am very busy with running workshops. It seems everyone wants to learn to screen print and I am certainly a big advocate of spreading the love! I am a teacher by training so I have always been passionate about passing on skills. The thing I love most about teaching is seeing the students’ enthusiasm as they succeed in turning a design into a print. The whole experience is infectious.

KarenLewis4

What is one piece of advice that you give students who are just starting out?
Give yourself time to develop your skills and style. Screen printing itself isn’t a difficult process but putting everything together and progressing doesn’t happen over night. Enjoy the journey!

What first drew you to Aurifil threads?
To me, Kona and Aurifil go hand in hand. Aurifil, like Kona, offers such diversity whilst being the best quality you can buy. I love that about Aurifil, that you have so much choice without compromising on quality.

KarenLewis5

How did you go about selecting colors for your first Aurifil thread box and what was that experience like for you? Do you have a favorite colour?
I had to have a silver in there as that is my go to colour when I don’t want a colour per se. As for the rest I wanted to pick colours across the rainbow spectrum that most compliment the fabrics from the collection that I use the most. The collection came together pretty easily really, although it was hard to leave 2 out for the small box! I had so much fun picking the colours and like the Kaufman fabric collection it is such a thrill for me to have my own box. I can’t thank you guys enough!

KarenLewis3

Thank YOU Karen:)

THE GIVEAWAYKarenLewis-Rafflecopter

To enter-to-win, simply click here to head to the Rafflecopter entry page, or simply click on the image above. You do not have to complete all the options to be entered but the more options you choose, the more entries you have!  Entries will be accepted from now through 11:59pm Eastern Time on April 27th! Winner will be randomly selected and announced on Thursday, April 28th. Good luck!

UPDATE: This giveaway is now CLOSED. Congratulations to our winner, Roxanne Hartwig! 

LEARN MORE ABOUT KAREN
WebsiteBlog — Instagram — FacebookRK Designer Page
Karen was born and brought up in Leeds, West Yorkshire in the UK where she learned to sew and knit with her grandmother. It was several years later, after turning her back on her formal education and teaching career, that she came back to her crafting roots.

While living and teaching in London, Karen met her husband and together they brought up their 3 children there, but when they moved back to Leeds in 2004, she left her teaching career behind and started her crafting business Blueberry Park. Karen always had a passion for textiles, pattern and color and after a brief silkscreen printing course in 2011, she set about teaching herself more about this technique in order to design her own fabric.

Karen’s obsession with screen printing set in and soon she was printing and designing all day, every day perfecting her skills. She was using her fabrics in her own work as well as selling it to other quilters and crafters.

With her passion for screen printing and her skills as a teacher, she started to run screen printing workshops, passing on her skills and teaching others how to design fabric and screen print, particularly at home with little specialist equipment and space. In 2014 Karen brought out her first book Screen Printing at home, teaching the reader all they need to know and what to do to produce great screen prints from the kitchen table.

Karen is also a prolific quilter and her work is regularly seen in Love Patchwork and Quilting as well as Quilt Now magazines. As well as running workshops in her home in Leeds, she has taught at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and around the UK. Blueberry Park is her first collection with Robert Kaufman. — text via Robert Kaufman

217 comments

  1. I have wanted to do a rainbow type quilt for the longest time. I believe with the addition of more colors that is what I will make. Beautiful collection!!

  2. BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION! OH I’D LOVE TO UPDATE MY BEDROOM BY MAKING A BEAUTIFUL NEW QUILT AND CURTAINS TOO! THANKS FOR SHARING!

  3. Karen’s screen prints have intensified my desire to enter this fabric craft! I just saw a great quilt video by Jenny Doan (and her grandson, Noah) that would be the perfect vessel for a FQ sack of these prints and threads!!

  4. I love the use of multiple thread colors with the straight line quilting! It’s so interesting.
    I’m almost drooling over the bright, graphic Blueberry Park fabrics. They’d be wonderful to use in coordinating quilts for two twin boys in our family.

  5. Oh!!! So many things! I just love the bright, beautiful colors of this collection! I would probably make a table runner and placemats for my kitchen table!

  6. I usually make quilts, and like another commenter’s idea of a rainbow quilt using this fabric line. That would be stunning.

  7. What a great interview. I would make a quilt with the lovely fabrics and coordinating threads. Thank you for the introduction, and a great giveaway. janie(dot)mccombs(at)yahoo(dot)com

  8. The colours of Blueberry Park are so cheerful. I’d love to make a star wall hanging for my dining room wall.

  9. I’d make zipper pouches and some fabric baskets to start. And I’m sure some of the fabric would find its way into a quilt or two.

  10. Beautiful fabrics. I would make something with machine applique to see all those beautiful colors of both fabric and thread.

  11. What exciting fabric! I love making lap quilts and giving them away. This fabric would really POP!

  12. Love your screen printed Moda line. I would like to make a colorful Skateboard quilt (pattern by Rob Appel).

  13. Oooooo… I soooo want this. I have a few patterns I’ve been holding onto for a special fabric.

  14. This collection! I have the cool colorway and would love to have the Aurifil threads! Thanks for the opportunity to win!

  15. I love her fabrics and bright colors. Aurifil is my favor thread. I would use both to make a new summer quilt.

  16. I’m not sure where I’d start with this collection of fabric and thread. I’d definitely make a rainbow mini-quilt or three for my walls. Then I’d think about a larger quilt — one that I could use on my bed and wrap myself in glorious color! This is a tremendous giveaway, Aurifil and RK.

  17. Wow!!! Love, love, love this line of fabric!!!! The colors…the designs…they are just wonderful!! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win some of this fun!!

  18. I have been obsessing overtlike this fabric collection for weeks! I think I’d have to make a quilt so I could look at it all the time.

  19. This giveaway is amazing! I love KL’s fabrics, and now thread to match — so fun! I would definitely want to incorporate these into a quilt. I love how she did the matchstick quilting in different thread colors.

  20. I would love that fabric and thread to make a HST rainbow quilt. Such pretty fabric.

  21. I absolutely love those prints! And the colors of the fabrics and threads are gorgeous! I’m with you on using silver as a neutral–it’s perfect.

  22. so fabulous to learn a bit more about Karen – I love her daisy print ! I’d make a quilt with those gorgeous fabrics for my bed so I could see them everyday !

  23. I have all the Blueberry Park prints in charms, and I love mixing them in to scrappy projects, like Jen Kingwell’s My Small World. I also want to use them with other lines from Robert Kaufman in the place of Kona coordinates.

  24. I love Blueberry Park! I’d make quilts! So many quilts! They’d be especially perfect for an English paper pieced quilt I’m designing 🙂

  25. I would make quilts as there is certainly enough for more than one! I might re-make my “40 Prairie Sunsets” quilt that I designed at the beginning of this year in these. That would be awesome! 🙂

  26. I would make a quilt for my new grandchild. Some accessories for the sewing room would be good also.

  27. Such yummy colours! Not sure what id make, might just need to get a display case so I can state at them forever!

  28. I looooove this collection! I want to make everything with it – quilts, bags, clothes….

  29. There are so many quilt patterns I could do with this bundle, my head is spinning. I just know I LOVE it!!! Thanks for the opportunity to win!

  30. I would make a little quilt just for myself for a change. Those are happy colors and I would make a happy little quilt that would make me smile every time I looked at it :). It is nearly the end of a very long school year, and time for some happy!

  31. I would put this bundle to good use in The Circle of Life quilt that I hope to make this year.

  32. I love Karen’s fabrics and love Aurifil threads. There are two quilt alongside that would look amazing in Karen’s fabrics. Lucky is the person who wins the prize!

  33. Had a chance to look at these at my local quilt shop , the Cottage Quiltworks in Warriewood. They made my brain go fizzy, that’s a good thing by the way. But teaming them with a box of Aurifil lovelies! Oh my!!!! My brain has gone from fizzy into Buzzing!!!!! I need to hold them in hands and turn them over and feel them to see what they “tell” me to make. Then we go on a journey ….

  34. I purchased some Blueberry prints, I just love. Thank you for designing such a fun fabric line.

  35. I have been wanting to make a quilt with blocks in rainbow order, and using these materials would be the perfect opportunity to do that! Thanks for the possibility.

  36. Beautiful colors in the fabrics and the threads. It would be a true treasure to win such a generous gift. Thank you for the informative post.

  37. I discovered Karen on Instagram just a few months before she announced her collaboration with RK Fabrics. I love the fresh look of her printing designs on those yummy colored Kona solids! Just finished participating in an IG mini quilt exchange with Blueberry Park Fabrics. I got a wonderful mini in exchange for mine.

  38. I have a new great-niece and would love to make a quilt and some clothes for her from these colors. Her bigger sister will get a dress, too.

  39. I would use these in a quilt, maybe something with flowers. I love bright colors and this collection is full of them. Thanks for the opportunity.

  40. Oooooh! Loved your Interview! Thank you!! 🙂 I would make a Summery Quilt with this Gorgeous Bundle!! Something fun…and easy! Then I would use any leftover scraps for a Pillow!
    Thank you for chance to win your Give-a-way too!! 😀

  41. What a wonderful line of fabric. If I read this correctly Karen is screen printing on different colors of Kona cotton. Way cool!!!

  42. Such vibrant fabric! I have two nieces going to college next fall and I need to get busy making quilts for them. I think this fabric would be great for dorm quilts–nothing “babyish” about it.

  43. I would like to make a colorful lap quilt with those gorgeous prints, and the Aurifil thread would be perfect to quilt it with!

  44. I LOVE blueberry park! There are many baby quilts to be made with the collection!

  45. I’ve been looking at Karen Lewis’ work for awhile and it’s been exciting to see how her great work is being made available all around the world through Aurifil and Robert Kaufman!

  46. One of the greatest things about this line of fabric is how the prints play so well together, all while not really needing much help from other, supporting fabrics – I love that this means I could really just take the bundle and sew a quilt! I think I would make something extra-special for myself with these – perhaps a Swoon quilt or a special applique quilt from Carolyn Friedlander’s book.

  47. Such wonderful fabrics, Karen! I’d make some bright new pillows for the couch–I’m pretty much over winter 🙂

  48. Love the design on this fabric line. I’d start with a quilt for a special friend, perhaps using hexagons. I’m still developing my quilting skills and aurifil is so easy to use so I’d be grateful to do more practice with the lovely box.

  49. I am almost embarrassed to say how much of this fabric I have bought! Now thread available too — I am going to attempt my first king size quilt.

  50. Oh my! I love the colors…and that’s a big thing for me…I have always been color averse…until I turned 40…now I can’t get enough! So many things to make…pillows, quilts, napkins…did I mention I love the colors? 🙂

  51. What an over-the-top gorgeous line of fabric and colors. I especially love the deep blues and purples. I would make my granddaughter a rainbow quilt of half square triangles, her favorite right now. Thank you for the chance to win.

  52. Such a great and versatile range. I’d love to make a giant plaid quilt out of them but you could use them for anything

  53. I love the beautiful colors and designs of this fabric. I’m a little behind on this trend, but I think I’d make a “plus” quilt out of this fabric and thread. I’m a big scrap user, so there’d be many more projects made out of the remainders. None of this gorgeous fabric would go to waste!

  54. I have yet to try aurifil thread, but would love to!! I would make some type of gradient quilt showing off those beautiful fabrics and quilting it with those Fantabulous threads on my 1st ever longarm that hubby just ordered for me.. Yeehawww!! Thanks for the chance to win.

  55. Love these colors! So bright and cheery. I want to make a quilt to brighten up my bedroom for the coming summer months. And, oh, that Aurifil thread box!! Love it. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win.

  56. I love this collection. I’d probably use it to make bags – my current sewing obsession!

  57. I did some screen printing in high school, 40 years ago, and loved it. Karen’s designs bring me back to that creative time. It would be fun to create quilts using her fabric.

  58. We all have those white background brightly colored prints that are gorgeous but just don’t seem to fit in with anything except white or solids. Blueberry Park would be the perfect fabric to combine with these prints for a project that would make you happy every time you looked at it!

  59. I’d make zip bags and tote bags with those beautiful prints!!
    terryscwayons(at)yahoo(dot)com

  60. The fabrics are really appealing visually. I can see myself using this full line of fabrics in my quilts. They are so modern and fresh. I love the way the colors go well together, but are so different. Adding the Aurifil thread is such a bonus. I love having that option when creating. It really takes my finished design to the next level.

  61. Your fabric talks to me. Bright, beautiful and says “Buy Me.” Of course you need matching thread.

  62. Maybe I’d sew a bargello quilt for my guest room. But these colors and prints would be so much fun in just about anything.

  63. What gorgeous fabric and thread! I would love to make a quilt with a lot of colorful pinwheels with this collection. Thanks for the great blog post and for the chance to win!

  64. I love these fabrics! I just made a baby quilt using the Fancy Forest pattern and now I want to make one for myself. This range would be great for that!

  65. Draping any of Karen’s prints on me would be divine…Boho blouses, and cross body bags w/this Bundle. Love Scruffy Daisy. Longtime friend and lover of all 330 Kona cottons; Primo cotton and Karen’s screen prints just make it all that more gorgeous.

  66. It would have to be a summer quilt. Beautiful fabrics and my favourite threads, they go together like that other summer favourite strawberries and cream.

  67. Kona cottons are already among my favorite fabrics so the addition of screen printing adds to their versatility.

  68. I can make so much with Karen’s fabric, in fact I already have 🙂 I love it so much! Along with your thread of course! @mara.creates

  69. I absolutely adore this collection. I bought charmpacks of all 3 colour ways because my budget didn’t allow more than that, but they’re so gorgeous and I love how they can be combined with so many things. So far I’ve used them for rainbow hexies for a quilt-in-the-making and a pillow, there will be more projects to come, I’m sure, so I definitely would love more of these! Thanks for the chance! 😀

  70. I can imagine a lovely spring/summer quilt for those chilly evenings with this! Thanks for the chance to win! Love love love Aurifil!

  71. These beautiful fabrics just call to be sewn into a quilt and that’s what I would do with Blueberry Park. Aurifil thread is perfect for piecing the top. Love the matching colors! Thanks for the giveaway.

  72. I would definitely make a quilt. This fabric would be perfect for a new pattern I’ve been wanting to try. Thanks for the chance to win!

  73. I love love LOVE the bright colors. As someone who’s just starting to segue from embroidery into quilting, these prints would be PERFECT for quilted pillow samplers, and maybe a bright and cheery rainbow faux-headboard for my bed!

  74. What a talented lady. Just love all her thread colors and the fabrics really want to come and live in my stash. :^)

  75. wow this fabric would be so pretty for a flower quilt!! The bright colours would make the flower shine!

  76. I love these prints – Blueberry Park is gorgeous!!!! Would love to make a quilt with these!!! Got my eye on some modern piecing patterns that would be awesome with Aurifil thread!! Thanks for the chance!!!!

  77. I would love to make another mini to my mini wall. Trying to fill my drab walls with bright colors to cheer me throughout the cold Minnesota winters.

  78. I have loved Karen Lewis’ textiles since I discovered them on IG. it’s been great to be able to buy her Blueberry Park fabric. Also, I have been sewing with Aurifil and my machine loves it.

  79. Such a stunning collection. It’s on my wish list already but with the Aurifil – wow! This is the prize of the year!

  80. Love these fun fabrics and threads, I would love to make a small quilt with them. Thanks so much for the giveaway

  81. The colors are wonderful. I would love to make something for a summer wall quilt.

  82. I love these colors! I would love to use these bright colors for a child’s quilt!

  83. I love it. I want to make a summer quilt for my bed from this wonderful Blueberry Park fat quarter pack and Karen Lewis thread box!

Leave a Reply to Connie LawrenceCancel reply

Discover more from auribuzz

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading