Welcome to day three of Island Batik week! We’re having a blast with these gorgeous collections this week. Of course we love seeing how the fabrics and threads are used and get a little giddy seeing our threads involved in such beautiful works of art, but really, we love learning about the designers. It’s fascinating to hear their back stories and to learn about what inspired the collections.
We’ll be featuring one Island Batik designer each day this week to showcase new fabric & coordinating Aurifil collections. Each post will offer a fabric + thread giveaway so make sure to come back daily to learn more about our talented designers to enter-to-win some gorgeous prizes!
ISLAND BATIK WEEK SCHEDULE
1/10 – Coastal Mist by Tammy Silvers
1/11 – Glowing Embers by Cheri Good Designs
1/12 – Dotalicious by Claudia Pfeil (YOU ARE HERE!)
1/13 – Surf and Sand by Fourth and Sixth Designs
1/14 – Fresh Catch by Jackie Kunkel
To learn about Island Batik and the batik process, please visit their website. For a peek at the full range of Fall/Winter 2016 releases, in-stores now, click here or on the image below to browse the catalog. To check in on Island Batik’s news, please visit their blog.
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Claudia Pfeil‘s latest collection with Island Batik is a absolute masterpiece! Designed by Kathy Engle and masterfully brought to life through Claudia’s expert quilting, Dotalicious features 60 different SKUs in 3 distinct color ways. Earth, Wind & Fire showcase a stunning display of rich batiks in a rainbow of colors. The coordinating thread collection is truly a thing of beauty. 48 large spools of 50wt thread in one fabulous carrying case. These threads not only coordinate with the many hues of Dotalicious, they also provide an amazing stash of thread for beginners and experienced quilters alike. This is a piece to be coveted!
THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Dotalicious
48 Large Spools – 50wt (1422yds/spool), 100% Aurifil Cotton
1130 – 1135 – 1147 – 1154 – 1243 – 1246 – 2120 – 2145 – 2150 – 2155 – 2210 2230 – 2260 – 2265 – 2310 – 2311 – 2314 – 2324 – 2340 – 2360 – 2372 – 2430 2450 – 2460 –2468 – 2562 – 2582 – 2588 – 2610 – 2725 – 2745 – 2846 – 2860
2885 – 2888 – 2892 –2900 – 2910 – 4093 – 4140 – 4173 – 4182 – 4644 – 5005
5008 – 5017 – 5018 – 5022
To view this info on our website, click the images above. For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.
THE INTERVIEW
How did you first get involved with this wonderful world of textiles?
Growing up in Hemer, a small town in the woods with 30,000 inhabitants, in a family of bankers (Mother, Father AND Brother), I was NOT involved or educated in handcrafts at all! My teachers were a bit desperate about my future after school as I was not really a genius in mathematics, physics or latin language (normal classes in our German school system.) Handcrafting and arts were not on the teaching schedule, but I loved to draw and paint, and tried everything like pottery, silk painting, watercolour painting, and knotted carpets outside of school.
After school, I moved to Dortmund and started my apprenticeship as a display designer in a warehouse and discovered “Patchwork” in 1985 at a Creativa-Show.
Do you remember the first quilt that you ever made and how you felt once it was complete?
The quilt ‘Number One’ in 1985 came into being without the now common rotary cutter and rulers as such tools were unknown in Germany at the time. My basic sewing machine only had the use of securing the layers for hand quilting. There was much “trial and error” as I taught myself the tricks of making templates and seams to complete Number One.
That first quilt would hold it’s place as my only large sewing project. My move from Dortmund to Krefeld where I began studies at the University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein and my work as a textile designer drew my interests into different directions – I had the quilting fever – I just hadn’t fully discovered the wide world of quilting.
Who has been the most inspiring person within your creative career?
I am not able to name one special person as an inspiration, it was more an collective absorbing. Ideas out of American magazines and books, learning the techniques – again trial and error, sharing ideas and thoughts with other German and European quilters.
How did you first get involved with Island Batik?
Roughly 3 years ago I published a picture of “Shadowplay”, a quilt I made for Quilt & Co, on Facebook/Social media. Quilters love to share and so do I! I received a message from Elizabeth at Island Batik asking whether I would be interested to publish this pattern. I received the fabrics and so everything started. Island Batik is a great company to work with and their fabrics are fabolous! 🙂
Meanwhile I designed about 10 original quilts for Island Batik and I am always eager and anxiously waiting to hold the new fabric lines in my hands to start the design and sewing process. I need to see and touch the fabrics/colors to get ideas for the new quilts/projects – I am not planning a quilt in advance.
What do you love most about Batik fabrics?
The points are:
- Haptic: feels good – it feels „crispy“
- Designs: Blending designs and colors, tons of variations
- Usage: nice and easy to sew and quilt, no fraying, solid-colored ( no left or right side
- Colors: brilliant, matching, soft transitions
- Handcraft : Individual and unique
How did you first discover Aurifil threads?
Aurifil is a European company (Italy), so for us Europeans it was logical to use their threads for sewing from the beginning. Also, Aurifil is very supportive and always developping new threads for the market. When I met Alex Veronelli the first time at Carrefour du Patchwork, a big and wonderful Quiltshow in France, he asked me to try a new thread on the Longarm.
What is your process for selecting the colors for the coordinating Aurifil thread collection?
That is a dream and a nightmare at the same time! Combining and playing with the thread spools and fabrics on the one side… deciding between hundreds of color options on the other side! The size of the box (number of spools) is the limit. But finally, you have to reduce it to the required number – that is the hard thing! I am always asking myself: What will I use? If I am happy with that – that is my final decision!
THE GIVEAWAY
This giveaway will have three lucky winners! Prizes are 1 FQ bundle of Dotalicious in the Earth colorway + coordinating Aurifil threads, 1 FQ bundle of Dotalicious in the Wind colorway + coordinating Aurifil threads, and 1 FQ bundle of Dotalicious in the Fire colorway + coordinating Aurifil threads. To enter-to-win, 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 Tuesday January 17! Winner will be randomly selected and announced here on Wednesday, January 18. Good luck!
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to our winners, Karen Hootman, Judi Duncan, and Nancy A!
ABOUT CLAUDIA PFEIL
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ABOUT ISLAND BATIK
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