Projects inspired by Aboriginal fabrics

If you need a color "pick-me-up," reach for these contemporary Aboriginal fabric prints from M&S Textiles Australia. The motifs on these cotton fabrics are magical, mystical, and bursting with color. They're one of my favorite quilting fabrics to "make" with.

Fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia.
From left: Yalke Green, Womens Business, Bush Banana, and Gathering by the Creek.

The designs on these fabrics are created by Australian aboriginal artists. They illustrate the symbiotic relationship between man and nature, and tell the story of the Dreamtime.

Inspired by Aboriginal fabric designs
Looking beyond the fabrics themselves, here are ideas for using them in quilts, bags, clothing, and home decor. And they can even inspire free-motion quilting designs and other techniques. Quilt shops and independent sewing centers carry these fabrics and links to a few of these shops are listed with the projects below.

"Cat City" [Villa Rosa pattern] using a variety of fat quarters from M&S Textiles fabrics.

The "6 Pack" quilt featuring Womens Business, Flowers in the Desert green,
Bush Dreamings of Utopia purple (border) and other Australian prints.
 Supplies available at Busy Lady Quilt Shop.

This quilt uses a precut Dreamtime strip roll from M&S Textiles.
The exclusive Star quilt pattern and other supplies available from Sew Many Blessings.

Show off a variety of Aboriginal prints with this "Aboriginal Stained Glass" quilt.
[Melissa and Mom Quilts pattern].

Log Cabin quilt with an on-point setting. Supplies available at Calico Rose quilt shop.

An assortment of black Aboriginal serve as the background to set off Sandhill red.
"Crossroads," fat quarter pattern from Villa Rosa Designs.

Garments

Don't be afraid to use these cotton fabrics for clothing.

The Cottage Shirt [The Sewing Workshop pattern] in Yalke Blue [M&S Textiles].

Details about making the Cottage Shirt in Yalke blue are at this blog post. And see my Sandy Creek Siena Shirt blog post with more photos of the shirt below.

Siena Shirt [The Sewing Workshop] featuring Sandy Creek and Spirit Dreaming.

Siena Shirt [The Sewing Workshop pattern] featuring Women Dreaming burgundy.

Pocket lining or pocket accent with Spirit Place Ecru.

Bags and Totes

Give a bag or tote some attitude with Aboriginal fabrics!

Totably bag [Quilts Illustrated pattern] in Summertime Rainforest black.

Expedition Tote [Swoon patterns] in Yalke Blue and Bambillah.
Made by Debbie at Calico Rose quilt shop.

Expedition Tote [Swoon patterns] in Kingfisher Camp with Sandy Creek accent.
Supplies available at Calico Rose quilt shop.

The Melba Pintuck Bag [The Textile Pantry pattern] with Salt Plain and Sandhill White.
Supplies and pattern available at Kentucky Quilt Company quilt shop.

Summertime Carryall featuring Dreaming in One.

You can take this water koozie with you on the go!

"Walker's Water Bottle Sling" with Bush Medicine 2 blue and Dancing Spirit purple.
Supplies and pattern available at Sisters Side by Side Quilt Shop.

Dreamtime precuts
Precut strips, charms, 10" squares and fat quarters are available in several colorways such as red, yellow, purple, black and assorted. These projects were made with M&S Textiles Dreamtime precuts.

Bag pattern and supplies available at WV Quilt.

The jelly roll race quilt. Dreamtime strip rolls and supplies available at Calico Rose quilt shop.

English paper pieced hexagons from a charm pack or strip roll adorn a pillow.
Class and supplies available at WV Quilt.

A mini tuffet [Tuffet Source].

English Paper Piecing and selective cutting
Try selective positioning and fussy cutting of the Aboriginal motifs for fabulous results.

Fussy cutting and English Paper Piecing with Aboriginal prints.

Detail: from "Oh My Stars" guild Challenge.

Inspiration for free-motion quilting, collage, art quilts
The free-motion quilting on my 2018 guild Challenge was inspired by the fabrics. Details about the process are in this blog post.

Free-motion quilting inspired by Aboriginal fabric designs.

The Winter 2020 issue of Art Quilting Studio features the work of Joan Anderson and her use of Aboriginal fabrics from M&S Textiles in her collaged art quilts.

Article in Art Quilting Studio magazine featuring the work of Joan Anderson
and her use of Aboriginal fabrics from M&S Textiles.

Winter 2020 issue of Art Quilting Studio magazine.

So many possibilities!

Fall Quilt Market Recap, part 3: Bags, notions, techniques and new substrates

Large or small, there's a project for everyone! In addition to quilts and garments, bags in all sizes and a slew of creative stitching projects were on display at Fall Quilt Market... in booths, display cases and in Demo Alley.

Fall Quilt Market 2019, Houston, Texas.

Bags, Totes, Pouches and Duffles
At the M&S Textiles Australia booth, several bags and totes from Penny Sturges [Quilts Illustrated] were on display. This Summertime Carryall featured Dreaming in One Flame, one of M&S Textiles Australia's striped aboriginal designs.

Summertime Carryall [Penny Sturges from Quilts Illustrated] with M&S Textiles fabrics.

The Roxy Bag, made with Man & Goanna for the body and strap, was accented with a Four Seasons stripe along the curved top.

Roxy Bag [Quilts Illustrated] with M&S Textiles fabrics.

The Totably was made with a stylized floral—Summertime Rainforest in the black colorway.

Totably bag [Quilts Illustrated] with M&S Textiles fabrics.

A zippered duffle featured Brett Lewis' Stag and Thistle collection from Northcott. 

Stag and Thistle zippered duffle bag.

The FIGO booth showed off its upcoming DIY collection with a cute tote to store crafting supplies—paint brushes, crayons, scissors, washi tapes, etc.—for the active do-it-yourselfer.

Art supply tote and art smock from the DIY collection from FIGO.

A Rainbow of Bag Making Hardware
Need special hardware for bag making? If the standard gold and silver colors won't suffice, several companies have a range of colored zippers, magnetic snaps, bag feet, swivels, clasps and the like. Anything you'll need to provide an expert finish to your next bag project.

Bag making supplies from Sallie Tomato.

Colored magnetic snaps from Sassafras Lane Designs.

The Cork Fabric Craze

Although this product has been out in stores for a few years, it made a resurgence at Market. Cork sews just like fabric—and without any frayed edges to attend to. What's not to like about that? Cork comes in colors and prints and it can be embellished as desired.

Cork bag from Belagio Enterprises Inc.

Although I haven't tried this innovative substrate yet, it appears you can crochet, knit, sew or weave with it or cut and slice it to make a quick fringe or tassel. Cork seems to be "un-stoppable" with what you can make with it!

Projects made with cork fabric [Belagio Enterprises, Inc].

Patterns and Tools 
To assist quilters, sewers and makers with their projects, vendors previewed new tools, notions and patterns to facilitate accuracy, efficiency and creativity. These are just a sampling of what you'll be seeing at YLQS [your local quilt shop] soon.

Fat quarter and pre-cut friendly patterns and the Shortcut Binding tool
from The Franklin Quilt Co.

Pom Pom making tools from Clover Needlecraft.

Studio 180 Designs patterns and rulers.

Hand Stitching and Classy Accoutrements
Hand stitching is still going full force! New patterns, books, threads, needles and other notions are available for every kind of hand stitchery you can imagine.

Books, patterns and kits by super stitcher, Sue Spargo.
Hand and machine threads from WonderFil Specialty Threads.

This display featured Vicki McCarty's [Calico Patch Designs] beautiful wool appliqué, patchwork patterns and kits as well as the Yazzii bags—a classy way to organize, store and carry all your hand stitching and quilting supplies.

Calico Patch Designs products and Yazzii Bags.

The needle arts manufacturers are embracing time honored techniques like sashiko and kantha and combining them with intriguing new pattern designs, notions, and threads in gorgeous color palettes. Hand stitching—for decorative embellishing or for the functional mending processes—is still going strong.

Hand embroidery projects from Bald Guy in a Kilt/Global Artisans.

Sashiko stitching and hand sewing needles from Tulip.

And speaking of hand stitching... still one of my favorite fabrics to use for hand stitching is the yarn-dyed wovens from Diamond Textiles. A range of soft neutrals and textured stitched patterns are coming to the Nikko Geo collection. You'll certainly want to get your needles into these!

New soft neutrals in Nikko Geo [Diamond Textiles].

So, that's a wrap for Fall Quilt Market 2019! Hope you enjoyed a preview of what's coming to your local quilting and sewing shop.

All packed up! A pallet of boxes ready for shipping.