Saturday, June 7, 2014

Give me the Liberty and Chambray throw or give me DEATH!!! Free tutorial


The velveteen throws we have made in the past will always hold a special place in my heart, but lately there is a new set of fabrics here at the shop that have garnered my attention.

I am speaking, of course, about the Liberty of  London Tana Lawns we have received that just happen to look oh-so perfect with the Union Chambray by Robert Kaufman that we have also received of late.



When these two new substrates arrived at the shop, we immediately knew we had to make a throw, but we had a DICKENS of a time choosing which Liberty we wanted to use (they are all so gorgeous!!!) and which Union Chambray we wanted to use (regardless of which Liberty we chose, all of the chambrays seemed to match perfectly!!!)

As my friend Kristine would say, this is a rich man's problem.

But, we did finally make a choice and I got one of my girls on the case and within a couple of hours we had a new throw for the shop.



Do you love it? (I love it.)

If you'd like to make a Liberty and Chambray throw of your own, I have a newly revamped set of instructions for you to use. Click the links to download (Page 1, Page 2 ).

We've also listed complete kits in our online shop.

For those of you out there who may not be familiar, Liberty of London is an iconic design house from merry olde England that has been producing THE most beautiful textiles for the last century or so.  Lately, however, the substrate called Tana Lawn has become uber-popular with quilters: particularly those of us who like to call themselves "modern" quilters (exhibit A: Elizabeth Hartman's absolutely adorable "Fancy Fox" quilt, among others.)

Although lawn is traditionally used for garments (it's smooth and silky cotton: a lot like voile.  Perfect for nightgowns, breezy blouses and dreamy pillowcases) it is great in quilts.



And let me tell you about this Union Chambray!  Such a hit here at the shop.

It's soft, sturdy, timeless, and pairs well with everything. EVERY. THING.

The colors in the chambray are quite subtle: they can skew from blue to gray in a heartbeat, depending on what you put next to them.

As we say here at the shop: it's a very friendly fabric and plays well with others.

We have a handful of chambrays available at the shop and have given them their own category on the website.

And even though this sounds implausible, ANY of the chambrays are a good fit with any of the Liberty prints.  We haven't seen a combination yet that was less than stellar.



So please do go ahead and download the set of instructions for making the Liberty and Chambray throw. 
Click the links to download: 

We  have complete kits available on the website right here.

Kits include your choice of 1.5 yards of Liberty and 1.5 yards of Chambray, the Quilter's Dream wool batting (We must insist on using the wool batting! It's super light and airy: a great pairing with the lawn, and don't forget it's machine washable!), a coordinating skein of embroidery floss, and a set of instructions.

Kits are $85.95.  Yes, you read that correctly!  The price of the kits comes out to be just $6.00 more than our Velveteen Throw kits... even though the Liberty is a bit "dear," the Chambray is only $8.50 a yard, so it all evens out quite nicely!

Please enjoy the free tutorial, and remember to use #alewivesfabrics if you post about us in any social media.

XO,

Rhea