trendmafia

Saturday afternoon I stopped by the Trendmafia and I really enjoyed it! The Trendmafia is a fairly new initiative here in Berlin where independent artists disply and sell their wares the first Saturday of every month. It takes place in an abandoned warehouse which they probably get a pretty good deal on rent on.
I got a great T-shirt from berlinillustrated and a really cool handy pouch and an ipod pouch from nikoki. Nikoki's stand was one of my faves there. She makes sweet softies, bags and aforementioned handy and ipod pouches among other beautifully sewn handmade objects. Miriam Schneiderman was also there selling her lovely obi-belts and really fun hood-scarfs, there was also another very cool stand that sold bags and wallets called kayberlin and several other Berlin artists and artisans . The next Trendmafia is on Saturday October 4 and for the time being looks like it might be the last date until Spring because the warehouse isn't heated. I am definitely going back and doing some early Xmas shopping. So if your are in Berlin on October 4th mark it down in your calendar as a great opportunity to buy handmade!

home decor weight fabrics

Joel Dewberry
Denyse Schmidt
Anna Maria Horner
Amy Butler
Several designers that are on our Volksfaden roster have come out with a home decor fabric line this year. These fabric lines are very versatile and difinitely not to be confused with really bulky upholstery fabric, although they are indeed sturdy enough to be used for upholstery. They are also being used for apparel, hats, bags, pillows, curtains and quilts. One definite advantage to using these fabrics for bigger projects is that you need less yardage because of the added width. The images above are some of the home decor fabrics we now carry. If you would like to see what others are doing with this fabric you can check out the different flickr groups:
Anna Maria Horner "Drawing Room"
Joel Dewberry "Ginseng"
Amy Butler "August Fields"

handmade

I had a visitor last week who makes these really sweet obis from fabrics that she has bought from VOLKSFADEN. Her name is Miriam Schneiderman and she just started selling these in a shop in Hamburg and is looking for retail stores in Berlin who might be interested in carrying them. She doesn't have a homepage yet but her email address is:
miriam_schneiderman@gmx.de. So if you yourself are interested in owning one of her obis or maybe if you have a tip for her as far as where she could go to try and sell them, I am sure she would love to hear from you.

garden party

Anna Maria Horner's "Garden Party" fabrics have finally arrived! The colors are absolutely gorgeous! Vibrantly vivid! Hats off to Anna Maria, another stunning collection. Garden party can be found here by VOLKSFADEN.

kokka

Here are some of the newest Japanese prints from Kokka that have recently arrived to Volksfaden.

denyse schmidt "county fair"

These are the first few fabrics that have arrived from Denyse Schmidt's new soft canvas fabrics "County Fair" for Free Spirit Quilting. Several of the designs are taken from her first fabric collection "Flea Market Fancy" and for this new collection she reworked the colorways.
The "Patchwork Promenade" print is new and I think it is just fabulous! It is a so-called "cheater print" with 6 totally different "pieced" 18"(45 cm) square blocks. The individual blocks can be used for smaller projects like cushion covers or placemats and with just a few meters of this fabric you could easily create your own quilt by quilting around the block sections. The fabric is 54", 135 cm wide and can be used for quilting, clothing and also upholstery. The fabric can be found by VOLKSFADEN here.

joel dewberry

Joel Dewberry's newest collection for Free Spirit "Ginseng" is a 56" home decor weight.
I really liked these two colorways, the rust and mulberry, because I thought they were quite unique. This is kind of a test run, I haven't carried much home decor weight up until now so if they are popular I will expand this category. The fabrics can be found here.