Hi everyone,
Are you excited for some summer sewing? It has been SOOOO hard to keep secrets these last few months so thank goodness I can finally show what I have been working on. My newest fabric lines for Benartex and Contempo or Benartex were just featured at BERNINA University a week ago and I’m so excited to show you!
If you’d rather watch a video showing all the patterns and fabrics you can find one here:
Pictures speak louder than words so let’s get started! The new line inspired by the features of my favorite BERNINA machines is called “Celestial Lights”. It will start shipping in July and is beautifully printed by Benartex with details delineated in pearl inks.
There are a variety of shot-cotton prints perfect for embroidered embellishment, including a pearl-on-white not pictured here.
The first Celestial Lights pattern is called Stardust. It features twelve star embroideries – each with a different blackwork pattern – from the coordinating BERNINA-Exclusive Celestial Lights Collection. The Embroidery Collection also features the quilting files for this quilt digitized for both longarms and domestic embroidery machines. There are directions for both a blue and a red color story. We’ll be giving tips and tricks for sewing this over on BERNINA’s blog this fall!
Again with red and blue options, is my new piecing pattern – Constellations! It uses a half yard of twelve fabrics. Lots of pieces but I REALLY love this one!
And super-fun to piece is Hometown, in a combination of red and blue!
Next up is Floret, a fun appliqué pattern that includes a download code for SVG files. There is going to be an Aurifil thread box for this one, so you’ll have an easy way to locate the 28 wt. thread I like to use for the blanket stitch and the 12 wt. thread I like to use for the triple-stitched vines. Also a July ship date.
The fabric collection features five different panels: two ruler panels, two quilting panels, and one embroidery panel.
The Celestial Lights Embroidery Panel Project Guide shows you how to make that panel into a pillow, table runner, wall hanging, and quilt!
The Celestial Lights Ruler Panel Guide in conjunction with the ruler panels show you how to use my new Good Measure Every Oval Ruler set in a myriad of different ways. You’ll love this set I promise and guess what? Hot on its heels will come another new ruler set – RIBBON CANDY!
Next up are my Market lines. With all the BERNINA University prep I never wrote a blog post for them so I apologize for this being a bit late. The patterns for the patterns below one will be ready in a few weeks.
Silver Jubilee is an elegant sophisticated line in silvers and charcoals, accented with a rich plum.
Because of the traditional nature of the paisley feature print, with patterns I went more modern in feel. Here is my favorite… Amethyst Jubilee! (And yes, it is paper-pieced but with just one block and its mirror image.)
Following on its heels in the modern category is Linked. It is fat-quarter friendly so is super easy to kit!
Then we have Mirror, Mirror. My goal here was to develop a 10’’ square-friendly pattern that was dynamic and different.
Since Silver Jubilee was modeled after the original gold Jubilee line, I had time to draw another collection. This one is close to my heart as it arrived in my head pretty much fully formed and that hardly ever happens. I just love the rich tones in this collection and the birds… even though I’m scared of birds in real life. Nightingale is very subtly detailed in just a little bit of pearl.
For patterns we have a large-block quilt called Salt Water Taffy…
And Sunrise, which is such fun to quilt with a straight line ruler and simple loops. (I have a video of the quilting somewhere that I’ll have to dig up to show.) You can use quarter yard cuts or fat quarters for this one.
And then we have my favorite to make because each block was such fun – Night Garden! This is fat-quarter friendly too.
All patterns include SKU information and will ship in late July; I’ll let you know as soon as they are available. In the meantime if you love any or all of these lines please ask your local shop to order them through Benartex! Thanks so much and happy quilting!
Amanda
