… linen love

Years ago. . . (lots of them!) - when I was doing interior design in Santa Barbara, I fell in love with linen. Ralph Lauren came out with a line of fabrics for home furnishings that had some wonderful linens (leave it to Ralph!) - & even though slipcovers were really 'out' of style at the time. . . I had a wonderful older client, a lady with elegant tastes & yet had such a down to earth personality, & she didn't care if slipcovers were 'in' or not. She knew what she liked & she wanted linen slipcovers.

So, I showed her the wonderful RL linen samples (& I held my breath), & she loved them! I had the hardest time finding someone who would make them (remember they weren't in 'style' then & every upholsterer said "no"!) - & then finally my wonderful drapery workshop said they would he happy to! When we installed the room . . . & put the slipcovers on . . . that was it. . . my love for linen (as well as my client!) was sealed. I have loved linen ever since.

. . . I love it for slipcovers. . . .

. . . I love it for bedcovers . . . (my current bedcover is an off-white linen duvet cover edged with a wonderful ruffle that I got at PB on clearance!) :o)

. . . I love it for clothing (I always have a pair or 2 . . . or 3 of J.Jill linen pants in my wardrobe - at all times. . . for all seasons!)

. . . & now I love it for my quilt & stitchery designing. (Thank you Moda!!!)

At this past Quilt Market - Moda introduced a new fabric line by Kaari Meng (French General), called Rouenneries (pronounced ruin-air-ies). It will be in quilt shops in October . . . but for now - many of us designers are so inspired with it!!! The line is filled with wonderful French inspired prints in red, a wonderful faded red, creams, taupes, & then it also includes 100% linen. . . !! The linen is the classic plain linen, & they are offering it in 3 colors - a light linen (pearl), a medium linen (oyster), & a red linen.

All simply & perfectly wonderful. (!)

I do have a confession though. . . I am becoming a hoarder of the fabrics in this line!!! See the basket in the photo above? . . . that's just the tip of my current 'Rouenneries' iceberg! At Sample Spree, I got it in every form they it available in. . . jelly roll, layer cake, fat quarter bundle. . . you name it. . . I bought it! (I also ordered several blots of the linens - & will have them available on the website this fall.)

So lately, I've been in stitching heaven - using my incredible Cosmo embroidery floss (which will also be on the website. . . soon!) (I'm using their 2 strand line - that comes on a spool. . . love that!) & my 'Rouenneries' linen. The pieces in the photo are for a table-topper design that I sketched on my flight home from Market. . . I was that inspired by the fabrics. For this version - I'm using 2 colors - a red & a linen color & I'm loving how it's turning out.

The one thing that I did - in using linen - was that I pre-washed it. I usually don't pre-wash my fabrics (unless I'm really worries about the dye. . . ), but with the linen & I wasn't sure what the shrinkage would be - compared to the quilt weight fabrics (I'm using both in my project) - so I decided to go ahead & pre-wash. You can see the armful of soft, cloud-like linen that came out of the dryer in the top photo.

Simply, perfectly, yummy.

It is so lovely to work with, & after a little pressing - I could hardly wait to get started. (Also, when stitching with it - it doesn't need to be backed by anything!)

So - if you like linen. . . or want to give it a try. . . get ready - it's coming!!!!