Welcome to the Swatch & Stitch

Josephine Kimberling: The Heart of Glam Garden

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:06:01 +0000

Recently, Josephine Kimberling tweeted (via her Twitter account) about what a wonderful time she had doing a photo shoot for her Glam Garden collection for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. We decided to catch up with her and describe what makes this amazing collection so special to her and a little more about the actual photoshoot. Needless to say, her infectious personality shines through in her wonderful description of the collection and that special afternoon with a few friends and a camera.

About the Collection
"The Glam Garden fabric collection combines an explosion of florals, geometrics & pretty prints with glamorous colors – blooming with pretty bohemian sugary chic-ness!.

With Glam Garden I was inspired to create a variety of glamorous floral prints, each with a different feel & aesthetic that could work together well. Most of the prints started out as intricate sketchbook doodles, which is where I love to start with my ideas. I also desire for each print to be able to stand on its own, so I put a lot of thought into making it special enough to do just that. Putting collections together eclectically really makes me happy, so I added in a few geometrics & a vintage wallpaper print to round the group out.

The Shoot
For the Glam Garden photo shoot, I definitely had a vision & theme in mind. With the fabrics full of bright, luscious colors and eclectic prints, I wanted to have an outdoor garden party with cupcakes, candy, parasols & paper pom-poms hanging from the trees! A party we would surely want to attend! It took a small army of friends and family to pull all of the pieces together to make the vision come to life. I started sewing garments mid-January for the Glam Garden February photo shoot, and sewed all 8 of them the same size, knowing that I would be able to accessorize them with a belt if they were too big forany of the models (good thing belts are “IN” right now!). Pattern details for each garment from the photo shoot are listed on my website’s Inspiration page.

My good friend Karin and I collaborated on the design of the Luscious Bow Tote, and with her fashion design background, she sewed the sample and compiled the instructions that you can download from Robert Kaufman and my website. My good friend Cheryl sewed 2 garments for me. Danielle Howarth of Dani Bags offered to sew-up her “Sophia” bag in my Glam Garden fabrics for the photo shoot (photo’s coming soon), Tina Michalik designed the “Big Zag” quilt for Robert Kaufman, and was generous enough to send her quilt to use in the shoot. One night I even got so inspired and designed & sewed up a ruffled pillow for an extra prop!

The Glam Garden photo shoot was an absolute blast! We shot at my friend’s home in West Seattle, which worked wonderfully for the girls to be able to get ready in a house (rather than in a van on location, like they had to for the Hot Blossom photo shoot!). The girls came over 2 hours before the shoot to try the garments on – which includes them trying on different garments, shoes, jewelry, etc. until we got the right “look." It’s so fun to play dress-up and see the fabrics come to life!

With the outfits & models in tow, we ate a delightful lunch while I collaborated more with my photographer about the props I had, shots I was wanting, etc. And then with a nice sunny Seattle day we began the photo shoot!

You can view the photos from my Glam Garden photo shoot on Flickr here or view them in a fun slideshow on my website here."

-Josephine

Where to find Josephine:

Website: www.josephinekimberling.com

Blog: www.josephinekimberling.blogspot.com

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephinekimberling/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Josephine-Kimberling/148153334355?v=wall#/pages/Josephine-Kimberling/148153334355?v=wall

Twitter: http://twitter.com/PatternSavvy

A Cup of Java: Our Lives Making Batiks in Java Indonesia (Part 2)

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:39:22 +0000

Every Sunday morning just after daybreak, I go for a long walk with Pak Inung, our batik factory owner. We walk in the surrounding neighborhoods, which include rice fields, small farms, home industry brick and batik production, housing developments, new construction and small villages. We talk about everything on our walk, including; building techniques and styles, culture, language, religion, business, and more, all in Indonesian.

Ducks being herded across road from ricefield to ricefield.On some mornings we encounter a gaggle of 100 or more ducklings, being herded by a man waving a small flag on a stick. The ducklings are moved from one harvested rice field to another to forage for food. The rice farmers are happy to allow the foraging because the ducklings leave behind fertilizer for the next rice crop.

I’m thankful that Pak Inung speaks slowly, so I can follow everything he says. We often meet other people on our walk, and always greet them with great respect whether we know them or not, often asking after their health, and always ask permission to continue on our walk.

The Indonesian language is very poetic and musical, a great language for art and their culture, but not direct or exacting enough for international business. Because of this, many English words have been adopted or modified for the Indonesian language.

Small roadside gas "bensin" stand.I am now conversational, thinking directly in the Indonesian language. The odd thing is when I understand something directly in their language and try to translate it into English, I get confused and it does not work word for word. To translate one language to the other takes understanding the full concept, throwing away the words and starting fresh in the other language.

Here are a few examples…

To say “no problem” they say "tidak apa apa" but directly translated it means "no what what".

The word for sun is "matahari" directly translated "eye day".

The word for ankle is “mata kaki” directly translated “eye foot”.

Bathroom is "kamar kecil" directly translated "room small".

Our phrase “one step at a time” translates to “Sedikit, sediket, lama, lama, menjadi bukit”… directly it translates to “little bit, little bit, long time, long time, succeed hill”.

There is so much prayer, ritual and feeling in everything the Javanese people do, and a tight community feeling is very apparent. Maintaining proper feeling is the most important thing here, as well as respect and proper behavior.

Handmade bricks drying in the sun.Proper behavior is a very detailed affair. They tolerate foreigners who do not know or understand, but if you follow the customs, and behave correctly, much more becomes open and possible. They love that Debra and I follow their social customs and rules, and speaking their language, no matter how poorly, really pleases them.

One of the challenging parts of our job is to be the bridge or translator between the two cultures, aside from our main job of designing wonderful batiks for the quilting industry.

Animal Party Soft Book

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:33:47 +0000

I’d consider myself a beginner when it comes to sewing, but it still only took me about 4 hours total to finish this project - hand embroidery and all. If you’re pressed for time, or you’re just much better at free-motion quilting than me, use your machine when you’re ready to outline the animals, or skip that step entirely. You could also “bind” your book using your sewing machine, I just find hand sewing to be a nice way of getting out of my brain for a moment.

A Cup of Java: Our Lives Making Batiks in Java Indonesia

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:37:10 +0000

Getting to Java from Columbus Ohio is always a grueling trip. This time we tried a new route: Columbus / Houston / Moscow / Singapore / Solo, Indonesia. We spent 28 hours in the air, plus 22 hours of waiting for flights in airports. The trip is exhausting, and the jet lag lasts for more than a week since we change 12 time zones. Being here, and working with these people is a great honor, and huge learning experience. I can happily report that they learn a great deal from us too. We are collaborating on many levels, in terms of batik production, dyeing, design, business communications, factory design, safety and more.

Summer Trends – a look back BABIES!!!

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:30:29 +0000

Is it just me, or are babies this summer’s uber-trend? Babies are a grand excuse to make a handmade gift, and lucky for those of us who have easily half a dozen gifts of this nature to give this coming year, baby quilts are fairly quick to make, and unstoppably charming when made out of the bountiful range of adorable baby fabrics now available.

Etsy Sew Fruity Contest… We have a winner!

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:28:57 +0000

Last spring, we held a contest with Etsy to find the next surprisingly inedible fabric delectable for our Kona® Cotton Solids ad campaign. Number three in the series, preceded by fabric candy, then fabric cupcakes, evolved into Mother Nature’s sweetest treat – fruit.

Welcome to Swatch & Stitch

Robert Kaufman Fabrics — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:41:54 +0000

We’re so excited here at Robert Kaufman. We can’t wait (and can’t believe we waited this long!) to show you so many things through this inside sneak peek of a blog. You’ll get an inside glimpse at the fabric design process, have access to so many more great quilts and other must-make sewing projects, get to see behind the scenes of some wonderful Robert Kaufman fabric retailers, be inspired by tons of how-to demos and see what inspires us, too.

We would love to show the world your Robert Kaufman projects, while we’re at it! If you want to share your creations with us, please send a pic to blog(at)robertkaufman(dot)com. Retailers – want to show us your best Robert Kaufman fabric displays in your store? Send us a pic! Have a great sewing tip or tool that would work wonders with Robert Kaufman fabrics? Drop us a line.

Whether you’re here to share or just enjoy the gander, we hope you find a happy home here at Robert Kaufman Fabrics’ Swatch & Stitch blog. Welcome, and please come back often!