Colorful fabric boxes . . .

	A red Hydrangea fabric box by Linda Johansen
	A leftover greeting card box covered in Jane's Morning   Glory in Red

We bumped into author, teacher and artist Linda Johansen at Quilt Market in Houston last season and she let us know about her latest book from C&T publishing, "Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Boxes".  Since making fabric boxes from Jane's fabric has been on our short list (or, should we say, our continually-growing long-short list!) ever since her first fabric line, we politely asked her if she could whip one up for us.

The result is a pretty darned-cute fabric box made from Jane's Red Hydrangea fabric in the Floral Fantasy fabric line.  Jane's large-print motifs shine in projects that benefit from isolating a motif and letting it hold center stage.

Linda's technique for producing a variety of boxes (and fabric bowls) depends on a special interfacing called fast2fuse Double-Sided Stiff Interfacing. It allows you to construct projects that require flexible, firm support (from hats to handbags) and is available from C&T publishing.  

But you certainly don't need the interfacing to create your own box.  We've whipped up our own using a cardboard notecard box, white glue and an end piece of Jane's Morning Glory in the Rainbow colorway.  A quick ironing, then centering of the pattern and trim, then gluing of the cover got us 9/10ths of the way there.  Think of it as gift-wrapping the box in fabric and you'll know how to proceed.  

We're sure this technique would also work great with picture frames and notebook covers, too.  We'll be busy putting some of these ideas together for our next installment.

The first thing we did with the fabric was go crazy!

A smorgasbord of color & possibilities . . .

Well!  We certainly are busy with Jane's Butterfly Garden. Jane got started right away on several quilt ideas and found time to have some fun knocking out some pillows, to boot.

There is so much we are looking forward to doing with this new line of fabric. To get you started thinking, here are some ideas...

Jane’s Butterfly Garden is a natural for a new baby’s environment.   Can’t you see it?   Lamp shades, curtains, bed bumpers, bed skirts, rocking chair cushions, pillows, bonnets, bibs, booties, diaper bags, stuffed toys and wall hangings.   And don’t forget quilts!  The optimism of these fabrics will fit right into the wondrous world of little folk!

Jane’ Butterfly Garden features several prints with white backgrounds which make exceptionally bright and cheery curtains.  One of the first things Dan did was get some of the O-ring curtain clips sold everywhere these days and clip up yardages of the Bell Flower in Red (see picture) and the results were an instant energy boost!   The white background radiates with light while the mega-contrasting flowers and butterflies makes you want to dance a jig.  Bell Flower in Blue and Mille Fleur in Rainbow also have a white background and will produce similar results.

And, of course, accessories.   Boxes, table runners, napkins, tree skirts, pillows and dust ruffles, tea cozies, picture frames, shower curtains, hot pads . . . to name a few.   If you feel like we do about this fabric, there's no end to projects.   Let's face it: drabness surrounds us.   Fight back with Jane's Butterfly Garden!

How about wearables?   You cannot find better fabric for Hawaiian shirts, sundresses, aprons, quilted house robes, hats and bonnets, scarves . . . you name it!   Create some toddler’s overalls from a simple store-bought pattern with a matching hat.   This fabric is a great match for young people’s bright personality.   And stay tuned to view Dan's Quilt Market shirt!

More fast & furious ideas:  Jane's Butterfly Garden . . .

—is beautiful for free-motion quilting. Just trace the design with your “dogs down” & your darning foot “on”

—makes great backing for quilts  Coordinate the color with the top or create some dramatic contrast

—is great for Broderie Perse—Individual flowers and butterflies can be fussy cut and collaged for quilts and wearables.

—is heavenly for Stack & Whack and makes extraordinary whole-cloth quilts

—can be substituted in all of last years patterns, like the Butterfly quilt shown recently on "Simply Quilts".

Check back soon for more ideas, and, for goodness sake, please send us pictures of projects or just tell us what you've been doing with the new fabric.  This is a labor of love for everyone involved here and it is food for our soul to find out how it affects you world!

	Jane's Floral Fantasy fabric makes for a dramatic Hawaiian style shirt.

A simple shirt idea for the summertime...

When Dan, our webmaster, saw Jane's Freckled Lily fabric he instantly thought of a Hawaiian shirt.  He went hunting for a suitable pattern at the Hancock fabric store and brought the pattern and Freckled Lily in Purple & Yellow to Jin Xiaching, a seamstress friend of ours:

It was mid-October when I brought Jin the fabric and pattern to make my Hawaiian shirt.  I needed the shirt made in time for Fall Quilt Market 2003, where I was planning to wear it.  

I chose an oversize Kwik Sew pattern (#2935) with extended shoulders and yoke; Jin decided she would need 3 yards of fabric, enough to let her have enough to play with the large repeats.

Jin's English is not great (neither is my Mandarin!), so it took me a while to understand that she was apologizing for not exactly matching the pattern across the shirt.  Personally, I was reallly impressed with the job she did in aligning the pattern (for some tips on how to properly line up patterns across shirt fronts, check out this how-to by Gigi Louis at PatternReview.com).

When I arrived in Houston, it was Fall overcast and raining.  Wearing the shirt at Market easily made me one of the brightest living things in the George R Brown convention center.  Now that it is finally bright and sunny in the Mid-West, I think I'll have more opportunity to wear my shirt.  

I have been daydreaming about the next shirt I want to have made with Jane's fabric—a cowboy shirt made from the Nosegay fabric in Purple & Yellow, complete with purple snaps . . . stay tuned!

This month we show you how to put together a simple shoulder bag and scarf using Jane's Floral Fantasy...

We have a new assistant at JaneSassaman.com — her name is Laura Grey and she is working with us while she is attending The Art Institue of Chicago.  We turned to Laura to work up a simple bag and scarf set using Jane's new fabric, and this is what she made.  We also asked her to tell us how she approached working with the fabrics:

Working with Jane's new Floral Fantasy line of fabrics was a fantastic experience.  I loved pairing the bold colors to create vibrant and funky accessories!

For the shoulder bag, I used Jane's Red & Orange Lily and Crocus fabric for the outside, with a coordinating Free Spirit color connector for the bottom.  I centered one lily section for the face of the bag, and then embellished it with seed beads to emphasize the lovely lily motif.  I chose the lily motif, but you could use any number of her fabrics and isolate a motif to your liking (the Freckled Lily, Nosegay and Primrose come to mind).  For the lining and pocket, I chose the pink and green dots fabric and pink and green diamonds fabric to make a second coordinating personality for this reversible bag.

The long scarf was made to coordinate with the shoulder bag as well, but this accessory uses the red and orange lily fabric to create a wild long scarf. I added a funky black fringe to create this accessory that might be used as a scarf, headband or even belt!

It was very easy to use these colorful fabrics to make standout accessories.  With the three different colorways and wide selection of patterns to choose from, the possibilities for mix and match are endless! It is exciting to create the perfect accessory for your personality (or a friendís!) with Jane's fabrics.

Click here to download a template and simple instructions for creating the shoulder bag and scarf.

  Click here to download a pdf template and simple

instructions for creating the shoulder bag and scarf.

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Jane made the motifs in her patterns large and easy to isolate for special projects.  Laura chose to accenuate the crocus motif in both her shoulder bag and scarf. 

Laura did simple yet effective bead embellishment along the outlines of the crocus and lily leaves.

Jane consciously kept the Dots alive in the Floral Fantasy so that you can effortlessly combine them with the more complex fabrics in their own color way.  Here, Laura chose to use the Pink & Green Dots for the reversible inside of her Lily & Crocus bag.

With the envelope pillow, Mary used Pink & Green Dots as a neutral overlay to Pink & Green Passion Flower. It's hard to go wrong using the 6 Dots patterns in combination with the more complex designs in their colorway.

Detail of fan-shaped pillow with tassel.  
Mary alternated strips of the Blue & Green
Dots pattern with the Big Leaves pattern for dramatic results.

Elsie has found a comfortable spot on the hat box pillow.  When using such colorful fabric, simple black accents compliment without making the finished piece too busy.

The square pillow lends itself to experimenting with several patterns at one time.