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| Australian Aboriginal or Indigenous cotton fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia. |
M&S Textiles Australia was founded in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1990s and is the largest fabric manufacturer of Australian Aboriginal or Indigenous designs. Aboriginal art is one of the oldest and longest continuing artistic expressions in the world and the fabrics made with these designs are soft and supple and beautiful to work with.
A Riot of Color
I'm not at all shy about using color and print in my garments or quilts, however, seeing a display of the designs this company has to offer can be a bit overwhelming to the timid eye.
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| Aboriginal design fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia. |
Think about pairing these larger scale, organic designs with a blender or other "supporting fabric" to provide a bit of breathing room. Don't worry, these prints play well with lots of blender friends available at YLQS [your local quilt shop]!
In my patchwork blocks (below), I've paired M&S Textiles with Pure Elements (the patchwork on the left) and a coordinate by April Rhodes from Boho Fusion from Art Gallery Fabrics (right).
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| Using pre-cut strips from M&S Textiles with Art Gallery Fabrics. Block pattern from Duet by Villa Rosa Designs. |
These blocks are made with one of M&S Textiles' Dreamtime pre-cut strip sets (red colorway). In the photo below, the strips nestle with a warm pumpkin-colored yarn-dyed cotton from Diamond Textiles. See how everyone plays together?
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| M&S Textile Dreamtime pre-cut strips with a yarn-dyed woven from Diamond Textiles. |
Or how about this duet? Remember the Principles of Design and accompany a selection of Aboriginal prints with Squared Elements from Art Gallery for a contrast in scale. How fun!
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| M&S Textiles Dreamtime pre-cut strips with Squared Elements from Art Gallery Fabrics. |
Join the Party!
For the fabric lovers, quilters and makers that embrace color and print with open arms, you will be running to join this party! For those that are more shy, I invite you to try a package of pre-cuts or some fat quarters and a simple pattern for an introduction to these colorful fabrics.
The M&S Textiles website has a selection of free patterns that showcase its fabrics. I can also recommend the postcard patterns from Villa Rosa Designs (which I've used for these blocks). The Villa Rosa patterns are simple, easy to follow and the projects are quick to make (a small investment of time). I've even used the same pieced strip set to make blocks from both the Duet and Mardi Gras patterns. Check out this pattern line—most every quilt shop carries a variety of these little postcard gems.
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| Postcard patterns from Villa Rosa Designs and a quilt block from Mardi Gras. |
So, whaddaya think? Are you up for a party with bold color and dynamic, Aboriginal prints? Consider this your open invitation!
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| Australian Aboriginal designs from M&S Textiles Australia. |
I have a Blog Stalker
Recently, I was at a local shop in Chattanooga and a quilter came up to me and said, "you know I stalk you on your blog." Whoo hoo! Somebody out there reads me.
So, in the vein of Jimmy Kimmel who frequently mentions he's run out of time on the show for Matt Damon, here's a shout-out to my blog stalker: I know you aren't afraid of color, so what do you think of these fabrics?
