Jane Sassaman quilt artist, fabric designer, author and teacher

 I am

It is a delightfully dark and rainy day as I do the countdown for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England next week. The forecast predicts that it may be raining there, too. If so, I will be prepared because my wonderful Susan has whipped up this fabulous raincoat!

It is made, of course, with the Early Birds laminated plum Curlicues fabric and lined inside and under the collar with refreshing plum Prairie Poppies. The pattern, McCall’s 7204, is another that has been in my collection for years.

Sewing with laminated fabrics can be tricky because the plastic laminate can stick to itself and to your sewing machine. To overcome this dilemma you can purchase a Teflon coated sewing foot or try using painters tape on the bottom of your existing foot.

It is a delightfully dark and rainy day as I do the countdown for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England next week. The forecast predicts that it may be raining there, too. If so, I will be prepared because my wonderful Susan has whipped up this fabulous raincoat!

It is made, of course, with the Early Birds laminated plum Curlicues fabric and lined inside and under the collar with refreshing plum Prairie Poppies. The pattern, McCall’s 7204, is another that has been in my collection for years.

Sewing with laminated fabrics can be tricky because the plastic laminate can stick to itself and to your sewing machine. To overcome this dilemma you can purchase a Teflon coated sewing foot or try using painters tape on the bottom of your existing foot.

It seems as if the deadlines are a constant dilemma here in the Sassaman studio! But I love to design and stitch, so any excuse to spend quality time in the studio works for me.

Happily the new fabric designs are beginning to gel and I hope to have them submitted before I leave for my first visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.

I am so excited about this adventure and I am especially pleased that my fabrics will be sold for the first time in the UK. Lady Sew and Sew will be the exclusive vendor for the Early Birds fabric which will be featured in their festival booth. They also carry it in their stores and on their website.

I get letters from fabric fondles from aboard looking for Sassaman fabrics, so I am hoping that the introduction of Early Birds will open the door to a further exchange of creativity with my European fabric friends.

I will also be doing book signings at Lady Sew and Sew and a lecture about designing fabric at 4 pm on Thursday, Aug 18. If you have European quilting buddies attending the festival, please encourage them to come to the lecture. They can pre-book lecture tickets at the Twisted Thread site.

Hope to see you there!

This design features a gathered skirt, a beautiful fitted bodice with tucks at the neckline and topped with a sassy white collar. It has pearl buttons, side pockets and a zipper under the arm. Doesn’t the poka dotted bow and white belt finish it off perfectly? White pumps or red?

Such a beautiful fit! The perfect summer dress. The fabric is, of course, from the Early Birds fabric line. The dress is made with the Strawberry Serenade design in the blueberry colorway. The classic poka dots are from the Strawberry group.

The coordinating bag is one of Melissa Peda’s timeless designs. The wooden handles and green ball fringe place it in the same romantic fashion era as it’s counterpart.

It seems as if the deadlines are a constant dilemma here in the Sassaman studio! But I love to design and stitch, so any excuse to spend quality time in the studio works for me.

Happily the new fabric designs are beginning to gel and I hope to have them submitted before I leave for my first visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.

I am so excited about this adventure and I am especially pleased that my fabrics will be sold for the first time in the UK. Lady Sew and Sew will be the exclusive vendor for the Early Birds fabric which will be featured in their festival booth. They also carry it in their stores and on their website.

I get letters from fabric fondles from aboard looking for Sassaman fabrics, so I am hoping that the introduction of Early Birds will open the door to a further exchange of creativity with my European fabric friends.

I will also be doing book signings at Lady Sew and Sew and a lecture about designing fabric at 4 pm on Thursday, Aug 18. If you have European quilting buddies attending the festival, please encourage them to come to the lecture. They can pre-book lecture tickets at the Twisted Thread site.

Hope to see you there!

This design features a gathered skirt, a beautiful fitted bodice with tucks at the neckline and topped with a sassy white collar. It has pearl buttons, side pockets and a zipper under the arm. Doesn’t the poka dotted bow and white belt finish it off perfectly? White pumps or red?

Such a beautiful fit! The perfect summer dress. The fabric is, of course, from the Early Birds fabric line. The dress is made with the Strawberry Serenade design in the blueberry colorway. The classic poka dots are from the Strawberry group.

The coordinating bag is one of Melissa Peda’s timeless designs. The wooden handles and green ball fringe place it in the same romantic fashion era as it’s counterpart.

The hot weather and a tight deadline have added incentive to spend lots of time in the studio this month.
Since Westminster has requested two lines of new fabric per year I now have until September 1 to complete some new designs. I love to immerse myself in designing, but I’m not fast so it’s a bit frantic.

Here is our latest quilt from the Early Birds line. It is the Fancy Nine Patch recipe from the new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style. It is made with just four fabrics. The blocks are made with four fussy cut squares from two different colorways of the Prairie Poppy fabric. The blue and black border is a selvedge to selvedge cut of the blueberry Cheeky Checks. The border is  the blueberry Prairie Poppies again. Solid black squares anchor the corners.

Above is the fabric in it’s original form. Below you can see the wonderful swirl that was formed by fussy cutting and stitching. The graduated greens really radiate nicely.

Just a reminder… tomorrow is the last day of our wonderful Blog Tour to celebrate the new book. Don’t forget to check into Nancy Zieman’s blog for your last chance of winning a copy for yourself.
In any case, you can find it at your local quilt store or online. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit our generous blogging friends.

The hot weather and a tight deadline have added incentive to spend lots of time in the studio this month.
Since Westminster has requested two lines of new fabric per year I now have until September 1 to complete some new designs. I love to immerse myself in designing, but I’m not fast so it’s a bit frantic.

Here is our latest quilt from the Early Birds line. It is the Fancy Nine Patch recipe from the new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style. It is made with just four fabrics. The blocks are made with four fussy cut squares from two different colorways of the Prairie Poppy fabric. The blue and black border is a selvedge to selvedge cut of the blueberry Cheeky Checks. The border is  the blueberry Prairie Poppies again. Solid black squares anchor the corners.

Above is the fabric in it’s original form. Below you can see the wonderful swirl that was formed by fussy cutting and stitching. The graduated greens really radiate nicely.

Just a reminder… tomorrow is the last day of our wonderful Blog Tour to celebrate the new book. Don’t forget to check into Nancy Zieman’s blog for your last chance of winning a copy for yourself.
In any case, you can find it at your local quilt store or online. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit our generous blogging friends.

I have drawn the fortunate winner for my day of the Patchwork Sassaman Style Blog Tour!
It is Caryn, who says she is a new quilter. Hopefully this prize will encourage her to join this devoted
bunch of fabric fondlers and become a dedicated quilter. Congratulation, Caryn!

Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour. Today, July 8, our blogger is Gloria Hansen, extraordinary quilter and computer wizard. Her digitally designed and printed creations are unique in the quilting world. She has a regular column Professional Quilter Magazine to help us all better understand the technical side of our business. Her book, Digital Essentials, is a constant companion next to my computer. She also has a successful business, GloDerWorks, designing user friendly websites. Learn more about her on her blog and try your chances of winning again.

I have drawn the fortunate winner for my day of the Patchwork Sassaman Style Blog Tour!
It is Caryn, who says she is a new quilter. Hopefully this prize will encourage her to join this devoted
bunch of fabric fondlers and become a dedicated quilter. Congratulation, Caryn!

Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour. Today, July 8, our blogger is Gloria Hansen, extraordinary quilter and computer wizard. Her digitally designed and printed creations are unique in the quilting world. She has a regular column Professional Quilter Magazine to help us all better understand the technical side of our business. Her book, Digital Essentials, is a constant companion next to my computer. She also has a successful business, GloDerWorks, designing user friendly websites. Learn more about her on her blog and try your chances of winning again.

Welcome to my blog! Those of you who are regulars here, know that I often begin with a weather report to set the scene. And you know, too, that I love bad weather. But HOT weather is not included.
It hasn’t been this hot for years. Even the studio, which is basement cool, has warmed up to an uncomfortable degree.

Greg has been diligently watering, but all his best efforts can’t keep up with this heat. But it is amazing how sturdy most of the prairie plants are.

I got several emails this week asking about the quilting on the Folk Art Flag from last weeks post. Here is how I did it… I draw my quilting lines on Golden Threads paper and pin the paper to the quilt. Using 12wt thread through the top of the machine and a matching color of 50wt in the bobbin, I stitch right through the paper.

This paper has revolutionized my quilting life! I used to mark directly on the quilt with a soft pencil which took lots of time and was not as precise. Golden Threads paper tears off beautifully and leaves the stitching undisturbed. Then I pull all the thread tails to the back, tie and bury them with an Easy Threading Needle.

You can read more about my quilting and designing techniques in Patchwork Sassaman Style. In fact,
I will give away a signed copy of the book and a Curlicue bundle of half-yard cuts (from the Early Birds collection of fabric) to a randomly selected reader who leaves a comment below. Good luck, everyone!

PS… There is a new link to my webstore at the top of this page, just incase the website is still under construction.