Licensing

When I wrote the Koos Collage Couture book, it was the first time we thought about licensing the author’s work for other related things.

Since we were introducing this in the Quilting market, I contacted King’s Road which was just starting to do quilting fabrics.  Koos did two lines with them and then they pulled out of the quilt fabrics market. Below are headers of his fabrics.

  

 

Some of the prints were then made in silk and I particularly like this blouse that Koos made for me. It has a scarf with some yarn edging.

Along with the fabric line, I got Koos a contract to provide patterns of his designs to Vogue Patterns.  As many of you know, Koos has about three patterns a year and has an enthusiastic following!  Many just collect his patterns.  It’s wonderful to be able to make a similar piece of clothing that would cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in his Madison Avenue boutique!

This latest jacket pattern, Vogue 1277 is their current top selling pattern!  woo hoo!  Koos was so excited to find this out and called right away. It was the back cover of the catalog.

While introducing Noriko Endo’s book, Confetti Naturescapes at Fall Quilt Market in 2010, a booth in the row behind us was getting so much attention. It was so noisy and busy over there that I had to see what all the fuss was about. It was the Accuquilt booth with the introduction of the small portable cutting device called the Go Baby!  Everyone was wearing the pink Go Baby! shirts around market. 

A few weeks later, I thought about it and it clicked!  Wouldn’t it be great to have one of those to cut hundreds of cherry blossom shapes to make one of Noriko’s quilts? She had told me that she and her husband had cut out maybe thousands of these five petal shapes by hand and then colored the centers. I couldn’t imagine doing it and doing it well. 

So I contacted the very friendly people at Accuquilt and they not only made a cherry blossom die but also one that cuts confetti.  Noriko’s technique involves cutting confetti of many colors and it is hard on your hands but with the dies, it is a breeze to have it all cut in a few minutes!  It’s a dream come true!

The dies can be pre-ordered but will be ready in February when Noriko is in Utah to teach at the High Desert Silk Experience. If you can take a class with her, you will love her and the technique.

Right now I’m designing a project to use the cherry blossom die for something other than a quilt/stay tuned for a photo.

This Spring we’ll have a new book by Jane Sassaman featuring her dynamic graphic patchwork quilts using her fabric designs for Free Spirit Fabric.  With a few simple pieces, she blends colors so you can hardly even tell that the quilts are pieced! This one, for example is a lot of half-square triangles and not strips of fabric…but where are the seams?

Jane already produces many other products using her graphic designs including coffee mugs, mouse pads, notecards and wall prints.  Then if you read this blog a while back, she’s doing a silk scarf for sale on our websites. 

I just think her design style is bold, happy and very contemporary. For years her fabric lines have been so appealing, it makes you impulsively buy it! At least it does for me.

We’ll explore what else we can do with her designs but can’t you see it as a bedding line or a tabletop collection of dishes, tablecloths, trivets,etc?  Somebody should call TARGET or CRATE and BARREL and show it to them!

Leave a comment on what you’d like to see Jane do with her designs and we’ll select one for a free mousepad! Be sure to leave contact info this time.