Infinite fall fun and a scarf to boot!

Is there anything better than autumn? Between the amazing scent of 'fall' in the air, the crunching of leaves beneath your feet, hot cider with extra cinnamon sticks, and pumpkin/apple baked goods... what's not to love? I could go on and on about this time of the year (don't even get me started on the fact that it's catalog season!) forever, but we at Hartford Stitch like to talk the talk AND walk the walk!
(And yes, in this case 'the walk' is sewing up a cozy infinity scarf to welcome the autumnal chill in the air.)

Check out that fall-themed manicure! 

Last week, Laura and I had the privilege of spending an evening with 6 wonderful ladies at the Imagine Studio in West Hartford to sew up some gorgeous infinity scarves. Each sewist selected her own 4 coordinating prints from our Art Gallery Fabrics and although no two were the same combination, every scarf came out beautifully.

Here are some pictures we snapped during the festivities - between the hum of the machines, the pumpkin bread, and laughs shared by all - I think it's safe to say this party was a success!

Our sewists ranged from novice (second time ever sewing!) to experienced quilter - our parties are for everyone into 'making' fun!   

All hands on deck - Laura giving Kelly a quick pointer at the machine. 

Not only did Jessica pick a gorgeous fabric combination, she even wore an outfit to match her scarf... our kind of maker, for sure! 

Everyone did a marvelous job - we had such a blast sewing with all of you! 

Thank you 'sew' much to everyone who joined us last week, we hope to see you again at our next party! Until then... keep on stitching your hart out! xx S

Happy Fat (Quarter) Tuesday!

A cup of tea and some beautiful textiles to brighten up this rainy afternoon

Had anyone asked us several months ago what we thought the hardest part of starting Hartford Stitch would be, I'm fairly certain Laura and I would both have answered 'fabric selection.' Setting aside the fact that there are thousands of beautiful textiles to choose from, Laura and I come from two very different schools of thought regarding pattern and color.

Laura has an incredible eye for marrying prints and patterns across various lines and designers and a stash that reflects that, not to mention and equally impressive selection of blenders.

I, on the other hand, wouldn't know what to do with a blender if it magically stitched itself into a dress right before my eyes. Simply put, I am firmly a member of the 'prints match prints' camp and have never met a bright color I didn't like. If some print is good, more print is better!

A snapshot of some fabrics in my stash

While fabric shopping together last summer, Laura held up a more muted pink blender and asked what I thought. 

"Eh, it's too neutral." 

"This? No, it's pink."

"Right... but it's 'just' pink. Solids are neutral." 

At this point Laura stared at me in disbelief, shook her head, and put the plain jane pink fabric back. 

Fast forward to April, 2015 where the two of us needed to pick 15 fabrics from literally 100s of stunning options at Art Gallery Fabrics. Our plan of attack (mission impossible?) was: we will hole up in our separate corners, pick our individual top 10s, cross our fingers that maybe 1 overlapped, and see what happened. Talk about putting a lot of faith in the textile gods!

What ended up happening was nothing short of a fabric miracle: we picked not 1, not 2, but 4 of the same prints, out of 100s of options! To top that off, another one we had picked was the same print, only in different colorways. What. was. going. on? Had all of our time spent rolling around in each others' stashes mutually effected us? Were solids no longer a neutral? We may never know... but after this incredibly long winded back story, I am so excited to share with you 9 of the stunning fabrics we've carefully (and some may say miraculously) cultivated for Hartford Stitch.

Without further ado,

 Don't you just want to dive right in?

top row, from left: sacred seeds, latticework, summit twlight

middle row, from left: limestone feel pitahaya, sweet nostalgic, les points 

bottom row, from left: meadow of gold, stitched road, budquette nightfall 

It was an honor, privilege, and - quite frankly - a dream come true, to spend the afternoon cutting these beauties from the bolt. 

In case you are wondering why I needed to cut a fat quarter of every fabric listed in our shop, stay tuned for an exciting announcement tomorrow. Until then... have fun with fabric, mix and match until everything goes, and, as a talented sewist (Laura!) once told me... sew your "hart" out! 

xx