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About Quilt Kits Online Kits
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About the Fabrics Used in Our Kits.
We use only the highest quality quilting fabrics available, and work hard to keep them affordable for you. We want your project to be of heirloom quality, so we select the best fabrics from just a few select suppliers. We use these suppliers because they offer the highest quality fabrics available anywhere, in the newest designs and the most exciting patterns.
The highest quality fabrics always cost more than cheaper quality fabrics, but they will feel, handle and sew better. High quality fabrics will be easier to work with, will be more beautiful with outstanding color rendition, and they will last a lifetime. QKO will never sacrifice quality for price.
Fabric Freedom
We use Fabric Freedom fabrics in many of our kits. Fabric Freedom, a company based in the UK, manufactures only fabrics specifically designed for quilting and patchwork, and produces the highest quality products available. We believe it is one of the best fabric suppliers in the industry today, Fabric Freedom hand-paints all their designs in their London studios, maintaining the clarity, detail and brilliance not found on the CAD-based designs used by many manufacturers. They use a small, trusted group of engravers who have worked with them for many years. They feature innovative, fresh designs. They use long-staple cotton which is pre-shrunk, meaning you get a very stable product to work with. They work closely with two very experienced mills to print their fabrics, maintaining very high quality. Fabric Freedom textiles are very nice to the touch, they have great feel. The company believes that quality of design and quality of finish are paramount. They never compromise on their standards.
Fabric Freedom takes great care with their batiks, made by hand in Southern India. Fabric Freedom trades ethically, working with an Indian government agency to ensure the local craftsmen are properly compensated for their work. The production of batiks is very much a cottage industry. Unlike the factory-produced screen prints of the general lines, these are made in villages in rural areas. By going to India and working with the craftsmen, Fabric Freedom has been able to produce batiks that are much softer and able to be used with their other product lines.
Hoffman California-International Fabrics
We use Hoffman Bali Batiks and Hand-Dyed Watercolors in several of our kits. These original Hoffman designs are produced by hand on the lush tropical island of Bali. The fabric is either painted by hand with dye, batiked, or created with a combination of these processes. Some designs have as many as five different techniques used to create the finished piece.
The patterns, which use traditional ‘batik’ methods, are created using a special copper ‘chop’. The chop is dipped in hot wax and stamped onto the cloth, creating a wax-resisted design. The 100% cotton fabric is then saturated and hand painted with fiber reactive dyes. Where the wax has been applied, the color is repelled, thus creating the image that you see. Sometimes this process is repeated several times with each overlay of color adding a new dimension. When the artist is happy with the look, the cloth is boiled and the wax is melted away. Upon completion, the vibrantly colored cloth is stretched out in an open field to dry naturally in the sun.
Because human hands make each design in a natural environment, no two yards are exactly alike. This cloth is truly a piece of art. No wonder the Balinese are so highly regarded worldwide for their splendid textiles and expressive creative freedom.
We also carry the complete line of Hoffman Challenge fabrics and coordinates each year. These are Hoffman's best Japanese screen prints, selected each year for their quality and beauty. If you haven't seen these prints, you owe it to yourself to check them out!
Exclusively Quilters
Exclusively Quilters is another craft house offering unique prints and designs. Their fabrics are sold only through independant quilt houses and online retailers like us. Their rich bold colors and fun designs are printed on the highest quality 100% cotton fabrics, and as they own their own printing plant in the USA, their quality control is great. In the past we've featured their Giant Pandas in an exclusive QKO kit and currently we're featureing "Wolf Song" in an exclusive QKO kit. We also have special collections on teh Wolf Song and Tribute to Vincent fabrics, and will be coming out soon with a new kit for their upcoming "Whitetail Valley" and "Winter We'll be looking for more designs to offer from this producer, in the future.
Blank Quilting
Blank is a second generation, American, diversified supplier of textiles. Blank Quilting is entirely focused on the quilting community, providing designer fabrics exclusively for independent quilt and fabric shops. Blank fabrics are of the highest quality, and the company is devoted to relentless customer satisfaction. Blank has also committed to the cause of ovarian cancer awareness, bringing together the quilting community to address this terrible disease. QKO is proud to join Blank in the fight against ovarian cancer, and we are proud to bring you several of their fine product lines, including the Inspiration products.
Maywood Studios
Here's another fabric producer that we've simply fallen in love with lately. Maywood Studios produces some of the highest quality quilters fabrics available, with stunning designs that never fail to please. We have several kits available using Maywood fabrics and are also carrying a growing number of their Cara Collection Daiwabo prints from Japan. These are ultra-pleasing highest-quality traditional prints in muted tones that all blend well together. We plan on introducing several kits in the near future using the Daiwabo prints, and we also have several new Maywood lines with associated products in the works.