Do you know how Stitched in Color started? Like most blogs then, it began as a personal diary. In 2010 I began posting to connect with other quilters. By 2011 my blog was evolving into a business that would allow me to combine homeschooling with part-time work.

In those early days of blogging, shops were quite curious about what we would now call “influencer” advertising. My first income through Stitched in Color was from online fabric stores who wanted my readers to visit their shop and consider buying fabric online. Shopping online was still new then, but so was the modern quilting movement. Blogs, online fabric shops and new quilters were a match made in heaven. I like to think that everyone benefitted from our collaboration.

One of my first fabric store sponsors was Fresh Modern Fabric, so I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome the shop back to my small group of advertising fabric stores.

I hope you enjoy this nostalgic interview with proprietress Alice of Fresh Modern Fabric!

Q. When did you start Fresh Modern Fabric?

I opened my shop 13.5 years ago, in February of 2011, on Etsy. In March of 2021, I branched out to my own website, freshmodernfabric.com.

Q. What was the quilting community like in 2011?

Blogs were super popular when I first started and they were the primary format for connecting quilters online. The Modern Quilt Guild was also just starting to get on its feet at this time and new branches of the MQG were popping up in many cities.

Q. Nowadays, has the way that quilters use the internet changed?

The internet is always rapidly evolving and I would definitely say that how we use the internet evolves along with this. Instagram and TikTok did not exist when I first started selling fabric and now these are super popular venues for the modern quilting community. They make brilliant use of photos and videos as sharing points, which can be a faster and splashier way to attract attention. Tagging on Instagram also allows for more collaborative sharing between community members and hosts can use this to great advantage in a way that was not possible on blogs in the older days.

Q. What’s special about Fresh Modern Fabric?

People often find my shop because I like to keep older collections available past the timeframe when most shops have cleared them out. I was always frustrated by the short shelf-life of fabric collections and it has always been my mission to maximize availability of older collections that can be hard to find elsewhere.

Q. Is it difficult convincing people to buy fabric online?

There are definitely some challenges to shopping online, such as being able to match colors and being able to assess the scale of a print correctly. I do find that some people are reluctant to shop online; however, you just can’t beat the selection available. If you have built up trust in a particular designer or manufacturer through past purchases, then you already have a sense as to what to expect from new lines as well. That definitely takes some of the fear away from online shopping. Plus, shop owners like myself are always happy to offer advice on matching colors or matching prints, so don’t be afraid to contact a shop with questions on what to buy.

Q. What is one mistake people often make when buying fabric online?

Not buying enough background fabric is one mistake that can be super hard to fix. Let’s say you just want a white background fabric; it seems like it would be no problem to buy more if you run out, right? However, different dye lots of the same color from the same manufacturer can look like two different color - - - even with a straightforward color such as white. Since fabric moves quickly on the internet, by the time you use up your stash of white, the shop may have sold through several bolts of white and is selling from a different dye lot.

As much as possible, buy the correct amount of background fabric for a single project. This goes for all colors and prints, but especially for solids and basics as they have continuous reprints; whereas, some designer collections only have one printing and can be more uniform.

Bella Solids

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Kona Solids

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Cirrus Solids

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Essex

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Bella Solids + Kona Solids + Cirrus Solids + Essex +

Q. Could you share a tip or two about how to shop smart as a new quilter?

One of my biggest tips for new quilters is BASICS! You can’t go wrong with basics to build your stash. Fresh Modern Fabric stocks a huge variety of basics for this very reason and I always try to make stashbuilder bundles available with a full range of colors in each basics line. Basics can be mixed and matched beautifully and generally have small scale prints that blend in easily. I’d suggest looking for one hero or busy print and then finding several coordinating basics to complement it.

Add it Up

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Crosshatch

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Dottie

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Seeds

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Netorious

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Starry

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XOXO

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Speckled

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Zip

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Add it Up + Crosshatch + Dottie + Seeds + Netorious + Starry + XOXO + Speckled + Zip +

Thanks, Alice. That’s great advice about basics. As a new quilter I built a lot of my fabric stash on your basics, and today I still can’t get enough of them. The array of basics on offer at your shop has me drooling. You have an eye for basics that work well with everything, truly everything. These “helpful fabrics,” as I like to call them, are the key to easy-to-use scrap collections as well. They’re like vitamins for our quilts. Good and healthy!

::Giveaway::

Lucky for you, dear reader, Alice is giving away an amazing fat quarter bundle of basics called Always Look for Rainbows by Cotton + Steel. These basics have subtle secondary colors, which makes them really strong supporters for the right projects.