I’m thrilled to be introducing Fairy Garden Fabrics by Annie McHugs.   Yes, our hand dyed fabric line is here.  Wait, what?  You didn’t know?  Oh, let me tell you about it.

After a joyful summer of working in my real-life fairy garden,  hand dyeing 180 yards of 100% cotton,  using 30 base colors of dye, 100+ secret color recipes, 2 distinctly different dyeing techniques, we are ready to unveil the results.

Knowing I would be introducing Fairy Garden Fabrics by Annie McHugs, my friends are using the fabrics and love them!  I recently got a message from Dianna B.  saying, “The first of 12×12 blocks to be cut in 1 1/2″ strips for Bill’s wild quilt. Falling in love all over again with your hand dyed fabrics . Aren’t they gorgeous?”  Of course, I think so!

Some questions I’ve received:

• Why did you name it Fairy Garden Fabrics?

  Several years ago, we worked with our grand daughters, Aubrey and Ember, to build a Fairy Garden.  This summer my hubby, grandfather name = Hoot, built a garden sink for dyeing fabrics…right there in our fairy garden.  This is where I work.  If you look closely, you can see the lake in the background.

• How can I use hand dyed fabrics in my quilts?

  My answer:  To do Anything!  Make a complete quilt with Fairy Garden Fabrics like this one.  It’s an original design,throw sized quilt I made completely using my Fairy Garden Fabrics. I call it Four Stars.  I love the way blues pop on a bed of varying tones in browns.  It has a leather look, too!

Or, one could use your favorite fabric line and Fairy Garden Fabrics to make a one-of-a-kind quilt.  It is another original design using Fairy Garden Fabrics for in the window blocks and borders mixed with blocks of “Kaffe Collective Cool 2016” for Rowan Fabrics.  I call it Fairy Garden Windows.  Rich colors,  Chartreuse, Teal, Amethyst and Pumpkin match and highlight the luxurious Kaffe fabrics.

Another idea:  take a panel (wait, what???) and add hand-dyed fabric borders.  Simple fast and luxurious!  This quilt is called Santa in the Snow.  After making it, I used my long arm quilting machine, quilted it and added chenille yarn to make the snow and snowflakes.  It’s cozy and fun.

• How did you get started?

  I have a friend, Tana Doss, a local  and fabric dying enthusiast/teacher.  I arranged a couple of workshops with friends enlisting Tana to teach us how to Shibori dyeing.  I loved it.  I also spent time with June Nyvall, a local, award winning fabric and textile artist. We shared knowledge and time together. It didn’t take long before I was hooked.  I did a deep dive into production techniques, testing and sampling many 100% cotton fabrics — many different weights, hand, color vibrance and manufacturers.

• What fabric do you use as your base?

  A batik weight, , high thread-count, 100% luxury cotton.

• How do your two techniques differ in look and feel?

  Well, they feel the same as the base fabric is the same.  The looks, however, are radically different.  One is a semi-solid, watercolor look created by using , what I call, the Marinate Method.

Marinate Method

• The 2nd method, I call the Melting Method, produces is a vibrant multi-colored piece of fabric ready for applique, whole cloth and ready to cut to size and to use in your quilts!

Well, there you have it!  We will be posting these for sale on Etsy soon!

What do you think about Fairy Garden Fabrics?

Annie