Fabric Friday - Monaluna

Hip hip hooray...it's Fabric Friday!  Sadly the only fabric I am likely to see today is in the overflowing ironing basket but I have snatched a little time to indulge again. A few weeks ago I wrote about the fantastic new range, Circa 50, by Monaluna for Birch Fabrics and have decided today to find out more about Monaluna.

Monaluna is the design studio based in Oakland, California created by Jennifer Moore.  Like many young girls Jennifer enjoyed painting and sewing and then went onto study anthropology and studio art at university.  This provided further inspiration and led to a career in design providing an outlet for Jennifers flair for bold designs and prints.  Whilst Jennifers work is used in a number of projects, including homeware, stationary and illustration her favourite medium is textiles, allowing others to be creative with her designs

I adore Jennifers work for Robert Kaufman Fabrics and Birch Fabrics yet I am really looking forward to Jennifers own collection, Monaco, which was previewed earlier this week on her blog.  Jennifer writes reguarly about her own work awell as crafty projects she is working on and adds little snippets of her life, which really makes a great read.

My eldest daughter loves giraffes, sadly she is 9 years old so will not be needing this! Maybe I could try a similar for a t-shirt for her.

Using Mingle Polka Dots in Tangerine

Available from Oliver

The housework suddenly doesn't seem such a chore!

Metro Market fabric

Available from Buttercuppity Design

This would make any packed lunch more appealing!

Mingle fabric

Available from Rosy Und Posy

These are adorable!

Available from Seamingly Possible

The possibilities are endless with these gorgeous, bright, fun fabrics.

Monaluna fabrics are available from:

Fabricworm

Seamstar

Jennifer Moore / Monaluna can be found at:

Website

Blog

A secret to share with designers who use fabric

Shhhh! Let me tell you a secret.  If you use a lot of fabric in your designs/work you may well benefit from a designer account with fabric distributors.  Whilst all fabric addicts can name drop....Amy Butler, Heather Ross, Michael Miller, Anna Maria Horner, Blake Riley...to name a few, but many of these design for 'fabric houses' and are distributed by big companies.  This then got me to remembering when I worked for Ramm, Son & Crocker an upholstery producer several years ago and they offered trade accounts to interior designers.  So I set about checking websites for different designers and looking into the wholesale details with their distributors.  After contacting several distributors it became apparant that designer accounts are available to people like us!

Obviously there are some catches, like minimum order quantities (MOQ), buying designs by the bolt and shipping, duty and customs when the fabric is coming from outside the UK.  But if you use alot of fabric this maybe beneficial. I have compiled a list of the companies I contacted and details of any MOQ.  To qualify for a designer account you will need to provide details of your business and you cannot just resell the fabric, it has to be used by you.

Amy Butler & Freespirit Fabrics (Anna Maria Horner, Valori Wells & many more)
http://www.coats.com/ (Rowan Fabrics)
£200 MOQ
Buy the design by the bolt or half bolt
Price per yard - approx. half RRP
Form to complete providing business details

Cath Kidston
15% designer discount
You will need to provide a copy of your letterhead

Alexander Henry
http://www.ahfabrics.com/
Distributed by a company in Denmark http://www.adlico.dk/
One bolt minimum per design, 20 yard bolt, approx. half RRP.

Designers Guild
25% designer discount
You will need to provide a company profile on letterheaded paper and complete a trade account form.
No MOQ, buy by the metre.

Birch Fabrics
http://www.birchfabrics.com/
This is a new company with their first collection being available in the next 6 weeks.
4 bolt MOQ

Michael Miller
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/
UK distributor http://www.eqsuk.com/
Awaiting response, will update.

Robert Kaufman
http://www.robertkaufman.com/
Awaiting response, will update

So I hope this helps some of you keep your costs down and increases the profit margins!