We’ll miss you D1600-411
I grew up in a time when kids were divided up pretty much in kindergarten into the kids who could draw well and those who couldn’t. I fell into the latter category. In graduate school I was determined to overcome my insecurities about this and devoted myself daily to improving my drawing.
A year ago when we were planning our fabric line that came to be called Mendhi, my husband Bill and I decided we would try to combine hand drawing and a layering process in Photoshop to create a rich, collage-like print. I was more than a little scared to stake a fabric line on my drawing skills but decided that it was time to get over it already. Bravely I hand drew the elements and Bill took the lead on layering. It took both of us to color the 28 prints because some patterns used 16 colors. We spent months designing this line. When we received the sample fabrics we were thrilled as they looked exactly how we imagined they would. The D1600 series (the wildflowers) we loved the most. We both declared that we would make shirts of those fabrics some day. D1604-632 was supposed to be made into curtains for our daughters room.
One month after the fabric came onto the market, a quilt made with this fabric appeared on the cover of American Patchwork & Quilting. For about 6 weeks we received 20-30 orders a day for this fabric. When we called Westminster (the new parent company of FreeSpirit fabrics, which had originally printed the line) to order more fabric, we were told that despite the fact that the line was selling out quickly, Westminster decided to discontinue production just two months after the line came on the market. We bought all of the remaining inventory and began to fill the 500+ orders we had. We knew that we were running out of fabric and it was hard to decide whether we should keep some for ourselves, but in the end we didn’t. Everyone who called seemed so excited about it that it was hard to hold anything back. This morning I cut the last piece of D1600-411, the fabric I had planned to make a shirt with. Bill and I were so sad. While we’re excited that the fabric was so well-received and has been shipped all over the world, it is sad to see a fabric we worked so hard on have such a short life. We know there will be more lines but I miss this one already.
March 22nd, 2007 at 4:04 am
Argh! What are they thinking? I’ve been looking all over the place for your Mendhi fabrics and have only been able to find a few prints here and there. I’ve put off purchasing any thinking that I would find the complete line somewhere and now it’s selling out!! I’m so upset!
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:14 am
Sigh… how said. I suppose the phrase “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” somehow falls in here. What an incredible thing to have your handiwork, your creation be adored by so many people. Then to have that creation be transformed into a something that will be enjoyed, admired, passed on…why, have it’s own life….wow, that’s pretty awesome. And just think, not only did you give the gift of such a beautiful fabric but you also selflessly gave up what would have been so rightfully yours so that others could find joy. Yeah, I’m thinking you did right by so many folks and should certainly rest in that.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:33 am
Why would the company make a nonsensical decision like that? :(
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:21 am
Oh, Weeks, I’m so sorry to hear that. How disappointing.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:30 am
It’s beautiful! I’m sorry it’s gone, but you’re right - everyone who has a piece will turn it into something wonderful - and that can’t be bad.
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
I really have to agree it’s so hard to find your fabrics in retail stores. Here in Oregon it’s impossible to find.
I agree with Julie completely -sad to see it go off market before we even have a chance to see it in the stores.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Thats a brilliant design, sad to see it go…
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Hang onto some of that design. A well known interior designer kept samples of his favorite print fabrics in dated files. A certain number of years after they were out of production, he’d find a new company to produce them and they’d sell well again.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:45 am
Rik — Have you tried Fabric in the City in downtown Portland? She carried the older Funquilts line, but I haven’t been since last summer so don’t know if she got bolts of the Mendhi line.
Weeks — Oh man! I’m really sad to hear this as I was looking forward to purchasing some as well. I just wonder why Westminster made that decision… so weird to me but someone, somewhere must have a reason. Sigh.
March 23rd, 2007 at 1:09 am
weeks- it is so beautiful… those that have it will do wonderful things i am sure with it.
March 24th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I, too, am sad for the disappearance of the fabric line. But I actually wanted to comment on your opener about not being good at drawing (or considered so) as a kid. My son (3 1/2) has recently been talking a lot about how he’s not good at drawing. It breaks my heart. Anyway, I showed him the picture of your fabric and asked him what he thought. He really liked it (not surprisingly). Then I told him that the person who made that fabric didn’t think they were good at drawing when they were small. I’ve been struggling, actually (as I’m sure is painfully apparent), with ways to talk to him about the joy of making art simply for the pleasure of process — in ways that he can understand. I’m sure one answer is just to do it — and not to talk or over-intellectualize it. However, he is a highly verbal, word-oriented kid. Thanks for offering one avenue for us to pursue this — this is one post (among many, actually) that has stuck with me for many days and turned around in my mind several times.
March 24th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I had to respond to Charlotte’s thoughtful comment about her son’s drawing worries. There’s a charming children’s book by Peter Reynold’s called The Dot that addresses this subject at the child’s level so simply and sweetly. I wish it had been around when I was a child.