Fall is in the air - can you smell it? Can you feel it? This is my FAVORITE time of year - mainly because of the COLORS. Burnt oranges and rusts, golds, reds, yellows. I love how green leaves get brighter just before they start to turn yellow. I love the contrast of a Maple tree set off against the darker green pines. I love how the Aspens scream "look at me" as they pop out flaming yellow next to a deep dark rusty Oak tree. We are very lucky in Minnesota to have such a wide variety of trees that change at their own pace, in their own color. Many 8-step gradations take form in my brain during autumn....
But what I really want to talk about is CORDUROY. Soft, fuzzy, scrumptious Corduroy.... Did you know that we dye it in 40 colors? We found a supplier a couple years ago who had PFD Corduroy and decided to try it out. Well, the dyes took wonderfully to it and it is so nice to see the Suede Look sinking into the soft, fine wale of the Cord. For those who are not as familiar with the terminology, "wale" refers to the size of the "stripes" of corduroy. Ours is a "pin wale" meaning the stripes are very small, and the fabric itself is quite thin. In fact it does not feel much thicker than our cotton.
Which means you can use them TOGETHER.... (Chocolate Corduroy with North Shore Bundle seen here)
"Star" by Country Threads uses Winestone, Redwood, Juniper and Chocolate corduroy for the star points, and Bronze cotton for the background, Indigo cotton for the borders. I had no problem working with the 2 fabrics. And I did not worry about which way the wale was going when I cut it out. I just cut (on grain, of course.)
When we first started dyeing the Corduroy, I thought "let's just try it in about 6 darker, "corduroy-ey colors." So I chose Redwood, Winestone, Juniper, Chocolate, Avocado and Indigo. But then I tried some brighter colors. WOW do I like that. My favorites right now are:
Salsa.... Pumpkin... Grasshopper... Peacock Blue
I really, really want a trench coat style jacket in Pumpkin with Cinnamon accents... YUM :-)
Check out some more patterns we are carrying that we have sewn up in Corduroy:
This is a reversible jacket called "Twice As Nice" by Patty Dunn. We used Royal Blue Corduroy on the outside and a batik from SewBatik on the inside.
Breezy Block Jacket by Lorraine Torrence
Retro Raglan Jacket by Indygo Junction
Mandaly Medley by Lorraine Torrence (The center panel is corduroy and the rest of the jacket is cotton)