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Reproduction Fabric Printing
Vintage Fabric Sample Books
Margo Krager
September 11, 2024
Reproduction Fabric Printing
Recently I got a call from a costumer designer wanting 48 yards of the same fabric. She had chosen several different stock numbers from my website. Inventories ranged from 1 1/2 yards (arrived in January last year) to 3 yards (came July this year). She wanted to know if I could get more?
This request was for a movie project set in the 1860s on the prairie. The movie had a scene with a stunt. So the designer needs a pristine dress for the actress and a pristine dress for the stunt double and a damaged dress for the actress and a damaged dress for the stunt double. Most productions want to have extra fabrics for any repairs or damage that might have been done to the dresses.
I had to explain how printing usually works in this industry and I thought I would share with all of you. First of all, companies book print time several years into the future. A few months before a particular time the printer sends the art work to the print plant. This is the same process I used when I did my own lines of reproduction fabrics based on my Dargate and Delaines books.
If you are doing silk screen rotary printing, you need to do at least 3,000 yards per design to be cost efficient. Printers usually do 3 colors of a design because they don't want 'all their eggs in the pink basket'. Also, they want a 'half sell through' (pre orders from shops) of the line before printing.
Let's look at imaginary design #3281 in blue. 1,000 yards were printed. If the bolts are 15 yards each that gives us about 66 bolts. When the fabric arrives at the printer's warehouse on a Tuesday...hopefully 33 of those bolts leave the next morning for fabric stores around the country. The remaining 33 bolts are put on a shelf in the printer's warehouse. The company wants these gone in 60-75 days. The 'remains' are then sent to a close out seller.
So If I have 3 yards of a design that came in the last 45-60 days...maybe I can order more! Older fabrics are much harder to find and will probably be sold out.
As you can imagine the upkeep and management of inventory for our store is critical to ensure that we aren’t promising fabric we don’t have to customers. We enter the inventory for a line of fabric when it arrives and close to the end of life we do a true up in the system to ensure we always have what are customers see on our website. Between email, walk-ins, phone and the website we are always trying to get orders entered as quickly as possible to make sure we hold the inventory in the order it was requested. Because most of the time once the fabric is sold out it’s gone and may not be available again.
Reproduction Fabrics based on my sample books from the Mid and Early 19th Century
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This is my private label fabric line...based on samples from my assorted 19th Century fabric sample books from the Mulhouse area of France. Designs are authentic in scale and colors. Digitally printed with Oeko-Tex Standard by Paint Brush Studios in the USA.
These complex polychrome early (1830) pinks. Mordant printing of 2 shades of pink was historically a simple process. The early 19th Century advent of mineral dyes increased the color palette. Pinks with yellow were especially popular 1825-30.
Elegant offerings from the pages of the Dargate Sample Book. Digitally printed by Washington Street Studios. Giving exceptional detail, more closely like the originals which were printed with an engraved copper roller. Note poor registration on some prints, just like the sample in my book!
#ScottSentMe2024 Challenge
Challenge has started! We LOVE getting visitors to our store in Northfield, MN. We are partnering with Scott Fortunoff, VP of Henry Glass Fabrics in the #ScottSentMe2024 challenge! We are offering an incentive from Sep 1 to Nov 30 for all visitors to our store. Just say “Scott Sent Me" and get 10% off a purchase of $25 or more. Check out all the participating stores. Hope to see you in the shop soon! Some great prizes are available for the top visitors. Check out the website for all the details and prize.
Don’t forget to have sew much fun! And lastly, please spread the word about the details of the contest to all of your quilty friends.
Stores driving distance to our shop in Northfield. Time to grab some friends and plan your road trip to visit them this fall!
A Little Piece of Mind 1027 North Knowles Avenue, New Richmond, WI
Bound in Stitches 2078 45th St NE, Sauk Rapids, MN, USA
Cabby's Corner 1030 1st Ave, Gibbon, MN, USA
Front Porch Quilt Shop 530 W Main St #1, Anoka, MN, USA
Heart Blossom Design N13430 County Road I, Sand Creek, WI, USA
Quarry Quilts & Yarn 326 Quarry Place, Sandstone, MN, USA
Quirky Quilt Shop 2673 240th Street, Cushing, WI, US
Reproduction Fabrics 104 E 4th St Suite 205, Northfield, MN, USA
The Quilting Grounds 224 Elm St W, Norwood Young America, MN
Website Promotion!
On my website about once a week I update the “Short Notes” section. These are interesting historical fun facts about fabric and quilting related items. I am running a special promotion, when making a purchase on the website, include the subject of any “Short Notes” in the comments section and get $1 off shipping per subject you mention, up to $5.00/order. We will credit the dollars for each “Short Notes” you mention to your card when we process the order.
Current “Short Notes” on my website