Sewing Inspiration with Slow Summer Fabric
Today we bring you something very exciting — the latest collection in the Suzy Quilts fabric family! Slow Summer is the ultimate laid-back, chill-vibes-only fabric for warm, dreamy weather.
The collection includes 12 cotton prints, one canvas print, and one rayon print. Slow Summer is my fifth collection with Art Gallery Fabrics and even though I plan on many more collections in the future, their roll out will be slow. If you keep scrolling I think you'll see why 😉
The Suzy Quilts Fabric Family...
All of my fabric collections are designed to flow seamlessly together. You can see the other collections in these posts:
Designing the Slow Summer Fabric Collection
Although I have a unique fondness for every design in the collection, the two marbled prints are extra special because of their journey.
After many years of wanting to learn how to marble fabric, in 2018 my husband and I flew to New York for a workshop. I was pregnant with my first child, and nauseous the entire time, but we learned how to drop paint onto water and then use a brush to swirl it around. This technique, commonly known as marbling, is sometimes called snail printing.
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I started thinking of this process as “snailing”, and wanted to create a fabric collection that embodied that feeling. But, as life drastically changed with the arrival of a baby, I snailed in other ways that had nothing to do with fabric.
Desi and I would snail to the park, we'd snail to story time at the library, and favorite of all, we'd go snailing around the backyard. With the arrival of my second child our snailing become even slower and more leisurely, solidifying what I had already concluded — this marbled fabric idea would have to wait.
But once Joanna, my youngest, was two years old, and I found myself with larger pockets of time, I decided it was my chance to poke at this idea that had been percolating for over four years.
I snailed my way through the design over many months and with the birth of Dean, my third child, so too were these marbled fabrics born. A fourth child, perhaps? Their gestational period sure was long enough!
But what is snailing? It's simplicity in slowness. It's marbling fabric by gently moving paint through water; it's sipping coffee while watching my kids play with chalk on the driveway; it's wandering around with a toddler and stopping for every flower and interesting pebble.
I've come to love snailing because it is any action that keeps me in the current moment, just like an unhurried snail making its way in the world. In a nutshell, it’s relaxing into the pace of a slow summer.
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Now that you've seen the fabric, keep reading for examples of how Slow Summer looks in quilts, garments, bags, accessories, and more!
See even more projects in the Slow Summer lookbook from Art Gallery Fabrics!
- Pattern available from Suzy Quilts
- Project made by Sarah Made, longarm quilting by Jenn B Quilts
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
- Kit available from Sarah Made
Fabrics used:
- Signature PURE Solids in Spiced
- Signature PURE Solids in Snapdragon
- Slow Summer Marble in Matcha
- Slow Summer Color Blocks in Matcha
- Slow Summer Susans in Lilac
- Slow Summer Susans in Pistachio
- Signature PURE Solids in Queen Bee
- Wildflower Wovens in Cloud
- Pattern available from Suzy Quilts
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
- Kit available from Sarah Made
Fabrics used:
- Signature PURE Solids in Cerulean
- Wildflower Wovens in Poinsettia
- Wildflower Wovens in Zinnia
- Slow Summer Color Blocks in Haze
- Slow Summer Susans in Lilac
- Slow Summer Fireworks in Sweet Peach
- Signature PURE Solids in Haze
- Signature PURE Solids in Pearl
- (Backing) Duval Boho Birds Flannel
- Free tutorial coming to the Suzy Quilts blog on April 25!
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
- Tiny Moon Pearl from Duval
- Signatures PURE Solids in Queen Bee
- Signature PURE Solids in Snapdragon
- Signature PURE Solids in Spiced
- Signature PURE Solids in Matcha
- Signature PURE Solids in Shrimpy
- Signature PURE Solids in Hemlock
Pickleball Bag
- Free tutorial coming to the Suzy Quilts blog on April 18!
- Project made by Deborah Batson
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
- Evolve in Tiny Meadow Queen Bee
Sunglasses Cases
- Tutorial coming to the June issue of The Cutting Table!
- Project made by Deborah Batson
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Marble Glacier
- Slow Summer in Color Blocks Haze
- Slow Summer in Susans Lilac
- Slow Summer in Snails Driftwood
- Slow Summer in Tiny Moon Rain
- Slow Summer in Fireworks Sweet Peach
- Evolve in Coneflower Cerulean
- Evolve in Cerulea
- Duval in Blocks Haze
- Duval in Basket Weave Shrimpy
- Pattern available from Center Street Quilts
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Lydia Nicholson
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
- Slow Summer in Susans Lilac
- Free tutorial available from Suzy Quilts
- Project made by Mary Burroughs-Mayer
- Photography by Mary Burroughs-Mayer
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Marble Glacier
- Signature PURE Solids in Cerulean
- Signature PURE Solids in Queen Bee
- Slow Summer in Shells Pearl
- Pattern available from Center Street Quilts
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Lydia Nicholson
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Shells Pearl
- Slow Summer in Fireworks Coral
- Slow Summer in Snails Driftwood
Pietra Shorts and Cielo Top by Closet Core Patterns
- Pietra Shorts available here and Cielo Top available here
- Projects made by Nancy Grossman
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Color Blocks Matcha
- Pattern available from Noodlehead
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Lydia Nicholson
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
- Slow Summer in Shells Pearl
- Pattern available from Small Museum
- Project made by Nancy Grossman
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Marble Matcha
- Pattern available from Center Street Quilts
- Project made by Jordan Porter
- Photography by Jordan Porter
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Color Blocks Haze
- Slow Summer in Shells Pearl
- Wildflower Wovens in Slub Wild Rose
- Pattern available from Harts Fabric
- Project made by Deborah Batson
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Color Blocks Haze Rayon
Stripe Potholders
- Free tutorial coming to the Suzy Quilts blog on May 9!
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
- Tutorial available in Issue 15 of The Cutting Table
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Suzy Quilts
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Susans Lilac
- Slow Summer in Susans Pistachio
- Slow Summer in Color Blocks Haze
- Slow Summer in Fireworks Coral
- Slow Summer in Marble Matcha
- Slow Summer in Snails Driftwood
- Wildflower Wovens in Slub Golden Hour
- Wildflower Wovens in Slub Wild Rose
- Wildflower Wovens in Dots Sweet Pea
- Wildflower Wovens in Slub Zinnia
- Wildflower Wovens in Dots Honeysuckle
- Wildflower Wovens in Dots Clover
- Pattern available from Noodlehead
- Project made by Kim Vogelsang
- Photography by Lydia Nicholson
Fabrics used:
- Slow Summer in Summer Stripe Canvas
