With every fiber of my being.

Threading a sewing machine or even a needle can become old news and routine when I do it over and over. But something that I don't often think about is how that thread came to be. I went to the Fiber Arts Festival on Saturday and was not prepared for what I saw. When I first stepped into the park where it was being held, I saw several older women knitting and I didn't think it would be like this.

But that changed at the next area of the festival. I found something called Crazy Quilting that I'd never heard of before. Essentially, it's putting anything you want on a quilting square and creating a quilt based on those individual squares. These squares had beads and several different types of fabrics sewn with no real pattern. My fashion eye immediately thought of creating those crazy blends of materials on a garment, similar to the Dior Fall 2017 collection.

Not only did I learn something new with quilting that could be used in fashion, I saw different types of materials that are used for dying fabrics. Green ferns, red cabbage and cochineal bugs were a few of the things I hadn't seen used for dye before. Tea and coffee as dyes were common, but bugs? A couple fabrics were dyed using marigold flowers and it was such a beautiful golden color. White muslin fabric is always cheaper, so maybe next time I'll dye it with flowers instead of buying a already printed floral fabric. This will be more of a unique print compared to those in a continual pattern at every fabric store.

I was so inspired at this festival. I can't wait to try some of these techniques on designs. While I was walking out, I already had sketches going through my head with what I'd like to create. And you thought quilting was just for your grandma!