In my last post, I talked about the Spring Catalogs, featured on the Hoffman California Fabrics’ website. I’m expecting that by now you’ve had a minute to look them over, and if not, I highly recommend you do! My favorites are the Project Catalogs, and not just from this season. If you ever need an inspo nudge, they are a perfect place to start! They are packed full of projects that are sure to inspire a myriad of future quilts.
If you ever wondered who is the creative genius behind these catalogs, let me give you a little peek behind the curtain. Meet Sandy Muckenthaler, the Director of Creative Projects. She’s been with Hoffman California Fabrics for over 40 years, starting with them as an order puller, and moving through different roles including receptionist, working in the design department, customer service, and finally spending the last 15-plus years in her current and favorite role.
I’ve had the pleasure to work with Sandy over the past several years, and let me tell you, she is the most generous, tactful and encouraging person that I have ever worked with. I just had to grill her a bit about the process of putting the catalogs together, which to me, seems like a massive task, since many of the catalogs are over 150 pages. That’s a lot of designers and projects!
Sandy told me the catalog process starts three to four months before the fabric release date, which is about the time she gets the fabric strike offs and Bali Batik blankets. What? Blankets? “Yep, that’s the term,” she said, “it’s funny, since some of the so-called blankets are about the size of a fat quarter!”
From there she begins the task of pulling together coordinates for each line, which by my count was about 12-14 different lines for each catalog release. Coordinates are pulled from a combination of 24/7 Blenders, and Bali Basics, such as the 1895 Watercolors, 885 Dots, 1384 Smoothies and 839 Mottles. Full disclosure: If Smoothies and Mottles were not known terms to you, I didn’t know them either. Talk about learning something new every day! Anyway, Sandy pulls at least a dozen (usually more) coordinates per line, 12-14 lines…are you getting the math here? For me, the coordinates can really help “pop” the fabrics, so Sandy’s creative pairings are really helpful.
Eventually, everything ends up as digital files, which are then made accessible to her roster of 20-25 designers. As she explained to me, “My intention is to make it as easy as possible for them to work their magic.” The designers have approximately six to eight weeks to submit their ideas, along with fabric requirements. The images and info all go into a spreadsheet, which is then passed on to the in-house graphic design team, who “Make everything pretty.”
The process is easy enough to understand, but yet I had questions. And here’s where you’re going to learn just how diplomatic and personable Sandy really is. When asked what is the biggest challenge is in putting the catalogs together, she was hard pressed for an answer. (Trust me, I’d be whining about oh, so many things.) “Actually,” she said, “The hardest thing is not publishing every single pattern that is submitted. We simply run out of room!”
I wondered what happens if they get submissions that are too similar? “Surprisingly it doesn’t really happen because our designers are so creative. I do look for new designs, and it’s a bonus when there’s a connection between the fabric and the quilt design. I also look for pattern designs that show off the fabric, versus patterns that cut the fabric into little tiny pieces that are beyond recognition.” She went on to add, “The designers have the option to work with fabric lines that speak to them, so luckily, it all evens out, and we get a lot of variety, across all the lines. I feel that our designers are the ones who bring our fabrics to life. I’m really so grateful to them for all they do.”
I had one last question I had to ask: Do you have any teacher’s pets? While she answered that “I love all the designers equally,” I can vouch that she makes each and every one of us (yes, I am a member of the pattern design posse if you didn’t get that yet) feel like we’re the favorite. If you’re interested in designing projects in the future for Hoffman California Fabrics, look for Sandy at the h +h show. Now that you know what she looks like, she should be easy to find.
Until next time, Karen
