Feb 16 – Chinese New Year of the Dog
Feb 14 – Valentines Day & Ash Weds
Feb 13 – Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Carnivale
Feb 12 – Westminster / Free Spirit Announced Closing
Yes it is true. On Monday Westminster Fabrics announced it is closing its business, including Free Spirit. Designers like Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler were traveling abroad, and woke up to the news in their Inbox like the rest of us. The internet has been boiling over with the news ever since.
There is plenty of public speculation going on about why this happened, but it is not my place to share any thoughts about the cause. There is likely a bidding war going on for their top designers, but we are also concerned for all the staff who ran the business, who are suddenly losing their jobs in the next few days and weeks. The company will close completely by May 1st. Some of the collections we’ve ordered will be shipped in the next few months. Many that we ordered will not be produced. We are stocking up as best we can, as this iconic designer label sails into the sunset… and these fabrics become collector items.
We feature plenty of their designers on our Designer page, including Kaffe Fassett, Jane Sassaman, Philip Jacobs/Snow Leopard, Tula Pink, and the recent William Morris reproductions. We have also carried Amy Butler, Brandon Mably, Joel Dewberry, Tina Givens, and just this week we’ll be featuring the new collection by Kathy Doughty from Australia…and so many other designer names. We do hope the industry will step up to absorb all of the talent that finds themselves headed for the door with a pink slip, including all the wonderful people from behind the scenes who ran the business.
Donna Wilder founded Free Spirit, and then it was sold to the Westminster/Rowan group. Donna is responsible for me applying to be a Bernina Fashion Show designer, which led to me becoming a BERNINA Ambassador. I am sure it must be heartbreaking for her, but I also hope that this leads to bigger and better things for the designers and staff, in a more stable and creative environment.
What we all share in common is our love of color, fabric, sewing, beautiful artwork, and the amazing creativity shared by the designers in our industry. Those core principles will guide us to the next chapter as our industry goes through another transition. For eQuilter, the most important thing has been to find and feature beautiful unique designs that showcase the talent of the artist. We will continue to seek out and provide this inspiration to you, as we support those affected by Westminster’s sudden closing.
We send our best wishes and also big hugs to all of you at Westminster / Free Spirit, and we wish you success and creative evolution in the next step of your journey.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
* The collage above features several of the Kaffe Fasset / Westminster / Free Spirit fabrics that we currently have in stock.
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Event & Travel Calendar:
Feb 22-25, 2018 – QuiltCon – Pasadena, California
Feb 26 – Marty Ornish CQC workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
March 17 – eQuilter St Patricks Charity Sewing Day! (Please RSVP!)
March 1 – May 15 – Registration for ‘Love Your Mother‘ Quilt Challenge
April 5-7 – SAQA Conference San Antonio TX
April 14-15 – Lisa Walton workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
May 11 – eQuilter Chromazone – Color Marketing Group @ eQuilter
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour – Register NOW!
