This was one jam packed meeting this month so we're dividing the post into 3 acts.

Act 1

We had the pleasure of having Kathy Miller speak at our meeting this month. Kathy is half of Michael Miller along with Michael Steiner together they created Michael Miller Fabrics in 1999.

Photo by Rachel K.

Kathy was in town to judge AM Northwests Design Challenge. The Design Challenge was created by AM Northwest and Fabric Depot along with The Art Institute of Portland, and Montavilla Sewing Centers. You can see previous episodes here and check out Fabric Depots blog to see photos and summaries. It's the Project Runway of Portland! The challenge last week was to make a cocktail dress out of Michael Miller's new Cotton Couture line of solids. Have you seen/touched them yet? They are buttery soft and have such a nice drape. Kathy said when they created the Cotton Couture line they were going for a fabric that could be used in clothing but also for quilters, something that had a softer hand but was durable as well. With our prodding Kathy went into more detail about weft and warp. The quality of this fabric is achieved by using a finer thread and higher thread count per square inch. There are so many colors to choose from 87 on this card and more coming! Julie the Buyer from Fabric Depot joined us as well and was happy to announce that they will be carrying the full line of colors at Fabric Depot!

Photo by Pétra

The big surprise of the night, Kathy brought a Cotton Couture Color card for everyone at the meeting!! We estimated 90 people in attendance so there was lots of cheering and as I heard one person say from behind me "it's like Oprah!".

Besides Vanilla and Cream there's Soft White and Bright White. Photo by Rachel K.

I've never had a color card before and I'm so excited to have it as a reference when I'm planning my next quilt.
Thank you Kathy for sharing your story and love of fabric. At next month's meeting we'll be revealing a Cotton Couture challenge for our guild members!