Thirty five years ago, a creative designer named Patti Read, opened an innovative fabric store in Portland, Oregon, that became known as Daisy Kingdom. Patty promoted sales of fabric by designing and drawing patterns (by hand) on newspaper and brown paper bags for her customers. Her sources of inspiration were drawn from childhood memories of her own family life, as well as anything light and whimsical.
In 1996, Patty Reed sold Daisy Kingdom to Springs Industries, Inc, a South Carolina based textile giant. She continue to work for them for a number of years as VP of Design but eventually opened her own design studio (Patty Reed Designs) in Portland, Oregon. The original Daisy Kingdom store in Portland closed in December of 2004, but Daisy Kingdom fabrics, especially the pre-printed panels, must live forever in in sewing rooms across America.
Since November is officially "Tie One On" month (aprons, that is) I barely had enough time, to get one made before my time ran out! Thank goodness, for occasional moments of sanity. Every once in a while, when I need a gift in a hurry, I go into stash and pull out a cheater panel of some kind (that I have been given or found at a garage sale) and I get some sewing and even a bit of quilting, done in a hurry!
Shown at top, a quick 'cheater' panel apron with three sewn down lap pockets in front and an additional potholder, thrown in for fun. Made from an older Daisy Kingdom panel (buried in my stash from many years ago) I quilted it to thin fleece batting, added a colorful lining and binding and finished it up with overall meandering quilting. Got it done in just a bit over a day, and if I hadn't 'meandered' so much, I would have been done even faster!
Have you tied one on this month?
6 comments:
Not yet -- though I do have an apron I need to make for Christmas!
My great aunt and my grandmother wore aprons all the time. They put on their dress and covered it right away. They had "Sunday" aprons to wear with their good dresses after church. So aprons bring back good memories for me! I should make one and use it, rather than spend all the time I spend treating stains before I load the washer!
Hey! This is the same design as the apron I wore today when making those pizzas you commented about! What a small world...
I think I've finally used up all the Daisy Kingdom stuff around the house. Rebecca and I had sweatshirts decorated with Daisy Kingdom art for years and years.
You do know that Patti didn't exactly sell the store to Springs Industries, right? She went bankrupt shortly after she signed the agreement with Walmart to provide them with her famous girls dresses. Not a surprise - she really didn't know how to manage things well. I worked in Home Dec. and our manager had such a free rein with ordering that there were literally hundreds and hundreds of bolts of upholstry and decorator fabric upstairs in the warehouse that never saw the light of day in the store. There was just no place in the store to display them. She owed the largest amount of money to Springs Industries, so they took over after the bankruptcy. The store itself looked more or less the same for several years, until they decided to close it. I think she still owns the huge mansion in Portland called The Daisy Kingdom mansion.
An amazing story, Patti. And sad in many ways. But then that's often how the past feels. All of the "ifs" and "if onlys". I still love that I've collected a few bits and pieces and I bought a lot of her recycled plastic bottles made into shopping bags. Really love those!
Ila, small world indeed. Really love that coincidence 💜
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