Palette Piles from Anna Maria Hornery. Photo: AnnaMariaHorner.com
But now a whole new generation of quilters has arrived, and with them, gorgeous, patterned fabrics.
The queen of this new quilting world is Amy Butler, who's created a lovely psychedelic universe of patterns, stitching supplies and books. Her quilting fabrics, including "Love" and "Midwest Modern," have people taking note, and even novice sewers are rushing to snap up her project kits.
Butler's book "In Stitches" offers a ton of easy projects; you can also check them out on her site for free.
Anna Maria Horner is another quilt pioneer with a mouth-watering selection of ethnic-inspired cotton fabrics -- the perfect match to her patterns and kits. Horner also has a new book out, reaffirming the current quilting-sewing crossover trend: "Seams to Me: 24 Reasons to Love Sewing."
For sheer inspiration Denyse Schmidt is a great resource -- her simple fabrics and modern designs will get the creative juices of any sewer flowing.
One of the greatest quilting shops around is Cool Cottons, located in an Arts and Crafts bungalow in Portland, Ore. Each room of the house is filled to the brim with contemporary fabrics. Learn more here.
Free Spirit is also another great resource for nouveau-chic quilting fabrics.
If you have the urge to throw some actual quilting into your sewing mix, try making this sleek quilted bag with some of the great new cotton fabric that's out there. Or stitch together a simple quilt with your favorite textiles.
Those are just a few sources to get you exploring the crossover world of quilting and sewing.
Amber Eden is the former editor-in-chief of Threads magazine and founding editor of SewStylish magazine and CraftStylish.com. She has studied draping and haute couture techniques at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and according to her, will probably be a student there for life.