Janet Clare - by Jane M

Janet Clare was our much-anticipated speaker for September and she didn’t disappoint.  She treated us to a whistle stop journey through the life of a fabric designer with humour, enthusiasm and many examples.

Most of us had no idea of the amount of work in designing and producing a collection of fabrics. The work starts with the painting of the designs onto sketch paper and sent to Moda in Texas for acceptance (Janet is the only English designer for Moda). There are then almost endless changes and suggestions before the range is finalised. A story is written to accompany each new collection and quilts are designed and mocked up before the fabric is printed. Only one print run is made by Moda so they only produce what is pre ordered by their reps. This all seems a stressful hamster wheel like existence, but Janet and Tony ( her husband) appear to thrive on the lifestyle.

We all have much more respect for all the fabrics we use for our patchwork and the work that goes into their production. We are very much looking forward to our workshop with Janet and what else she can teach us in 2026.