Joanna's Adventures...On A Field Trip To Moda's Headquarters...

Joanna Figueroa, of Fig Tree Designs, has delighted and enlightened us with her views and ideas on the designing and making of quilting fabric.  Basically, we learned how this designer does her thing.  Now, in her final post for the QuiltersBuzz, she gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of a fabric factory…Moda’s fabric factory to be exact.

 Here is Joanna’s final post in her three-part series: 

A few months ago I had the pleasure of visiting & touring Moda headquarters in Dallas, Texas. I hope that this little behind the scenes glimpse will give you a better picture of how it all comes together so that you and I can have a continual flow of new, beautiful fabric to play with! 

Just A Few Of My Favorite Things….

 The First Warehouse

The first warehouse we visited is where the fabrics arrive & are rolled. They come in giant burlap bags or boxes on long rolls and are transferred to bolts that we are used to on special, mechanized machines. These machines have special counters to help the workers roll the exact right amount onto each bolt. We stood mesmerized by this process for a long time.  It’s almost hypnotic to watch.

Also in this room are hundreds and hundreds of boxes of new collections of fabric waiting for their appointed delivery date. Some are waiting for other pieces in the collection, some are waiting to be rolled & packaged and some are merely waiting for the rest of the shipment. As a company, MODA prides itself in sending out full collections to all of its customers all at the same time so that everything is fair and equitable. Every box has its appointed time and place.

The Second Warehouse

Easily twice the size of the first one, this warehouse holds everything else.  All the fabrics after their initial release are here. All the notions. All the finished goods. All the books. All the patterns. The employees use special bikes to ride around this warehouse and pick all the items they need to fill individual quilt shop orders. Everyone made fun of me, but I told them all at the beginning of the tour that I wasn’t leaving until someone took a picture of me on one of those MODA bikes. They took the picture just to shut me up and get me out of there at closing!

 The Inspiration Room

Now, this was seriously a room that I could live in. Imagine a room dedicated to scraps and pieces of vintage textiles of all sizes, types and colors. Sorted by era or theme, the room is filled with stacks of vintage quilts and quilt tops, scrapbooks of fabric scraps, drawers of old ribbons, napkins, tea towels, hankies. If that isn’t enough to get your senses tingling, there is a library of books from various countries about vintage textiles, examples of silk screens and original paintings by fabric designers.

This is also the room where the strikeoffs [see previous post] of our new lines get laid out, where the colors are looked at and examined, where various options are eliminated and others added into the mix. I could have layed down in this room and stayed forever…. Well, maybe for a very long, long time.

 The MODA Lab Store

Another brainchild of the ever creative MODA marketing team, the Lab Store is a “faux” quilt store set up in the warehouse offices so that shop owners & teachers can come and see how they might do something differently, get a fresh idea for an old display or simply get inspired for their own store’s possibilities. It is filled with room displays, quilts, patterns, decorating “vignettes”, MODA U set ups, and much more. MODA holds classes here and throughout the year offers various special opportunities for shop owners to come and participate in Lab Store activities. It is really a place of great ideas & great creativity.

 The Library

Right behind the Lab Store is a small but magical place for us designers. Here MODA has an archive of a few yards of every fabric that every one of their designer has ever produce! Can you imagine? It was wonderful to walk through and “fondle” not only my own fabric lines, but the lines of many other designers that I have admired for years.

 Now I feel like I’ve barely touched the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t had a chance to tell you about the sample room or the finished product department… but, I can’t go on forever, now can I? Hopefully, you have enjoyed this glimpse and have enjoyed hearing from me for way too long now.

 Here’s to seeing you…. well, seeing you covered in yards of fabric! Now there’s parting words for you!

(Photos, graphics and writings by Joanna.) 

 Ed Note...Fig Tree News Update:  Joanna's line of fabric Folklorique has just shipped from the above-mentioned Moda warehouse yesterday...look for it at your favorite quilting fabric shop.  New patterns are rolling out too...see "A Yuletide Blessing" shown below.  And don't forget to check out Joanna's new blog and keep in touch with "Fresh Vintage", her quarterly booklet.