Head in the Clouds 108 inch Wide Backing

I love the convenience of a wide backing. You all know I sometimes love to use the cutoffs from the front to piecemeal a backing, but sometimes when the quilt top is done, so am I mentally! When I started designing fabric a few years ago, I always wanted to design some fun wide backing designs that would compliment the fabric lines. And one day like a ton of bricks, an idea hit me and Head in the Clouds was conceived! 

I had the clearest vision of what I wanted this fabric to look like, I just had to figure out how to make it a reality. Clouds in assorted fills with suns popping out occasionally in colors that gradate selvage to selvage. Wide backings are typically 108in wide, so I knew I wanted a pretty large repeat… and I began drawing!

I sat and drew clouds for about a month. Somedays I would draw a handful, other days I would only draw one. I taped them up on a wall in living room and when it felt like I had enough, I got to work cutting them out and collaging them into a repeat. Yes, I realize there are all sorts of digital tools that would make this process easier, but here we are! 

I submitted this to Windham with the colors I wanted the suns and early awaited for them to scan it into their computers and make a digital version! Then, there was a snag. I wanted too many colors (sounds like me!). But, I had a vision… and nothing was going to stop me from making my vision work! So, we halved the colors used and combined two colors using small pin-dots to create the other half. If you look closely, you can see a little textured, but from a distance, it looks like 18 different colored suns! My vision was still ALIVE!

Back in 2022, the first iteration of Head in the Clouds was released! It features white clouds on a medium grey back. It was a limited print run and sold out incredibly fast. We didn’t even get a chance to use any!

Because it was so popular, I convinced Windham to release another color way - this time, black clouds on a white backdrop. It is such a fun black and white print with pops of color! We learned from our mistake last time and ordered more bolts. We sold the first batch immediately and are stocked back up again!

We aren’t sure how long Windham will run this print, so grab it while you can!

I am playing around with some ideas for another wide back design, but don’t have anything officially in the works yet. Some day there will be more though!