For Valentine’s Day, I got to spend the afternoon with Tula Pink, who came to town to lecture and promote her new Berning sewing machine at Quiltique in Las Vegas.
Tula and me – she’s much taller than I am, but so is everyone, LOL!!
Let me tell you – this gal is amazing, and not just because of her fabrics! She has incredible business acumen, is very clever and articulate, and has a great sense of self-confidence. Although she’s a big name in the industry, she’s very straightforward and down-to-earth, and she took the time to answer everyone’s questions and pose for pictures.
Here are some interesting tidbits:
- Yes, Tula Pink is her real name. 🙂
- Tula was originally a fabric designer for Moda, then left the company to design for Free-Spirit fabrics when Moda wasn’t ready for her out-of-the box wild colors and splashy offbeat artwork. There’s no drama there though, and she has nothing but great things to say about both companies.
- She started off in the record industry, creating album cover art for many famous musicians. She was happy to give up goth and skull drawings so she could focus instead on creating pink bunnies, teal horses and purple owls.
- She draws all of her artwork by hand, working in shades of grey with pencil on graph paper. She designs to scale and thinks in repeat so as to create seamless scenery. To make the most of her “drawing economy,” she’ll only draw half images, if the design is to be a mirror image.
- She’s incredibly focused – it can take up to 6 weeks just to get the coloring right on her drawings, after she’s spent an incredible amount of time working out the drawing details.
- She’s a history buff and loves to read all she can about famous women in history – Marie Antionette, Queen Elizabeth, etc. These ladies have inspired some of her most well-known fabric lines.
- Tula describes her style as “modernitional” – part modern, part traditional. She doesn’t want to be put in a box and simply wants to create what she loves, hoping her art will resonate with her audience.
Due to popular request, Tula will be offering a line of large scale, wide-backings soon!
She definitely resonated with me and I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future. Tula Pink’s fabric and threads are always a hot commodity in my precut store and I’m in the process now of designing a new pattern using her fabrics.
Christa Quilts 