Hi everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well and not too cold. I really enjoy winter but not inside the house we are living in! As I have often complained (moaned, whined, whinged....), this rental is a very cold house. We have finally managed to coax the little firebox into producing lovely warm fires (generally by about 10:00pm) so (late) evenings are cosy but the mornings are still a little challenging!

This last wet weekend definitely underlined the 'misty' in Misty Threads; however, it is very beautiful. This is a wonderful small rainforest copse on our block, made very mysterious by the rain and mist.

In between other running in circles with several making projects underway, I've actually managed to finish a few.

 From these lovely Japanese fabrics full of circles from QH Textiles, which we showed you a few months ago,           

 I came down to this:

and finally to these: 

(And yes, that is the little wood heater doing it's best!)

 And this:

These laptop bags have been very popular. They are made with our beautiful cotton fabrics and interfaced with bag foam, a soft but protective layer that doesn't shift or buckle but keeps your precious laptop safe. They can be customised with your choice of fabric and to the size for your laptop, tablet, kindle or even phone. A simple carry strap can also be added.

These are all available for purchase through our online store here, through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 02 6657 1200. Just add fabric choices or size in the comments section. 

Speaking of online, check out the updates underway to our website by our web designer, Web Design Domain, a great local business. A bit more to go yet but we're really happy with it – your feedback is welcome.

For anyone who is vaguely local, Chris Timmins, our lovely tutor, is planning to start monthly classes again in August - we'll post dates for that shortly.

Take care and stay safe.

Meg

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your feedback!

If something isn’t working, we love when you can come to us and let us know. Because this allows us to get it right next time.

Many of our long-term patrons have come to us because let’s face it when it comes to fabric, online is nowhere near as fun!

We are tactile creatures and we love to touch, see and inspect things in real life which is quite a challenge when life is forcing us online.

Although we are always happy to send additional photos of fabrics, it can still be quite difficult to get an image that is 100% true to colour, especially with different lighting and backgrounds. This has caught us all out on occasion!

So, in order to keep up with the future, we are going old-school with… FABRIC SAMPLES!

       Like transferring $1 to a friend to make sure we have their bank details correct before we send them the $50 we owe for dinner last week, we are now offering         sample packs of fabric. To minimise your risk of buying several metres of fabric that will end up in the UFO box to be forgotten about for 6 years, you can now         buy a low cost, low risk sample pack to confirm you have definitely gotten it right, first time, everytime.

       Of course this is an extra step, so it does mean a little bit longer until you can get back to your project, but the risk is you are going to spend the rest of your             life being slowly driven mad by a quilt which didn’t quite turn out how you intended.

       Each sample will be big enough to show patterns and colour, but sized to fit in a standard DL envelope to offer the best price we can. The price of your                     samples will be deducted from your next fabric purchase.

       You will be able to buy samples directly online here, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 0266571200 or 0427517992. 

If you are ordering online, please ensure Click & Collect is selected so you aren't charged postage as this is already included in the price. There are three packs, one to five samples, six to ten samples and eleven to fifteen samples. Don't forget to enter your choices in the comments section of the order form.

 As always please call, email, hit us up on our socials if you have any questions.

 Take care and stay safe

Meg

Hello everyone, hope you are keeping well and feeling reasonably occupied!

At times, and maybe more so than ever just at the moment, we feel like we are just running in circles..... as the late, great singer/songwriter Harry Chapin wrote:

"All my life's a circle,

Sunrise and sundown;

Moon rolls through the night time;

'Til the daybreak comes around."

So, not to miss a good opportunity and to keep the theme going, we have some lovely new fabric online, complete with circles. All sorts of circles here, plain circles, big circles, little circles, scribbled circles, lined circles, circles with flying geese, circles with trees, lots of circles to please everyone. The fabric with veins of leaves has beautiful rounded curves and we even have some great circular sheep!

These are lovely Japanese cottons from QH Textiles, beautiful texture and great to sew. You can purchase directly through the website here, email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 02 66571200.

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all staying well.

Our precuts have made it to the web and they're a lovely bunch! We've put together several packs from your favourite fabric ranges, including Paganelli, Derse, Forsberg and our great indigenous fabrics. We also have a wonderful pile of new packs from the Kaffe Fassett Collective 2020 collection and some very 1970s retro-like packs, already quite inexpensive. You can find them all on our website here.

At the moment, we are working with fat quarters and what we are calling slices, cuts 30cm by 112cm across the full width of the fabric. Mixed jelly rolls and charm packs can also be provided on request.  We will be adding more to the pile but please feel free to ask about packs from other fabrics - happy to put them together for you.

And just because they are all so pretty, we're offering 15% off all precuts, new or more mature, until the end of May. Please use the code PRECUT15 at checkout.

Take care,

Meg

Hi everyone,

How are you all holding up in the current twilight zone? We're finding it a little unnerving and definitely tiresome at times but we've settled into a routine, just taking it one day at a time. There are many people in a far worse situation! 

As always, I've found my textile work a good balance to stressful times. It's sewing and knitting for me – what's your favourite?

To continue to offer you all a bit of distraction at the moment, we are having a sale until Mothers Day, Sunday 12 May.

Our new fabric is now all up online and it's beautiful! From XLN we have new fabrics from the Kaffe fassett Collection, Conservatorie III from Anna Marie Horner, Monika Fosberg and Bookhou, beautiful Scandi style design with Baja and Eloisa, a gorgeous William Morris backing, Standen, in red, and some great black and white from Inkwell. For children's quilts (or even your own), Far FarAway has some quirky, delightful fairy tales or, from Vic Textiles, Small Things with cute little animals and birds from South America, Africa and Asia.

So, for all this loveliness, 15% off with the code MUM15. If you want to order over the phone, that's fine, just mention the code!

Bye for now,

MT

Hi lovely people,

I hope you are all doing really well and looking after yourselves as well as possible in these difficult times.

Firstly, in big news OUR LANDLINE IS BACK! After much back and forth with the provider, 02 6657 1200 is back up and functioning again!

We love it when you get in touch so to make it easy for you we have ALL the options!

Feel free to reach out via phone: 0266571200 or 0427517992, by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., online www.mistythreads.com.au or hit us up on Facebook or Instagram @mistythreads.

No new fabrics just at the moment, but all your favourites are there. We still have a few to get online so if you’re remembering a fabric you’ve loved in the past and don’t see when perusing the website, please give us a call as we might still have it!

This was just a quick one to update you all about the phone, so I'll let you carry on with your day now, but before I go…

THANK YOU!!!

From the bottom of our hearts here, thank you so much for your continued support in these trying times. After announcing the shopfront closing we have had an outpouring of support and we are definitely feeling the love. You don’t even need to buy from us to show your support. I mean we love it when you do, because we love being able to share the craftiness around, but even just liking our posts on socials, subscribing to our mailing list or sharing a post can make all the difference. Patchworkers know patchworkers, so please keep telling your friends so we can keep supplying everyone with all of our favourite fabrics!

Now, keep calm and craft on!

Much love,

Meg and the Misty Threads backup dancers

#stillyourlocalpatchworkshop #thesewmustgoon #winteriscoldbutquiltskeepyouwarm

It's all a bit strange at the moment, isn't it? Although we know things aren't looking too crash hot right now, we are keeping our chins up and staying positive! We would like to wish you all the best over this Easter long weekend and hope you are staying safe, keeping in touch and remembering to self-isolate!

Now a little bit of housekeeping. As many of you will know already, sadly due to the COVID-19 situation and the end of our building lease, we have closed the Misty Threads shopfront permanently. However, we are definitely still here and very much open for business! We will be continuing to provide the same friendly service and patchwork and quilting supplies through our online store, www.mistythreads.com.au.

We have some beautiful new fabrics for you to enjoy, including Monika Forsberg, Anna Marie Horner, the Kaffe Fassett Collective, Tim Holz and a lovely Scandinavian style Eloisa from Scion, as well as many others. These will join our other gorgeous fabrics on line shortly so please check back regularly for inspiration and soothing eye candy while we are homebound. We will make sure to send out updates as we go!

We are also adding more haberdashery, quilting notions and patterns to the website. If what you are looking for is not there yet, please call us on 0427 517 992 and we will do our best to help you.

If you are local to the Dorrigo area, please let me know as we can organise a contactlessdelivery for you.

Please note that with a (pre-COVID19) switchover to NBN, our main landline number (02) 6657 1200 is still not receiving calls so, for the time being, 0427 517 992 will be our primary phone contact.

We would like to thank all our lovely customers, both instore and online, for your support over the last three years and apologise for any inconvenience closing the shopfront causes you. We look forward to working with you all online, especially as we will be running online specials and offers, so don't forget to check the website out regularly!

We miss you all and look forward to emerging on the otherside of all this.

Well, Christmas is nearly here and if you're still looking for that perfect gift for the passionate sewer or patchworker in your family or circle of friends.we may have a simple answer for you - a gift voucher! A voucher can be a thoughtful and well received gift when they are chosen carefully - and this year you don't even have to leave home. Misty Threads now offers you an option of purchasing and sending that special someone an online gift voucher.

Just go to our website home page at https://www.mistythreads.com.au where you'll find the gift voucher link at the bottom of the page or simply click here to go directly to the gift voucher page.

Very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, Meg

After a busy Misty Mountain Getaway this year our stock of Authentic Aboriginal Design fabrics was very much depleted. Thank you again to all the MMG participants who came in to see us at Misty Threads and we are really pleased you loved these fabrics as much as we do! So were are very pleased to have our signature range replenished again with the arrival of some 35 Aboriginal design fabrics - with many stunning new designs as well of some of our (and your) old favourites.

These are now all on-line so if you can't drop into our Dorrigo shop to meet them in person just at the moment you can hop over to our on-line store and enjoy these beautiful fabrics via the wonders of the internet! You'll find them under New Arrivals or through the Authentic Aboriginal Designs drop down in the Fabrics menu.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about these fabrics or shopping on-line with us.

Kindest regards

Meg

Changes to our opening hours over Winter 

Hi everyone, as Winter has well and truly arrived in Dorrigo, we'll be changing our opening hours for the next couple of months. 

Misty Threads will be closed on Wednesdays and Sundays over Winter. Our other days remain unchanged and we are open 10am - 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday and 9am - 12 midday on Saturday.

Of course we'll also be open on Saturday afternoons and Sundays when we have our monthly patchwork and quilting workshop weekends.

Thanks & best wishes

Meg

What's New at Misty Threads!

Three fabulous new fabric ranges have arrived at Misty Threads - Ring Ring, Pinkerville and Bah Bah Baby which can simply be described as retro, fantasy and really cute!

Ring Ring by Hoodie Crescent harkens back to a time before our digital age featuring vintage phones, fountain pens (complete with ink splotches - remember those!) and pencils. Hoodie Crescent has been a fabric & surface designer in the quilt industry for many years, as well the international apparel and advertising industries. She recommends her collections for use in various 3D projects, such as aprons, bags, cushions, stuffed animals, & mixed media art.

These designs are available in three colour ways - green, brown and grey both in-store and through our online shop. Simply search for Ring Ring or click here to go straight to these New Arrivals. You can also download a free Ring Ring quilt pattern from the Paintbrush Stuios website.

 Pinkerville is an imaginative new range from Tula Pink. Misty Threads has three patterns from this collection in stock - "Imaginarium", "Enlightenment" and "Serenity".

Tula Pink writes - "Pinkerville is a state of mind. When I design fabric I retreat into an imaginary world of my own creation. I call that place Pinkerville. In this collection I am inviting you to join me on a journey through my own delusion! This is a place where all things are possible. Each piece in this collection is named after an attribute that is required from entrance to Pinkerville." Misty Threads ha three designs from this collection in stock. "...The Unicorn print is titled "Imaginarium" because this place requires a devotion to the imagine, a willingness to invent and accept things that may or may not be real... A butterfly conceals the face of an owl in a print titled "Enlightenment" as she is the watcher, the all-seeing eyes of Pinkerville... A print of overlapping fans named "Serenity" reminds you to be calm and relaxed here, take it all in, there is plenty of time. Worry and anxiety are never welcome in Pinkerville. Welcome to my world, the space between my ears, the water is warm so shed the heavy baggage of reality and dip a toe into Pinkerville!" Simply search for Pinkerville on our website or click here to begin your journey to Pinkerville.

Bah Bah Baby - Jill McDonald is back with another hit collection, Bah Bah Baby. This sweet baby collection is featured in a blue, grey and yellow colour palette, perfect to coordinate with any nursery theme. The main pattern is ideal for a set of pillows that you can relax on while snuggling with your little one. It is also great for wall hangings and baby quilts. How many sheep can you count before this collection takes you off to dreamland? Just search for Bah Bah Baby in our online shop or simply click here to view this range.

Misty Threads has just added a large range of fabrics from the Batik Designers Palette 2019. This collection of 100% cotton premium printed batiks from Indonesia is a collection produced exclusively for Batik Australia, a family run fabric design company from the Queensland Sunshine Coast hinterland.

This collection proved to be very popular with the ladies at the recent Michelle Marvig weekend workshop run in Dorrigo by the Misty Mountain Getaway team

These Batiks are currenty available in store and will shortly be available on line as soon as we can organise some close-up photos.

Monika Fosberg is a Swedish born freelance illustrator and occasional animator based in North London. She studied art & filmmaking at the RCA. Her work is a quirky explosion of colour and humour. A technicolour world. Using pen, paper and paint her work is a fusion of everyday observation and fantasy.  

Savernake Road, a street curved along a small part of Hampstead Heath, London was the starting point for her first fabric collection. Monica explains "I walk down this road most days and embrace all of my surroundings. Front gardens of wild and groomed flowers spilling onto the pavement, Victorian houses, and broken tile front paths. All of this makes me very happy! I hope you experience my happiness through my first collection as part of an amazing group of artists known as the Anna Maria Conservatory."

Misty Threads now has six of Monika's collection in stock. These vibrant, quirky and colourful fabrics are only limited by your imagination. Please check them out on the Misty Threads website www.mistythreads.com.au.  You’ll find these great fabrics on the Homepage under "New arrivals". Alternatively type "Savernake Road" into the "Search the shop” window or simply select this Savernake Road Collection link and enjoy!

Ticking Away and Retro Road Trip are new fabrics just arrived from RJR. Ticking Away is a range of classic striped ticking fabric in a range of colours - blue, denim,blue-green, yellow, mauve, purple, green and off-white. These versatile fabrics feature darker striping on soft pastel backgrounds and are suitable for a variety of projects limited only by your imagination.  Retro Road Trip designed by Sue Marsh from RJR Fabrics features brightly coloured retro caravans scattered across a green background. The perfect fabric for cushions or curtains in your van or camper as well as in a quilt for the Grey Nomads in your life! Please have a look at these great new fabrics on our website under "New Arrivals" on the homepage, "Search the shop" using the codes 2959 for Ticking Away and 3619 for Retro Road Trip or simply use these links - Ticking Away or Retro Road Trip. If you order this week, we'll get it in the mail to you before Christmas so you'll have it in time for that New Year project!

Misty Threads has recieved a shipment of Authentic Aboriginal Design fabrics from M& S Textiles. There are new designs from talented Aboriginal designers and artists incuding Nambooka, Jane Doolan, Anna Pitjara, Heather Kennedy, Tanya Price and Polly Wheeler. These new designs highlight the continuing development of patterns and colours to express traditional stories by the artists. As well as the new lines we continue to keep the designs that have remained firm favourites with quilters, sewers and us of course! Have a look at these new fabrics at our online shop at www.mistythreads.com.au. Or simply select this "new arrivals" link to go straight to the Authentic Aboriginal Design page on the Misty Threads website.

Some additions to our Fossil Fern range by Patricia Campbell from Benartex have arrived. We now have a number of great colours and patterns - Red Peony, Golden Lime, Indigo Navy, Deepest Purple, Charred Wood and Sand - for this very useful favourite. As well as being beautiful in its own righ, Fossil Fern makes a great filler and is particularly useful as tracking with projects using our Authentic Aboriginal Design fabrics. Please check them out on our New Arrivals section on our website https://www.mistythreads.com.au/

Misty Threads is proud to have joined the Dorrigo community in commemorating the centenary of the 1918 Armistice and acknowledging the sacrifice made by those in World War 1 and subsequent conflicts. As part of this commemoration, we entered the commemoration shop display event run by the Dorrigo RSL.

The display in our windows centred on a magnificent commemorative quilt designed and created by Judy Docksey highlighting the names of the young Dorrigo men who died during WW1. It included a collection of period sewing items, generously loaned by Amanda Steinhardt, reflecting the women at home who kept families, farms, businesses and other essential services running during the conflict.

In our other window we displayed a collection of certificates and a poster commemorating the sacrifice made by Aboriginal service people and that of some of our own family members.

We are thrilled to be able to let you know that this collaborative display was awarded first prize in the Shop Display category by the Dorrigo RSL!  A huge thanks to Judy and Amanda for their efforts and to those who dropped in during the week to tells us how good the display is, with some particularly touching and emotional responses - your thoughtful comments were appreciated. We'll get some photos up on the Misty Threads facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Misty-Threads-112411005504688/ soon!

Today sees the latest special order of table runners and place-mats ready to be couriered to our friends Lloyd and Wendy Hornsby at Gawura Gallery at Glen Innes. These products are handcrafted at our Dorrigo shop using a selection of the authentic Aboriginal design fabrics and are destined for Gawrua Gallery and the Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre.  Both the runners and place-mats are also backed with the aboriginal designs and with interfacing between the two sides. The runners are 150cm x40cm and come with 4 matching 45cm x 40cm place-mats and can be made with a variety of different fabric designs, combinations and sizes. If you are interested in these please feel free to call on 02 6657 1200 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we'll be happy to discuss your requirements.

For a little fabric shop in the small country town of Dorrigo, the past year has seen a large number of visitors from overseas enjoying the broad range of fabrics and friendly service we have to offer. Thinking back over 2018, we have had visitors from a variety of countries including England, Scotland, Ireland, Gemany, The Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, France, Spain, Canada, USA, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Romania, India, Japan and of course not forgetting our Kiwi cousins from across the ditch! Many are visiting Dorrigo to see the the wonders of the World Heritage listed rainforests and spectacular scenery right on our doorstep and happen upon Misty Threads in their wanderings through our town, while others, much to our delight, have made the journey specifically to visit up us on the recommendation of friends and relatives or through having discovered us through our website or Facebook!

It's always a pleasure to talk to our visitors about where they are from, where they have been in Australia and, of course, their passion for beautiful and different fabrics. This makes you realise just how universal the love of patchwork and quilting is! In most cases our overseas visitors are looking for some fabric uniquely Australian to take back with them both as a reminder of their visit to Australia and for their own projects at home. As I've always managed to find a patchwork shop on my travels and picked up a wide range of amazing fabrics from different parts of the world (braving a torrential downpour in Helsinki to get to the Marimekko fabrics was totally worth it!), I fully appreciate this desire. The range of authentic Aboriginal designed fabrics at Misty Threads is always popular in this regard and we have seen these beautiful designs head off across the world to be made into skirts, tops, shorts, cushions, artwork and, of course, quilts. Beng light in weight, fabric is always a great souvenir or gift as it can be packed easily in the bottom of a suitcase and (hopefully) not incur excess baggage charges. Although we have had some of our visitors excitedly working out just what they can throw out of their bags to squeeze that little bit more  fabric in!

All in all, it's a lot of fun being able to promote the work or our indigenous designers and artists to other parts of the planet while providing our visitors with a truly unique reminder of their visit to Dorrigo and Misty Threads.

With Christmas rapidly approaching Misty Threads has great new Christmas themed fabrics in stock. We have two newly arrived, vibrant star designs in Seasons Greetings from Paintbrush Studio Fabrics. These can be found under the New Arrivals section on our website. To complement these we also have other Christmas fabrics including the Hygge Christmas tree designs and Snow Date fabrics from Lewis & Irene. If you prefer a more Australian Christmas fabric you should have a look at the Bush Gum Blossom range by Amanda Brandl. These feature eucalypt and wattle blossoms in bright red, green and yellows - great colours for any Christmas sewing project.

You can find these fabrics on our website by simply using the fabrics titles shown above in the "search the shop" window. Alternatively feel free to gives us a call on 02 6657 1200 or drop us a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you'd like more information about these or any other fabrics.