Regency Zarafa by Christopher Wilson-Tate for Moda
November 20, 2020
Abi Hall’s latest collection for Moda is just what we need in the darker winter months. It’s full of fun, summerlike fabrics that are full of cheer to remind us of warmer days to come.
These playful fabrics are part of Hello Sunshine, Abi Hall’s 14th collection for Moda and her second this year. She tends to design two collections a year, often with a focus on sweet, child-friendly motifs and bright colours. As the name suggests, Hello Sunshine is no exception.
Abi moved earlier this year from England to the South of Ireland in County Waterford. She says that the garden in her new home was the inspiration for this latest collection, which features smiling cherries, bees, rainbows, shooting stars, and toadstools. The garden, she says, “is fairly wild, and centres around an apple tree and a cherry tree. We have lots of bees there, and toadstools in the autumn. Being on the coast means the weather is changeable, and it sometimes feels like we get all the seasons in one day.”
This collection features bright teal, yellow, green and an apple red, with some more neutral shades like a warm earthy grey and white. With the exception of the tiny dot coordinate print, you’ll find almost all of the colours in each design, whether it’s the tail of a shooting star or in a rainbow or cloud.
Abi’s style
Abi draws inspiration from her new garden for Hello Sunshine, but all of her designs are influenced by the natural world—flora or fauna—with children in mind. Because her colour palettes are always so vibrant, her past collections pair well together. You can mix and match the motifs that speak to you the most.
Hello Sunshine is slightly different, as a mix of ditsy prints that are perfect for quilting. Normally Abi has a variety of different sized prints in her collections, and she plays with scale. This time, Moda requested little prints for our littlest family members.
“I enjoyed being able to make a group of cute, fun little prints that all worked together without necessarily describing a theme, rather than the more formal process of building a collection that I usually go through,” Abi says.
Abi’s design process
Like a lot of Moda designers, Abi starts doodling first and then digitizes her designs. Sometimes, she says, it’s as simple as a doodle with a ballpoint pen while talking on the phone. From there, the process gets a little more serious, with additional research to flesh out a theme, moving her designs to an iPad, and then into Illustrator for final artwork.
Abi is trained in surface pattern design, and has been with Moda since 2012. Her previous life was in commercial interior design, so she has always had a creative eye. Being a creative person has also made her appreciate quilts and their contribution to the home, despite not being a quilter herself.
“I love designing quilting fabrics as I feel that quilts are artefacts, and markers of significant events, and it’s wonderful to think that my designs are used to make something that could be so full of meaning for somebody,” she says. “They are usually made for a loved one, or someone special, and could be with that person for most of their life. “
What’s Next for Abi Hall
“Currently, I am most interested in exploring how our relationship with nature has changed after COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures,” Abi says.
“A lot of families took to spending more time together cultivating their gardens, and the beasties that inhabit them, growing vegetables and encouraging wildlife, and I think this is a good example of something beautiful coming out of an awful situation. I would like to explore this in a new collection.”
Hello Sunshine from Moda Fabrics is arriving in Canadian stores in December. We encourage you to shop local, and touch, feel, and experience the fabric you’ll use for your next creative project at your local quilt store.
