Tuesday, April 8, 2014

120+ Fabrics Inspired by Children's Books

We love fabric and we love children's books...so we really LOVE fabric inspired by our favorite children's books.  Since we've been celebrating books all last month here at Pieces by Polly...and we're pretty much always celebrating fabric around here, I thought it would be fun to do a little of both.

I've rounded up links to over 120 fabrics inspired by Children's books, plus you can enter my giveaway for some fun book fabric panels here.

While, I'm generally not a fan of licensed fabric (sorry, Dora the Explorer, Seahawks, and Tinkerbell fans...those fabrics just aren't for me!), I do have a huge weak spot for fabric inspired by the art in our favorite children's books...even more so when the illustrator themselves were involved with designing the fabric.  With the right fabric, you can turn any project into something that will inspire your kids to love books.

It can be surprising hard to find discover some of these collections, if you don't already know what's out there (try googling "book fabric" and you're likely to be searching for a while.)  So...I thought I'd do a round-up of some of my favorites.  A big thanks to my fabric sponsors who all suggested a few lines I didn't know about...including some lines that they didn't carry themselves.

Fabric lines go in and out of print, just like books.  Actually...not quite like books because many fabrics tend to go out of print within a year or two...sometimes the fabric company reprints popular lines...and sometimes not.  I've been working on this post for a couple weeks, and at the time I found the fabric, all of the links went to active listings.  Inventories of fabric shops can fluctuate quickly.  If the shop I've linked to, no longer carries the fabric, try doing a Google, Etsy, or eBay search to see if you can find it somewhere else.

And if you know of fabric likes that are based on children's books that I missed, please let me know in the comments.  I'd love to add to this post or do a follow up post as new lines come out.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems for Cloud 9 Fabrics
I decided to start out with this fabric because it is currently my favorite book fabric.  If you haven't been so lucky as to come across Mo Willem's books, you need to go to your library or favorite bookstore and find some.  They weren't around when I was a kid, but they are FUNNY and they're easy to read...perfect for beginning readers who need a FUN read to draw them in.  If you follow Cloud 9 Fabric on Instagram, you may have seen this post that implies they're working on a Knuffle Bunny line, but I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that Mo Willems and Cloud 9 fabrics will come up with Elephant and Piggie fabrics before all my kids grow out of their books.  (Anson's only 2 though...so that gives them a few years.) 
The Pigeon Chorus Line Repeat, The Pigeon Frenzied, Organic Pigeon Speak, The Pigeon Dreams!, Pigeon Cheater Print, Pigeon Feathers Mint/Blue, Organic Pigeon Stripes, Pigeon Feathers White,

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Andover Fabrics - We've loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar around here for a LONG time.  Back when Becca turned one (and my blog was very young), I made her a special Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt and skirt, and we also made her a Very Hungry Cateripillar Cupcake Cake.  I am in LOVE with this Very Hungry Caterpillar Line by Eric Carle for Andover Fabrics.  Now that I've done several things with Dr. Seuss, I may just need to move on to Eric Carle as my next fabric obsession.  I am definitely going to have to get my hands on some of these.
Mostly left to right and top to bottom: Very Hungry Caterpillar Fat Quarter plus Panel from Sisters and Quilters, Very Hungry Caterpillar-Large, Very Hungry Catterpillar Abstract Dots, Very Hungry Caterpillar Yellow Numbers, Very Hungry Caterpillar Scattered Dots White, Very Hungry Caterpillar Grass Red, Very Hungry Caterpillar Dots MultiVery Hungry Caterpillar Panel, Very Hungry Caterpillar Small Scattered Fruit, Very Hungry Caterpillar Green Grass, Very Hungry Caterpillar Grass Blue, Very Hungry Caterpillar Food Stripe

Goodnight Moon from Cloud 9 Fabrics and Quilting Treasures - We've probably got 3 or 4 copies of Goodnight Moon at our house.  Both of our adopted kids received copies from their birth parents as babies and we've been given a couple other copies as well.  It's so hard to pick a favorite...but my favorite just might be the little yellow mice print.
Goodnight Moon Half-Yard Bundle from Honey Bee Good, Goodnight Moon Organic Mouse Yellow, Goodnight Moon Green Bunnies, Goodnight Moon Diagonal Stripes Yellow and Green, Goodnight Moon Stars by Quilting TreasuresGoodnight Moon Orange Bunnies, Goodnight Moon Organic Red and White Balloon, Goodnight Moon Diagonal Stripe Blue and White, Goodnight Moon Cats and Kittens Yellow, Goodnight Moon Half Moons, Goodnight Moon Panel,



Brown Bear, Brown Bear and other Eric Carle Fabrics by Andover Fabric- This is another favorite around here.  This is one of the first books our pre-readers can "read" because of it's repetitive nature and all the picture clues.  This fabric line was also designed by Eric Carle for Andover Fabrics.  I think some of these would be great combined with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Brown Bear Brown Bear Large Animal Toss, The Very Lonely Firefly, Brown Bear Brown Bear Tone on Tone Blue, Brown Bear Brown Bear Animal Silhouettes Red, Brown Bear Brown Bear Panel, Brown Bear Brown Bear Children, The Very Busy SpiderBrown Bear Brown Bear Striped, Brown Bear Brown Bear Paint Textured Orange, Brown Bear Brown Bear Animal Silhouettes White

Berenstain Bears from Moda - This is a classic from our childhood.  I love these fun prints that look just like the book illustrations.  I also like that they come in a pink version.
Half Yard Bundle of Berenstain Bears for Moda from Sisters and Quilters, Berenstain Bears Outdoor Dots in Red, Berenstain Bears Camp Activities in White, Fat Quarter Bundle of Berenstain Bears in Green, Welcome to Bear Country Butterfly Friends in Pink, Welcome to Bear Country School Yellow Names, Welcome to Bear Country Mama Dots in Pink, Bear Country School Red Names, Berenstain Bears Outdoor Dots, Berenstain Bears Camp Activities in Aqua, Bear Country School Royal Blue Mama Dots, Welcome to Bear Country White Names, Welcome to Bear Country Sports Equipment Green, Fat Quarter Bundle of Berenstain Bears in Pink

Dr. Seuss Fabrics from Robert Kaufman - I simply couldn't do a book about children's book fabrics without some Dr. Seuss thrown in.  Some of you might remember the two Dr. Seuss Quilts I made here and here.  Dr. Seuss prints have been really popular, and one of the things I love so much about them is that they're so gender neutral.  As far as I've been able to research, Robert Kaufmann has released 8 or 9 different Dr. Seuss fabric collections.  I've made a couple quilts with them and my personal preference is to mix and match from the different collections.  There really are too many prints to do them all justice in a collage, but I've chosen a few of my favorites with links.  If you're looking for more prints, your best bet is to go to your favorite fabric shop or fabric website and search for Dr. Seuss to see what else they many have to offer.

Oh the Places You'll Go Fat Quarter Bundle plus Panel, Celebration Characters on Blue, Tossed Characters in Black and White, Cat in the Hat Fishbowl on Red, Cat in the Hat Title on Blue, The Cat in the Hat Faces, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Celebrate Seuss Red Dots, Cat in the Hat Twin Things on White, Cat in the Hat Hat Toss on Black, Minky Cuddle Doodles, Cat in the Hat Yellow Crash, Oh the Places You'll Go Balloons, Oh, the Places You'll Go Purple Elephants, Cat in the Hat Panel

Busy Town by Richard Scary for Quilting Treasures

Busy Town to the Rescue Stripe, Busy Town to the Rescue Tossed Fire Trucks Blue, Busy Town to the Rescue on Yellow, Busy Town Small Vehicles on Green, Busy Town Book PanelBusy Town Scenic Blue, Busy Town to the Rescue Tossed Fire Hats Yellow, Busy Town Blender Green, Busy Town Character Toss Red, Busy Town to the Rescue Tossed Fire Animals Blue, Busy Town to the Rescue Book Panel

Beatrix Potter - I found these charming Beatrix Potter prints inspired by the illustrations in Peter Cottontail.  They're part of the Cotton Tail Collection for Quilting Treasures, available at Fabric.com.

Cotton Tale Patch Panel Aqua, Cotton Tail Bunny Pink, Cotton Tail Diagonal Stripes Aqua, Cotton Tale Bunny Aqua, Cotton Tail Tossed Bunnies

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Okay, these are not my favorite books as far as kids' lit goes...but Katie likes them and they can get reluctant readers interested in reading, especially since they've got fun doodle drawings throughout.  As far as I know, these are only available at Jo-Anns, and I've only seen these two prints.  My small JoAnns didn't have them, so I recently had my mom pick some up at her larger Joanns to make a pillowcase for Katie.  Also, as an FYI with these...the scale on the parchment print is quite large, so if you're looking to use them on a small project, I'd go with the red.
 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Parchment, Diary of a Wimpy Kid on Red

Corduroy Collection for Timeless Treasures - Here's another classic character.  The illustrations in these prints seem to be from some more recent spin-off books illustrated by Lisa McCue than from the illustrations by Don Freeman in the original Corduroy books.  I'm not very familiar with the newer  books, but the pictures are delightful and he's still wearing his signature green corduroy overalls.  I think the library print is my favorite of the bunch.
Corduroy Grown Chart Panel, Corduroy at the Library Alphabet, Corduroy Tossed Toys, Corduroy Stripes, Corduroy the Bear Maze Green, Corduroy the Bear Pillow Time Panel, Corduroy the Bear Tossed on Blue, Corduroy the Bear Scenic Vingette, Corduroy at the Library

Little Golden Books by Quilting Treasures - I don't think any of our childhoods would have been complete without The Little Golden Books.  Now there are some really fun quilt panels and coordinating fabrics out there that open up all kinds of options.
Little Golden Book Shy Little Kitten Panel, Shy Little Kitten Toss on Blue, Shy Little Kitten Golden Book Stripes, Golden Book Binding Green, Tawny Scrawny Lion Stripes, Fuzzy Duckling and Sunflower Toss, Golden Book Binding Brown, The Fuzzy Duckling Book Panel, Tawny Scrawny Lion Book Panel, Tawny Scrawny Lion Tossed on Blue, Fuzzy Duckling Barnyard Scenic, Tawny Scrawny Lion Tossed Bunnies

The Mitten by Jan Brett for Quilting Treasures - Jan Brett has always been a favorite illustrator of mine, but I didn't know until doing research for this post that there is fabric inspired by her books.  From what I can tell, this line just came out last year.  I can't wait to see which other Jan Brett Books get turned into fabric next.
The Mitten Book Panel, The Mitten Animal Toss Forest, The Mitten Sweater Texture Tan, The Mitten Snowflake Tonal Blue, The Mitten Toss Red, The Mitten Sweater Texture Red, The Mitten Snowflake Tonal Green, The Mitten Sweater Texture Pale Blue

Where the Wild Things Are - This is a collection that I've only seen at Joanns.  Most of the fabrics have disappeared from Joanns website, although many stores still have them in stock...so now is the time to track them down if you've got your heart set on them. You can also find yardage online in Etsy Shops or on eBay, and one of the prints below is available on Spoonflower.
Where the Wild Things Are Blue, Where the Wild Things Are Jungle, Where the Wild Things Are Crowns, Wild Monster and His Friend on Spoonflower, Where the Wild Things Are on Green, Where the Wild Things Are Faces,

So which collection is your favorite?  Which book do you most wish to see on fabric someday?

Please show my sponsors some love...
The Pigeon Fabric - From Quilt Sandwich Fabrics
Berenstein Bear Fabric - You Keep Me in Stitches
 
Oh, The Places You'll Go  Bundle - From Sisters and Quilters

Hexies by Halves PDF Pattern - Pieces by Polly

I'll be linking to:
SixSistersStuff.com make it wear it   Photobucket Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party! Fresh Poppy DesignOr so she saysSo I Married A Craft BloggerWIP Wednesday at Freshly PiecedSomewhat Simple   I Quilt @ Pretty BobbinsThe Girl CreativeThe Girl CreativeMake it and Love it

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9 comments:

  1. This is such a great post! You can tell you put a lot of thought into it. Thanks for sharing! I love how many of these I have tucked into my stash! :)

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  2. Beautiful post. Yes - the little yellow mouse print from Goodnight Moon. I always loved looking for the mouse hiding in each of the illustrations - helped the book not get so boring to me as I was reading it for yet another bedtime! I think my favorite collection overall is the Brown Bear, Brown Bear array. Just looking at them makes my heart happy!

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  3. Great roundup! I'm also loving the Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus fabrics because I love the more quirky art style of those books.

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  4. What a wonderful resource for book & fabric lovers!
    http://xoxograndma.blogspot.com/

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  5. I've bought fabric from the Goodnight Moon, Golden Books, Hungry Caterpillar, and Berenstein Bears collections. I love them all, but my favorite has been the Golden Books collection! My 3 year old would love "Where the Wild Things Are" fabric... might have to track some of that down.

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  6. I know I am a few years late with my response, but I was google searching this very thing. I would love to see Lily from Lily's Purple Plastic Purse. I am an elementary librarian and want to make some pillows. I will be buying these. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I need to update this post since several new children's book fabric lines have come out...including Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

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    2. And even though some of these fabrics are out of print now, many of them can still be found with careful searching on Etsy, eBay or online fabric shops.

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