Working with Cork- here’s some tips!

But an odd thing happened on the way to the Quilt Festival in Houston last year. It’s not uncommon for fabric houses to ask me to make samples for them in new fabrics making their debut at the Market, but this time I was asked to make up a sample in a brand new type of cork which I was told was as thin and pliable as quilter’s cotton. I was skeptical, but I agreed to give it a go with our GateWay design which was also debuting at the 2019 Quilt Market!

But an odd thing happened on the way to the Quilt Festival in Houston last year. Here’s the deal… it’s not at all uncommon for various Fabric Houses to ask me to make samples for them in new fabrics making their debut at the Market, but this time I was asked to make up a sample in a brand new type of cork which I was told was as thin and pliable as quilter’s cotton. I was skeptical, but I agreed to give it a go with our GateWay design which was also making its debut at the 2019 Quilt Market!

Still though, I was hesitant to list cork as a recommended material for the GateWay pattern because I wondered how well this thin cork would hold up to the wear n’ tear normally inflicted on handbag exteriors. Would the cork crack and peel away at the bag corners? Would it hold up to the stress inflicted by the slide buckle on the bag strap?

Well, there was only one way to find out, right? I decided to carry one of these bags and give it the true “gorilla test”! But here’s the deal… After carrying it for four months of “extreme usage”, I’ve yet to see anything wrong with the bag exterior! This new cork was the real deal!

That’s when I decided right up front to try using this new thin cork for our next design so that if it worked out as well as it had for the GateWay design, I could list it officially as a recommended exterior material!

You can see the result in the photo at left. For this particular sample, I used the cork for both the front and the back side of this Side Slinger sample with surprisingly little difficulty. I was totally pleased with the results but even so… I did note a few special considerations that need to be observed whenever cork is substituted for quilter’s cottons.

They are as follows….

1. Try to do most of the pinning in the seam allowance areas. Cork does tend to self -heal but it’s wise to be careful all the same.
2. This cork takes a press beautifully, but I definitely utilized a pressing cloth. Never apply your hot iron directly to either side of your cork fabric.