• 5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Ladder for Home: My Own Experience
    by Kim

    It’s easier than you think to get a wrong ladder that won’t fit at home. I’ve done it once, thinking they are all universal, and “I’ll figure something out.” When I had to return the product, embarrassed that I’ve made a poor decision, it was time to learn how to consider stuff before buying it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SGR9VShNg0

    And so I decided to share my knowledge with you.

    Choosing the Right Ladder: 5 Points to Consider

    In my experience, when looking for the best ladders for home, here’s what you have to consider:

    1. Height.
      The most important thing is whether the ladder is of proper height. One of the most misleading thoughts is, “I don’t have to check the height, it looks like it will reach there.” It might not so be meticulous about the measurements.
    2. Materials.
      What are your priorities? Extra durability and maximum security/weight capacity or lightweight and portability? If it’s the first one, opt for fiberglass. It’s extremely durable and provides the safest conditions of use. If it’s the second one, an aluminum ladder will work the best for you. It’s lightweight yet very strong and also quite safe.
    3. Performance.
      What do you need the ladder for? It might be necessary for simple tasks like putting something on the highest shelf or taking heavy construction materials up. Decide on the major workload and choose the ladder accordingly.
    4. Unique needs.
      Do you have an unusual floor or something else that might require a special kind of ladder? There are tons of design opportunities at the moment, so you can definitely find a model for any needs. But it’s important to consider those beforehand or at least know where you can buy accessories.
    5. The brand.
      While not the most important factor, you should know who makes the ladder. By knowing what brand to take, you’ll be able to find a suitable ladder at any store, online or offline. Read reviews, ratings, and comparisons to choose the brand you’ll stick to in the future.

    You can add more personal points to the list, but these are the ultimate base. Go one by one, and you’ll get to the perfect ladder for home. Hope this helps, and you’ll find a perfect ladder for your home very soon!

  • My New Venture: Cotton + Steel
    by Kim

    Welcome to True Up, your source for fabric news, designer interviews, sale alerts, and everything fabric. For regular updates, like us on Facebook or subscribe to RSS feed with your favorite feed reader. Thanks for visiting!

    I hope you all have been well! Thank you for the sweet and understanding response to my shuttering True Up. It really means a lot to me.

    C+S.logo_-600x376

    As promised, I’m finally posting about my new project. At Fall Quilt Market we officially launched Cotton + Steel, a new brand/division of RJR fabrics. Melody Miller is the creative director, and the other designers are myself, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Alexia Abegg, and Sarah Watts. Oh, we just whipped up a little DOCUMENTARY FILM about all of this. Well, by we, I mostly mean Greg Miller, Melody’s husband, who is an incredible filmmaker and photographer.

    http://player.vimeo.com/video/76730844?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

    Cotton+Steel from Gregory Miller Pictures on Vimeo.

    It’s really only been nine months in the making so far. What started out as Melody’s search for a new home (around Quiltcon time in February) took on steam and quickly evolved into an idea for an entire new company. She came to me along the way for my thoughts, and by some lucky twist I got brought on as a designer. RJR, by the way, has been simply incredible to work with. We got to visit their Torrance, California headquarters and of course it was super cool for me to see the inner workings of a fabric company for the first time, including art director Yuko Hasegawa‘s studio, the warehouse, the machines that feed fabric from rolls to bolts, the whole operation! Rick Cohan, the owner, is a third generation textile businessman, and knows everything there is to know about the industry. Everyone at the company has been warm and welcoming and everyone is so excited for this new direction. We all wanted to do this the right way.

    So, hooray, I’ll be a fabric designer! Finally! My focus will be vintage reproductions, curated and styled into quirky, semi-narrative collections (read: novelty prints!). As you might know, vintage was my first love and it continues to be my strongest, and I’ve always wanted to bring my favorite prints back to be enjoyed and used by a new generation. My first collection is called Homebody, inspired by the joys of solitude and puttering around the house.

    homebodyplaque-600x800

    Despite me wanting to celebrate the antisocial streak that I imagine we all have, I have to say, we all conceived of Cotton + Steel as an old-school textile design studio, emphasizing mutual inspiration and collaborative creativity. At Quiltcon, while Melody was scheming, I was sitting in Kathy Miller‘s lecture on Tammis Keefe, where she talked about imagining working in design studios of old, a bunch of women chatting and painting the day away, bouncing ideas off each other and laughing and complaining and creating. The talk really had a profound effect on me, because I realized that was exactly what I was looking for. We all have a tendency to isolate ourselves behind our screens, but I am not one who can or wants to be creative in a vacuum. I’m not much of a believer in fate, but it does feel like that’s exactly what this all is.

    When Melody and Sarah conceived the name, they were thinking of the old American landscape, cotton mills and steel mills. I assumed the steel referred to scissors and Greg thought it meant sewing machines. So, it works on a few levels, which I think is awesome. What is really important to us, though, is honoring the traditions of the industry and the spirit of creativity that drives us all. Though we are inevitably going to be called RJR’s “modern” brand, we really want to draw on the traditions and spirit of our predecessors.

    We will be unveiling our collections at Quilt Market, right before they are ready to ship. Which means, no online sneak peeks before that. We want to build the excitement and we definitely don’t want you to be tired of seeing them before they are even available to buy. What I can tell you now is that we will have have our individual collections on quilting cotton, lawn, and cotton-linen canvas (more substrates to come). Being on multiple substrates from the get-go was very important to all of us.

    We are all working from a master palette, so there will be many mixing and matching opportunities. We also have a 30-something-piece basics collection and our own C+S solids. So, Homebody, August (Sarah’s collection), Mustang (Melody’s), Hatbox (Alexia’s), and Moonlit (Rashida’s), will be shown first in May in Pittsburgh and be in stores in July. And of course, we are beside ourselves waiting for our big launch.

    I have to say, while it was painful for me to not get to see all the new collections at Fall Quilt Market, it was a great change of pace for me to not be running around from appointment to appointment. We got a great response and I feel like I’m home now.

    I think that sums it up. Except to point you to all places to find us. We will see you on your social media channel of choice!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Pinterest
    Twitter

    P.S. There has been some interest from other folks in taking over True Up, so I’ll be working on that in the weeks/months to come. Keep your fingers crossed for a 2014 True Up relaunch.

    Related posts:

    1. Fall Quilt Market 2012: Kokka – Melody Miller
    2. Spring Quilt Market 2013: Kokka – Melody Miller
    3. Michael Miller Organic Cottons, and Laminated Fabric
    4. Preview: Ruby Star Spring by Melody Miller
    5. Fall Quilt Market 2010 – Kokka – Melody Miller

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