Did You Know? The Hidden Language of Ampersand

Let me ask you something.

When you look at a fabric, what do you actually see?

Most of us see color first. Then pattern. Maybe texture. And if we're being honest — we're already mentally cutting it into blocks before we've even touched it.

But what if I told you that Ampersand, my debut collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics, is full of things most people never notice?

Not because they're hidden on purpose to be tricky. But because the best design rewards the ones who look a little longer.

So. Let's look a little longer.

Did You Know #1: There's a love letter hidden in the stripes.

This is Between the Lines. And yes — before you ask — you can actually read it.

Look closer. Those stripes aren't just stripes. They're words. Sentences. Fragments of thought in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, and a little grammatical chaos in between.

Worte bleiben. Silent words. Lignes perdues. E ancora. Och vidare. Un soupir. & always.

Words remain. Lost lines. And still. And so on. A sigh. And always.

I wrote this print when I was standing at a threshold — leaving Moda after many years, stepping into something new with FreeSpirit. It is a farewell letter and a welcome greeting at the same time. I wanted to say something to the people who've quilted with me all this time. Something that wasn't a press release. Something that felt true.

So I hid it in the fabric.

Nobody is left out. Many languages got a seat at the table. And every quilter who's ever felt like they were reading between the lines — you were right. There was always more there.

Did You Know #2: The & appears twice — and they couldn't be more different.

This is the one that started everything. The hero print. Bold, graphic, unapologetic. That & fills the whole frame. It's a statement, not a suggestion.

But here's what most people don't know: I didn't use just any ampersand. I went looking for a specific one — a modern, unexpected letterform that felt like it belonged to now, not to some classic typesetter's archive. A & that had something to say.

And then I hid it again.

Same sign. Completely different energy. In Loop, the & becomes a fine-line drawing, almost abstract. You look at it and think: pretty geometric pattern. And then — there. And there. And there.

Once you see it, you can't un-see it.

That was the point. One symbol. Two voices. One loud, one whispering. A little like the move itself, if you think about it.

Did You Know #3: This collection speaks entirely in punctuation.

Stay with me here, because this is where it gets good.

Ampersand isn't just named after a punctuation mark. The entire collection is built from punctuation.

The asterisk. That little star that always means: there's more to this story. See footnote. Worn as a repeat, it becomes wallpaper for curious minds.

The period. Simple. Final. The thing that ends every sentence and makes it mean something. Even the most understated print in the collection has a job to do.

Now look at Ripples. Really look.

Those rings? They're not rings. They're exclamation marks — stacked, curved, arranged into circles that pulse across the fabric like sound waves. Like something being said. Loudly.

And Tangled? Those elegant hexagonal shapes include colons. The punctuation mark that says: what follows matters.The one that builds anticipation.

And then there's Code. A fabric that looks like encrypted text — rows and rows of letters that feel like they must mean something. Like a message waiting to be decoded.

They don't mean anything. It's pure chaos. A typesetter's nightmare, a cat’s trace on the keyboard, a designer's joke.

Sometimes the message is: not everything needs a message. And sometimes the best Easter egg is the one that turns out to be empty.

Did You Know #4: You might need glasses.

And because all of this — the hidden words, the disguised symbols, the punctuation masquerading as pattern — requires a certain kind of attention...

I designed a fabric full of glasses.

Round ones, square ones, cat-eye ones, tiny wire-frames and oversized statement frames. A whole crowd of spectacles, in every style, for every kind of looking.

Because some things in life — and in fabric — you only see when you slow down and really look.

Ampersand is my first collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics, and it is — if I'm honest — a love letter disguised as a fabric line. To the craft. To the community. To the idea that there's always more between the lines than what's immediately visible.

It ships November 2026. Pre-orders are open now e.g. at Fat Quarter Shop