About Contempo

Modern Fabrics. Manhattan Style. So what’s it all about?

ContempoWell, tucked away between the skyscrapers and hustle-and-bustle of New York is a place where fabric magic happens. Inspired by the runways, the trendy street kiosks of Soho, by the colors and lights and music of the city, the Contempo studio was born. This is contemporary and modern fabric design, Manhattan style, which means fresh, new, sophisticated and trend-setting. Contempo’s Modern Manhattan-inspired prints really adds a unique addition to the Benartex fabric world. Perfect for the modern chic home, these fabrics are great for quilts and wall-hangs to really tie a modern loft together.

Meet Our Designers

Quilters, artists, authors, teachers…we’re proud of our design family! Designers are listed in alphabetical order for your convenience.

Shelley Cavanna
Shelley is the self-taught quilter and designer behind the pattern label Cora’s Quilts. She makes her home near Sacramento, CA with her husband and their two young boys. She loves drawing inspiration from her favorite haunts in the nearby Sierra Nevadas. Shelley has a passion for modern, intricate, mosaic-inspired quilts, with just a little bit of Fair Isle Knitting and Pixel-Art inspiration mixed in. She’s a huge fan of bold colors against crisp, white backgrounds, and loves bringing classic quilt blocks back to life with vibrant prints. For info on quilt patterns and online classes visit www.CorasQuilts.com. See her fabrics here.

Amy FriendAmy Friend
Amy Friend is a former museum curator turned designer. She designs modern quilts and specializes in paper pieced designs. She authored the books “Intentional Piecing” and “Improv Paper Piecing: A Modern Approach to Quilt Design”. She is an award winning quilter and her quilts have been exhibited at quilt shows as well as museums. She is an active member of the Modern Quilt Guild having cofounded the Seacoast MQG where she served as the first president, she is also Project Manager for the annual QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge. You can follow her creative path on her blog, duringquiettime.com. See her patterns here

Cherry GuidryCherry Guidry
Cherry is a professional longarm quilter/designer from Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio. She loves fabric, color, polka dots, and spending lots of time at her sewing and longarm machines. Her patterns and prints are wonderful and whimsical and so popular. Cherry hopes that her work will inspire you to create something beautiful today. Her prints just pop with color. Be sure to look for accompanying quilts and project patterns from Cherry. Cherry also designs fabrics for Benartex and you can find her fabrics here.

Christa WatsonChrista Watson
Christa began her love of quilting in 1994 when a group of church friends invited her to tie quilts for charity. It was love at first stitch. Christa lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada where her husband and 3 kids all think it’s normal to have a house full of fabric! Christa is the author of two machine quilting books and she loves helping others discover the joy of quilting their own quilts! She considers herself to be a perfectly imperfect quilter and she enjoys the look of hand-crafted quilting where you can tell that a person made it rather than a computer. Check out her website at christaquilts.com. Find her latest fabrics here.

Amanda MurphyAmanda Murphy
Amanda Murphy has been designing, drawing, and sewing since she was a child. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, she worked as a graphic designer and art director in Virginia and New York City. After moving to North Carolina, Amanda soon discovered quilting, an art that marries her passion for design with her enthusiasm for handwork. Amanda markets a full-color pattern line under the Amanda Murphy Design label and has designed several fabric collections. Amanda also is a BERNINA Artisan, and teaches online classes in quilting and embroidery. See her website for all her latest quilts and posts. Find her fabrics here.

Modern Quilt StudioModern Quilt Studio
Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr are professional quiltmakers and co-founders of Modern Quilt Studio. Bill and Weeks are pioneers of the Modern Quilt Movement having written the first book on Modern Quilting, The Modern Quilt Workshop. Weeks made her first modern quilt in 1987 to rethink the possibilities of the American quilt as being expressive of the time in which we live. Having sewn since he was 8, Bill began designing and making modern quilts in 1995. They have been making modern quilts together full time since opening their studio in 1999. See their latest collections here

Frequently Asked Questions