For Rachel Brenchley, founder of BasicGrey, the drive to create beautiful designs has taken her beyond paper and fabric. “I joke that I need to pick a lane,” she laughs, explaining that her passion for design has spread to architecture, interior design, and even landscaping. “I’ve designed entire homes for people, including the interiors and landscaping!”

From scrapbooking products to landscaping? You’d expect nothing less from a designer who began in a completely different industry and went one to develop one of Moda’s most popular basics collections to date!

From Paper…to Grunge

Rachel started BasicGrey as a surface design company about 20 years ago, largely focusing on papercrafting products at first. But when she connected with Moda Fabrics a few years later, designing for fabric felt like a natural next step. “My mother and grandmothers and aunties were quilters,” Rachel explains, so she was familiar with quilting even though she did not sew much herself.

Though BasicGrey has designed almost 50 fabric collections for Moda over the years, the brand is most closely associated with Grunge, its much-loved line of basics. “People weren’t quite sure what to do with Grunges at first,” says Rachel. But Grunges were part of the BasicGrey aesthetic right from the start, appearing in Urban Couture, BasicGrey’s debut fabric collection for Moda. “I’ve always preferred a little depth to things,” Rachel says, noting that even in her own home, she chooses elements that are “not so pristine – like lacquered brass and older furniture.”

Once quilters figured out that Grunge’s unique, layered texture – created by printing on dyed fabric – has the ability to adapt to the prints and colors used around it, Grunge’s popularity soared. It wasn’t long before it became a Moda Basic, and now, BasicGrey usually introduces a few new Grunge colors with each collection.

How a Feeling Becomes a Collection

“Sometimes, I have an idea in mind” when sitting down to design the next BasicGrey collection, Rachel says. For Sunday Brunch, Rachel says that it all began with a feeling. “I just wanted a collection that felt really happy and joyful, with a color palette that felt warm and inviting and radiated happiness.”

With that idea and feeling in mind, Rachel recalled a happy memory of a family meal that served as the creative spark for the print designs in this collection. “’Crepe’ (one of the prints in Sunday Brunch) was inspired by my mom’s collection of doilies,” which she keeps in a basket at the family’s cabin in Montana. Rachel tells the story of a time that her daughter set the table for Sunday brunch at the cabin by covering the table with the doilies.

From there, the collection just took on a life of its own. Rachel says part of the fun of designing a collection like Sunday Brunch is the process of deciding how to interpret these very specific brunch-related things – like scrambled eggs and pancakes, or colorful drinks – into print designs. “I wanted the floral to be delicate,” she explains – like a Dutch Baby, the name of the gorgeous large floral print in Sunday Brunch. A stack of pancakes – Short Stack – becomes a delightful stripe. And that warm and happy color palette Rachel wanted to create rounds out the concept with shades like Spritzer, Tea, OJ, Mimosa, Bellini, and Julep.

Capturing the Spirit of Sunday Brunch

Designers often choose a meaningful quote for their fabric selvedges that they feel captures the spirit of the collection. For Sunday Brunch, Rachel chose a quote from musician Drake: “Smile more than you cry, give more than you take, and love more than you hate.” To Rachel, this collection – like the happy memories that inspired it – is a reminder to do just that.

“I love the idea of brunch,” Rachel says, explaining that if you were able to have brunch, it meant that your day was laid back – you got to sleep in or just enjoy a slower pace that day. As a busy mom of four active kids ranging in age from early teens to early 20s – not to mention as a successful owner of a creative business – “I need more of those simple moments!” Rachel says.

Whether you’re stitching up a cozy quilt, a cheerful table runner, or beautiful bags and pouches, Sunday Brunch is the perfect collection for creating projects that celebrate the simple, happy joys in life!

Patterns, Fabrics, Moda Precuts, Kits and Grunge Basics are available now at your favorite quilt stores.

For more inspiration, be sure to follow BasicGrey on Instagram (@official_basicgrey) and visit www.basicgrey.com.