In 2009, I visited my dear Dutch friend Tanja in the town of Utrecht, Holland. Those who have known me for a while may remember that Tanja was the inspiration for naming my business, Potjandozie, back in 1989, and she plays an important part in this new story as well.

Rachel and Tanja in the Lapjesmarkt, Utrecht 2012

Every Saturday, Utrecht comes alive with the Lapjesmarkt, the oldest and biggest (outdoor) fabric market in Holland displaying and selling fabrics from all over the country. For anyone who works with fabric, it is a visual and tactile paradise. Some of the finest fabrics from Holland line table after table along the cobblestone streets of this historic city. On my trip in 2009, I saw the market on my last day in Utrecht and hastily purchased several meters of fabric. Once home, I transformed the fabric into several scarves for my personal use, and these very soon became my favorite winter warmers.

In January 2012, I ventured back to Utrecht, this time armed with empty luggage to carry the fabric I knew I would carry home to develop into a line of scarves, my lapjeslijn.

I like to think of these bolts of fabric as “free range” fabric—let loose in nature, unconfined by the borders of a store. In truth, I’m the one who is freed—walking the streets of Utrecht, intoxicated by the beauty of the fibers and breadth of choices, enjoying the company of one of my dearest friends in the world, and always greeted by fresh tulips at the end of the boulevard. Fabric purchased with pleasure, joy, and passion for so much that I value in the world—friendship, beauty, fresh air, freedom, function.

I like the fact that these fabrics are truly remnants, once handled by some of the finest dress and upholstery houses in Holland, and that my job is to transform them into something whole, appreciated by those who make them their own.

Fabric from the Lapjesmarkt, Utrecht