Mod Corsage- Notes on a Collection

High (hi!) time to share this newest bit of fabric work with you kind people!  Introducing Mod Corsage- a 24-piece quilting cotton collection that headed out to stores worldwide about a month ago.  Here's the official inspiration statement that I drafted for the collection:

One of my favorite personal projects is a patchwork design called Mod Corsage where I've drawn inspiration from vintage Broderie Perse applique but put a modern, straight-line spin on the bouquet building. An exciting part of creating these somewhat improvisational, patchwork bouquets is sourcing the best fabrics for the floral, stem/leaf and background elements of the design. As a designer who never tires of floral themes, it occurred to me that these three, simple categories were a perfect direction to base an entire fabric collection. Mod Corsage offers bright, illustrative bouquet scenes with vintage flair as well as softer, more traditional floral renderings for balance. There are quirky, modern geometrics with high and low drama, and plenty of floral component pops here and there to build bouquets across all patchwork traditions. And, of course, so many of the fabrics are gorgeous stand-alone pieces perfect for fashion, accessory and home projects. Mod Corsage is everything I love about patchwork, flowers and color all rolled into one collection!

Memory

In some ways this collection feels like one that I have been meaning to make every time I sit down to design fabric.  That feeling happens once about every 5 or 6 collections... and I think it has something to do with purely expressing what I find beautiful.  And what makes my hands want to draw.  This is also a collection of process FIRSTS for me.  The above print, Memory, is the first time I have ever digitally altered a photograph to create a print.  Here is the bouquet photo shot taken a few years ago on my phone that started this print.  Though this print probably would have gone much faster had I drawn it, I am really digging the different feel that it has.

Observations

Another process first is this hand-drawn print, that was simply created by sitting on the front porch of my house and making a drawn bouquet out of everything that I saw blooming around mid-June of last year.  And I turned in more a drawing, and not a very perfected digital file, as I normally do, with flattened color.  I was interested in testing out the subtle print boundaries of the mill and how the screens would come out as they tried to match the roughness of graphite.  I love this one.  It feels so close to my sketchbook, that I have a tenderness towards it.  If one can have a tenderness towards a piece of fabric.  Here's a pretty usage.

Impression

And the remaining process first, is this watercolor print.  Again leaving the nuances of color as they existed in the original painting, and therefore leaving a bit to chance.  This one has such wonderful fussy cutting opportunities, as well as whole piece interest.

Leaving

Likely the most groovy of all of the prints both in form and color is this guy.  Really fun for fussy cutting too, or a mod dash of off beat color for garments.

Passage

Oh this is the fussiest of all the fussy cutting opportunities in the whole collection, but again great for full garments, bag and home decor uses.  Really large scale repeat, but section by section, has elements of ribbon like stripes on grain & bias, and triangular solid and woven bits too.  I've already used this one a whole lot for bias stems in applique.

Peonies

This has such a happy small-to-mid scale rich floral appeal, and I am itching to make Miss Mary Anna some sweet summer dresses or shorts out of all of these. 

Centered

This print was created with one thing in mind and that was to provide the pretty center to any sort of flower one might want to build in patchwork, whether fussy, applique, improv.... but the space of color that I left between the "centers" makes for a feminine but modern field of pretty.  It popped up in my Instagram stream a bunch as I was working on my patchwork projects for Quilt Market a few weeks ago.  After working with it so much it started to feel like eyeballs.  Lolz.

Stamped

A sweet, simple, iconic floral, that we all know may get used more than anything.  An ironic truth to designing fabrics that I have finally and happily come to terms with.  There is still a trick to getting them just right though, the really simple fabrics, I am happy with the way this one turned out.  So much so that I had decals made for the floor of my quilt market booth!  A sad moment to peel up and discard after the show was over!

Thaaank you for making it this far with me.  To the end of this blog post and the 10 years I've been designing fabrics! Back soon w some pretty patchwork!

xoxo, hoping life is happy where you are, Anna Maria

Fibs & Fables

Oh hi.  When I began work on my Fibs and Fables collection last winter, I remember thinking that by the time the fabrics are in hand, so much will have changed in my work & home life.  And while that is all true, returning to this blog to write about my design work feels comfortable and almost nostalgic.  I have been writing about my work here for just about exactly 9 years, which is hard to believe. I am so thankful for the personal history and correspondence that exists here and love being able to deepen it when time allows.  So today.  Fibs & Fables.  Here is the official inspiration statement:

"Fibs & Fables was inspired by my interest in and love for vintage fairytale illustrations and I have never had more fun doing research.  The notion of storytelling, in a sense, is a system of make-believe with various motives: to teach a lesson, to entertain or to perpetuate a culture's belief system.  And perhaps in a more cynical sense, stories are just fibs- but when set to beautiful images....they are welcome lies.  Exploring old German, Danish, British and American illustrations revealed all of the beloved book scenery that I got lost in as a child.  Many of those artists were themselves influenced by ancient artwork, ancient stories and Greek Mythology.  What entranced and inspired my color directions was the element of fear and tragedy combined with joyful resolutions.  The balance of the two, as well as the good and evil that is such a common theme helped me to cast a moody palette on the fabric's color ways. The prints themselves are a not so literal in telling any specific fib, fable or fairytale, but rather bring to light the elements that exist in so many of our favorite stories.  The collection is as fun for children's quilts, decor and clothing as it is unexpected for women's fashion."

I will further say that for someone who is not so much a novelty print designer, I found the fairytale theme a unique challenge.  And I can't say that I was inspired by any one fairytale or set of characters as much as I was inspired by the art that has told those stories over centuries.  I therefore sometimes shifted my focus to present imagery in a less literal way, but still include elements that act as the building blocks that can tell many stories at once.

So shall we have a look at the prints?



"Minutes"
A described above, I was as interested in peripheral imagery, and I suppose you can say that rather than having a print portrayal of a clock striking twelve, I have the above gem.



"Escape"
Church windows, castle windows, tower windows, yes this is much more literal.  But my focus here is on the possibility of escape from dark to light, as seen through the windows.  You just have to figure out which one you fit through.



"Helios"
I of course had to give a nod to Greek mythology.... but I was really only inspired to do so in this collection when I found so many illustrators over the past two centuries doing the same in their work.  Helios was imagined to be the god of the sun and he lit up the sky each night with four winged, fire-breathing horses.  And who wouldn't want to draw that?  Drawing horses is such a connection to my childhood that it was a welcome theme.  This one will also come in three colors of Rayon Challis.



"Dressmaker"
So many of my favorite stories as a child had an element of making- the spinning wheel in Sleeping Beauty, the humble dress made by little creatures in Cinderella, the invisible garment in the Emperor's New Clothes.... so I paired those ideas with the culture of dressmaking and tailoring that and set them to a seemingly magic wand of a needle doing the work without hands.



"Cottage"
This one is a sweet representation of folk art styles found in many German and Dutch fairytale illustrations and to me it feels reminiscent of cozy interior spaces and kettles and dishes.



"Plaited"
I was obsessed with drawing characters with braids when I was a girl.  I loved having to re-figure out how to do it every time.  I really enjoy how equally weird and normal this print can be.  Only weird when you imagine it to be hair, but more normal if you have baskets on the mind.



"Starry Eyed"
I suppose you could call this my wish upon a star print.  Eyes, tears, stars.  It is a tiny little print and this one will be in Rayon Challis as well.



"Labyrinth"
And if a fairytale is a depiction of struggle from start to resolution, I loved the idea of including some sort of a maze-like print.  I had originally thought of hedge mazes, but that was less interesting to me visually, so I was messing around with meandering designs.  Then when researching ancient Greek art to develop the Helios print, the Greek key design was waving at me.  It was saying DUH.



"Enchanted"
Well OF COURSE I had to do a landscape.  What good fairytale book was without some sort of landscape?  Aside from that, I have always been intrigued (terrified) of developing a landscape image into a repeat.  I presents a very unique set of challenges that other prints do not.  I've shown what an almost fat quarter looks like above so that you can see how it all comes together.  I will admit this one took me FOREVER.  Resolving how elements came together on all sides proved quite tricky (lots of walking away) and but then extremely rewarding once I let go of reality.  Stars become flowers.  Roadways lead to clouds.  Clouds become water.  Sky becomes ground.  And weeping willows grow tears instead of leaves.  And the whole of it is guarded by a flight of swallows (how could I not pay homage to Thumbelina?)  If you follow me on Instagram you might remember that when I was first sketching this print (in my bedroom mind you) that a bird practically landed on my shoulder who must have gotten in the house and was hiding under my bed.  Yep.



Fanciful colorway~



Noble colorway~



And Gallant colorway~



There are a total of 27 pieces in the quilting cotton collection, and I have been working on some very fun sewing for the upcoming fall Quilt Market which I'll be sharing in the coming weeks.  As mentioned above there will also be 6 Rayon Challis pieces, that I have already been making clothes out of!



Beginning on Monday of next week, my online shop will be pre-selling full collection stacks of Fibs & Fables which should ship out the first week in November!!!  And to celebrate the launch, anyone who pre-orders a full collection stack from my shop will receive a free limited run fine art print of Helios, shown above measuring 8.5x11".  Perks, people!

We will send out a note with a shop link along with some other studio news on Monday morning, so be sure you are on my mailing list!

I hope you love this collection as much as I loved creating it for you!
be well, xxooAnnaMaria

How To Remember Your Childhood

A book review of How to Catch a Frog: and other stories of family, love, dysfunction, survival and DIY by Heather Ross

I need to disclaim that Heather Ross is a dear friend of mine, and that is a fact I only wish had not been true while I was reading this book, so as to maintain- even just for her sake- as objective an opinion as I could of this truly illustrative memoir of her less than typical upbringing. But I will get back to that. A good review removes oneself, so here we go then.

This memoir of Heather's is shared from the perspective of a woman who has survived childhood- not a “normal” one if there is such a thing- but one where she and her sister manage to understand where they belong and what belongs to them for mere fleeting moments of their upbringing only to have the rules change on them again and again. In a broad stroke, Heather's style and her choice of vignettes keep you keenly interested on what happens next, have you watery-eyed both through laughter and through heartbreak, and have you as enthralled with the highly descriptive details of how she physically managed to survive her extreme, element-exposed childhood in rural Vermont as you are with her intensely lyrical and charming descriptions of the characters that populate this book- the characters that populate(d) her life.

The timeline of the memoir is one that jumps around a bit, but not in a really deliberate or highly methodical way that becomes overly scheduled so that you are expecting the four pages of present tense right after you've read the four pages of past tense. The hopping around is organic- much like how you would remember something about your own life, which would generate the more recent or much older circumstances that would naturally be called to mind. In other words, it is crafted just like a story that you are listening to as if you were sitting next to her.... where the conversation takes turns as necessary to paint a full portrait of a person and their path to here. 

There are almost no instances in the book where Heather takes the opportunity to describe her struggles of upbringing in a way that asks you to pity her. She seemed to so quickly take what was not good in her life and make it something else, and admits readily when what she made instead was a good decision or perhaps one a bit misguided.  It is the latter that truly reveals to her story-telling genius.  Any family, even a less than exciting one, has it's share of stories and circumstances that makes them a book of sorts.  It is specifically what Heather chooses to share about some family members and not share about others that gives rise to two figures who, in my mind, are heroines of her girlhood.   Her Aunt Jane, despite her shortcomings and delusions, became one of those within this paragraph and perhaps within Heather's life:

I ran into the bathroom and sat on the side of the tub, trying to hold back tears, my stomach and my chest pounding and aching.  Jane opened the door and quietly sat next to me, her hand on my back.  At first she said what she always said, trying to get me to smile, but I was past the point of needing just a cheerful chin-up.  What I needed, at that moment, was for someone, just once, to tell me that I was right, that even though I was a child, I was right, that this thing that felt so unfair was, indeed, unfair, that what was happening to me- the mother who was barely holding on, drinking more and more, dragging me along on her poorly planned adventures- wasn't O.K.  And Jane, for the first and only time in my life did that.  She pulled me up onto her lap and held me as tightly as she could and told me that she loved me, and then over and over again, her voice cracking, she said just one thing.  "I know," she said.  "I know, I know, I know"

I see the other, somewhat less described, heroine in her life- or maybe protectress is a better job description- as her twin sister, Christie.  The very fact that she is a little less described I think exemplifies who sisters are, in fact.  There is no need to go to a lot of trouble when describing them, because you yourself know them so very well, and everyone else should too, because they know you.  Or in this case, because Heather is telling of herself, she is also telling you about Christie.  One instance, much more comical than Jane's rise to heroism, where Christie shows herself as a truly motivated protector is this (and to preface, Heather's twin had just received a few oil paintings rolled into a tube and mailed that are of Heather who earned some extra money in Mexico sitting as a nude life model):

Upon opening them, she drove straight to the bank without even taking a minute to put on her shoes and deposited money into my account.  I returned to California in the spring certain that it was possible to make a living as an artist but not having any idea how.

I can honestly say, even from the perspective of someone who has heard a few of these stories- and even some of the back-back-stories to these from my friend Heather personally, that I was sad when it was over.  It is such an entertaining, and ultimately honest read. You will be overwhelmed with the fulfillment of watching a talented, seasoned artist allowing herself an honest look back at her life-  which I know was a very hard thing to do.  She has inspired me to jot a bit more down as memories soar over my head unannounced.  Not in sad ways, not in ideal ways, just in ways and with words that reflect exactly what I can remember.  I think she might inspire you to do the same.  There are so many more vignettes, including saving a couple of lives, meeting her husband after a string of people who would not do this lady (or any lady) any service as a husband, having her daughter, sprinkled with related DIY that concrete this book as something that will stay with you for a long time.  I ended so entirely glad that she is my friend and so happy for her that she managed not only to get through her life until this point, but that she got through the very, very good writing of it as well.  We are lucky for that.

I love the book so much that I bought 3 dozen copies!  But those are for the book signing that I am hosting for her at Craft South next week.  If you are in the area, stop over and visit with Heather and get your book signed!

xoAnna

Last official day

...of summer.

All my studio days this summer have been sorta short, or otherwise highly interrupted.  Summer is a completely different kind of work-at-home work. 5 people are headed back to school tomorrow.  We only have a 7 week summer in our county, bc they've extended the fall, winter and spring breaks.  Overall I think it works better for their brains but I am never ready for summer to be over.  Well, that's not true.  I do crave schedule right around now.  But I sorta hate to see them go.  I love hainvg this bunch of people around me so much, in spite of the occasional bouts with chaos and noise levels one cannot write a sewing pattern through. 

Anyway, this is today.  One layer at a time we are making a 4x6' family painting.  No rules except not to intentionally make a sibling angry.  We decided I should take the day off and do something we've never done together and this is what everyone settled on.  So that layer is almost dry, time to round them back up and head out for the next. 

I hope summer is treating you well.  I miss sharing here more with you.....I am easily found daily on Instagram if you miss me too.  I am far from giving up on blogging, though.  It just ebbs and flows like everything else in a lived life.

kisses, xoxoAnna

Pretty Close

By Land

By Sea

By Air

I am so pleased to share a close look at my new collection of quilting Cotton, Pretty Potent. Here is the write-up that I've offered to describe my inspiration for the collection in short:  

I've always considered sitting in front of a plant with a pencil and paper the best drawing class one can take. Looking to nature for inspiration and instruction on beauty is an old and welcome practice in all forms of making art. Using the natural world for healing is perhaps even an older practice. In my Pretty Potent collection, I drew inspiration specifically from plants and flowers that are often used for healing. While they possess properties to heal our physical bodies, the very beauty of the plants themselves seems intended to be a balm for the soul. Potent and pretty. The duality enchanted me

That is most of the story. There is always a bit more to it. Sometimes I feel compelled to share that extra bit, and this is one of those times.  As misplaced as the back story might actually seem in the realm of cotton fabric (for heaven's sake), I have always felt that there aren't any real rules to any of this so no imminent breaking of them I suppose either. Roughly a year ago I had a newborn baby who needed milk and precious undivided attention around the clock. I had the sting of shock with every move that I made having just lost my mother only weeks earlier, and in many ways was suffering from post-traumatic stress as the recurring images of the very intimate details of losing her slowly over several days by her side, as blessed as I was to be there, appeared in my eyes in my sleep and with every possible trigger of memory in my days.  I had contracted MRSA from the hospital where I delivered Mary Anna that was unbelievably painful and required a great amount of care to prevent giving it to the baby as the main infection site was right in my underarm very near where her sweet head rested as she nursed.  I had torn a ligament in my left knee by slipping down my father's stairs the night before the 40-day memorial for my mother, rendering me limp and unable to go on long walks that I desperately needed for my recovery of body and soul, without intense amounts of pain.  I had a vascular anamoly that would not stop bleeding for more than a month that finally required plastic surgery to remove from my sternum. And I was behind on work. Which was a pittance in comparison to all of the above, however it was work for which I so wanted to be joyful and healthy and glad.  It was designing my fabric collection. I was in need of healing.  In so many ways.  Specifically never in my life had I been in more need of physical healing, let alone the rest. I was bankrupt of the typically deep well of inspiration that I have for making art. I settled then, very mechanically at first, on allowing my work, my drawing, my coloring, and my inspiration to derive itself from subject matter that was very specifically about healing. But also beauty. Desperate for both.  My colorway names are derived from a prayer for travelers, as the tiniest additional plea from me.  And yes it is attached to something that certainly does not require such an outpouring of emotion or even thought, only being fabric.  But you see, there was no other possible way for me to do it if I could not create all of it at once, just like this and convince myself (a lie perhaps) that doing so in this exact way would certainly help.  I was so in need of help.  I prayed continually for it.  I asked my dear mother in prayer for it in a quiet room where I got no response other than a sweet baby making little slurpy nursing noises, and I would then have to force a response in my head, holding so closely to the imagined sound of my mother's voice, fearing if I didn't I would lose it forever.  I needed even this work for hire to be a process, a story, a prayer, and even a recovery.  And so it was.  A little.  And a joy now to feel how much I have indeed in every physical sense healed since then, across the months since the first drawing to now finally the sewing.  I will continue a little now, as though I have not indulged enough, and share each of the prints closely.


Echinacea is commonly used to heal a common cold and boost the immune system.


Chammomile is commonly used to heal inflammations of the skin and bacteria on the skin.


Eucalyptus is commonly used to heal wounds, ulcers and burns.


Mary Thistle was used in the first century to protect the liver and treat cancer.


Primrose is thought to have benefits for many different ailments including autoimmune diseases.


Aloe Vera is most commonly used to heal burns, but has uses for numerous ailments.


Banner Days is a design inspired by the Mexican folk art, papel picado which is used to decorate family celebrations like baptisms, weddings and even funerals.


Family Unit is inspired by the group of us that are commonly used to heal ME.

thank you, xoxoAM

Pride and Other Risks of Expression

photo by mario zanaria

sketch and photo by juliana horner

photo by mario zanaria

photo by mario zanaria

sketch and photo by juliana horner

photo by mario zanaria

photo by mario zanaria

photo by mario zanria

sketch and photo by juliana horner

photo by Thomas Iannaccone for WWD

photo by mario zanaria

photo by me of Juliana's piece in Pratt Look Book

You might remember something about me leaving my daughter in New York roughly four years ago.  Watching her, from a long distance vantage point, grow into an independent and immensely original artist has been something that I think I may utterly fail at describing. It is complex and beautiful and rewarding and humbling.  Attending the graduating fashion show last week held all of the excitement that we anticipated.  The phone calls, texts, emails, visits that we have had with her in recent months graced us with news of success and recognition by her peers and the faculty at Pratt.  Being asked to be in the show alone is an honor that not every graduating senior gets.  Which on the one hand feels unfair.  On the other hand feels just like the fashion world.  Might as well know that as soon as possible, I suppose.  But imagine our huge pride at watching her collection close the show.  The finale.  The last looks on everyone's mind.  Looks that have landed at WWD and  Style.com among others (in fact I just noticed the looks of Jeff's and my face are right over the models left shoulders in the WWD slideshow, snort).  If you want to see the entire show, it's right over here (her stuff begins around 57:30).
With the imagery of her collection still fresh in my mind, the single greatest joy for me is to have seen her and her work in the context of her peers and find it to be so completely unaffected by her environment or the work of others.  Watching the models float across the runway in her inventive, watercolor-y yet intensely engineered pieces still has me feeling as though I am swimming through her sketchbook.  The seemingly effortless translation of concept to final piece was fluid and graceful and utterly deceptive in hiding the hours and hours (and hours) each of the pieces took.  She sent her hands and heart down the walk.  It was a risk.  A huge risk to insist on your work being entirely from within and nothing else.  
Her collection is titled Containment and here are a few of her own words:
"As humans we have a natural tendency to contain things.  It gives us a sense of control, whether that control is real or not.  I wanted to play with this idea in the garments, both containing the body and elements within the fabrications themselves."
My only regret from the event is that she was backstage during her parade of work and could not see or feel how the energy in the room changed entirely as her pieces poured into the crowd of onlookers.  I have of course relentlessly described this to her ever since.
Congratulations to my beautiful, amazing girl.  My own greatest risk.
This is just the beginning.
xoxo