Happiness is….my first fabric collection!

Well 2021 had an exciting start to the year for me. My first fabric collection with Hawthorne Supply Co was released. Yes Birds and Blooms is my debut collection with them and I am so happy to see my dream become a reality. I wanted to share my process in creating this collection. I hope you enjoy a glimpse into the background of how these beautiful fabrics are created. 

Back in November 2019 I took the wonderful online course, Creating Collections with Victoria Johnson. I have always admired Victoria’s work and wanted to focus on building a cohesive collection and seeing it through to completion. The end goal was always to reach out to fabric companies in the hope of one day licensing my artwork on fabrics. 

The course itself was such a worthwhile investment. Victoria takes you through the stages of creating cornerstones- I think this was my first cornerstone or placement piece which tells the story of my theme ‘Birds and Blooms’. Along with great tips on selecting colour palettes there is also access to a Facebook group where like minded creatives share their experience and offer advice and support.

A big part of what I do is hand draw using black fine line pens. So with any collection it starts with my sketchbook. It took years of practice to draw directly on to paper using a pen, I never use a pencil. I feel this helps me commit to the artwork and just go with the flow and not let myself think about making mistakes.

Once I am happy with the amount of hand-drawn elements I have I then scan these into my Mac. I then look at sources for colour inspiration. I am often attracted to bright colours that bring me joy. I try to have a balance of light and some dark tones. I often look to Pinterest for inspiration but try to limit my time on there as it can be overwhelming.

I loved my colour palette for this collection so much I chose it for the branding of my website. I think it shows my personality well, it is playful, brings joy and a bit whimsical.

When Hawthorne Supply Co replied to my enquiry and said they liked my artwork and would be interested in working together I was so happy. It honestly is so heartwarming when someone says ‘yes’ to your artwork. Creating art is such a personal thing and putting so much of yourself into something that is open to criticism is very scary. But I learned over the years that you can have many ‘no’s’ sent to your inbox, but all you need is that one ‘yes’ to change your world.

I hope that you like my collection. I am so excited about it and love to see what people make using my fabrics. It brings me so much happiness to see my designs out in the wild.  Just click on the first image above to take you to Hawthorne Supply Co’s website where you can see the rest of my collection.

Thanks for reading about my exciting new collection and I cannot wait to tell you about the next one.

Lisa x