Eggemoggin Textile Studio

Back in the days when I wholesaled my own ribbon, I developed some wonderful friendships with my customers, who would call to placean order and then we would chat about sewing, design, textiles, trends, ideas.  I miss that, even though I am no marketing genius and was very happy to turn over the wholesale marketing of LFN Textiles Artists Ribbons to Renaissance Ribbons in 2007.

I got to know Chris Leith in that way.  Chris owns Eggemoggin Textile Studio in Sedgewick, Maine, and like me, she is primarily a handweaver.  Once she sent me a lovely little package with sea urchins, delicately wrapped in hand-dyed threads, which are on a shelf here in my studio to this day.  Studying them provided the basis for my various Sea Urchin patterns, which I sell over at Spoonflower.

 

Sea Urchin 6

Chris sent a newsletter out this morning, and she wrote that she is featuring a series of Garden Pillows each hand woven or hand-dyed, and all trimmed with my ribbons.  How delightful!  I love living in a world where we makers and designers and small businesses are all REAL people with names and personalities and ideas, with whom you can correspond.  Another reason it seems so silly to even think of shopping at places like Michael's and Joann Fabrics, where all is the same and no one knows your name.

Garden Series 1 pillow by Chris Leith, Eggemoggin Studio 2010
(note: Tree ribbon in this width is no longer available, it is now 1 7/8" wide)

ribbon and crochet

A while back, I spent a year researching crochet .  I was totally inspired by Sophie Digard's scarves (I own two! Lucky me!) and thought it would be great to be able to take off from her wonderful color blends and ring motifs.

I first tried actually crocheting and got several very cool books on Japanaese motif crochet.  Etsy sellers carry these wonderful Japanese books with such a different take on crochet,  I often look at Pomadour24's shop. 

So I spent that winter crocheting by the fire and quickly realized that -- although I pour plenty of time into weaving -- I simply don't have the time to get expert at this for my own purposes.  I hired out some crochet sample making from a lovely lady named Rose who I found on etsy, and sent thread & patterns back and forth to try color experiments.  That was fun but not getting  me where I wanted to be in terms of using crochet as a basis for textile design.

Finally I did what I have always done with my art: I drew what I cannot otherwise have.  I began drawing crochet doilies, and they morphed into all sorts of lovely designs, such as my Teatime Bedding set for Land of Nod.

I also designed a number of great Spoonflower fabrics based on doilies.

Meanwhile I was also paying attention to designing ribbons which referenced crochet.  Long ago I did a print ribbon,  How to Crochet. I also designed  How to Knit, which took off, as knitting was craft queen then, and I still sew knitting needle cases for the shop at the Cooper Hewitt Museum with that ribbon as trim.  (they also sell loads of LFN Ribbons there, and LFN Ribbons are proudly in their permanent collection).

Then I did Doilies for Renaissance Ribbons, based on lacy crochet doilies. 

And Fun Squares, aka Granny Squares (we sometimes name the same pattern differently!) inpired by Sophie Digard's lovely use of granny squares (above). 

And now we have Lacy Flowers coming out, based on a loose drawing of crochet flowers from the Japanese motif days.

Renaissance Ribbons at Quilt Market

LFN Textiles Artist's Ribbons will be well-represented by my wholesale partner Renaissance Ribbons at the upcoming Quilt Market, May 13-15 in Salt Lake City.  We will have loads of new designs by LFN Textiles, Kaffe Fassett, Sue Spargo and more designers.  See my new Teatime, Dessert, and Lacy Flowers ribbons there!

Spoonflower and LFN

I was recently invited by Leesa Hubbell of Surface Design Association -- she edits the Newsblog -- to write about my experiences in designing for Spoonflower, the online fabric print-on-demand service.  The article went live today, so do check it out!   Leesa will be chairing a panel that I will pariticpate on, along with Dawn Zero Erickson, Mary Jaeger, and Janelle Torrence   at the 2011 SDA Conference in Minneapolis June 4-17.