My next collection for Windham Fabrics, Apothecary, has just become available for wholesale pre-order, so I thought I’d share a preview of the collection here, and give a little background on the collection’s inspiration and development. The range includes 21 prints on organic cotton fabric, designed for home sewing, quilting and apparel.
This one has been close to my heart, as I’ve been doing a bit of a deep-dive into the medicinal properties of my plants, and it’s been fun to carry that through to my sketches, and then to the fabric designs. Plants are so cool! And there’s so much to learn! Dave and I have been trying really hard to improve our sleep and get a solid evening routine down, so I’ve been experimenting with bedtime teas made from the herbs and plants we grow – chamomile, lemon balm, sideritis, anise hyssop, tulsi basil and mints – and it’s been pretty effective, as well as delicious. A friend of mine is a beekeeper, so when we’re lucky enough to score a jar, we even have local honey to add! The mason jars and spice bottles are starting to line our kitchen shelves, and it makes me think of vintage herbalists and apothecary shops, so I started sketching and developed the theme from there.
I don’t always develop my collections in a sketchbook – sometimes I work on loose pieces of bristol, or a spiral gouache pad – but this time I used a little 7×10″ sketch journal, and I really liked the effect. I had to work a bit to touch up the illustrations where they went over the seam, but I did like the more casual approach. I’ll show the sketchbook pages together with the final fabric so you can get an idea of how the little gouache paintings become repeated fabric art.
The main print is called Healing Garden, but in my sketches I was playing with Green Witch icons, so it’s a little nod to herbalists and wise women who practice nature based healing in harmony with the environment and the moon cycles.
The Specimens print started as a study of some of the plants in our garden – except for Elderberry, which I don’t grow (yet). I am always trying to squeeze in one more plant, but honestly I think I’m at maximum capacity now.
Whenever I design a collection, there are always a few prints that don’t make it in, whether because they’re repetitive, or don’t quite fit the theme, or something. The Spoons print below didn’t make it in, but it’s one of my favorite spreads in the sketchbook, so I’m going to include it in this post. 🙂
The full collection of 21 prints is both GOTS-certified organic and also Oeko-Tex certified, so it’s not only non-toxic for you, but is also produced in a way that meets high environmental and social standards. The prints are available now for wholesale pre-order through Windham Fabrics, and will be shipping to shops in January!
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