Springtime has arrived in Northern California with a profusion of blossoms- cherry, plum, forsythia, redbud, and a million little wildflowers peeking up from between the brand new blades of green grass. This season is the last chance for us to have any real rain until late Autumn, so we are loving the cloudy skies that are visiting us this week (with rolling thunder! hooray!).
It's natural for me to resonate with everything bright and florid and exuberant in fabric this time of year, especially the tropical prints from Hawaii that have been a huge influence Californian fashion for decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, especially, there seemed to be an ongoing style conversation between island prints and hippie prints... and honestly I think the lush, colors-and-life-exploding-everywhere motifs and colors of Hawaii had more to do with the crazy outfits of the hippies than the lysergic acid!
My latest creation from The Factory (my new studio space!) is a marriage between a modern piece of wildly sequined fabric, and a 1960s Hawaiian fabric:
*Tropicalia Hoodie, hitting the shop tomorrow*
I was experimenting with digital collages on the computer in the mid-winter, but now that I have space to spread out different fabrics (they are pinned to the large white wall in wild profusion) my metier has become fabric collages. It is an incredibly satisfying process, though it can take a while for me to find the fabrics that go together perfectly... I was waiting a while for this combination to appear.
Pieces in process
A hoodie is a staple during transitional seasons (and a year-round necessity in foggy places on the coast). This one is a lightweight hoodie, so it's just the right layer for a little extra warmth during the hot weather (aka in the mornings and evenings).
It's been such a joy making these fabric collages... and there are many more to come!
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