![\"\"](\"http:\/\/oliverands.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/fabric-wheel-logo.jpg\" "\\"fabric-wheel-logo\\""){kind=logo}
<\/a><\/p>\nCape Ann is inspired by the work of well-known illustrator Virginia Lee Burton<\/a>. You’re probably most familiar with Ms. Burton’s work through her classic children’s books The Little House<\/em> and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel<\/em>, which she both wrote and illustrated.<\/p>\n While I’ve always loved these books and her illustrations, it wasn’t actually her children’s books that inspired me to create this collection. Instead, a few years ago I found an article in a magazine about the Folly Cove Designers<\/a>, which was a co-operative group of artisans in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts that was founded and led by Ms. Burton. The artists in this group worked together to create hand-printed textiles which they sold themselves. The Folly Cove Designers grew out of \u00a0a renewed interest in the Arts and Crafts movement that began in England in the mid-1800s, and the group found inspiration in the environment of Cape Ann and its flora and fauna. They\u00a0believed that their art should be both useful and creative.<\/p>\n Hey wait, are you sensing a theme here? Modern Workshop<\/a>, my last collection, was inspired by the Wiener Werkstatte and its emphasis on hand-crafted homewares and other objects that were both useful and beautiful. \u00a0That concept of usefulness and quality seems to be striking a chord with my designs lately, hasn’t it? Must be my practical Midwest upbringing.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the Cape Ann collection. I love Ms. Burton’s charming textile designs and illustrative work \u00a0and wanted to try something like this myself. So although I don’t think of myself as an illustrator, a few of my illustrations sneakily made their way into this collection. For example, this print is called Indian Summer, which is my version of a toile and features drawings of children playing. If you look closely, you’ll even see S and Bear!\u00a0(She loves it that her favorite dress has a drawing of her on it.) My favorite drawing in this print is the boy and girl playing dress up. He’s wearing scuba flippers and she’s got butterfly wings and an over-sized hat. The images are sweet and a little quirky, to keep the feeling of the print a bit lighthearted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Virginia’s Closet print is taken more or less directly from my sketchbooks and includes many Oliver + S pattern designs. When we introduced Cape Ann at Quilt Market last spring (was it really that long ago?) I drew some of these clothing designs directly onto the chalkboard walls of our booth, just for the fun of it. (Sorry they’re a bit hard to see in the photograph below. Click on the image if you want to enlarge it.)<\/p>\n Like the Folly Cove designers, I was also inspired by a lot of the flora and fauna of our own neighborhood, right here in New York’s East Village. Last fall when I was designing this collection we walked by loads of chrysanthemums plants on our way to S’s school every day. Those autumn flowers inspired two chrysanthemum prints, Chrysanthemum Swirl and Starburst Mums.\u00a0We also pass some gingko trees on our way to the library every weekend, and the fallen leaves inspired the Gingko Toss print. As far as the rest of the prints go, you know I like a good stripe. This one is reminiscent of a classic ticking stripe (but hand-drawn in this case, to give it a little charm and character). It is great for boys, too.<\/p>\n And of course the collection includes a polka dot. I’m a sucker for polka dots. You too? I think this one turned out really fun and versatile.\u00a0I added a surprise along the selvedges of the polka dots. They’re little labels you can sew into your finished projects to personalize them a bit. I’ve been sewing them into samples, and they add a sweet little personalized detail to the clothing. S likes them because they’re soft and they help her to identify the back of her pants. They’d be a nice addition to anything you sew, really.<\/p>\n Here are the colorways and all the prints for the collection together:<\/p>\n The Cape Ann prints work nicely together for quilts as well as for apparel. Like the Folly Cove Designers, the fabrics are sort of a co-operative of designs, I guess?\u00a0I’ll show you some quilts soon, but here are a few examples of Oliver + S patterns that combine multiple prints, just to show you what I mean. Nothing overpowering in these print combinations. Instead, they play nicely together. They’re a little like a well-behaved playdate where the parent doesn’t have to constantly intervene and can let the kids play nicely on their own. You know what I mean.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n