Sometimes I create an all original textile design from start to finish, and sometimes that's not always the case. This is an example of a print where I played more the role of technician than original designer.
Last year when I taught the textile design repeats workshop for the new Mata Traders interns, one intern didn't really take to the repeating part. However, her drawings were beautiful and there was no way the Fall '13 collection was going to be complete without them.
Being a textile design technician is an interesting role because we make the decisions on how an original piece would look in repeat. Do we flip it? Turn it upside down? Repeat one section more than another? Does it resemble the original piece of artwork enough? These are just a few questions that run through my mind when working with someone else's original sketches, when placing them in repeat. I took our intern's sketches, scanned them, pulled them apart and pieced them together on Adobe Photoshop. The end result is this Falling Floral block print!
Left: Moonrise Dress RIght: Eternal Petal Dress from Mata Traders. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman.
This print is one of my favorite block prints we have in the collection. The Moonrise Dress on the left and the Eternal Petal Dress on the right are being sold through Mata Traders. These dresses also have some wonderful hand stitch embellishments throughout the dress which really drives the handmade feel home.