The Swirl is Back!

When I started as the textile design intern at Mata Traders in the fall of 2011, I was working on designs for the fall of 2012. I believe I designed as many as 7 new textile designs (including the Roses Print) but only one made the cut - the Swirl print. The dress on the right made it to production while the rest of the prints had to wait another collection or two before being manufactured. 

We brought the Swirl print back for Mata Traders Fall 2013 collection (the dress on the left) and surprisingly, it is one of the best sellers this season! This art deco inspired block print has had a color and slight style change and been flying off the shelves at the Mata Traders warehouse! Maybe this print will be brought back in the future, but for now I am pleased that the print has been extremely successful this season.

Collaborating Over Bottles

A few weeks ago, I posted about the collaborative bottle print on the Toast to Coast dress on ModCloth. Now I am here to share the 2 dresses available in this print through Mata Traders: the First Dance Dress and the Starling Pockets Dress. This retro cocktail design was actually a collaboration between myself and 2 interns who worked at Mata Traders last summer. We each illustrated a few bottles and glasses, only to combine them all to create this snazzy pattern. To make this print as literal as possible, the 3 of us would have to have been drawing over drinks! This is a great example on how collaborating is a wonderful thing. While I have my own style and ideas, it is really great to work with others and break out of comfort zones.  In the last 2 collections I designed for Mata Traders, I have been more of a designer and teacher rather than a collaborator. Writing about this pattern now, makes me itch to collaborate again. Maybe I can achieve this goal this upcoming winter when we start designing for Spring 2015 (thats right, we work wayyyyyyy in advance!)

Left: First Dance Dress. Right: Starling Pockets Dress. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman.

Playing the role of pattern technician

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. 

Happy Houndstooth Mistakes

Last summer, while we  (the design team at Mata Traders) were looking over the trend forecast, one of the interns had her heart set on houndstooth. This traditional geometric print has been seen all over the fashion world and we decided to try to make  our own version of the pattern.  At one point she mentioned that she was having difficulty finding the repeat. I spent an afternoon trying to not only find it for her but to teach her how to find it on her own. While doing so, I made a mistake and it came out like the print you see now. I immediately laughed because all I could see were cats! 

Left: Catstooth. Right: Traditional Houndstooth. 

Hundreds of cats were repeating on my computer screen and together we decided this was a fantastic twist to the classic houndstooth: It would now be our Catstooth pattern!  I kept thinking about how my friend Haley, a feline lover, would possibly walk into work wearing this dress. She would subtly state her love of cats while still looking work appropriate. This was a classic happy mistake moment that is now available not only on the Mata Traders site under the Half Moon Dress Catstooth, but on ModCloth as well as the Curriculum Vitae Dress (ModCloth even has plus sizes). 

Textile design "Catstooth" print by Shifra Whiteman. Dress available on ModCloth & Mata Traders.

Making The Cut

I am so pleased to share another print of mine that made it to the Fall 2013 collection for Mata Traders. The crazy thing about this print is that I designed it way back when I was an intern in the fall of 2011 for the Fall 2012 collection.

Back then I was designing all sorts of patterns that were (in my opinion) great, edgy and contemporary. Unfortunately they didn't make the cut for the Fall 2012 collection. I am going to be totally honest and admit that I was upset and took it personally. At the time I was more interested in getting my work out there as soon as possible. Most people don't realize that as fashion and textile designers, we work on collections a year in advance. After designing 6-8 new prints for Mata Traders, they only chose 1 print to go through for Fall 2012 (and it wasn't the "Roses" print). 

What I wasn't thinking about at the time, was the collection as a whole. This is something I have learned loads about since my time as an intern. A collection needs to be balanced, have a variety of cuts and prints, staying safe but taking risks, and stay in a theme of color and direction. My 6-8 prints were great individually but didn't necessarily work well with what was being created in garment patterns or in unison with the other prints being used that season.  

"Roses" Dresses

Luckily for me, most of those prints made it into the Spring 2013 collection (which made me personally very happy and proud) but the "Roses" print still hadn't been used. Which brings us to Fall 2013. I am proud to announce after four collections from start to finish, that the "Roses" print finally made the cut! Here you can see the print in two different color stories and on two different dresses! The First Dance Dress on the left and the Meet Me In The Meadow  Dress on the right. This print has really taught me the lesson of patience and harmony. Sometimes we need to be patient in order to use something we created and wait for the right time for it to be used. When that time comes, it should be used in sync with the rest of what is created, in order to bring out the best it has to offer.