Monday, January 5, 2009

Anthropologie

We did a little sketching at Anthropologie last month.  It's such a great store of visual delights.  If I was 30 years younger, 30 pounds lighter, and much richer, I would dress in all of their clothes.  They have such great detailing to them.  And the home side is full of fun items that are often vintage inspired.



Their displays are always so creative and often done with simpled, recycled materials.  They had a wall of snowflakes made from corrugated cardboard and old fashioned clothespins, in a black,  white and tan color scheme.

I was inspired by some of their textile pieces and drew a quick sketch of one idea.  They did simple, rough applique and embroidery on top of prints.

I wanted to try a sample of that technique, but found I have very few large prints.  I did have this ugly piece of fabric that would work:

I then added a little applique and some bullion and straight stitches, letting the underlying print show through.  It's an ugly piece, but a fun technique to try later.  I think I'd like to try this on hand-painted fabrics or maybe black and white fabrics that have been block printed.


4 comments:

Suzanne Reynolds said...

Great sketches, Robin. I want those bird bowls from Anthropologie!

Love the applique and embroidery on the flower print, too. Would love to see it in person.

Sojourner Design said...

Neat idea, the applique and embroidery. Wouldn't small bits of sheer fabric roughly appliqued over a bold black and white print be exciting?

gerfiles said...

That applique-and-embroidery-on-print-thing is great, ugly fabric or not - I was just thinking along a similar line. I like your sketchbook pages, especially the one with the tea ball...

Dreamcicle Journeys said...

Robin, Did we sketch at the same place? It's fun to see your sketches and I like your playing with the applique and embroidery on a printed fabric- they add lots of dimension and interest.