Wildflower Hour: my first collection designed for fabric

The collection portfolio page, featuring a rainbow of 24 surface patterns.

As an East Coast transplant to the great state of Texas (said unironically), I had no idea what to expect from a year’s weather. I had visited UT Austin in late March of 2006 from my language program in Paris, and the contrast was severe—Paris was still winter, cool and barren; Austin was an explosion of color. But when all of this would happen wasn’t clear to me when I started my graduate program in the fall of 2006.

The weather was great once the summer heat calmed down, but I don’t think I could’ve imagined the earth erupting in so much color so early until February of 2007. What’s more, it wasn’t confined to parks and gardens—there were wildflowers on even the shlubbiest median strips!

This beauty was by design. In the 1960s, first lady Lady Bird Johnson spearheaded the Highway Beautification Act, which filled highway median strips and roadsides with oceans of wildflowers. If you’re ever in Austin, you absolutely must visit the Wildflower Center, named in her honor, in South Austin. It’s amazing year-round!

When this collection began to take shape, it was clear that my inspiration was the explosive energy of a Texas spring. This collection's folk-art inspired flowers bring the energy of nature emerging from every nook and cranny, in the middle of highways and businesses and otherwise drab places. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to sew with it!