Ann Lauer's new collection, Butterfly Forest, is butterfly-beautiful! Working in a cool color palette, she's combined butterflies with tropical leaves for a fresh and summery feel. Below, she talks about her new line and shows off some of the patterns she's designed.
Why did you choose butterflies for your new collection?
They’re popular, summery, and one of
nature’s most delicate wonders. I like that the butterflies look realistic—maybe not in color, but in detail. I took a break from flowers and paired with tropical foliage instead.
Do you have a favorite print?
The piece I’m most thrilled with is the main print. I really
like tropical leaves—they have such a terrific variety of shapes and scales. It
also has butterflies, in black and white and in color. But the absolute coolest
thing is that behind the leaves are detailed pen-and-ink-style designs of
tropical leaves. It just shows up beautifully. It's a great focal print, but I also see it as a wonderfully
showy backing choice.
Any other prints you'd like to tell us about?
The “packed wing” design really looks like stained
glass, especially the dark multi version.
· And of course the stripe. This features the tropical leaves with the pen-and-ink background.
The leaf “stripe” is bordered by strips of the stained glass motif. Four
repeats across the fabric width means you can cut four borders out of one
length of fabric.
Let's talk about the color palette.
The cool colors--blue, purple, green--really blend nicely together. I haven't used blue in a collection before. Purple is probably my favorite color--I don't know that I'll ever have a collection without purple. I used it as a coordinate in Poppy Panache and Sundance, but you see it a lot more in Butterfly Forest. The entire collection pops with color and has fantastic depth from the shading effects. I think it's really refreshing.
What's one thing you'd like people to notice about your line?
I think it has such versatility. If you like butterflies, there are prints in three different scales. If you're not as interested in butterflies, you can use the large leaf print, the stripe, and the frond coordinates. Same with colors--you can make a multicolored quilt or you can choose to use more of either the blue, purple, or green prints.
Here's a look at the free pattern featuring Butterfly Forest which will be available on our website shortly:
A few of Ann's patterns, which you can find (along with kits!) on her website:
English Garden
That's Magic
Walk About
Imagine This
Morning Melody
Click here to see the entire Butterfly Forest collection.
Click here to visit Ann's website and see more of her patterns and kits.
