Blend Fabrics, based in Atlanta, is the new licensing
division of Anna Griffin Inc. Griffin has 18 years of successful product development
and design while working with a dynamic mix of talented, versatile designers.
Three fabrics from Blend’s Tilly line and six from their Timber & Leaf collection are currently being sold at Owl &
Drum’s store in midtown Tulsa and on its website, www.owlanddrum.com.
“One of the new collections by Blend Fabrics that we’re really excited about is called Timber & Leaf,” said Bianca Howell, the co-owner of Owl & Drum.
“One of the new collections by Blend Fabrics that we’re really excited about is called Timber & Leaf,” said Bianca Howell, the co-owner of Owl & Drum.
“It’s got a lovely woodland creatures theme, with wolves, foxes and deer. The colors are really great and the animals are beautifully illustrated.”
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| Playful Fox Blue |
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| Fawn in Birch Blue |
The Timber & Leaf collection, which is designed by Sarah Watts, features the wonderful flora and fauna of the forest in two sophisticated color palettes that include coral, gold, aqua and taupe.
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| Gerbera Grey |
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| Tree Rings Blue |
Watts, an independent illustrator and designer based in Atlanta, earned a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design.
In addition to her passion for textiles, she is also an “image maker” of books, concert posters and stationery. Storytelling, folk art, and “a touch of darkness” shine through in her work, while she says ink drawings and vintage color have shaped her visual aesthetic.
Designed by Charlotte Lyons, the Tilly collection features
mixed-media collages of vintage stitching cards, hand-painted florals and woven
textures.
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| Rabbits and Roses Multi |
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| Cherie Cards Red |
Lyons is a self-taught designer and artist who developed her
own techniques for painting, needlework, felting, mixed media and a number of
other crafts. She combines the humble designs of traditional art and craft and
the inventive use of repurposed materials.
Over the years, her work has been featured in her own books – The Companion series, Mothers and Daughters at Home, and Between Friends – as
well as numerous magazines. She currently sells her wares on Etsy.com, teaches
classes across the country, and creates designs for licensing.
Born and educated in St. Louis, Missouri, Lyons and her
husband live in the lower Hudson River Valley of New York, with her three
daughters and their partners living nearby.
Other Blend Fabrics collections are called Bugs, Global
Bazaar, Gabbie, Blomma, Alchemy, Bella, Cushion & Dust, Animal Parade,
Little Monkey and Hope Chest.
The company has been featured in McCall’s Quilting: The Best
of American Quilting, among other publications.
“Blend is a collective of many artists’ work, a mixture of
styles and a celebration of talent,” according to the company’s website,
blendfabrics.com.
“(We are) a high-end textile design company that supplies
fabrics and licensed designs to major retailers, independent retailers and
e-commerce retailers worldwide.
“A true tribute to talent, Blend’s artists represent both
well-known designers and some of the world’s best-kept secrets. With unique,
‘fashion forward’ design aesthetics, each artist brings an all-encompassing
approach to the marketplace with a fresh, on-trend design perspective.
“Blend expressly designed to reach new product categories,
while promoting talented artists from around the world.”
Griffin first made her fashion mark in the wedding industry during
the mid-1990s by developing one of the industry’s first “print-it-yourself”
invitations with a custom look.
She is an expert at translating exquisite patterns evocative
of Old World style into modern mix-and-match designs. In addition to numerous
fabrics, her signature collection includes invitations, stationery, home
office, decorative paper and accessories.
Blend Fabrics’ website features easy-to-use PDFs of numerous
patterns that interested crafters can follow to create their own quilts and
other fabric-based homemade projects.
The company has recently completed a very busy period of
showing its new collections to buyers across the United States, including Owl
& Drum owners Bianca Howell and Dani Weaver on a buying trip to Texas.
Blend Fabrics staffed booths at the Los Angeles Textile Show
from Oct. 22-24, as well as at the International Quilt Market – an important
twice-yearly industry trade show –
which was staged shortly after from Oct. 27-29 in Houston.
Joe Spiegelberg, the president of Blend Fabrics, is a
veteran of the industry, having founded Maude Asbury in 1988. Maude Asbury is a
luxury gift company that designs and manufactures fabric covered photo albums,
picture frames and magnet boards that are hand-made in the U.S.
For more information, visit blendfabrics.com, or follow the
company and its designers on Facebook, Twitter or their individual blogs.
Owl & Drum, located at 2810 E. 15th St. in Tulsa, OK, sells about 150 bolts of
fabrics made by more than a dozen manufacturers and designers.
The store and its website – owlanddrum.com – also offers
unique handmade gifts, jewelry and other items made by Tulsans, Oklahomans and
artisans from Portland, Oregon, and northern California. It also sells many
different craft books, equipment and supplies.
Owl & Drum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to
Saturday, and from 12-4 p.m. Sundays. The store is closed on Mondays.
For more details, call Bianca at 918-742-1404, visit
www.owlanddrum.com, send an email to owlanddrum@gmail.com or follow us on
Facebook, Blogger.com, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
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