Writer, painter and fabric designer
Melody Miller is a
hard-working renaissance woman with a heightened sense of style and a love of
cool retro designs.
Her newest fabrics feature “Old School” vinyl records, a
range of very colorful throwbacks to the era of 33RPMs and 45RPMs that are made
of a 60-inch-wide lightweight cotton/linen blend.
Miller debuted the fabrics at her booth at the Spring 2012
International Quilt Market in Kansas City, Missouri, last May, which was where
Owl & Drum co-owners Bianca Howell and Dani Weaver placed orders for two varieties of the distinctive fabrics.
The 12-inch vinyl-inspired fabrics are now at Owl &
Drum at 2810 E. 15
th St. in Tulsa.
The Kansas City event was the first time she had hosted
quilt market booth, and she said it was a “fantastic experience” to meet
customers in person, as well as other designers and vendors. She said having
her husband, Greg, along for the event was “super fun . . . and he loved
everyone he met.”
Her other fabrics include: Ruby Star Shining, which feature
deep-orange electric typewriters on a blue background; Ruby Star Spring, which
use dragonflies as the motif; and Ruby Star Rising, which focus on old
viewfinder reels from the 1970s.
Miller has also designed a range of
Gelaskins, which are
coverings for smartphones, laptops, e-readers, iPads and gaming systems, based
on the vinyl prints in her new spring fabric line.
There’s definitely no moss on this fashion rolling stone:
Miller also has a new book coming out – it’s due in stores in late October on
the Roost Books imprint.
“Ruby Star Wrapping: Creative Packaging to Reuse, Regive and
Relove,” which she wrote with her friend Allison Tannery, is a testament to fun, but frugal, wrapping ideas and
minimizing unnecessary waste during the holidays and for birthday gifts.
The duo decided to organize the book based upon the
different types of gifts being given – be it fragile, bulky, thin or flat – and
created several packaging projects for readers choose from.
Miller said the business-minded Tannery helped her hone the
focus of her work had that they had talked for quite awhile about collaborating
on a book.
“We always talked about writing a book together - she loves
to write and I love to make stuff - so it seemed like a perfect combination,”
she said on her website, melodymiller.typepad.com.
And then Miller had her literary epiphany prior to Christmas 2010.
“I had been thinking for several months about a gift wrap
concept for a book, and then I saw the ‘Green Grocery Bag Challenge’ on (the
popular website) Sew, Mama, Sew!,” she said.
“The idea is to wrap your holiday gifts in handmade,
reusable grocery bags to cut down on the millions of tons of wrapping paper and
plastic bag waste that end up in landfills every year.
“Suddenly, I was inspired! I could write an entire book
about handmade reusable gift packaging. I thought grocery bags were a fantastic
starting point, and I wanted to explore packaging options for gifts of all
different shapes and sizes.
“Allison found this statistic from the Sierra Club: if every
American family wrapped just three gifts this year in something that could be
reused, we would save enough paper to fill 45,000 football fields. That seemed like all the incentive we needed to start our
book.”
And the book was very much a family affair: Miller’s
husband, Greg, took the photographs for the book; while Tannery’s husband,
Blake, undertook layout, design and art direction duties.
The photo shoot for the book was staged at their “dream location”
– Elsie Larson's Red Velvet Shop,
a “dreamy” old downtown building full of architectural details , vintage
objects and huge windows in Springfield, Missouri.
“I'm so pleased with this book, and hope you will be, too,”
Miller said. “This fall, at Quilt Market, I'll be devoting my booth to my new
fall line for Kokka, as well as this book.”
For more information about Melody Miller’s fabrics, book,
paintings and gelaskins, visit www.melodymiller.typepad.com.
For more details about Owl & Drum, which carries more
than 100 fabrics made by several designers, crafts supplies and tools, plus
numerous unique gifts, visit www.owlanddrum.com.
The 2810 E. 15th St. store also sells many other items made
by Tulsans, Oklahomans and artisans from Portland, Oregon, plus a variety of
craft books.
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, but it's
open every day online.
For more information, call Bianca at 918-742-1404, send an
email to owlanddrum@gmail.com, or follow us on Facebook, Blogger.com, Twitter,
Pinterest, and Instagram.
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