Proving that simple can be stunning, be inspired by Vanessa Christenson’s colourful view of the world.
The people who share your passion
Proving that simple really can be stunning, Vanessa Christenson is bursting with easy ideas for fabric and pattern. Every design is born out of a love for colour, including her gorgeous gradient Ombre fabric, so be inspired by her colourful view of the world…
My latest fabric range, Color Theory, follows the style of most of my previous lines of two- tone, or tone- on- tone, and simple designs. The idea is that you can use each print on its own or together in a quilt as a collection. My favorite print this time around is the triangles – a lot of my fabric is on the simple side of design. When I’m working on a print, I draw out my geometric or flower design on graph paper and then try to see how the colour placement makes it look. Honestly, the colours matter most and then everything else seems to fall into place.
I grew up on the west coast, by the beach, and my favourite colours have almost always been Navy, Teal, Green and Gray. I’m also inspired by the fashion industry, so lots of shades ( like mint, or pinks, and eggplant) start creeping into my palate because of that influence. Pretty much, I like almost every colour. I’ll admit that I’ve
had a hard time with purple in the past, but eggplant is not a purple I have problems with!
To complement the fabrics, I have four patterns designed for Color Theory and a free small- scale pattern for my Color Theory Thread collection with Aurifil thread ( available on my website or on the Moda website). This time around, I wanted to showcase my gradient Ombre fabric, so I designed two patterns just with those in mind. And, of course, you always want to show off how beautiful the whole collection looks together, so there is a pattern showcasing the whole line. Then my love of zipper pouches and texture were used to make my honey comb zipper pouches. I’m very excited about my newest patterns. I am always thinking of new designs so, naturally, the fabric is influenced to work with the ideas. It’s a pretty organised process.
When it comes to being creative, I like working with all sorts of designers, but my favourites are the ones that I get to interact with and then call friends. When it’s all said and done, family and friends are most important to me, so I would have to say that my favourite designers are those that I feel a close connection to. I absolutely love getting to see my Moda designer family. We only get to see each other at certain times of the year, but we pick up right where we left off on our last conversation.
As well as fabrics, I’m also working on some books for Lucky Spool Media – Susanne Woods ( founder of Lucky Spool) is a lovely individual with a great eye and mind for things that will work. Together, we came up with the idea of creating a crayon box for quilters, using my love of colour. Each title focuses on one colour family and talks about shades and hues, complimentary colours, and has quilts and projects to make in that colour, too. There are six books in total and they will sit very prettily on a bookshelf as a box set – plus, of course, each book is filled with lots of gorgeous pictures! We are still in the throws of the series, but the first set of books ( red, orange and yellow) will start shipping January 2015 ( soon!) and the rest of the books will follow throughout the rest of the year.
Aside from the book series ( which I’m still working on), I have a new fabric line that will coincide with the book series. So look out for that soon! And of course, there’s always new patterns on the horizon – I have a whole book of sketches just waiting to be worked out! Another first for me will be teaching at QuiltCon in February – teaching is something new that I’m just learning that I love to do. For now, I just take one day at a time and keep on keeping on, and see where it takes me!