When it comes to British flora, foxgloves (digitalis) are a firm favourite and I will admit to letting them pop up wherever they like in the garden, including through the paving and other places I really shouldn’t let them grow. I love the way they stand up out of the roadside verges and hedgerow, a bit like church spires out of villages or meerkats on prairie’s - ok that’s getting a bit fanciful, but it’s an image.
I also get drawn in by the folklore and myth from around Britain and Europe for what has been an magical plant from such early times for both it’s healing and harming powers – it’s association from wise women and fairie folk to Agatha Christie novels.
Anyway, the native flowers are beautiful, speckled white, pink through to purple – the amazing bell, or finger glove shape that develops up the stalk to create a spire of colour sitting above everything around it.
Foxgloves were, fairly naturally, the next thing I started thinking about when it came to designing a fabric print. In fact I love them so much I have created two designs so far featuring foxgloves.
Where I live in North Devon, we are surrounded by really diverse hedgerow, hawthorn, beech, elder - full of dog roses, honey suckle, cow parsley, foxgloves, primroses, blackberry, daisy and on and on. It's beautiful whether you are walking next to it or driving the lanes.
The first pattern I worked on is a border pattern which makes the foxglove the centre of attention, supported by the hedgerow leaf and flower structure, predominately daisies – which again are rather rampant in my garden and local hedgerow and verges. I think they are Shasta daisies, could be Oxeye’s but whatever they are - they are pretty plants that add sparks of brightness in amongst the green.
This design makes a great drum lampshade, and I love the way the look changes depending on the background fabric and ink colour combinations. I’ve also used it in my first foray into cushion’s, it makes a great central focus, or panel in a long cushion.
The other design featuring the foxglove, is a repeat pattern for printing a larger block of fabric. This design has the foxglove at its core, but is surrounded by the hedgerow - plants such as honey suckle and dog rose and even some butterflies.
Hand drawing a repeat pattern takes a little bit of getting your head around - it involves cutting your design into four squares, changing the order of the squares and then filling in the gaps, and finally putting the squares back in the right order. This allows your design to create a solid print with a repeatable patten.
I've used this fabric in a carousel shade, but am only really limited by imagination with how this pattern can be used.
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