Essential Surface Pattern Design Resources #4 Textile Design: 200 Years of Patterns for Printed Fabrics arranged by Motif, Colour; Period & Design by Susan Meller & Joost Effers

Hello!
Another lovely weekend of food and friendship and a new week starts with the exciting prospect of completing my strawberry thief collection and entering a couple more competitions. I've decided to enter lots of competitions this year as they are a really good way of getting my work 'out there' and practising working to a brief, creating something that is going to be commercial and relevant. Whilst I love self tuition and solitary working, I know I'm in need of some feedback and direction so I'm seeking to create opportunities for this... I've been asking on twitter whether anyone could provide me with a reading list for a degree in textile/surface pattern design so that I could further educate myself - I'm thinking about history and geography of pattern. Finally today my call for help was answered (partly - I could still use a proper list!) and I was pleased to see that this fabulous book was amongst the book list that I saw.

Textile Design: 200 Years of Patterns for Printed Fabrics arranged by Motif, Colour; Period & Design by Susan Meller & Joost Effers

This really is one of my favourite books. It’s up there with any of Bowie Style’s wonderful Print & Pattern books, 5000 Flower and Plant motifs by Graham Leslie McCallum and Jessica Swift’s Jump Trust Repeat. All of these books have been fantastic resources that I constantly refer back to.

Be warned, this book is not very portable! Larger than A4 and coming in at almost 500 pages, it's not one for carrying on around in your bag to read on the train. I keep mine on my drawing desk and thumb through it regularly as it’s a constant source of inspiration. 

The book is divided into 5 sections: Floral, Geometric, Conversational, Ethnic and Art Movements & Period Styles. I now divide my design files in this way on the computer as I find it makes it much easier to find my designs and helps me to think about the different elements I can put together to make a collection. There’s a small section of text on each page giving a little background to each pattern style and it’s just enough to give a brief explanation of the origins of each pattern type.

I enjoy using the book as a starting point for inspiration. I often just browse until a pattern catches my eye and then take it from there. I might be inspired by palette, motif or composition. For example, this week I decided I wanted to do something that was reminiscent of flocked wallpaper. I flicked through the book and came across a couple of nice examples of damask which then led me to start an ink drawing that I developed into this...

...which has given me lots of fresh ideas for motifs and I'm really looking forward to playing with these ideas over the coming week.

I hope you have a lovely week!
Thank you
Frankie x