tashina knight

Jane Sassaman is known for her quilting but in the past few years she has designed some dazzling fabrics for FreeSpirit as well. Her new collection, Butterfly Garden, continues her lifelong theme of flora and fauna. Her inspirations include William Morris and Kaffe Fassett.  Jane is not afraid to make unusual color choices. Notice in the first fabric photo that the background is a cherry ice cream pink.  She breaks up the background with dots of aqua blue, a color used in the butterfly’s bodies as well as the center of some flowers, tying the whole composition together visually.

Jane studies flowers in nature, then simplifies and stylizes and arranges the resulting composition. She keeps in mind always the medium she is designing for whether it be fabric, quilt, or rug. As she says in her book The Quilted Garden, "As designers begin working out ideas on paper, they must be mindful of the ultimate medium they are designing for. Each medium has its own particular beauty as well as its limitations, whether it is wood, metal, glass, or fiber. Designers should have respect for the materials and the craftsmanship it requires. They should take advantage of the medium’s unique characteristics and illuminate them."