It has been almost a year since I started working with Riley Blake on designing my very first fabric collection and I am so excited to finally be sharing it! If you know me, you know I love color, floral, and animal prints so there is no way that my first collection would not include all of those things. I wanted this collection to express my love of the above mentioned but also my culture.
The flower you see in my floral print is called "Flor de Maga" and it is the national flower of Puerto Rico which is where I am from. I wanted to honor the island I love so much and beyond that, I wanted to honor the people who have kept our island full of love and joy even in the face of disasters, like hurricane Maria.
If you have ever visited Puerto Rico you may have heard a small frog that sings us to sleep every night called "El Coqui" pronounce Co-kee!” The island was once filled with millions of these frogs from a number of different species, but today only 17 species remain, and a few of them are endangered or threatened as a result of deforestation. This is why our little frog the perfect national symbol. The Coqui for me is very special because as a little girl I remember mimicking the sound as I fell asleep. This small print of the coqui is definitely a favorite in my collection.
I choose Rayons and Knits for my first collection because they are two of my favorite substrates to work with. There are so many possibilities when sewing with rayons because it is flowing and lightweight, can be made into so many garments, and I love the feel against my skin. I have made skirts, tops, buttons ups, flowing pants, dresses, you can see where I am going here, lol.
I did think about coordinating some of the prints because I love to mix prints and create interest. Many of the florals work well with the animal prints and many of the woven animal prints work well with their coordinating animal print in knits.
I am thrilled to be sharing these colorful and fun prints and hope to have another collection soon!
To view the entire collection CLICK HERE
By: Mimi G
Instagram: @mimigstyle