Lauren's Goddess Fabric Collection - Design Process and Insiration

The Idea and Inspiration

Sewing for the Summer time is my favorite time of year. I love the sunshine and the energy and calmness that brings and this collection really celebrates that summer feeling. 

So, inspired by warm days with the brightest of sunshine to give you that gorgeous Summer feeling that makes you smile and relax, I’ve drawn inspiration from icons and symbols of Greek Mythology and Goddesses whose power reflects the power you have when you can sew your own clothes, choose your own style and trends and feel confident and proud in what you wear. 

I love going on holiday to Greece and have lots of happy family memories of visiting there. Those bright vivid blues against the crisp brightness of the sunshine and white washed walls, I knew would work perfectly as part of a fabric collection. 

I wanted some statement prints that still felt very wearable along with some more paired back co-ordinate designs that were just as eye-catching. I worked with a very talented fabric designer who was able to bring my vision and ideas to life in such a beautiful way across 4 prints, one with two colour ways. 

Initial sketches and bringing together designs

I gathered together a mood board of my ideas for each print and gave the brief to my designer. For some prints that brief was more specific than others so certain prints had a lot more back and forth getting the scale and composition just right to make the designs perfect for sewing gorgeous garments.

Goddess Power

With a focus on the icons and symbols that represent the Greek goddesses, this statement print is brought together by the wave-like hair analogous with Amphitrite, the goddess of the sea, who is associated with the calm and nurturing aspect of the ocean. 

Spot the sun representative of Alectrone, Goddess of the Sun and associated with the morning and awakening, whilst the moon represents Selene, the Goddess of the Moon. 

The many sparkling stars represent Astraea, the star maiden and goddess of justice. The love and beauty associated with Aphrodite is featured in the love heart shapes and flying doves and the Lyre or harp she is often shown playing. Whilst the owl is the sacred animal of Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, intellect and insight. She was also associated with crafts like weaving and pottery and the large vase with detailed patterns is also there for her as well as the headband or tainia of olive leaves, which she is often depicted wearing. 

The arrow symbol has come from the bow of Artemis who is the goddess of wild animals, vegetation and childbirth. 

With so much strong energy woven into this fabric, you will feel amazing wearing a garment made in this for sure!

The development of this print took a bit longer than the other designs as there were more elements to weave and fit together in a more freeform design. We played about with scale and details and in the end settled for the wave like hair to be the thread that brought it all together.

Bougainvillea island

Our imagined Bougainvillea island is a fictional representation of the beautiful scenes you might see when island hopping in the sun. From bright blue waters lapping against the rocky shores, sail boats gently bobbing in the water, dramatic volcanic mountains and alleyways that twist and turn with bright blue contrasting against white-washed walls, richly adorned with the vibrant magenta pink of the Bougainvillea flower blooms. 

In this print we played around with the balance and scale of the bougainvillea flowers, whether to have the boats bobbing around in the water or not and the detail of the volcanic mountains in the background. Seeing it evolve and come together in the prettiest repeat with the right balance of blue and pink has been lots of fun!

Delphi

Delphi was an ancient sacred area, considered to be the centre of the world and this fabric design brings together an iconic selection of symbols representing Greece and Greek mythology in a bright and vibrant tile-like grid. 

Spot the bright sunshine representing Alectrone, Goddess of the Sun and picture relaxing with a delicious drink and tasty food while watching the sail boats bob about in the waves. 

With the bow and arrow of Artemis and the pottery vase and olive branch tainia headband of Athena, along with the eye representing Theia the fabric carries the energy of the Greek Goddesses too. 

In total there are 11 different icons and symbols framed with intricate greek style pattern repeats. 

• Sail boat
• Greek columns
• Waves to represent Amphitrite - Goddess of the sea
• wine/olives
• Olive branch
• Sunshine to represent Alectrone - Goddess of the sun
• Traditional shaped greek roof tile
• Bow and arrow - to represent Artemis
• Eye representing Theia the Goddess of sight
• Leaf headband representing Athena Goddess of Wisdom and handicraft
• Greek pottery representing Athena Goddess of Wisdom and handicraft

For this grid-like design we played around with the size and scale of the tiles and how dense the patterned borders around each symbol was. We also tweaked and moved around each symbol/icon to get the right balance between detail and white vs blue space. 

Ariadne

The twists and turns of this labyrinth like design is named after Ariadne, The Greek Goddess who helped Theseus escape the maze by giving him a thread so he could retrace his steps. This story has been interpreted as a metaphor for finding hope and purpose in difficult times. 

For this coordinate design I wanted to create an option in the range that still offered the same vibrant tones that feature in the other prints but was more paired back, while still having meaning. 

This design initially took a few different directions but I think the final design that I took forward to production fits perfectly with the other prints in the range.

We also tried it with a few different colour options but settled on Azure blue and rose pink in the end!

Manufacturing

Bringing the designs to life on fabric is always really exciting and depending on the fabric base they can look really different. Given that I knew the fabric range was designed with summer in mind, I wanted to choose a light weight fabric that would feel cool and comfortable in warm weather. 

I had strike offs produced on cotton lawn, cotton poplin, viscose poplin and a blended fabric of cotton, linen and viscose. Each fabric has a different texture and weight showcases how the designs will look like on different base clothes. We examine them for feel and drape as well as print clarity.

I settled for the blended base of cotton, linen and viscose as the slightly looser weave and textured surface picked up and paired with the details and vibe of the designs so well. It feels soft and light weight to the touch, it drapes beautifully and is so lovely to sew and work with. And most importantly it feels AMAZING to wear!

I hope you have enjoyed hearing more about the process behind bringing these designs to life. In total the whole process has taken almost a year from initial concept and designs to finally sharing it with you this summer! 

I wish you lots of happy times sewing with and wearing these magical fabrics!