new things and a bit of inspiration

I've sewn up a few new things for the shop during the last few days. New patterns, new color, oh my!

linen tea towels
100% linen
trellis stripe / as yet unnamed hot pink cherry pop

fat quarter

linen / cotton blend
binary / unnamed hot pink cherry pop

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I've loved Japanese prints for as long as I can remember. Technically, they're amazing. To be completely honest, I'd love them on their technical merits alone. Add the formal elements: the line, the composition, the picture plane- so interesting, so masterful, so wonderful! And then the fact that they're beyond beautiful- who could resist?

Lately my favorites have been images of courtesans.

Harunobu Scene at Midnight

Chuban, Nishiki-e 28.7 x 22.2 cm
Publisher: unknown. Date: c. late 1760s
--A night scene in the gay quarters. A girl attendant (kamuro) drops her head and dozes.
A futon (quilted coverlet) is seen behind the courtesan. -- *
(for a bigger image with more detail, click on the print)

There are so many amazing things about this print. I'm obsessed with the layering of pattern on pattern. And what's going on with the picture plane? The contrast between the diagonal lines / receding space and that horizontal wall that sits in the foreground of the picture plane and blocks half of it... I can't stop looking at this.

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Of course I have to add a shameless plug here. If you like to name things, and you like to win fabric- you should enter my contest! For more details, read the original post.

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* Japanese print image and caption information:
Neuer, Roni, Herbert Libertson, and Susugu Yoshida. Ukiyo-E: 250 Years of Japanese Art. New York, Gallery Books, 1979.