Contact Info: periwinklepaisley@comcast.netOther Places to find me:
Spoonflower
DeviantArt
I grew up in Western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. I always enjoyed art and drawing and daydreaming as a little girl. My Mom was an expert seamstress and she made many of my clothes. One of the best parts about having your clothes custom made is picking your own fabric! I loved to be a part of the process in creating a new outfit. Eventually I learned to sew for myself. It was with this background that I decided on Fashion Merchandising a major when I went to West Virginia Wesleyan College. When I graduated, I pictured myself working in a clothing store and I did just that for 3 years. What I didn't count on was the fact that I really hated retail. I got married. I bounced around trying some other jobs, mostly secretarial in nature. I had three kids. Throughout this whole time I continued to draw and paint and I took up quilting as well. I loved putting together a set of fabrics to create a picture out of cloth. I also made my own curtains, some of my kid's clothes, quilts for their beds and took drawing requests for pictures to color in or hang in their rooms.
It wasn't until I wanted a new bedspread that I figured out What I Want to be When I Grow Up. I wanted a periwinkle, paisley bedspread. I looked everywhere for such a bedspread. I looked everywhere for such a fabric to sew my own duvet cover. I googled "periwinkle paisley" and found stationery, pictures of periwinkles, quilted purses made by a popular designer but no periwinkle paisley bedpsread. I knew exactly what I wanted and couldn't find it. Sadly, I never did find the perfect fabric but it got me to wishing I could design my own dang fabric. Not wanting to wait any longer, I designed and sewed a periwinkle and white patchwork quilt which I am very proud of. But the neon sign had switched on. It said, "You want to be a Surface Designer!"
I kept drawing. I got myself a set of Prismacolor Markers and colored in those drawings. I posted those drawings on DeviantArt under the name of my first inspiration: PeriwinklePaisley. I opened up a Periwinkle Paisley Etsy Shop to sell those works and had a great response. A friend of my husband's gave us an old, old computer with Photoshop7 already loaded onto it and I learned how to use it. I started scanning my drawings and tinkering around with them to create new designs and then collections of designs. I started sharing my experiences on a blog and then started this blog as a showcase for all of my design collections.
It is my fervent wish that to license my design collections and eventually see my designs on products in stores worldwide.
