Introducing The Netherlands Collection

In the spring of 2022, I went on a creative trip to the Netherlands with a group of women led by Lauren Pignatello of Swallowtail Farms. While this was technically a vacation, life as a creative entrepreneur means that even my vacations usually influence my work. Planning for inspiration, I made sure to pack my new camera. Last year, I treated myself to a new camera so I could take better photos for Design Pool in between professional photo shoots. I’m still getting to know the camera, but how much better the images are is incredible. That alone is an inspiration to take more photos.

As soon as I booked the trip, I daydreamed about tulips, cheese, and bike rides. Once I arrived, that proved to be accurate! There were bike rides, cheese tastings, museum tours, canal rides, and time spent wandering around tulip fields. All the while, I was snapping tons of photos. I kept thinking of those tulip fields and poring over my photos back home in my studio. These images inspired a new collection of patterns, The Netherlands Collection.

My design process began by drawing or painting flowers based on my photos. Next, I scanned my original artwork and brought them into Illustrator. There I created a layout with the flower motifs and put my design into repeat. I love to incorporate texture into my designs. For these designs, I applied weave structures and textures to add depth and dimension.

Here’s a sneak peek of The Netherlands Collection.

In the pattern Dutch Flowers, I used watercolors and painted from this photo. Once in Illustrator, I kept the watercolor-type look but added twills to create a soft, woven feel.

Pattern Abcoude Tulips is named after the town I stayed in, a lovely village in the countryside, a quick 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam. In this pattern, I drew my flowers of inspiration directly in Illustrator. Next, I applied twills and layered the tulips to mimic a giant, colorful field of tulips.

Pattern Weesp Tulips is named after a town a 20-minute bike ride from Abcoude, often considered “Little Amsterdam.” In this pattern, I used watercolors to paint flowers based on my photos. I scanned these paintings and imported them into Illustrator. Once the layout and repeat were created, I applied an ikat effect to give them a watery feeling.

There are four additional patterns in The Netherlands Collection. Pattern Dutch Tulips uses a technique that references old cross-hatched illustrations. Holland Tulips is a stylized version of a tulip and uses the embroidered stitch effects I created for the Invisible Threads collection. Utrecht Tulips is a stylized version of a tulip with a running stitch effect. Finally, Amsterdam is a tossed tulip pattern using the satin embroidery stitch.