Meet the Designer: Sheri McCulley and Garden Party Fabric

September 1, 2023 Jina Barney

Hi friends! We are so excited to present to you our upcoming fabric from Sheri McCulley called Garden Party! Garden Party is the sweetest collection of designs with watering cans, gardening hat and tools, strawberries, birdhouses, a trellis of flowers and multiple colorways of flowers. The color palette has soft pinks, pale blues, creamy yellows, a touch of orange and raspberry with a few navy blues. The scale is small and easy to work with for quilting, home décor and clothing. If you were to ever have a secret garden these are the designs that would speak to you.

This month we will be showcasing projects from our makers using Garden Party fabric and we can’t wait to see what they have been working on. We also want to spotlight Sheri McCulley and the beautiful design and sewing work she does, we started by asking what got her into design.

Sheri said: “As a child, I always knew I wanted to be an artist. After my kids were in school, I launched my career as a licensed artist, creating illustrations and pattern designs that end up on products like calendars, cards, posters, embroidery patterns, decorative items and fabric! That’s when I started designing fabric collections for quilting companies. I’ve always loved to take an idea and develop it into an entire collection—that’s why I love fabric design. What I also love about working with a fabric company like Poppy Cotton is that I don’t even know what my designs will ultimately end up on; someone may use my fabric to sew a quilt, a purse, a piece of clothing or a soft doll.”

Next Sheri told us about a project she’s excited about: “I’ve recently dusted off my vintage Singer Featherweight to work on a very special project: I’ve developed a line of sewing patterns to create soft dolls and doll clothing using my fabric. Each of the sewing patterns in my Prairie Lasses collection has been lovingly designed, tested, and written by me. Several of the patterns also include embroidery, which I’ve similarly designed, tested and written, as well as illustrated into full embroidery guides for each pattern. This project really illustrates who I am as an artist—the entire process of creating each and every piece of something gives me immense joy.”

Sheri told us about more of her interests and shared her note cards here with a Garden Party design. “When your work is your hobby and your hobby is your work, you really never stop creating. The joy of creating—every aspect of my work as an artist—is my biggest passion. The work of creating feels more like a set of several hobbies—from designing new prints, to dying vintage bias tape into just the right shade, to developing soft doll patterns. Part of my creative process also includes thrifting, going to estate sales, and collecting vintage items. I love to surround myself with items from the past, and these often inspire my work and my creations.”

We just love Sheri’s designs and how she uses them to create art, fabric, dolls and stationery. You can view Sheri’s Prairie Lasses doll and clothing patterns on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sherimcculley. To celebrate the release of Garden Party we are giving away a fat quarter bundle to one of our followers on Instagram, just look for the giveaway post and enter to win over there. Thank you for stopping by today and joining us to learn more about Sheri and our beautiful new Garden Party fabric!

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