Spellbinding - Behind the Scenes of a collection

I am so thrilled to finally be in October! Autumn progressing into winter is my favorite time of year. But living in Florida, I miss seeing the leaves turn color along with any practical need for cute winter boots. Since my hot, humid Sunshine state environment won't necessarily tell me it's fall, it's up to me to embrace the upcoming holidays not just with Pumpkin scented candles and seasonal books to read, but of course, with artistic gusto!

I knew I desperately wanted to design a Halloween pattern collection. Though I admittedly love the traditional black and orange colors that accompany the season, I chose to progress in a more earthy direction. My starting inspiration was the idea of wild crafting, which is the act of gathering herbs and plants directly from nature. Then, I looked at potion cabinets and imagined what bottles I'd find therein. What ingredients would be lining the shelves? I also thought about witch familiars or spirit animals that may be crawling, flying or slinked their way around a magical altar room. After all this brainstorming, the inevitable result was my "Spellbinding" collection.

(Below, you will find my thought process and early concepts from my sketchbook.)

(Discarded colorways and patterns before final revisions)

My goal was to create a collection that was stylish, beautiful and haunting. There ended up being a lot of art nouveau influence in these designs, which was a pleasant, unexpected surprise. I felt the swirls and organic shapes of this style complemented the nature aspect of my theme and added to the vintage overtone of this collection. May these designs inspire your autumn season and jumpstart your enthusiasm for the upcoming "witchy" holiday.