Vintage Floral Inspirations

Floral Inspirations

As a regular contributor styling floral arrangements for BH&Gs Country Gardens magazine, I'm thrilled to share the current floral feature with you. It was so much fun to create.
As a designer, I look for inspiration and ideas for projects everywhere. One day while combing through my bins of vintage fabrics for table cloths, this idea came to me.

The idea:
Take inspiration from gorgeous textile designs that use nature as their source. It's a creative approach for those who love floral styling. My wonderful editor, James Baggett, liked it too!

This was an assignment that screamed, "Have fun!":

 I took 7 fabrics and went to town making arrangements in a still life 

setting which echos the original textile design.

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1970's Grandma's Garden
Ive had this fabric forever and at last, I've found a use for it!   I used luscious peonies instead of roses in a the soft bed of spirea cluster.  The leaves and teal-green hues in the background directed my vessel choice.  I used a favorite tray of the same hue as a base to place complimentary vintage bottles and other natural things.

1950's Americana

I love the stylized flowers in this1950's Americana fabric. Climbing Roses, Thistles, Fuschia, Dahlias and Yarrow were the flowers often interpreted in the Pennsylvanis Dutch style designs.  The pewter vase  echoes the grey blue Liberty bell in the fabric.

1960's  Floribunda
The monochromatic color scheme (above) motivated my search for flowers in hues of cream, yellow and white dahlias and assorted varieties of roses. Gathering the objects to create these Dutch style still lifes was an adventure in itself.

Setting the scene: Look for objects that capture the period, style and color hues.  The pitchers capture perfectly the yellow-brown used heavily in the fabric giving that deep rich value to the arrangement.

1980's Chintz
Finding the  flowers that mimicked this textile was worth the trip to garden center, Delphiniums, Peonies, Honeysuckle, Weigela, Fuschia are some of the blossoms in this arrangement. In the summer  your local nursery is the place to go for an enormous choice of flowering blooms.  Buy the perennials, cut the blossoms, then pop the remaining plant in your garden for next years color.

Thank you to photographer, Joe Keller, for working with me on this shoot 

and for his gorgeous photos.  www.kellerkeller.com

Look for the entire feature article  in the current Spring 2013 Better Homes and Gardens Country Gardens magazine.

 For more ideas on inspirations with Vintage Fabrics  you can go to my blog post for New England Homes magazines . http://www.nehomemag.com/blog/notes-field-vintage-inspiration