Tanya Whelan on Ava Rose

Tanya Whelan follows up her last collection, Barefoot Roses, with the stunning Ava Rose for Free Spirit. It is fresh, gorgeous, and inspired by her daughter. Who wouldn't want to wrap their little girls up in these pretty pinks and blues? Aptly named, it features vintage roses that harkens back to a day when TV was still black and white, and every mother had their own rose garden. Fat Quarter Shop has the whole line and two colorway bundles, Ruby and Aqua & Blue. Show us what Ava Rose inspires you to do! (P.S. We don't have her bag patterns in yet, but we will!)

It was so exciting to finally meet Fat Quarter Shop's Kimberly and Jocelyn at Quilt Market both of whom are adorable and totally nice! I was there with a booth for the first time showing my new fabric line for Free Spirit and my new hand bag patterns. Such an amazing and fun experience. And, I'm of course so happy to be asked to blog about my baby, Ava Rose.

Ava Rose isn't actually my baby but the collection is named for my little girl and was inspired by her. I wanted this collection to be as refreshing as lemonade on a summer day which is sort of how I see my little girl at age seven. It's a lovely, magical, innocent age and I was inspired to make a collection that would really celebrate that. Something I would really want to make bedding out of for my Ava Rose.

So, the collection is really vibrant and uses fresh, saturated color. Even the reds have a clean fresh feel as they lean toward raspberry and are very saturated. There are lots of pinks, shades of pink and cool and warm tones of pink but the color that makes me really happy is the watery aqua blue used in different ways throughout the collection.

As with my last collection for Free Spirit, Barefoot Roses, this collection has a very vintage feel, using lots of rose motifs, polka dots and ticking stripes but the clean, fresh colors give it a modern sensibility. I always have a sunny white room in mind as I design collections and want my designs to feel crisp and vibrant in that setting and I think Ava Rose does this. There's also a grey color way that I'm crazy about. Grey doesn't sound too vibrant but set against happy, raspberry red roses it's a great contrast and one I can't wait to use for handbags.

Though the collection has the happy, innocent feel of a little girl I think it will be great for big girl aprons, handbags, slipcovers, and of course, beautiful quilts. Thank you again Fat Quarter Shop for letting me blog about Ava Rose!

Tanya Whelan
Grand Revival Design

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