Deborah Fisher-Surface Pattern Design for Fabric

Surf ace Patt Desig ern n for Fabr ic

Hi there.

Welcome to

Hey! I’m Deborah Fisher, object and pattern designer, and lifelong maker of handmade things. I am the circus juggler and the museum curator of this crazy mixed up cabinet of curiosities. I love materials, especially textiles and ceramics of all sorts. Each has their own sensibility and personality, and my style is evident across all mediums. My ceramics and textiles feature oddball animals and figures, as well as graphic, geometric, and wonky patterns in rich, bold colors. My company, Fish Museum and Circus, specializes in charming, quirky, functional objects for the sewing room, maker’s studio, and the creative home.

The designs in this portfolio are ready to be licensed! They would like nothing more than to be launched into the big, wide world with great fanfare and confetti.

• Quite fond of hot cocoa and daffodils.

• Lives with a nifty husband, two magical daughters, three cats, one super mutt, and a bunch of chickens on Long Island, NY. • Owner of Fish Museum and Circus, online shop specializing in charming miscellany for the sewing room, maker’s studio, and the creative home.

• Founder and Director of both the Bright Hopes Collaborative Quilt Project and Bo Twal, an international doll project.

• Author of Quilt Giving: 19 Simple Quilt Patterns to Make and Give, Sew Fun: 20 Projects for the Whole Family and co-author of Sewing Simple Softies.

• Designer of sewing patterns for magazines including Stitch Magazine, Modern Patchwork Magazine, and Making.

• Featured artist in Uppercase Magazine’s upcoming Encyclopedia of Inspiration Volume C: Ceramics.

• MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art / BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art.

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MUSEUM OF

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CLAY

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a mini collection of pattern designs in ceramics

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fishmuseumandcircus.com hellofishmuseum@gmail.com 631-371-6277 IG @fishmuseum 14 Houghton Boulevard Stony Brook, NY 11790

MUSEUM OF

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Odd Fruit

Museum of Odd Fruit is a collection of boldly colored prints celebrating the inventory of an imaginary museum. You discover a garden full of weird and wonderful fruit. Dissect and study! Create a museum to preserve all of the quirkiness! The patterns in this collection are named after the parts of the museum, and presented in two vibrant colorways, with coordinates and blenders designed to mix and match.

Sculpture Garden

Museum Docent

Salon Wall

Gallery Floor

Coat Check

Seed Library

Audio Tour

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Odd Fruit

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Sculpture Garden

Museum Docent

Salon Wall

Gallery Floor

Coat Check

Seed Library

Audio Tour

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Boundless is a unique collection of straight and diagonal striped yardage that can also be cut to easily create fussy cut quilt binding, and fussy cut single and double fold bias tape.

• Use the fun striped yardage, as is, in quilts, bags, garments, and other home sewing.

• Then, make your projects extra special with fussy cut quilt binding, and single and double fold bias tape!

• With Boundless, simply cut along the designated stripes. Brief instructions and arrows on the selvedge tell you exactly which line to cut on. Then fold, press, and sew!

• Boundless is perfect for online and in-person demonstrations.

• This collection includes three quilt binding prints, 3 single fold bias tape prints, and 3 double fold bias tape prints, each in 2 colors.

• The patterns are all named after tap dancing steps-just right for doing the happy dance when you use the fabric in this collection!

• Shown here full size as yardage and as bias tape and binding.

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single fold bias tape

Flap Heel

Sugar

Time Step 11

double fold bias tape

Shuffle Step

Waltz Clog

Hop Step 12

quilt binding

Ball Change

Dig Heel

Shim Sham 13

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At the Thingimal Circus, we find a menagerie of unusual animals. Each one may resemble an actual animal. Kind of. With a horn, or a mane. Or not. A funny nose or an odd tail.

They are all unique personalities. In this collection, the herd gathers with a graphic assortment of flowers, hearts, and stripes in vibrant colors.

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Thingimal Parade

Balloons

Circus Garden

Tent

Applause

Ticket Line

Seating Chart

Encore

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Thingimal Parade

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Balloons

Circus Garden

Tent

Applause

Ticket Line

Seating Chart

Encore

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CLAY a mini collection of pattern designs in ceramics I love materials! Textiles and ceramics are two of my favorites mediums, and although they are very different, they have surprising similarities. One of those similarities is that they are both wonderful surfaces for pattern design.

My investigations into pattern on clay have led me to select a few techniques that, for me, merge the textile and ceramic sensibilities that I love.

Sgraffito is a traditional ceramic technique. Colored underglaze or slip is applied to clay. Once it is firmed up, areas of the color are removed with wire loop tools to reveal the clay underneath.

Paper cuts have appeared in my work in a variety of ways, and here, with clay, they have become stencils. Paper is hand cut with scissors and knives, or cut using a cutting machine. The paper cuts are dampened and then gently pressed onto the clay. Colored underglaze is then applied, with the paper acting as a stencil. The paper stencils are removed to reveal the design.

With the CLAY mini collection, I present to you a group of patterns made with clay and underglaze, that are longing to appear on fabric.

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Dark colors are the unsung heroes of the color palette! Night Rainbow is a collection of dark blenders in four prints (Smirch, Becloud, Blotch, Smudge), each in eight color ways. Each print is paired with another print that has the same colors in reverse.

Perfect for color block garments and bags, and in quilts as a wonderful counterbalance for bright and light fabrics!

Smirch 24

Becloud

Smirch

Becloud 25

Blotch 26

Smudge

Blotch

Smudge 27

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We all need a muse in our sewing room! The Sew Good collection was inspired by my handmade ceramic and wool pincushions.

They are fully committed to their job of sewing companion and will admire your every stitch. Celebrate sewing with bold prints and fun colors!

Sewing Muses

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Sew Sweet Strawberries

Buttons

Pins and Needles

Scissors

Trimmings

Thread

I Love Polka Dots

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Sewing Muses

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Sew Sweet Strawberries

Buttons

Pins and Needles

Scissors

Trimmings

Thread

I Love Polka Dots

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Thank you for coming!

ep e k ! s ' t uch e L to in

Deborah Fisher fishmuseumandcircus.com hellofishmuseum@gmail.com 631-371-6277 IG @fishmuseum 14 Houghton Boulevard Stony Brook, NY 11790