Tie One On – The Story Behind the Cloth

Tie One On – The Story Behind the Cloth

Today I thought I would tell you the fabric story behind my first collection of Modern Batiks for Banyan Batiks. This post is part one of the story, and mostly an overview of the whole collection. Here I give you the back drop and talk about the colorways in Tie One On. My next post will talk about the individual designs.

I do hope you will enjoy this little tale…….

All of my favorite lines of fabric tell a story. Sometimes they are as simple as, “oh, that was a fun trip” or “isn’t my garden gorgeous this fall?” Sometimes the story is long and tangled – “once upon a time on a dark and stormy night.”

Tie One On is not about an all night bender, despite how some might read that phrase, but the story of a fictional character, David Kingsley Morris, created from a conglomeration of the names of three of my closest college friends Dave, Matt, and Nate. David is not really anything like them or even myself but I think you will like him. Perhaps even find him interesting.

David Kingsley Morris is a young fashion fabric designer who lives in a small New York City loft. He grew up in California, went to college in Arizona, and visited his grandparents in Tennessee every summer since he was six. He has loved color and form for as long as he can remember. Nothing delights him as much as noticing or even contemplating a new color combination or the intersections of lines on the sidewalk. Living in cities most of his life, but spending many an day, week, month on his grandparents farm or among the Red Rocks near his alma mater, David brought a world full of colors and designs with him to New York City.

He spends his days and most of his evenings pulling from these experiences and recollections and creating fabric concepts for various menswear items. Bowties, neckties, camp shirts and even boxer shorts, David has new designs brewing for these and more constantly. And every once in a blue moon, he will whip up a quilt like his Granny Marshall used to back in the hills of Tennessee.  

The designs in Tie One On are reminiscent of David’s favorite vintage 50’s ties. The colors are a celebration of the four cities and neighboring countrysides that have been his homes for long and abbreviated times. The Batik tjaps join the angular aspects of his urban experiences with the organic hand of his rural adventures.

The Colorways!

Here are the fabrics grouped by Colorways:

The Ventura set gets its vibe from the ice cream tints that go best with bronzed skin, bleached hair and RayBans on the golden California coast of David’s youth.

The Sedona group is a glimpse into the red rocks and sunsets that our hero explored as a young man finding his way in a brand new to him but ruggedly ancient world.

The Nashville colorway caters to the cosy, woodsy comfort of scenery and music that is full of rusty trucks, faithful friends, flannel shirts and faded blue jeans.

And Manhattan is the ultimate metropolitan suite that evokes the noise, bustle and electric energy of the City That Never Sleeps.

That’s the story. Hope you like it.  Hope you LOVE the fabric when it hits the shops this fall!

I will talk about the tjaps/prints next post.

Keep Sewing, Keep Happy,

Scott