30 Nov You’re Invited to Deborah Main Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale!

This photo was taken by JD Walker, owner of Flowers & Found Objects, our newest store in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He has a beautiful display of our one-of-a-kind Ornamental Charm Series.

This week’s Texture Tuesday (no new post this Friday) is about my studio as I’m busy preparing for my Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale and YOU are invited!  I’d love to see you, celebrate the holidays together, and show you where I create my artwork.

Texture and color are everywhere in my tiny South Austin studio. So much that I need to do a bit of culling. It seems you CAN have too much of a good thing. Especially when you’re a collector, or in more primal terms, as some south Austin stitchers like to say, a “fabric junkie”.

I confess. I have A LOT of stuff!!! (But I am not a hoarder, so don’t judge) 🙂

I compulsively created pillow art for years, and frankly couldn’t stop making them. Just as soon as I’d put away my machine or scissors, a textile would peek out at me and trigger a creative idea, and before I knew it, I was creating another pillow. I actually started my business and all the different series so that I’d have a place, an online home, for my creative artwork. And now, 12 years later, I’ve been selling my textile pillow art ever since!

Please stop by and see all the texture and color that inspire me every day. Perhaps you’ll find something in my studio that inspires you too?  And I “might” be having a sign up for a December Holiday Ornament-Making Workshop, so you’ll want to get on the list quick.

Below are some ribbons I’ve collected over the years. These are my special ones I keep in a special wooden box. I bought most of them at a quaint fabric shop I love in Taos, NM. They’re full of texture and color and I get inspired every time I lift the lid.

Here’s what I have too much of that I’d like to share with you this holiday season:

Vintage Fabric – specifically heavy velvets and thick wooly-like blankets. What was I thinking when I shipped 4 heavy vintage velvet curtain panels from Sheersport, Maine to Austin, Texas??

New Trim – I do not make pillows with thick contemporary trim or looped fringe. But I’ve kept it around (as I do with almost everything) because a creative design idea is perculating in my head and I haven’t had a chance to play around with it yet. But otherwise, I have no use for regular thick fringe…..do you??

Vintage French Trim – Now this collection below is vast and my favorite possession because of all the color and texture. The trim ooozes with color and I have many patterns in different color ways. I have far too much trim to fit into my tiny studio, but this is hard to part with because it inspires me every day. Truly my friends, it’s like being in a candy store! Come see for yourself this Saturday, 12 -7 p.m. You might find some you’d like to take home. I’m looking forward to having more time to play with this trim, to experiment, and to learn to manipulate it into beautiful constructs for my pillow art.

Jewelry – I’ve been collecting vintage brooches for 12 years now, learning all I can along the way about specific designers. I’ve fallen in love with these brooches, so they’re very hard to part with. I might have a few for sale, but not many.

But I have a special treat in store for you at my Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale.

Some of you may know that my daughter is a designer and makes jewelry. I wear it almost every time I go out to a local event.  Many of you have asked if she sells it.  And she hasn’t….until NOW.

My daughter Qin – Kumi Jewelry by Q – will debut her VERY FIRST jewelry designs for sale at THIS event!!

If you’ve ever wanted to snag a budding designers first work, this is your chance. Here’s one piece I love to wear, and no, it’s not for sale. But please stop by to be the first to shop for Kumi Jewelry by Q. Her goal is to have 20 pieces for our Holiday Open Studio.

Lastly, and the most important thing I have too much of are my very own PILLOWS!!!

These below are a mixture of newer vintage silk designer scarf pillows and my older collection, Redbrick Modern. I have 3 shelves of pillows, some newer ones 40% off, and some older ones, almost 75% off at only $100! Plus across from this shelf there’s a bed full of pillows and a window seat too. I even have some from my very first collection, Rococo Ribbon Collection.

Which is where you come in my friends. I’m bringing back my “end-of-the-year” Holiday Open Studio and Sample Sale so you can see where it’s all handcrafted in South Austin and where you can shop for pillow gifts for the holidays.

You wouldn’t believe how cherished pillows can be – they’re perfect for housewarming gifts, hostess gifts, a decorating gift for your own home…. and special ornaments for your holiday tree. And I put a lot of TLC into mine and they’re collectible!

With so many pillows at unbeatable “must have” prices, it is surely hard to come to my Open Studio and not find the perfect heirloom-quality gift or addition to your home decor.

Not all my pillow art has jewelry on them. Some are perfect for tossing on your sofa or bed and having a pillow fight with.

Either way, its time for you to come visit the Deborah Main Designs studio and see for yourself the vintage sewing machine I use, and all the texture and color that inspire me every day. I also want to show you the new pieces I’m working on for art exhibition applications in 2017.

The last time I had a big holiday show and sale was in 2011. And many of you were able to score a pillow for just $50 from our infamous “Bathtub Bargains”. In fact, everyone was clamoring for them that you could barely fit into the bathroom. Boy, that was fun wasn’t it?  That was a great party!  An old Austin friend who used to be the fashion writer for the Austin American Statesman and now writes for the LA Times, Marques Harper, was here, as well as another local legendary writer, Michael Barnes,, and many of my long-time supporters.

Well, now you don’t have to squeeze into my bathroom for “Bathtub Bargains” as I have a large box with plenty of space around it.

All these pillows in this box are “sample” pillows I’ve used over the years in shows and showrooms.  They ALL MUST GO!! So, $50 a pop is a great way to collect a sample of my work. This top royal blue and lime green pair is made from vintage bark cloth and the texture is really cool and the color really pops! Stop by Saturday to snag them!

And did I mention that all Bathtub Bargains are $50.00?

Cant beat that price for a non-manufactured, one-of-a-kind handcrafted artisan pillow.

I have customers that have collected my pillow art for years and have filled their sofas and beds, as well as given them as holiday gifts to family and friends over the years.

So please count my tiny studio into your Saturday shopping and holiday party agenda. I’d love to see you, meet you, and celebrate the holidays with some bubbly.

I’ll also have some vintage state scarves and hankie pillows that make THE best gifts!

Know anyone from Niagara Falls?  Got you covered.

Jersey?  Got you covered.

NYC? Got you covered.

Montana? Got you covered.

So what are you waiting for?  Come celebrate the holidays with tons of color and texture and please stop by my Holiday Open Studio & Sample Sale & More! this Saturday, 12 – 7 p.m. I really look forward to seeing you. My studio address is Deborah Main Designs, 1906 Collier St., Austin, 78704.  Till Saturday, enjoy this pretty Texas weather, XO PG