Debbie Maddy is an independent thinker and a designer.  So when she begins creating shibori designs that will be reproduced for her fabric collections, she tries to design fabrics that are different than traditional shibori. 

Most of Debbie's shibori prints are the result of stitched designs so the first step is to being drawing the stitching lines on the fabric.  She usually works with pieces of white prepared-for-dyeing fabric that measures 22" long by 42" wide because that is generally the size of her repeat.  She also works frequently with fat quarter-size pieces - 18" long x 22" wide.  

This is one of the pieces from the Shimo collection. Circles were drawn and stiched, then the stitching threads were pulled really tight so that the inside of the circle would be white.  Each circle was wrapped in plastic wrap to resist the dye.  After the piece was dyed, the plastic wrap and stitching are removed.

For those who aren't familiar with shibori, it is a Japanese method of manual resist dyeing that can produce different patterns on fabric.  (Resist dyeing is when techniques are used to prevent the dye from reaching all of the cloth.)  

The indigo buckets are ready for a special class at the Sunset Retreat in Texas. 

The size of the finished design can be manipulated by changing the size of the stitching pattern allowing for very large and very small designs.  It all begins with the stitching pattern.

This was one of Debbie's recent pieces - after coming out of the indigo dye. 

This is Debbie's favorite part of the process - it's when she gets the first peek at the design.  (I think this would be everyone's favorite part!)

The hand-dyed fabrics are then sent to a mill where they are reproduced onto screens for printing onto quilting-weight cottons for Moda. 

For the Shimo collection, snowflake designs were created in the same manner and then strategically placed to make a panel that measures 24" long x 42".

Debbie made a beautiful Snowflake quilt simply by quilting a 2-yard piece of the panel fabric. 

This picture of Debbie's Lantern Lights quilt shows the beautiful Snow print used in the borders.