Marcia Derse for Windham Fabrics

Marcia Derse is an established modern fiber artist and fabric designer. Her studio is here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, on Whidbey Island. For the last two decades, Marcia has honed and perfected her techniques for creating unique pieces of hand-dyed and hand-painted fabrics. She brings a completely new vocabulary of color to the quilting world.

Marcia starts with a blank canvas; a bolt of muslin, fabric dyes, and the primary colors in silkscreen paints. The world is her palette---when she sets to work, she gathers colors, images and objects from everywhere. Anything that catches her eye outdoors or in the studio becomes an artist's tool: pine cones, spoons, brushes, homemade stamps, and bamboo pens. She applies paint with abandon, exhausting the cups of color, trying every combination. Each piece of fabric is a fresh and innovative arrangement of color, form, and texture.