Hi, I’m Ali Rose and I have always created. Colored markers, pencils and beads--anything with the full gamut of colors--was my obsession growing up. My father makes wood inlayed items for a living, and as a three-year-old I would sit and watch him choosing which woods to use to form pictures by the hour. This need to create led me to my mother’s old sewing machine at which I struggled until I bought my own machine for $300 at age thirteen. I took a quilting class, and I was hooked! Fabric-collecting now became a hobby, and through the years of school and career, the idea books were filled, styles were duly noted for the day when I could break out of my career and start my own business. That day has finally come; I now fill my days with designing, sewing, and selling, using what I have gleaned from my years of observational dreaming. And, yes, I’ve honed my sewing skills and upgraded my sewing machine since then.

My work is fueled in two ways: by my own needs and wants and by others’ perceived needs and wants. In either case, I need a clear understanding of what I or the other person needs, and once I figure out how to make the first item that fits these criteria, I then turn my attention to mass-producing it (in a small business way) for others. It’s a very personal experience for me, and I’m always tickled when customers love and appreciate what I’ve made. Working with color has always been a passion of mine, and probably my favorite stage in creating my products is when I’ve just finished ironing a batch of newly-laundered fabric and can then cut and sort the colorful patterns into piles to be used for different products. This is my way of seeing the big picture of what I’m doing. I also pride myself on being frugal with the fabric and using every tiny piece. I cut down the extra bits into 1 ½” and 2 ½” squares and strips to be used in my quilts and potholders. Often, these bits and pieces inspire new variations of what I’m doing. I love fabric, both for the beauty in its infinite variety of color and pattern, but also because there is something intrinsically useful about it. The history of fabric, is the history of clothing, bags for carrying and organizing everyday things, and blankets and quilts for keeping one warm--all very useful and human things.

What I am enjoying most about my work is developing my own product line. It is tremendously rewarding to make products that I absolutely love. This is my opportunity to make the products that I’ve tried to find and the hope is that others will like it, too.
I see AliRoseArt as a way to incorporate designs and patterns from history into modern day items of necessity. Not only do I choose the crisp, clean lines of modern styles, but I also choose the retro 1930s and 40s fabrics, the 18th century botanicals, the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris designs, and anything that reminds me of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau eras. People often compliment me on my fabric choices and say that I have an old-fashioned aesthetic, and this gives me hope that this is apparent in my work.