![Inspiration image for the Flower Ring Tea towel design](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Skinny-laMinx-FLOWER-RING-inspo1.jpg)
Ribwort Plantain – inspiration for a textile design
When people ask what inspires my pattern designs, my answer may sound a bit unhelpful. That’s because in fact, I can find almost anything inspiring! In our product range, we have textile prints inspired by an architectural feature, and a silk scarf inspired by an apartment block. Also, textile ranges inspired by the way plants grow in cities, or by shadows on a rooftop.
If you ask me, all you need to do to get inspired is… stop and look properly.
![](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Skinny-laMinx-FLOWER-RING-inspo2a.jpg)
You recognise these flowers, right? Plantago Lanceolata, or Ribwort Plantain is a common roadside weed you see everywhere, and it seems to be pretty common around the world. What I enjoy is the way the flowers travel up the head of the plant in a little ring, bottom to top, like a match burning up.
I spent time looking at them, sketching them, and thinking about them. One thought I had was how none of the ‘phases’ of the flowering plant is better than another.
All this led to my making a pretty floral print… with a bit of a difference. Can you see it?
![](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Skinny-laMinx-FLOWER-RING-inspo2-1011x1200.jpg)
At first glance, you may think it looks like a regular repeated motif. But look again, and you’ll see it’s more like a stop-motion animation, with each motif showing another step along the flowering life cycle of a Ribwort Plantain.
![](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Flower-Ring-animations.gif)
And in the end, it’s become a Skinny laMinx fabric design called FLOWER RING (get it? A ring of flowers… flowering?), now available for sale as a screenprinted tea towel, and as cushions and running metres too!
![Flower Ring tea towel](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Skinny-laMinx-Teatowel-Flower-ing-Pollen-01-WEB-1200x1200.jpg)
![](https://skinnylaminx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Skinny-laMinx-Fabric-Flower-Ring-Persimmon-03-1200x1200.jpg)
If you want to get better at noticing weeds (and other things), join me during 2022 in my new studio practice that I’m calling #TheAttentionHabit. Read all about it here.