Fabric Design on Spoonflower

Have you heard of Spoonflower? It's a place where you can upload your own design- something as simple as a photo- and have it printed on 21 different types of fabric...everything from basic quilting cotton to silk crepe de chine to upholstery weight twill. You can also have your design printed onto wallpaper and wrapping paper. Fabric design and manufacture is no longer limited to those who can afford to order hundreds of yards. You can order as little as an 8"x8" test swatch up to multiple yards. The site is user friendly and easy to navigate.

I designed fabric on Spoonflower several years ago from my collages but since then, they have added a wider selection of fabrics and improved the site immensely. These pieces were designed from my original Spoonflower Collage Collection which are still available.

Clutch designed with "For the Love of Frida"

Makeup bag designed with "Wanderlust"

Handbag designed with "For the Love of Frida"

Clutch designed with "Scentual"

My newest idea was to transfer my drawings onto fabric. To do this,  I had to learn how to do a repeat design.  It was a little tricky because I don't use Photoshop or Illustrator.  I had to remind myself that fabric was designed a long time before computer graphics programs. It just required more hand illustration and time. I ended up creating 41 different fabrics-  8 different designs in up to 7 different color ways. Here's a screen shot of the website interface showing how simple they've made it to order custom fabric in any amount you choose.

Visit my Lorimarsha shop and click on Fabric Collections. There you can view all my fabric designs. To purchase, click on the design you like. You'll next see a screen that looks like the one above where you can select the fabric you like and the size and amount.

Here's a great gift idea: Order a fat quarter (21' x 18") of Linen Cotton Canvas in my "Liqueured Up" design and make this bar towel.  It's perfectly sized- all you'll need to do is stitch up the sides. Use it to wrap up a bottle of whiskey and tie on your favorite cocktail recipe. Voila! Housewarming, birthday, Father's Day...a bottle of whiskey is appropriate for every occasion.

A fun idea is to upload a handwritten family recipe card and have it printed as a tea towel. It would make a great personalized gift. Here's an image that I found on Martha Stewart's blog:

Image from marthastewart.com

The gift ideas are endless! I hope you enjoy visiting Spoonflower and that you are inspired by the possibilities.

My March Confessional

February has come and gone. March is half over. And I have a confession to make. My goal for February- to reduce alcohol consumption to the weekends only- was unattainable. I tried, my friends, I tried. Turns out I really enjoy that glass of wine in the evenings, bragging rights be damned.

So there.

I did, however, participate in the 29 Days of Drawing through the website, Creativebug. If you're not familiar with the site, they offer a wide variety of online classes in drawing, sewing, paper arts and jewelry design. Each day during the month of February, they offered a drawing prompt which participants uploaded to Instagram. They offered a prize at the end which included a trip to their studio, etc. I learned a few things about myself throughout the exercise.

1.  I don't mind being told what to draw.

2.  I do mind being told how to draw it.

Here are a couple of the drawings from those 29 days.

I have also immersed myself in fabric design. Over ten years ago I created my own fabric and had it printed for handbags and travel accessories. At that time the only fabric choices were polyester. Now, the website Spoonflower, has opened the door to independent fabric design. They offer 20 different fabric options upon which you can print your uploaded designs.

My goal was to create fabric designs from my drawings- something I hadn't tried before. My prior fabrics were scans of my collages, so this was something entirely new. Not having experience in Photoshop or Illustrator (the software that most fabric designers use) I challenged myself to learn how to do a repeat design by hand.  After working through a major learning curve, I created several designs and ordered print samples in a couple of different fabrics.

You can click on the above image to be directed to my online store.


So that was February.

My March goal is to take a minimum of three yoga classes a week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Design your own fabric!

Boy have things changed in the world of fabric design. Way back in 1999 when I wanted to put my designs on fabric, I had to work with a dye sublimation company back east and my only "fibre" choices were different weights of polyester.  Remember these?

 

 

 Now there's Spoonflower where you can upload your own designs and have them printed in an array of natural fabrics. I decided to upload the same designs that I had produced before to see the difference...and was pleasantly surprised.  The images in the samples fabrics are clear and crisp and the site offers many a wide variety of weights....from silk to upholstery.  And, just like the disclaimer in the commercial for the paycheck advance company that says "it's not cheap"... the pricing is higher than commercial fabrics.  But if you use the fabric as embellishment or for small projects, it's reasonable.

You can see my new and improved fabric designs here...but spend some time on the site and I promise your creativity will be renewed and inspired.