pond_ripple's Fabric Blog

Large Scale Fragmentation | Results Announced November 16 This week’s challenge will have you thinking larger than life! In celebration of Roostery’s bedding launch, we’re challenging you to create a large scale fragmentation design that would be the perfect addition to your bedroom decor. From deconstructed pops of color to fragments of dispersed light, bring your artwork to life but remember to think big! Entries will be previewed at the yard size: 42″ x 36”. Submissions close November 7  at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Voting begins November 9. See official rules. This is my entry for this week. The design basically covers a yard of fabric and the neat fragmented starburst goes almost to the edge of the design.  I decided to use a barred owl as my centerpiece, and the patterning is a bit simplified but mostly accurate. The eyes should be completely black in this type of owl, but I think it looks a little less scary with the big yellow irises. Making this d...

Spoonflower + Lake Present: The Lake Black and White Coloring BookDesign Challenge This week, we’re challenging you to create a design inspired a favorite childhood activity: coloring books! We’ve partnered with Lake , an interactive coloring app. The winners will be included in a special black and white Spoonflower coloring pack in the Lake coloring app. Create a design in black (#000000) on a white (#ffffff) background. So this week I went for a fun fox and mushroom design. It has lots of little elements to color, and I can confirm that it's fun as I have done several different color versions like the one at the top. So this design started out in my sketchbook. You can really tell I wasn't sure about how to divide the color areas. So I retraced the design and modified it a little, and then I taped the tracing paper to a piece of paper and scanned them both in. The majority of the work started by coloring and overlaying the two sketches. I then drew...

Spoonflower Presents  The Botanical Block Print  Design Challenge Do you spend your weekends venturing to local botanical gardens, dreaming of the next oversized houseplant to make its way into your home? This week’s challenge will be the cure to your leafy green obsession. While you are not required to block print for this challenge, your entry should be inspired by the block printing technique. Gray Bird Block Print This is my entry for this week's contest. The botanical block print that I did was just from computer edited sketches. I did think of going all the way and making a real block printing. In the end it seemed like a week just wouldn't be enough time to learn how to do the carving, purchase all the supplies, and be able to make a good quality printing. So I drew up several different elements and stitched them together on the computer. What I ended up with was a pair of "blocks" that with birds that mirrored each other with slightly differen...

Chocolate Gravy & Biscuits Tea Towel Family Recipes | Results Announced October 12 Family traditions are especially present during the holidays as everyone gathers in merriment and celebration around the dinner table. For this week’s challenge, share a family recipe that is a yearly staple. Whether it’s Grandma’s famous casserole or the wiggly fruit jelly salad that mysteriously makes an appearance, we want to see what recipe completes your holiday traditions! Entries will be submitted at the Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter size (27″ x 18”) but previewed during voting as a Spoonflower Special Edition Tea Towel (16″ x 24″). Submissions close October 3, 2017 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. Voting begins October 5, 2017. The first thing that came to mind when I heard this week's theme was my family's chocolate gravy and biscuits. We don't actually have the recipe written down anywhere, so I had to ask my mom to write it down for me! We usually just use t...

Spoonflower Presents  The Pointillism  Design Challenge We think this week’s theme is spot on! Also referred to as dot art, pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Use your favorite medium to create a repeating pointillistic design that will fool the eye. A closer look at the finished design. My entry this week is  Fox & Rabbit Watercolor . The pointillism style being the only requirement allowed for a lot of freedom, and I decided to go with an adorable scene with a fox. The sweet little bunny has a black and white spotted pattern to fit in with the theme, and the flowers just complete the look of the whole piece. I also took a few photos as I was going through the sketching and painting process. So I thought I would share! I started with a sketch. This one is before I sorted out where all the spots and patches of black would be on the rabbit. There ...

Spoonflower Presents The Kawaii Sushi Design Challenge In the context of Japanese culture, the word kawaii means cuteness. Most kawaii designs transform everyday objects into overly cute characters by adding simple facial features like two wide eyes, a small nose, and a dot for the mouth. Most commonly created with pastel colors, we’re challenging you to turn a widely popular dish into a repeating pattern that’s just too cute to eat! My entry for this weeks contest is Kawaii Sushi Linen . This was a bit of an adventure to make. I have never drawn the kawaii style and before this I knew nothing about sushi. So I probably spent more time researching  than actually making the artwork itself lol! I created 17 different sushi characters and a fun dipping sauce with color variations of each. There is a lot of tako sushi (octopus) just because tentacles are so fun to make! 

The Vintage Halloween Design Challenge Kooky, spooky and everything in between! This week’s challenge is all about one of our favorite DIY holidays. With a retro twist, create a vintage inspired repeating design with a nod to Halloween’s past. Tricks and treats are welcomed! Coven in Red is my entry for Spoonflower's Vintage Halloween contest this week. I went with the classic silhouetted witch as my starting point. They aren't flying across the moon, but one of them is holding her broomstick! I gave all seven witches similar tattered cloaks and long pointy shoes and hats, but they are all up to their own different hijinks in the moonlight.  The seven witches that make up this illustrated coven. A closer look at three of the ladies and their feline companion. Two witches and the raven familiar. The firestarter, the cat, and the moon.

My mom needed a new bag, and looking through my fabric stash I came across this beautiful fat quarter. It clearly had some specific purpose when I designed it, but honestly I can't remember what I originally planned. The fat quarter, with a printed area of 27 x 18 inches, consisted of a large area of  Dark Coordinate Linen surrounded by a huge L shape of  Contest Egyptian Owl Triangles .  My plan was to get the biggest bag that I could out of it without losing too much of it to unusable scraps. So I started by cutting out the black area and separating the L into 2 rectangles. If you look at the fq photo the cut line would be vertical in line with the left edge of the black area. These new rectangles were then laid over each other and trimmed to the same size. Basically I was trying to get them as large as possible here. The black piece was then cut in half, and had a strip of the white, triangle fabric left over from trimming pieced into the middle to m...

Red Violet Floral Silver Cassettes Color Request Start with two swatches pinned together with right sides together. This is where you can add a loop for hanging if desired. Sew around the outer edge leaving a space for turning at the bottom. Trim down extra fabric, and clip corners without cutting the stitching. Turn right side out, lightly stuff, and sew opening closed Pin down the areas in between where you want to quilt. For this one the lines of top stitching will go under each line of cassette tapes. So I pinned the middle of the cassettes to keep the pins away from the sewing machine. The pins help control the fluff while you are sewing. Be sure the pins don't cause too much bunching on the back. Then just quilt in your desired pattern, and you have a lovely potholder! Tulip Mosaic on Gunmetal Spoonflower Print Fox Rose Wreath Blue Stone Wash Blue