pond_ripple's Fabric Blog

We're in the home stretch of our Design-A-Day SpoonChallenge! Are you hanging in there? Today's #SFDesignADay comes to you from 2014 Spoonflower Staff Challenge Winner,  Allie Tate , head of marketing at Spoonflower in Berlin. Allie knows better than most that you needn't look further than the contents of your junk drawer at home to create an award-winning surface pattern.  Allie:  Surface design doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple as using everyday objects laying around your home to create a compelling textile design. Find inspiration in items you use every day or test your creativity by incorporating unusual items into your fabric design. To create this design, I used materials purchased at a local hardware store as a part of Spoonflower's 2014 Staff Design Challenge. By restricting the tools available (and with just 1 hour to create and upload our designs from start to finish!), we had to really get creative in h...

As we begin to come to the close of the Design-A-Day SpoonChallenge we can't leave out one of our most important techniques: Typographical!  Amy Peppler Adams, better known as  pennycandy  in the  Spoonflower Marketplace , shares with us why this technique is fabulous (and easy) for new Spoonflower users and veterans alike.  Amy:  When I found Spoonflower about six years ago, I was coming from a graphic design background. The first several prints I uploaded were typography based because it seemed like the easiest way to transition into what was, for me, the whole new world of surface design. To this day, I still use type in the majority of my work, and often try to include at least one text-based design in each collection. But you don't need an art degree to experiment with and enjoy using typography in your designs. Here are a few ways anyone can have fun with type. Word Puzzles One of my favorite ways to use t...

Today's #SFDesignADay Challenge features the unique hand dyed techniques used by Pam Layton York of  The Playful Crow . Giving us a closer look at her step-by-step process, she shows us how she takes her fabric from dyed to digital. Read on for detailed photos of the entire process and try your hand at the hand-dyed technique at home! Pam:  "Shibori" is an ancient Japanese tie-dying technique. Patterns were created by folding, compressing, binding and stitching fabric in various ways prior to dying to create different patterns. Unlike modern multi-colored tie-dyed items, the Shibori technique used only one color. Indigo was the most popular. I started with some of the traditional methods of stitching and folding and then added a few of my own to create the designs. Working with indigo dye was amazing. The fabrics were bright green when they first came out of the dye and then oxidized to a beautiful ...

Today's Design-A-Day SpoonChallenge is brought to you by  abstract  art and Tina Vey (known at  Ottomanbrim  in the  Spoonflower Marketplace ). Today, Tina gives us a closer look at how abstract art inspires her design process. Be sure to follow along on the blog  and in your inbox until March 15 as we feature a new Design-A-Day technique, presented to you by members of our talented community of designers! Tina:  Whenever Spoonflower announces a new contest theme I think, "oh no, not another cute animal theme! How can I interpret this theme and design a fabric I would want to live with?" Whatever the subject of the contest may be I always try to convey the essence and rhythm of the object without it looking representational.  This can be quite difficult, so I study photos and write down words that convey the essence of the object. Then I draw and redraw simple shapes until I get something that looks fresh and appea...

Today's #SFDesignADay Challenge features the elegant beauty of watercolor by the  always-inspiring Emily Sanford.  Here she gives us quick tips on how to get started with watercolor design. Read on for ideas on how to incorporate white space effectively through an easy-to-use material you probably have around the house. Emily:  Watercolor painting brings depth, brilliance, and a soft organic touch to surface pattern design. Watercolor is also a clean, vibrant medium that can be challenging to master.  Emily:  When first experimenting with watercolor, it's helpful to get acquainted with how pigment and water interact on paper. One of my favorite ways to play with watercolor is to lay down artist tape or washi tape in graphic patterns on paper. The tape acts as a mask for the paint, and gives the novice the chance to play with washes, colors and textures. After the tape is removed, the resulting desi...