my budding fabric designers
Remember that I shared some of Clare’s artwork a little while back? Well, I did get a couple of her designs printed. And Stella wasn’t about to let me order fabric from Clare’s drawings without having some of hers done too.
These are Clare’s designs (she is 11 years old). We had fat quarters printed; one on cotton and the other on lawn. Clare really enjoyed playing with the scale of her design as well as the repeat options that were offered. We used Spoonflower for these, by the way. It took around a month from placing the initial order to receiving the fabric here in Australia.
And these two are Stella’s (she is six years old). Once again I ordered fat quarters, one on cotton and one on jersey. Sadly I didn’t think about which way the repeat runs on the jersey one and as a result the stretch runs vertically rather than horizontally due to it being a one-way design. Live and learn! Stella also enjoyed the process of determining what scale and what repeats to use, and she had very definite ideas about what she preferred.
So, for some close-ups: Clare’s design, in a small scale repeat on cotton.
Clare’s other design, in a larger scale on lawn.
And a closer photo of Stella’s designs.
I ordered fat quarters of each rather than swatches hoping that I would have pieces of a useable size to incorporate into garments or other projects, and I think that they will work fine. We didn’t do any manipulation of their artwork before uploading them to Spoonflower; they were just hand-drawn with metallic textas, scanned in to the computer and uploaded. As a result there are some imperfections, such as a couple of small smudges in Clare’s, but I think that adds to the hand drawn charm! Clare is keen to get her designs up for sale.
I’m heading off to Sewjourn in a few short hours time. I have many more projects cut cut out than any person could possibly complete in two days. If you are interested in watching my sewing progress over the weekend I will be uploading potentially dodgy photos to Instagram (I’m thornberry over there) as I complete each garment. Have a great weekend everyone – I know that I will!
These are all so fabulous Lara – clever clever girls!
Enjoy your weekend 🙂
Wow! They have such an eye for this! I’d wear those prints in a heartbeat!
Beautiful prints, I love the uncomplicated freshness that children bring to art, they don’t over think it like the rest of us (or is that just me?)
It is possible you have created an obsession here……
This is just so cool!
They are amazing prints! I used spoonflower not long after I arrived in the USA when my six year old bought home a fun painting ( I couldn’t resist!). I did one for a friend’s child too. It was so exciting manipulating the prints online. I just ordered the cheapest cotton (but delivery was ridiculously cheap and quick here). I have to admit I was pretty disappointed with the coarseness of the cotton (you get what you pay for I guess), and also the fact that the background of the print was grey, rather than the white that I’d been anticipating – I’m not 100% sure this isn’t partly because it ran a bit in the prewash though. I would still love to give them another go but would order a swatch next time and steer clear from the cheap cotton. I’m wondering what you think of the knit quality? And also, I’d suggest putting a bit of dynazol or salt in for the prewash if you haven’t already done so!
That’s so cool, love both of the prints and am amazed that the girls did them!
Fabulous designs…..the apples haven’t fallen far from the tree!!
What a clever couple of girls! I am so jealous of your sewing weekend!
Gorgeous fabric and you will have so much fun using them. Enjoy your sewing week-end!
This is fabulous! Great idea!
Such a great idea. They will be so thrilled when you make something for them in their original designer fabric.
What clever girls! They turned out great, I hope they’re pleased with themselves 🙂 I love that you left the smudges- a reminder of the design process 🙂
I absolutely adore what you have done here.
How fantastic! These are beautiful!