Tuesday, December 09, 2008

You Too Can Be a Textile Designer...

Have you always dreamed of being a fabric designer? Me neither. My "talent" has always been in the implementation of designer fabrics, not in the creation of them. Still, as I've cruised around designer's websites and seen their incredible creations I've occasionally wished I could have a fabric line with my name on it. Well, ladies, that's where Spoonflower comes in! It's a website where you can design and have printed your own textiles. You heard me right! Your very own textiles!!! Some fabulous features of this website: No minimum order. $18 per yard. Printed on high quality Moda fabric. (You know how much I love Moda!) And, apparently, a fast turnaround -- as little as two weeks. If that doesn't get your heart palpitating, check out the website and design a yard or two!

Today I was told about Spoonflower. I've been glued to my computer ever since. No food. No water. Minimal breaks. I'm hooked. I'm fairly certain that a big-wig fabric mogul in New York isn't going to take a look at my newly designed fabrics and try to employ my talents. I'm not a graphic designer and my artistic ability is limited to stick figures and play dough, but here's the beauty -- I'm not sure it matters! (Ok, it matters some, but not enough.)

Here's what I created today. I took a photo that I had taken earlier this summer...

In Microsoft Photo Editor I went into "effects" and changed the photo to "stamp."

Then I went to Spoonflower and downloaded the above photo and "made" my fabric...

Here's another example. I started out with this...

Again I went into Photo Editor and changed it to a "watercolor"...

Then I changed the background to black...

And made this awesome sunflower fabric at Spoonflower...

I also made these black 'n whites -- just cause I could...

I can picture each of these fabrics as a tote. I'm itching to try it! Anyway this website is a very dangerous discovery, because as luck would have it I'm not done with my Christmas shopping and I've wasted precious shopping hours today on this new past time. I'm going to need a lot of willpower to pull myself away from this one!