fabric design

Guest post | David Butler on Parson Gray

by contributor on April 2, 2012

in Guest Blogger, Sewing+Fabric

Parson Gray is the brand of David Butler – artist and lead singer of the band Black Owls. With a decidedly “folk modern” approach, David uses richly muted palettes and organic, geometric prints with hand-drawn sophistication anchored in modernist simplicity reminiscent of mid-century studio design. His brand offerings range from textiles, to fashion, home and personal accessories.

Thanks for swinging by Whipup and letting me indulge for a bit. I’m going to ramble about my design inspiration and process for just a little while, and if you get bored, well, that’s my fault. Some of you may know me as the husband of the awesome designer Amy Butler, and some of you (fewer of you) might know that I also have a band called Black Owls. I lead a very full and very kinetic & crazy life, just the way I like it! I’m glad you’re here.

Start by saying that I always have ideas and inspiration pinned up on my boards. I know pretty much what the collection of prints is going to be when designing fabric. My inspiration boards contain strange elements and shapes in nature, rock music, folk art, mid-century design, motion, fashion, all things that I find exciting and soothing at the same time. I use these inspirations more for tone and story rather than real reference for the art. It never really seems to work that way. I like to have an over-abundance of reference, and drawings/paintings, and edit down from where I started. There are many parallels to creating music. I like to write a large volume of songs and then pare down to get to an album. The difference is with rock music, I co-create with my partner Ed who writes the music. We have sketches, we finalize them (demos), then we turn them into final art (masters). It just takes a heck of a lot longer to do the music than it does to do the fabrics!

For Curious Nature there were a few prints that went all the way through coloring and then bit the dust after I put together the entire collection. (Just like our new album) They seemed a perfect fit when I started, but didn’t flow well with everything else once it all came together as a color story. I pull together my drawings and prints in black and white and scan them in. Then I make my repeats and clean up the art as I need to. I intentionally keep the hand-drawn character, flaws and all, because it is inherent to the character of the art. I then make my step and repeats on the computer and build my color palette. Then it’s all just experimentation. Dropping in colors, printing them out, laying them on the floor and editing. Like I said, not everything makes the cut. The whole process for me takes a little less than a week to complete.

My next range is already designed and in production. It’s called Seven Wonders. 24 prints that will work alongside Curious Nature. I wanted to expand upon the palette that I’ve built with the first line, and create a world of prints and colors that go together – So folks can refresh their investment in Curious Nature with an addendum set of colors and prints. I love the idea of expanding upon something already built. I’m currently working on a series of other products and ideas (while helping Amy with her business and photography, website, etc..). A Black Owls double album comes out soon too. I need a nap.

Thanks for checking in! – Dave

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Books | Fabric design

by kath_red on February 16, 2012

in Books, Sewing+Fabric

Book 1: Kim Kight is the fabric expert behind the much loved blog TrueUp. It was only a matter of time before she would write a book and I so very glad to finally be able to tell you how excellent it is. Kim has a way of delving into each topic with such depth and unbiased insight which is why her blog has become the go-to place for fabric designers and fabric appreciators alike. And her recent book, A Field Guide to Fabric Design (C&T Publishing November 2011), I am very happy to report does her justice.

In A field guide, you will find: how to develop your design using various tools (with tutorials), how to develop a colour palette (with a colour theory primer), there is a bit about copyright, collections, fabrics and printing options, and finishing with how to enter the designing fabric marketplace. All of this information is set out very clearly and is an excellent overview to getting started on designing your own fabric and starting up a business in fabric design.

Book 2: Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design (Chronicle Books February 2012), is a recent release on the market covering this very popular diy fabric design market. The author Laurie Wisbrun, brings her personal expertise to the table here, as a surface designer who began designing and selling her own fabric designs through Etsy (using Spoonflower printing) and now designs for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

This is a big book with a lovely textured hard cover — I like that in a book. Master the Art in addition to how to design, info on colour and fabric etc has the addition of guest designers offering some tutorials, for example Malka Dubrawsky explains the process of dyeing, while Jesse Breytenbach explains how to print by hand. The book is bulked out with some interesting interviews with fabric designers as they tell us how they got started in the industry.

Comparison: it is difficult to compare these two books, they do cover a lot of the same ground, but are written from different perspectives. Either of these books would be a useful addition to your design library.

Master the Art is stronger in the design aspect. Laurie’s knowledge as a surface designer comes to the fore and her photoshop and illustrator tutorials are very thorough, and her personal experience using Print-on-demand services meant that she has some detailed advice regarding colour management and digital printing. I would have hoped for more regarding marketing and selling your designs, but these business development sections may require a whole other book!

Kim Kight brings a broader view to her book, she has a vast knowledge of pattern, trends, vintage and current fabrics and designers as well as having experimented and researched many of the digital and online printing options. A field guide offers a lot of examples of fabric designs from all eras which I thought was a definite bonus (Laurie seemed to focus more on her own and other contemporary designs), Kim’s strengths lie in her broad view, passion and understanding of the fabric industry as a whole.

Both great books which can’t but help overlap in many ways but come from different perspectives and add to the whole story of becoming a fabric designer.

Fabric design online resources:

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Guest blogger series | Fabric design

by contributor on September 23, 2011

in Guest blog series2 2011, Sewing+Fabric

Sarah Fielke find her at her blog The Last Piece.

Seeing as I’m sitting here waiting for a big box of fabric to come up the driveway in a UPS van, I thought that writing a guest post about fabric design was probably appropriate!

When I was asked two years ago by Lecien Japan to design a fabric range I was so thrilled. After owning a patchwork shop, quilting seriously for over 15 years, writing three quilt books and owning a veritable avalanche of fabric, having my very own drawings on fabric was an absolute dream!

Once the initial euphoria wore off though, I got seriously intimidated. There are some absolutely amazing designers making patchwork fabric at the moment. I studied graphic design, but that was a while ago now, back in the age where we didn’t have computers and we all used – you know, actual pencils.

A lot of designers may start with pen and paper but they complete all their designs, colourways and repeats on computer. I have never used Photoshop or a Wacom tablet or anything else like that so everything was going to have to be how I love to do things, by hand. I explained all this to Lecien who were incredibly gracious and helpful about working with my process.

When I design anything, quilts or fabric, I doodle a lot. I have books full of little sketches of patterns I saw on a tile, a flower I saw in a garden, applique shapes from antique quilts… and things that just pop in my head. Before I do anything solid I do a lot of thinking about what the theme of the range might be. I come up with a load of ideas and write myself little lists of things.

For my new range, St Ives, (my second range for Lecien) which will be launched at International Quilt Market in October, I had decided to do a range about my childhood. I started by making a list of everything I could think of that reminded me of my childhood. Legwarmers, hair bobbles, rainbow shoelaces, slushies, gumball gobstoppers, Michael Jackson, the Goodies, our garden, my bedroom, my bike. It was a long list and I started making little drawings of the ones that stood out.

After I find some doodles I like, I start to work them seriously into a design. This usually means making a quite detailed pen and ink drawing that is only for me. The drawings are too detailed for fabric design but it helps me to have something that is ‘finished’ to my eye before I pare back the lines to something more simple for a fabric range.

Once that is done I work on how the repeats might run. Because I do this all by hand it’s a fairly laborious process, but I only have to do it so that Lecien have an idea of how I want it to run – they do all the computer work for me so the repeats are not to a finish standard. I’ve explained how I do the simple repeats in the tutorial below.

The final stage is the colours, although of course I’ve been thinking about them all the way along. Colours are a whole other thing. With my first range, From Little Things, I wanted a range that reflected the colours I love to use most in my quilts – lime green, hot pink, aqua, yellow and most of all white. For this range I wanted the colours to be more ’80′s to reflect the theme of the fabric – without going for fluro of course! It was a little harder for me to choose the slightly softer palette of St Ives but I am pleased with the result. Lecien like me to use their colour card for their Cosmo embroidery threads to pick the colours, and then we can tweak as we go along. That way I have an exact look at the colour the fabric will be ON FABRIC, not on paper, as that can be very different!

When I have a colour palette picked out I do final artwork of each fabric design. Sometimes this is only one flower or leaf because of how the repeat will run. The designs are scanned and emailed, and I courier the originals with the thread numbers for each print and each colourway, and then I wait!

First thing back are digital prints… I colour correct and correct scale, line weight and anything else I don’t like, and send them back. This may happen a few times, but when we’re happy, they send the strike offs. These are smaller pieces of the actual fabric (usually the printing isn’t as good and the stock they are printed on is rough) but it’s always exciting to see actual fabric! Corrections again, until the final designs are signed off. And then the wait begins for the actual fabric, which has just now arrived at my front door!

How to Make a Simple Fabric Repeat

  1. First, make your drawing in the centre of a square the size of your repeat. This is a 6 1/2″ square, so it will be a 6 1/2″ repeat.
  2. Cut the design in half in one direction. Turn the two halves around so that the outsides are facing into the centre, and tape them back together.
  3. Cut the design in half in the other direction, turn the pieces around and tape them together again.
  4. You should now have a piece of paper with designs in all four corners and a blank space in the middle. Draw your design into the blank space. Here I am repeating the same flower over and over, but here is your chance to use something different in the middle and change the design entirely.
  5. Make a few photocopies of the finished 6 1/2″ repeat and cut them into 6 1/2″ squares. Match up the designs along the lines as accurately as you can (ok, I was in a hurry here) and you have a fabric repeat!

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Guide to fabric design online

by kath_red on June 26, 2011

in Home+Decor, Sewing+Fabric

Seems like everyone is getting into fabric design – and companies like Spoonflower mean that anyway can create their own fabric designs. But how do you do it – what methods should you employ – is there a standard way of designing fabric? lets explore the possibilities…

Resources and inspiration:

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Guest blogger series: Fabric design tips

by kath_red on March 1, 2011

in Guest Series 2011, Resources

Today I am happy to welcome Fabric Designer Lizzy House to Whipup.

I have designed fabric professionally now for 4 years, and since then, things have changed. When I started approaching manufacturers I was the only kid at the show. 21 years old with a bow in my hair; I was still in school, I’m not married, I have no children, I was an anomaly to the industry in 2006. Quite a few things have changed since then. The market has become much more saturated with “young” designers, giving peeps involved in this Modern Sewing movement a greater opportunity to find fabric that interests them. In my opinion all of these are great things. The one twist, that I’d like to discuss today, is about becoming a designer in this changing climate. Whether it be because of the industry, the scarcity of cotton, or the bumbling economy, manufacturers are taking on fewer new designers.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for you, if designing fabric is something that you want to do. What it means, is that you have to come to the table fully prepared.

Here are a few specifics to help you get on your way:

1. Your work has to be unique and original. Manufacturers are looking for new. It can’t be your impression of someone else’s work. It needs to be fresh and from your perspective. Take a look at what is out there and see if there is something that you can twist to fill a hole in what’s already available.

2. You need to keep a blog that other people follow. Manufacturers are now looking for people with a built in following. As tacky as that might sound, it makes perfect sense. When they are investing time and serious dollars into you, they need to know that you are a safe bet. So work on building up your internet street cred.

3. Beyond having a blog, your work needs to be out there. Whether you are licensing your artwork, printing and selling with SpoonFlower, or selling it in your etsy shop. Manufacturers need to be able to get an idea of who you are, and you want a sales team to be able to get behind you, just by googling you.

4. Back everything up with confidence and passion. If you believe in your work, it becomes easier for other people to believe in it.

These four things are a good start to helping you get your foot in the door in the Textile World in the Quilting Industry. But what about other fields? Say you are looking to publish a book. A publisher is essentially in the same exact position as a fabric manufacturer. They are just printing books instead of fabric. So you can apply these four points to any end of the craft industry for better success.

If you are looking to find out more about the textile industry you can check out my ebook How to Enter the World of Textile Design for the Quilting Industry.

And if you are hoping to become a published author, you can check out this really helpful post from acquisitions editor for Stash Books Susanne Woods on the Sew Mama Sew blog, and a thoughtful podcast about ins and outs of publishing at CraftyPod.

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