Announcing the Fabric8 Winner: Andie Hanna's Painted Petals Collection

The votes are in, the fabric-loving community has spoken... The next rock star designer for our friends at Robert Kaufman Fabrics will be Andie Hanna, a fashion designer from Columbus, Ohio, who plays piano, sews, and is also mom to a 5-year-old. Andie's Painted Petals beat out seven other amazing collections to win this year's biggest contest so far. She's got a professional fabric design contract coming her way, as well as a top-notch digital drawing tablet from Wacom. Congratulations to each of the top eight, all of whom have great things in store for them.

See the Fabric8

The final results are:

1. Anderson Lee: Painted Petals 
2. CJLDesigns: The Scented Garden 
3. Kayajoy: Flight Patterns
4. Sberrens: Breezy Blooms
5. Snowflower: Sea Garden 
6. Heather Dutton: Tea Time 
7. Mahoneybee: Butterfly Garden
8. Valley Designs: Fabric Garden 

 

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Andie Hanna

This is the last designer profile in our series of profiles on the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we hope you enjoy reading about designer Andie Hanna.  Voting on the eight Fabric8 finalists' collections begins next week!

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Painted Petals by Anderson_Lee, Andie Hanna

I was born in Greenville, South Carolina but really grew up in Columbus, Ohio.  As an adult, my career has taken me all over.   I've lived in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Minneapolis.  Now I'm back in good old C-bus and I'm glad to be home.

For the past 13 or so years I’ve worked as a fashion designer of apparel and accessories and have always had a passion for color and print and pattern.  Throughout my career I've had textile designers on my team to handle print and pattern development but about 7 or 8 years ago, I learned how to create my own textile designs when the workload became too much for my textile designers.  I fell in love with it and have been doing it ever since.  I currently work as a design manager and have an amazing team of designers.  I've taught all of them how to design their own prints and create repeats and they love it, too!

When I’m not designing fabrics, I love to play with my 5-year old son, work on my photography, play the piano, draw, and sew. The last big project I completed was making seven roman shades for the breakfast nook in my kitchen.  It really changed the space and I love them!  I also like to read and cuddle with my hubby while watching a movie. I have a hard time picking favorites but right now I’m really into reading Lisa See. One of my favorite movies is American Beauty. (It makes me feel so normal!)

As creatives typically go, I’m kind of a weirdo.  I'm very analytical and very much a planner. I have to plan things out in detail.  I’m also a list person. My husband thinks I’m crazy because I’m always making lists and analyzing the options.

When I first saw the ad on Spoonflower about the Fabric8 contest, I thought it looked interesting and thought I should check it out. When I saw what the theme was, I was hooked. I just love pen and ink and watercolor and couldn’t wait to work on my modern interpretation of those techniques. I’m very inspired by nature and also by travel and culture and discovering new places. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world for work and it's always extremely inspiring. A recent trip to Florida and my obsession with flowers were the main influeneces behind my “Painted Petals” design. I spent some time sketching out a few flowers before I started drawing them in Illustrator. 

When I first heard that I'd been chosen as one of the Fabric8 contest finalists, I was completely shocked. I really didn’t think I’d make it to the top 8 because there were so many amazing designs. I was in a meeting at work when the email came through. I about jumped out of my chair!

I have my collection somewhat planned out at this point. I have about seven ideas and will probably work them all up before trying to narrow them down. I know I want to have at least one bold black and white print. I love black and white and I think it would sit well with “Painted Petals.”  I also want to do a tonal print with the citrus green color.

Painted Petals by Andie Hanna, Fabric8 finalist

 

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Linda Mahoney

This is the seventh and penultimate in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we're featuring artist and designer Linda Mahoney. Enjoy, and look for our final interview post at the end of the week!

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Butterflygarden by Mahoneybee, Linda Mahoney

I was born in Texas, USA, and now I split my time between Texas and New Mexico. I spend a lot of my time doing different types of artwork and taking photos. You can see an online art gallery of my work here. Spending time with my husband, family and our miniature schnauzer gives me utmost joy. Sneaking in a little time to read or listen to audio books while painting fills in the cracks.

I’ve always admired fabric and wallpaper designs and thought I would love to try my hand at it. I got a BFA in commercial art, but that was in the era BC (before computers). I am self-taught on the computer and am always looking for different challenges and opportunities to expand my artwork. I first found Spoonflower through a search engine about a year ago, and tried coming up with a few ideas, but the repeats were (and still are) somewhat of a problem for me. I didn’t get brave enough to put something out there until now.

I don’t sew and have decided to leave that to my friends who amaze me with those skills. My arts and crafts room threatens to consume me, so I keep trying to limit myself. I’m a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America and do free-lance artwork.

It’s so hard to narrow the field, but I loved reading The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene as an all-time favorite and more recently Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Temple Grandin and Crosscreek are two of my favorite movies.  I like way too many different types of music to pick just a few favorites and the same with artists, but when it comes to fabric design, I'm inspired by William Morris and Kaffe Fassett and like to review the work of Klimt, Monet and the living artist, Joseph Raffael, from time to time.

My reaction to being in the Fabric8 top 100 was shock, and then becoming one of the 8 finalists was beyond shocking as well as humbling. I saw some beautiful, amazing work by incredibly talented designers in the top 100. Honestly, I have always been leery of contests that involve voting because I assumed you only had a chance if you had a giant and loyal social network. (A lot of my friends don’t have a clue how to navigate the Internet to even vote!) I was at home doing a quick check of email before 5:00 a.m. before I joined a friend to walk and I read it then.  It jolted me right awake and I’m still smiling about it!

 

Linda's winning fabric design is in the middle, between two photos
she used as inspiration for the painting.

When I saw the theme of watercolor, pen and ink, I thought I wanted to create something a little loose to convey the feel of watercolor and include just a bit of pen and ink. I’m usually very technical with my artwork, so that was a stretch for me. I tried drawing out the elements first, but that felt too constrained, so I just did free hand work. I wanted to keep the colors bright and clear, too. I love flowers and thought of the light airy petals of poppies.

 

I have some ideas to develop for the rest of the collection but am not committed to them yet. I’ve been putting different colors together and am not sure which direction I will ultimately go with it.  I especially like paisleys and plaids and will probably include at least one of those in my final collection.

 

Butterfly Garden by mahoneybee, Fabric8 finalist

 

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Tamara Serrao

This is the sixth in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we're profiling Canadian designer Tamara Serrao. Look for our penultimate Fabric8 designer profile tomorrow!

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Dappled Migration by Kayajoy, Tamara Serrao

I was born in northern Ontario but when I was 4, my family sailed to Trinidad to live. There I grew up exploring the outdoors in a sunny and colourful environment. I left Trinidad to come back to Canada at age 17 but tropical birds, insects, fish, and flora were an enormous part of my younger years and remain ever present in my memories and imagination. Today I live in Montreal, where I long for the colour and warmth of summer for far too many months of the year.

I have a bachelors degree in art, with a major in textiles and a minor in art history. While in school, however, my main focus was in weaving. It wasn’t until last year, after many years of not being involved in textiles to any great degree, that my sister introduced me to Spoonflower and I quickly became addicted to the design process. I set myself the goal of entering as many of the weekly contests as I could manage so as to push my boundaries aesthetically and technically. I have learned so much through this exercise.

When I’m not designing fabric, I'm either at work designing packaging and labels, trying to cook an interesting meal (I stress “trying”), or being creative with my kids. In the summer I love being on our rooftop deck, planting beautifully coloured flowers in every available spot and enjoying the fresh air and sky.

I grew up with a mom who sewed most of our clothes. Delving into fabric shops, bags of ribbons, boxes of buttons, and stacks of patterns are some of my earliest distinct memories. I learned to sew at a very young age and have gone through phases of fervent stitching, embroidery, quilting or knitting when the inspiration has hit.

My favorite period has been the anticipation of and first years of my children’s lives. I still have the quilt my grandmother made for me when I was a baby and I wanted my kids to each have that tactile keepsake of their own. In typical parenting fashion, my firstborn’s was pretty much finished before she was born.

But my son’s quilt was only finished a couple of months ago. (He is now 4.)

I also enjoy making baby clothes because the scale is perfect for me. I get a great sense of accomplishment from such adorable, small, quickly finished projects.

Having two young children, I read a lot of kids’ books. Some of my favorites are Where the Wild Things Are, Iggy Peck Architect, Grandpa Green, and The Red Shoes. I derive so much inspiration from ideas and styles of illustration in our younger home library. My favorite musician at the moment is Michael Kiwanuka. His voice is spellbinding. As for fabric designers, that’s a tough one to narrow down. There is quite a range for me, from Amy Butler to Kate Spain to Lizzie House to Skinny Laminx.  My list of favorites goes on and on.  Probably due to the fact that my own work is usually quite detailed & controlled, I'm really enjoying the paintings of Lulie Wallace and Michelle Armas right now.

I was completely ecstatic when I learned that I was one of the Fabric8 finalists. I had just flown into Halifax in the late morning to spend some time with my mom and dad. Not being one of the most technologically advanced individuals around, it took me a good hour to get wi-fi running on my laptop. My email was the first thing I checked and there at the top was a message from Stephen saying I was in. I literally squealed with delight!

I would say that 95% of my fabric design work thus far has been created using Illustrator. I am a self-taught computer graphist and have been learning as I go. I have, however, been wanting to get back to drawing and painting for some time now, so the Fabric8 contest was just what I’ve been waiting for. It hasn’t been as easy as I'd thought it would be, though. It's literally been half a lifetime since I’ve used watercolours, so I've gone through whole days of sketching, drawing with technical pens, experimenting with paint, scanning, manipulating with Photoshop, and then starting all over again from scratch the following day. I think I'm finally on track, and I'm creating a collection based on sunlight and wind with fantastical patterned butterflies being the main characters. As always, colour and pattern are driving me.

Dappled Migration by Kayajoy, Fabric8 finalist

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Julie Lynch

This is the fifth in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we're featuring Australian designer Julie Lynch. Enjoy, and look for our sixth interview post on Monday!

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The Scented Garden by CJLDesigns, Julie Lynch

I've always lived in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia.  I grew up in the town of Lobethal which is known for its German heritage and wonderful bakery, and also as the home for many years of the Onkaparinga Woollen Mill. I currently live with my husband and our two boys ages 6 and 7 in a little house in Littlehampton.

I work as a graphic designer in children’s wear and, apart from designing prints and embroideries and doing technical illustrations and croquis, I also design some yardage prints. I was so happy to find Spoonflower because I love patterns and putting things into repeat.  I do enjoy my work but it's also great to have the freedom to work on designs that are all my own. I've been at Spoonflower for just over a year now and was very excited to hear about Fabric8.

When I'm not working on fabric designs, I love to go driving.  Actually my husband does the driving as I haven't got my license yet. (I've been putting that off for many years now.) We like exploring places we've never been before with the kids or going to favourite places we have been, and doing a lot of photography along the way. I also enjoy going to lots of little markets in search of interesting bits and pieces for our many collections.

I don't sew on a machine so unfortunatley the only sewing I do at the moment is hand-sewing costumes for the kids or attempting to mend clothes (which often need mending after I've finished with them). I would love to make a quilt or two and learn to crochet properly. Before I had children, I made lots of handmade bears from mohair and old coats and I enjoyed making my own sewing patterns.

I also really enjoy printmaking.  I enjoyed a lino-printing workshop I took recently and have also done etching and screen-printing.

I'm really drawn to illustration and have many favourite illustrators, some of whom are also talented designers on Spoonflower. A few of my favourite children’s book illustrators include Graeme Base and Pamela Allen, and I love the beautiful work of Christopher Wormell.

I have to say that watercolour does not come naturally to me so when working on my design for this contest, I wanted to do something that had strong line work with the texture of water colour. I love working with natural motifs like flowers and birds and I'm looking forward to expanding on this theme for the collection. 

Living in Australia, the time difference means that the contest winners normally go up around 1:00 a.m. Friday morning. I was feeling a little nervous before the finalists were announced so I thought I'd just go to sleep and check when I woke in the morning. After finally dropping off around 12:30 a.m., I woke up again about an hour later, checked the finalist results, and was so excited to find my design in the finals that I couldn’t go back to sleep until around 4 a.m.!

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Mandy Kippax

This is the fourth in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we're introducing UK-based designer Mandy Kippax.  More interviews will be up next week, so please stay tuned!

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Finalist: Red Poppies by Valley_Designs, Mandy Kippax

I live in Stocksbridge, a steel town in North Sheffield and have lived here all my life. Stocksbridge is in a valley near the Peak District National Park and is surrounded by countryside.

I completed my BA in surface design at the University of Huddersfield in 2010. Since then I've been creating patterns that would be suitable for fabrics and stationery. I was quite focused on designing for paper products but earlier this year, I thought I'd try some textile designs for a change and a challenge. I heard about the Fabric8 competition when I was just browsing on Spoonflower and decided to give it a try.

When I'm not designing patterns, I enjoy walking in the countryside, especially during spring and summer because I find all the different flowers and colors very inspirational. I like to paint or draw flowers from photographs that I have taken. I try to be creative with my camera too and enjoy trying to take pictures from unusual angles and capturing interesting textures.

I don't do a lot of sewing or crafting since I'd usually prefer to spend time designing. I attended a ceramics class awhile ago, though, which was great. I made a few practical pieces like a vase and two plant holders. I love to do anything fun and creative.

My favorite film is Moulin Rouge because of all the amazing sets, vibrant colors, and interesting costumes. The final scene is excellent!  A few of my favorite songs are "Pencil Full of Lead: by Paolo Nutini, "Are You Going to Be My Girl" by Jet, "Mondo Bongo" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, "No One" by Maverick Sabre, and "A Night Like This" by Caro Emerald.

I like a lot of the designers and illustrators mentioned on the Print & Pattern blog. This isn't a complete list but a few fabric designers that I find inspirational or quirky include Louise Cunningham, Fiona Howard, Hennie Haworth, and Brie Harrison.

I was sitting in my living room reading emails on my laptop when I got the news that I was one of the Fabric8 finalists.  My first reaction when I heard was "Wow, me?!" I had to read the message several times for it to sink in. I was surprised just to be in the top 100 so to be in the final 8 was a massive surprise! It is so exciting to be a finalist!

I created my red poppies design using colored inks, then I sprinkled rock salt onto the wet ink to create some texture. I continued to develop the design by adding more poppies, Ieaves, and stalks. Once I was happy with the painting, I made it into a repeat pattern using Photoshop and added a linen-style fabric texture. For my collection, I've been thinking about floral designs and what colors I may use. I haven't put anything on paper yet but when I see an image that inspires me I keep it in mind. I think I'll have to visit the botanical gardens and watch the Chelsea Flower Show on t.v.!

Red Poppies by Valley Designs www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1130463

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Sara Berrenson

This is the third in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today you can read all about designer Sara Berrenson. Look for our fourth designer profile soon!

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Watercolor Blooms by Sberrens, Sara Berrenson

I was born and raised in LA, and currently live in Santa Monica. I attended college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where I majored in art and design. Getting out of LA for a bit to go to school was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not that I don’t love LA, but it was so nice to live in a quaint little town where you always run into people you know! And it was so beautiful too, surrounded by rolling green hills and wineries.

I've always loved fabric and I started sewing around age 8. First it was doll clothes, then it progressed into clothes for myself. I made a lot of really cool vests - it was the early 90’s after all! - leopard print, neon floral, a print of little tiny buttons, with buttons. (Who doesn’t want to wear buttons on buttons?) Then I started sewing pillows for the bed, curtains, you name it. I loved going to the fabric store with my mom - still do! - and can spend hours looking at all the cute prints. At this point, I have so much fabric I could be considered a borderline hoarder. But that’s ok.  Thanks to Ikea it is now organized chaos.

For as long as I can remember I've also loved art, so it seemed like a natural progression to combine my two loves of fabric and art.  That's how I got started designing fabrics. I heard about Fabric8 through the Spoonflower website, and am so excited to be a part of this contest!

When I'm not designing fabrics, I love traveling, being outdoors, and doing crafty projects. I have a huge love of interior decorating. Every second Sunday of the month you can find me at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, hunting for cute furniture to refurbish or knick-knacks for my apartment. The rest of the time, I’m hiking in the Santa Monica mountains, bike riding, running on the beach, drinking a mocha at a coffee shop, going to wine tastings, watching American Idol, horseback riding, reading, sewing, painting, drawing, and obsessively swapping out the fabrics on my couch pillows.

I do a lot of sewing and crafting, maybe too much! I need to cut back because the crafts are taking over my living room and kitchen. Since I live in a one bedroom apartment, there’s not really enough room to have a designated workspace. So I have to decide whether I’d rather have my couch or kitchen for the day. Usually the couch wins, which means a lot of eating out! 

Whenever I see something, I think “Oh, I can make that!” Then after several failed attempts, I realize I definitely cannot make that, and it's best to buy it from the crafters who do it best. The project that I am probably most proud of is a Halloween doll created for the Aids Foundation charity auction. I called her Creepy Cute because she had a gigantic pumpkin head and wore a sweet little pinafore dress. It was my first (and last) time creating a doll. It was a lot of work, but it was for a great cause!

I don’t watch a lot of tv, but I’m always reading a book. Some of my recent favorites are Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and Await your Reply by Dan Chaon. I pretty much love all kinds of music, but lately have been listening to a lot of upbeat poppy stuff when I design. Some favorites are Lenka, Miss Li, Florence and the Machine, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, The Sounds, and my boyfriend’s band, Capital Cities.

I am constantly inspired by other artists and fabric designers. I spend way too much time on Pinterest, but that's how I’ve discovered a lot of great artists. One of my favorite Etsy artists is Ashley Percival who does adorable illustrations of owls in glasses. Also BerkelyIllustration, who does all sorts of animals in suits and ties. (Can you tell I love animals?) I’m also super inspired by the fabric designs of Luli Sanchez, Imogen Heath, Amy Sia, Tanya Brown, Lilly Pulitzer, and I have a few Florence Broadhurst patterns framed around my house.

When I heard I was one of the Fabric8 finalists, I was shocked! And super excited! Then I had to reread it to make sure that I read it right the first time! I was actually in the Starbucks drive-through at the time. They must have thought I was really, really excited to get my caramel macchiato.
After reading the theme for the contest, I was so excited because I love the look of watercolor, especially on fabric. I debated on what to draw for about 2 seconds, then I knew I was going to do a floral print. Figuring a lot of people would enter flowers, I thought perhaps I should consider a different subject but I absolutely love floral prints--in clothing, in my living room, in my fabric hoarding collection--so I couldn’t resist! After narrowing that down, I just started painting. I wanted something cheerful with a sporadic placement of the flowers, as if they had been tossed up in the air, and it just evolved from there. 

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Heather Dutton

This is the second in our series of profiles of the eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Today we're offering a lovely interview with Heather Dutton. Look for more profiles next week!

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Afternoon Tea by Heatherdutton, Heather Dutton

I was born in Maine but we moved around a lot when I was really little. We eventually settled back in Maine when I was about 8 years old and I grew up in the small college town of Orono.

After I graduated from art school at the Savannah College of Art & Design, I lived and worked out in San Francisco for a number of years. I later moved back to Maine, bought a great old farmhouse and now I live in the adorable seaside town of Kennebunk. 

I got started designing fabrics when I was working as a fashion designer in San Francisco. I’d always had a passion for fabrics and part of my job at the time was to work with the in-house textile designers and a handful of print studios to develop and pick prints for the clothes I was designing. I’d always loved drawing and doodling different ideas that popped into my head and after watching the textile designers, I started to get drawn more and more into the world of surface design. Eventually I was lucky enough to find a job that combined fashion design with a little bit of surface design and from that moment on I was hooked. I do think it's funny that I design patterns for a living but 95% of my clothes don’t have a single decorative pattern or design on them. I think I own 2 or 3 things with a print and I hardly ever wear them. What’s that all about?

About a year and a half later I branched out on my own and started Hang Tight Studio. I heard about Fabric8 on the Spoonflower blog and I was crazy excited when I saw that you guys had teamed up with Robert Kaufman for another big competition! I was a little intimidated by the theme of “pen & ink” since I’m seriously watercolor challenged and it’s not a style that I’m used to designing in. To be totally honest, I almost didn’t even enter. A few days before the deadline to enter I got completely inspired and I decided that it was crazy not to at least give it a try. I’m ridiculously happy that I did now and it was really fun to branch out and do something a wee bit different. 
When I’m not designing fabrics I love working on new goodies for my Etsy shop, hunting down cool vintage treasures at local flea markets, and going on fun adventures with my sweet Sussex spaniel, Emma Jean. We both love walking on the beach or being out in the woods.  Living in Maine, there are tons of cool places to discover.

I love to sew and make little goodies for around my house or for friends and family. I recently made my very first handbag using my Chillout fabric and it makes me giddy every time I use it! Sometimes I have to pinch myself that it’s so easy and affordable to have my designs printed onto fabric thanks to Spoonflower. Sewing has always been fun but it’s kicked up a notch when you’re sewing something using fabric that you designed!

The list of fabric designers that I admire is a mile long but some of my absolute faves are Amy Butler, Heather Moore (Skinny Laminx), Khristian Howell, Joel Dewberry and the brilliant husband and wife team Brejer (Breanne and Jeremiah Simpson). I’m a bit of a movie freak and I honestly don’t know if I could pick a favorite but one of my favorite books would have to be The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. My fingers are crossed that someday it will be made into a movie.

My first reaction when I found out that I was one of the Fabric8 finalists was a seriously stunned “WHAT???!!!!” That was quickly followed by a racing heart and complete giddiness! There were so many incredible designs in the semi-finals round and even though I had my fingers crossed that I’d make it through, the other designers had set the bar pretty high. I was in my studio getting ready to start my day when I found out. I was so excited by the news that I didn’t get very much work done that day. It’s a huge honor to have been selected out of so many amazing designs and I can’t thank everyone enough for all the votes and support!

It sounds kind of silly but my creative process for this design started when I was doing dishes. My favorite coffee cup looks like a deep tea cup and as I was washing it I got a visual flash of all the different elements that ultimately ended up becoming a part of my design. Doilies, birdies, biscuits, tea cups and a swirly-edged pocket watch. It seriously was a burst of inspiration and it was actually “THE” moment that I decided I was going to enter to the competition. The next morning I couldn’t wait to start sketching all of the elements that had popped into my head. I didn’t know exactly how the design was going to take shape but once I scanned my sketches into the computer, turned them into vector art and started moving them around, the design just sort of fell into place.


Since I’m watercolor challenged I did the next best thing and finished the design by faux painting it in Photoshop. My hat goes off to the other designers who actually painted their designs! I don’t have my whole collection planned out yet but I’ve been playing around with a couple of coordinate designs already. There will definitely be more doilies & birdies popping up, some fun tea tins and a vintage inspired floral. My mind’s racing with ideas and I’m excited to dig in and finish the rest of the collection! 

Fabric8 Finalist Profile - Lucie Duclos

As regular readers know, we're down to eight finalists in the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers. Below is the first in our series of Fabric8 finalist profiles, an interview with Lucie Duclos, Snowflower on Spoonflower. Between now and June 7, the day the final voting starts, we'll publish a profile of each of the final eight.

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Water Flowers by Snowflower, Lucie Duclos

I am originally from Montreal, Canada but I just moved to Port Townsend, Washington from the San Francisco, Bay Area.  We have an amazing view outside our new house.

I love to paint with acrylics and I also do beeswax collage and altered books. I'll really try just about anything!  One of my favorite projects was these little paper purses I created for a friend’s birthday party as party favors. I used paper I had around the house so they were all different -- vintage clip-on earrings for the clasps, and ribbon or trim for the handle. Those were a hit! (Now you know what to do with those old mismatched earrings!)


I love to take art classes, whether online or at art retreats, to learn new techniques and to be surrounded by creative people (as in the Spoonflower community). I am the happiest when I do art -- any kind of art. I love to travel which is where I get a lot of my inspiration. I also really like to sew and I just discovered that I can draw with my sewing machine using the darning foot. That is so much fun to do!

I've always loved fabric as a medium. I love the texture and feel of it and I can spend hours in a fabric store. I took a fabric design class awhile ago where we learned how to design fabric using gouache on paper. That was really fun but very time consuming and hard to do color changes. I really got into fabric design when I joined Spoonflower a few years ago and started entering the contests here and there. I love the themes and the deadlines.

I saw the Fabric8 contest on the Spoonflower site but wasn’t planning to enter because I'd previously been a little afraid of watercolor.  But I just took an online art class where we had to use watercolor and draw imaginary flowers and I really enjoyed it. I hadn’t realized before that watercolors could be so playful. Somebody on the Flickr group saw one of the watercolor exercises I posted for the class and said I really should enter the contest, and that’s kind of why I did it.

When I first heard the news that I'd been chosen as a Fabric8 finalist, my husband and I were driving across the country from Port Townsend, Washington to Montreal, Canada, and stopping along the way in little towns and national parks. We were in a little motel in Cody, Wyoming when I got the email from Stephen and I screamed, "NO WAY! NO WAY!" My husband was worried that something went terribly wrong because I was in shock.  I just couldn’t believe it.  I still can’t believe it! I am floating on air. We had to ask for a late check-out that morning because I was so excited I couldn’t do anything!

I wanted my design to be modern, playful and almost abstract, so I painted a whole bunch of imaginary flowers, scanned them, and used the best ones to create my design. I'm not sure what I want to do for my collection yet but I think I want to explore the water theme a little further.

When I'm not doing creative projects, I really enjoy reading Barbara Kingsolver, especially her early books like The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams and Pigs in Heaven.  My favorite movie is still the French movie Amelie. There is an amazing attention to detail and color in that movie, it’s like a piece of art to me.  I also enjoy listening to world music especially Brazilian and Gypsy music. There is something about those rhythms that I find very engaging and inspiring.

I love the quirky style of fabric designer, Rachael Taylor. I also admire Lucienne Day and Kim Parker. I love the luscious color palette of painter Flora Bowley, she is definitely on of my favorite artist. I also love glass artist Dale Chihuly. I love his vibrant colors. If you haven’t seen his Bridge of Glass display in Tacoma, Washington, it’s really worth the detour.

I'm also pretty good at playing the spoons.  I guess it’s part of my French Canadian heritage.

Fabric8 Finalists + Advice For Creating Fabric Collections

We're very excited to announce the top eight designers from a pool of 100 semifinalists in the Fabric8 competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics. Close to 7,000 people from all over the world voted for their favorite designs among the semifinalists.

The Fabric8 are:

1. The scented garden by cjldesigns
2. Dappled Migration by kayajoy
3. red_poppies by valley_designs
4. Afternoon Tea by heatherdutton
5. Water flowers by snowflower
6. Watercolor_blooms by sberrens
7. Butterflygarden by mahoneybee
8. Painted_Petals by anderson_lee

View the Fabric8 on Spoonflower

All of these designers are being asked to create a collection based on their winning entry. The collection will include seven additional fabrics, and in the final voting round the world will have a chance to cast one vote for their favorite collection of the eight starting on June 7, 2012.

As the Fabric8 get ready to undertake the challenge of creating their own collections for the first time, we asked the creative team from Robert Kaufman Fabrics to provide a little guidance and advice on what they look for in a collection. For all of the talented designers who competed and didn't make it to the final round, we thought it would be worthwhile to share these tips from the professionals:

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Guidelines For Creating a Fabric Collection

Your collection should consist of eight different patterns in total, including the design you've already submitted. A loose formula -- from which you are free to depart --  for an effective coordinated print fabric collection (especially for the quilting market) is to include the following:

• A focal design (large scale, multicolor, complex, often includes a combination of motifs from the rest of the line)
• A secondary design (medium scale, multicolor, often includes some of, but not all the same motifs as in the focal)
• Small-scale multicolor coordinate (often isolates one motif found in the focal and makes it an all-over pattern of the single motif or single type of motif)
• Tonal or two-tone or tone-on-tone coordinates (can be any scale – perhaps offer several)
• A mix of geometric motifs and organic motifs (ie, florals and polka dots or stripes)

The prints should feel related to one another, which is most easily achieved by repeating motifs throughout the different designs, but can also be achieved through color alone, with otherwise completely unrelated patterns.

• There should be a variety of scale amongst the patterns.
• There should also be a variety of value amongst the patterns.
• Offer a variety of ground coverage, which means that some patterns should lean towards the full coverage end of the spectrum, with motifs overlapping and covering as much of the surface as possible, and other patterns should be more openly spaced with more ground showing through between the motifs.

When we go into commercial production on a collection we usually run designs in several color-ways and often create several cohesive color stories, but your final collection for this contest should tell just one color story. It should be cohesive and coordinated, while still offering variety.

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[To see all of the 100 semifinalists, see our previous blog post.]

Announcing the Fabric8 Top 100: Time to vote for the finalists!

As you may have read on the Fabric8 contest site, judges from Robert Kaufman Fabrics and Spoonflower have narrowed down over 750 entries to 100 semifinalists for the Fabric8 competition.

Starting today, fabric lovers everywhere are invited to vote for all their favorite fabric designs from the designs selected in the Pen & Ink theme. On May 10th, we'll announce the top 8 designs and the designers who will be asked to move forward to create a whole collection.

CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THE FINALISTS

The semifinalists are:

1) a day in spring by estrella_de_anis
2) Afternoon Tea by heatherdutton
3) amsterdam_in_love by rosie_martinez-dekker
4) animal_frolic_2 by kantakaa
5) AppalachianHighwayPoppies by meoshaugh
6) axonova by sveta_axonova
7) balloons in bloom by made_in_shina
8) Blooming Flora by my_zoetrope
9) BloomsBurst_Watercolor by veryhappychair
10) bohème by holli_zollinger
11) Bright Idea by maker_maker
12) Bunting by gabriellekingsley
13) Burst_of_Flowers by stacyiesthsu
14) Butterflies by keys
15) Butterflygarden by mahoneybee
16) camping toile by missyp
17) CatalinaGarreton_Fabric8Entry by catalina_garreton
18) cestlaviv_ bienvenue dans mon jardin by c'est_la_viv
19) Chaneinkme by oddoneout
20) Colonial Floral Watercolor by staciedaledesigns
21) colorful temptation by annosch
22) Content Chaos by joybucket
23) CotyFlower by coty
24) daisy lily poppy & rose - fabric8 by lisaekström
25) Dancing Brushes by tiffany_wu
26) Dangerous Liaisons by taffyandtwine
27) Dappled Migration by kayajoy
28) Dogwood Spring_KCraig by karencraig
29) Eden by leanne
30) fantastical stellata by scrummy
31) feathers by luisafranco
32) FINALSWATCH by caramae
33) floral_frenzy by antoniamanda
34) Flowerwatercolorfantasy by alfabesi
35) flower_repeat by bigsister
36) Forest Garden by forest&sea
37) foxgirlbrownhairentry by 1carolyne
38) FreshPicked by amandamcgee
39) Garden Variety by acbeilke
40) Gardens in Paradise by chulabird
41) girl gang by youngcaptive
42) Golly Bard - Frolic by gollybard
43) Granada Floral Ink_Henna by bee&lotus
44) hands! by elenarial
45) her undies by toknight
46) Hosta_Trumpets_WC by helenbillett
47) housewithaview by hedwige
48) India Ink Bees by anntuck
49) inky butterflies in blue by sonny&bee
50) It Is Shining by ★lucy★santana★
51) It's Sedimentary by pixelmech
52) Jungle by demigoutte
53) kaufman_fabric_14 by qweenbeee
54) lilyFlower by flock
55) Lucky dove by zoebrench
56) Magpie Sparkles by melisza
57) Marbles by angeyake
58) Medlar_Fabric8 by joanneanderson
59) MermaidBliss-SF by angie_mac
60) Migration by needlebook
61) mod_floral_coral by nat_olly
62) My Garden by holly_helgeson
63) MyBestPen2 by graphic-change
64) nailpolish_pattern by alihenrie
65) NEWNEWNEWb_buddha by sandrab
66) Ocean treasures by gergana_mollova
67) Paintbrushes tips in my favourite colours by saffron-craig
68) Painted Poppies by hugandkiss
69) Painted_Petals by anderson_lee
70) penAndInkPainted2400_2 by maryleir
71) peonypops by trillias
72) POP_FLOWER_WATERCOLOR by silvery_lane
73) Pretty_Garden by emine_ortega_designs
74) ranunculus by juliannlaw
75) Rebecca_Rendon_circles_2 by rrendon
76) red_poppies by valley_designs
77) repeat_mauve by lauradejong
78) Reves by mygm
79) Richis Roses by kathleen_gretz
80) river_meadow by nataliealex
81) Scan_2 by megreen1021
82) sea stone by maison-rosemonde
83) Sing a New Song by bzbdesigner
84) Soft tropical by michaeladaly
85) springphloxpattern by bettyhatchett
86) Spring_Forest by jeannemcgee
87) strawberries by katherinecodega
88) summer_burst by melsmithdesigns
89) Sunrise Tropic by owlandchickadee
90) The scented garden by cjldesigns
91) the tide comes in waves by drizzlydaydesignco
92) triffids in hot pink by sclues
93) Vintage Balloons by sammyb
94) Water flowers by snowflower
95) watercolor flower dots by maria_carluccio
96) Watercolor_blooms by sberrens
97) watercolor_flowers by cleverviolet
98) Where the Green Fern Grows by droyal
99) Wild & Free by blueclouds
100) ZEN_GARDEN by deeniespoonflower