Fall Craft Project: Create your own fabric using leaves - no Photoshop required

People who are not familiar with design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator often ask me how they can go about creating fabric designs to print using Spoonflower. There are many approaches you can take, of course, but just for fun I threw together this very short how-to video on making your own fabric design using a handful of colorful, fall leaves and a simple home office scanner.

A new sewing obsession

In the last 24 hours, I have become completely obsessed with sewing a zigzag quilt.  It all started with a general feeling of bummed-ness that came on while reflecting that I am really not so good with the clothing sewing.  Then came a little twinkling of re-interest in home-sewing projects. I start craving as much cozy as possible when the weather turns cool.  Shortly thereafter, dear Stephen picked me up a copy of Material Obsession which pictures quilts sewn with just the right mix of reproduction vintage fabrics and funky modern prints.  Then on to the Material Obsession blog--where I saw this beauty--and then on to the Flickr zigzag quilt pool.  (Is there a Flickr pool for everything?)  I'm totally smitten.

Lest you dismiss this quilt project because of all that triangle piecing, did you know that you can make one with strip-pieced square blocks sewn on point?  You can!  Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts offers a tutorial on Bee Square Quilts here!

Summer scraps

Scrappy placemats
Originally uploaded by Secretsugar

More sewing projects lately as I try to think up reasons to stay inside where the air-conditioning is. 100 degrees in NC today--ack!

Stephen and I have been in sore need of placemats for some time now seeing as how our two younger daughters' dinners end up mostly on the table rather than in their mouths. I'm nearly through with this set that I made mostly out of scraps I had on hand. The green floral scraps and backing are a reworked vintage floral that I printed up on the linen/cotton, though, and I'm thrilled to find an everyday use for it. It's a bit tight getting my perle cotton running stitches through the close weave, but sore fingers notwithstanding, I'm pleased with how this project is turning out so far. I may add more machine-stitched circles and more running stitched circles in green--especially if we keep having more 100 degree days around here!

True Up's ideas for digital printing

The ever-resourceful Kim Kight of True Up posted an excellent brainstormed list today of 20 ideas for digital textile printing.  I'm delighted to see that she included printing up embroidery designs onto fabric because I've been trying to do just this sort of thing myself lately.  Editing my image in Picnik and dorking around with the pencil sketch and duo-tone functions (light gray and white) just about does it, but some of you actual design pros can probably think of a better way.  Spoonflower tutorial anyone?  There could be some free fabric in it for anyone who wants to take this on....

Kim's list is pretty darn comprehensive, but comment away if you have anything else to add!

Kanzashi crafting

Crafty young'uns
Originally uploaded by Secretsugar

I think of summer as my "indoor season." In mid-summer NC, it's just too darn hot to do anything but sit inside and sew. Apparently, my oldest daughter and her friend thought so too, it being a scorching 95 degrees even before lunch today. These two accompanied me to the Spoonflower office this morning and looked very cozy and crafty indeed, sitting on our sofa, checking out Diane Gilleland's new book, Kanzashi in Bloom, and sorting through pretty fabric bits.

Naturally, we have no shortage of fabric scraps lying around the house and the office, so it was a simple matter for my 11-year old to put together a cute little flower, following all Diane's excellent instructions on her own and wrangling the hot glue gun like a pro. No word on what the flower is going to be used for but it's cute, huh? New necklaces are next on our craft list, I think!

How to make "real" oilcloth

Picnic and outdoor barbecue season--not to mention messy crafting with children at home from school season--has brought a fair number of requests from you all about whether we can print onto oilcloth.  I'd hate to see what would happen if we put modern PVC-based oilcloth through our printing and heat-fixing process.  But it hadn't occurred to me to wonder about how oilcloth was originally made until I saw this tutorial on how to make "real" oilcloth by ModHomeEcTeacher via Curbly today. 

I've got to be honest here and admit that I haven't tried this with Spoonflower printed fabric yet, but it sure seems like an interesting idea if you've got the (drying) time and space.  Maype to end up as kids' place mats?  A new back-to-school lunch bag?  Or those cute sandwich wraps eco-conscious folks are using in lieu of disposable plastic baggies?  Hmmmm....

Swimsuit Cover-up Contest

Singer and Craft magazine are co-sponsoring a Swimsuit Cover-up Contest--do y'all know about this?  You have until 7/16/09 to submit your entry via the contest Flickr pool where, incidentally, there are only 2 entries so far.  Does this mean you have a fair shot at the grand prize or one of the 3 runner-up prizes?  Could be! 

Father's Day Creature Shirt from Ann Tuck

I keep being startled by how close Father's Day is and how woefully unprepared I am with a gift for Papa Stephen. Yikes! Perhaps this sort of project is the way to go, huh? After all, Stephen wears t-shirts, the kids like to draw, and mama likes to sew. A happy group of gifting circumstances!

See Ann Tuck's post about her family's Father's Day gift creation here.

Easy shirred dress tutorial

By way of Craft magazine, Threadbanger has this excellent video on how to make an easy shirred summer dress.  If you've ever felt--like I did--that surely it couldn't be as easy as it sounded to create shirring with elastic thread, view on!  On video, it sure looks that way! 

Having your fish and eating it, too

You could "generously ink" a fish in order to make a fish-printed garment like this one from Martha Stewart.  Or you could save your fish for the grill and just Spoonflower!  I'm just sayin'....

Miss Emma Ruth halter top

I don't know about you all, but I'm obsessed with summery halter top patterns lately. In NC, we're already getting 85 degree days sprinkled in amongst our otherwise springy weeks, so I know that beach and pool season are just around the corner!

When I saw Missemmaruth's halter top in our Flickr pool this morning, I couldn't suppress a squeal. I love it! It's made from Spoonflower printed fabric designed by Imakethings and based on a free pattern offered by IchiGoGirl through Burdastyle.  Super flattering, isn't it?  Must go do some downloading and printing now....

My new pear dress

I seldom have time for cranking out the sewing projects these days with Spoonflower, young'uns, and gardening season taking up nearly every second of free time in my day.  So it is with great relief--and perhaps a bit of surprise that it really is done--that I show you all my new Lollychops pear dress, finished at last!  As Lolly herself well knows from the gushy email I sent her when I first laid eyes on her printed pears, I love this design and was delighted to be able to own some myself when it won the fabric-of-the-week contest a few weeks back.  I've made a few little girl dresses from Spoonflower fabric, but these pears were for me!

For the clothing sewers among you, this was made from New Look 6586, and my review of this pattern is here.

Faux headboard from Paper Pie

This photo of Paper Pie's new "headboard" in our Flickr pool caught my eye recently. I love her fabric designs and what a clever use for a group of coordinating designs!  Liz mentions this is a temporary decoration til a "real" headboard replaces her framed fabrics.  Me?  I'd keep it just like this!

Mending tutorial

Busy fabric-printing mamas sometimes get behind on their blog reading and blog posting, which is why I'm only just now finding a spare minute to post about Diane Gilleland's tutorial on mending a shirt with reverse appliqued scraps of fabric.  The effect is so pretty on her polo pictured, and doesn't use much fabric at all.  Perhaps you've got a lonely Spoonflower swatch and a garment in need of some patchy love lying around?  Diane's tutorial was part of Craft magazine's March Mending Month which--ahem--I confess that I learned about far too late because of aforementioned fabric-printing madness around here lately.  There's still one more day of March left though, right?  Right?  Sigh.  We'll be caught up and current around here again one of these days, I just know it!

Speaking of things being current--or not--many of you no doubt noticed that the fabric of the week contest announcement was mysteriously absent last week.  I'll save the official announcement of the winning design for Stephen, himself a very busy fabric-printing papa.  But we had a whole lot of votes and, I think, a whole lot of excitement about last week's contenders.   I hope you're all as excited about the week's winner as I am!

Things that make you go "Squeeeee!"

Are these booties from Tiddlybums not incredibly adorable?  I'm such a sucker for the baby stuff, even if my baby-having days are behind me now.  Their things are so soft!  So small!  So cute!  If you need a dose of cuteness yourself, browse through the rest of the Bitty Booties photo pool, moderated by Heather Bailey.  Her free downloadable "Bitty Booties" pattern is available on her blog for you to make, too!

Sling bag tutorial

This great sling bag caught my eye in our Flickr pool this morning.  It was made by Laura Wilson at We Wilsons, and just as I was thinking to myself, "Nice vintage-y buckle and I wonder where she got that awesome pattern," I see the note that Laura has put up the tutorial at her blog.  The best thing?  It's designed to use exactly a fat quarter!  Well, ok, it wants a second fat quarter for the lining and strap backing, too, but how many bag patterns are out there that use up just that amount?  Not many, I say.  Thanks for sharing this great project, Laura!

Beautiful Bento bag

Last week at the cutting table, I totally fell in love with a dainty little pear design done by Lolly Chops.  She did three colorways of these sweet fruit, but my favorite was the "Gumbo" colorway, pictured left.  Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I saw this morning that in his weekly contest email Stephen had linked to a project made up with this fabric in our Flickr pool.  It's a bento box bag made by Rachael at La Fuji Mama, and I totally want to start packing little Japanese-style lunches all of a sudden! (As if I needed another thing Japanese to obsess over.  I recently picked up a copy of Zakka Sewing and can't stop thinking about it....)

By the way, Lolly tells me that Rachael is in the hospital as I write this, bringing Baby Number Two into the world.  Good luck, Rachael!  Best wishes to a talented mama for a safe and happy baby birthday!

It's someone's birthday today!

And here was his present--a French press cozy made from a pattern I found on CraftStylish.  This one was made almost entirely of Spoonflower fabrics with a couple of scrap basket strips thrown in to tie the colors together.  See Stephen's merman print there?  Our press plus the one-inch seam allowance was just the height of an 8-inch swatch, so perhaps your Spoonflower swatches could be used this way, too.  It was a super-fast project.

Oh, and being of modest Scottish stock, Stephen would never admit that he'd love some birthday wishes today.  But if anyone feels like wishing him a happy birthday, I promise you he'd be very, very pleased. 

Happy birthday, hon!

Projects to add coziness

NC is finally having a bit of what passes for winter weather around here--temps in the low 40's and dreary gray skies.  It's definitely indoor weather for me, and I find myself wanting to do things to up the home coziness factor and combat the winter blahs.  Building fires, making mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows for the girls, baking cookies, and sewing.  Always sewing.  Big, cushy pillows like Rachel Galloway's, maybe?  Or a sweet quilt (shown left) like Emmanuelle's at Alice and Co., made from Spoonflower swatches to curl up under when the girls and I are on the sofa reading the newest batch of library books? 

Wedding wheel quilt

If you're already married, you probably wouldn't have had any reason to pick up a copy of the Winter 2009 Martha Stewart Weddings, just out a few days ago.   I picked up a copy because Spoonflower has a very small mention in a caption under the photo of Jennifer Hoverson's wedding cake table.  For those of you who don't already know this, Jennifer Hoverson is one of the owners of Purlsoho, one of the most amazing on-line fabric and yarn stores ever.  (They have a brick and mortar store in Manhattan as well, which I've heard is crammed almost to the ceiling with fabric.)

Despite access to all the beautiful fabric she could presumably ever need, Jennifer had us print up some yardage for her several months ago to turn into a tablecloth for her orange- and green-themed wedding.  And then she turned that into the backing for the stunning orange and green color wheel quilt shown at left.  You can view many more of Jennifer's quilt project photos here, including the tablecloth turned quilt back.  I love that Jennifer got two very special uses out of her Spoonflower fabric and pleased especially that we got to be a part of it!  Thanks, Jennifer, and best wishes for your marital bliss!