5 Reasons Why You Should Be Designing in Collections | Spoonflower Blog

Are you used to designing one pattern at a time? Do you have a few stand-out patterns that are making sales, but the others, not so much? Are you looking for a way to stand out in the Spoonflower Marketplace? If so, then it might be time to start designing in collections. With the help of designer Kristina Hunter —you may recognize her as arthousewife on Spoonflower —find out the benefits of designing in collections to make more sales in your Spoonflower shop!

Create More Options for Your Customers 

Perhaps an interior designer is creating a custom, tropical bedroom for their client, and they stumble upon a pattern of yours that fits their chosen theme. It’s possible they’ll want several design ideas to present to their client for the room’s bed linens, curtains, and even wallpaper. Having a collection available for them to look through means less work for them in finding coordinating textiles, which hopefully means more sales for you.

A bedroom set featuring Kristina’s Bohemian Tropics collection | Spoonflower Blog
A bedroom set featuring Kristina’s Bohemian Tropics collection.

Designer Tip: Collections don’t have to be gigantic! Even small collections, like two or three designs give your customer additional items to choose from. 

Prevent Lost Sales

Say someone has fallen in love with a design you’ve created for one of Spoonflower’s Design Challenges. The dinosaurs are exactly what they are looking for to use on a baby bib set they’d like to gift to their friend. When they head to your shop they’re also on the lookout for at least three additional patterns to round out the set. Wouldn’t it be great if you already had something created and available to print and ship? Would you be surprised if they passed on your design for a designer who has other coordinating options available?

A collection of fabrics a client chose for a custom bib set featuring designs from Kristina's collection Dino Ice Cream Party | Spoonflower Blog
A collection of fabrics a client chose for a custom bib set featuring designs from Kristina’s collection Dino Ice Cream Party.
Kristina's entry in the Boy Wonder Design Challenge, Dino I Scream Party, inspired an entire collection | Spoonflower Blog
Kristina’s entry in the Boy Wonder Design Challenge, Dino I Scream Party, inspired an entire collection!

Designer’s Tip: Don’t forget to share photos of your end products or mock-ups on your own website and social media channels to help customers see how your designs work together as a collection.

No Design Left Behind

As you’re sitting down to create motifs for your newest pattern, do you often discard one or more of them because they didn’t quite work in your final design, even though you still think they’re great? If you start designing in collections, those motifs won’t just collect dust in your sketch book, you’ll use them in a complementary pattern.

Designs from Kristina's Winter Flora collection | Spoonflower Blog

Designer’s Tip: When working in collections, try thinking about the end product(s) of what you’re designing for, rather than the designs themselves. For example, when creating a pattern for the Winter Flora Design Challenge, I chose to design specifically for dining room linens. Knowing what subject matter, scale and direction of motifs looked best on napkins and placemats made it easier to come up various designs that complemented each other.

A fabric roll mockup and Spoonflower home decor products made featuring Kristina's Sweet Winter Wishes Collection | Spoonflower Blog
A fabric roll mockup and Spoonflower home decor products made featuring Kristina’s Sweet Winter Wishes Collection.

Stay Organized with Collections

It’s easy to lose track of all that you’ve created over the years. Luckily, Spoonflower has a helpful page for all your design collections, making it easy to group them in a multitude of ways. You can sort them by theme, color palette, room, etc., and you can add each design to more than one collection. Another great feature is that you can group your designs with those from other Spoonflower artists. It’s a simple way to collaborate and share yours and others work together for more visibility!

A glimpse at some of the collections I’ve sorted that feature both mine and other artist’s work | Spoonflower Blog
A glimpse at some of the collections Kristina has curate that feature both hers and other artist’s work.

Use Fill-A-Yard® with Ease

Spoonflower’s Fill-A-Yard feature is a simple way to get multiple designs on one yard of fabric for projects like quilts, infinity scarves, proofing and more. And if you already design in collections, it takes the guesswork out of matching coordinating designs; they’re already organized and ready to go.

Creating dinner napkins with Spoonflower’s Fill-A-Yard feature | Spoonflower Blog
Creating dinner napkins with Spoonflower’s Fill-A-Yard feature.

With the introduction of home decor on Spoonflower, creating collections can help your customers easily curate coordinating bedding setscozy living room scenes and swoon-worthy tablescapes. Find even more advice for your Spoonflower shop from other designers in the Seller Handbook.


About the Guest Author

Kristina Hunter, arthousewife | Spoonflower Blog

Kristina Hunter is an artistic housewife living outside of New York City with her husband, two young boys, two cats, and one dog. When she’s not house-wifing, you will find her in her studio, designing patterns, painting, and sewing. You can find her on Instagram at @arthousewife or at her website, arthousewife.com.