Designing bedding collections offers the perfect chance to create a divine setting for relaxing, sleeping and dreaming. With the bedding collection below Spoonflower artist Allison Werberg did just that, by focusing on a soft blue palette and calming clouds. This third post in a seven-part education series focuses on how you can use variety and scale to elevate your patterns while designing and curating a bedding collection. Each series post delves deep into creating a bedding collection chosen for our 2023 Summer/Spring Lookbook, shares related artist advice and checks in with Spoonflower’s Senior Manager of Merchandising Emerson Jones on why each collection caught her eye.
Allison Werberg
Raised in Wisconsin, Allison moved with her family to Sweden over six years ago. Her background is in the natural sciences, which inspires most of her artwork. Her Spoonflower shop name, fleabat, was a term of endearment bestowed by her grandmother.
Allison’s 3 Tips for Curating and Designing a Bedding Collection
1. Old design challenge entries can spark inspiration.
Get inspired! For me, Spoonflower’s Design Challenges are always useful in sparking inspiration for new art. I created my design Drift for the Neutral Retreat Design Challenge a few years ago. I chose to go with soothing soft blue-grey tones, wavy shapes reminiscent of calm water and lots of overlapping textures for a cozy feeling, perfect for drifting off to sleep.
2. Play around with the scale and variety of your designs.
Think about the scale of your designs, and offer a variety of your patterns in different sizes. In this case, I knew I wanted to do a large-scale design that would work well on a duvet cover. Since my Drift design works well in any orientation, I also made a rotated version. While I like big motifs on a duvet, I prefer smaller, simpler patterns for sheets and pillows. I chose a couple of the fills from my main design Drift—a spot and a stripe in matching blue-on white (with Spots (Light Blue)) as well as the reverse white-on blue (in Spots (White)), to complement the busier Drift design. I made those fills into their own repeat patterns and now provide those designs in my Spoonflower shop in multiple scales.
3. Get back to the classics.
Consider reworking some familiar favorites for coordinating designs. Polka dots, stripes, checks and herringbone are classic for a reason—and to make them better than basic, you can add a little creativity of your own. I opted for irregular hand-drawn spots and uneven rough stripes inspired by corduroy for my Spots designs.
How does the experience of curating for this project affect how you’ll design for collections moving forward?
I don’t always make collections; I often only make a hero design. But seeing the way coordinating patterns can really pull a whole look together motivates me not to ignore the supporting designs. Sometimes I even like them better!
A Close-up View of Allison’s Collection
Learn Why This Collection Was Chosen for a Spoonflower Lookbook
To learn why Spoonflower’s Senior Manager of Merchandising Emerson Jones chose this collection for the Summer Lookbook, we asked her to share why it caught her eye:
“This collection proves that pattern mixing does not have to be overwhelming or complicated. If you stick to a strict color palette and simple designs, you can create a lot of visual interest. This collection was inspired by the wallpaper you see, and then I found complementary designs from the same artist to outfit the bed. The result is a dreamy bedroom to fit a wide range of styles.”
Check Out the Rest of the Series
Learn How to Pitch Your Work to Interior Designers
About the Author
