Designers

Spoonflower Hits the Road : A Recap of Our Trip To Surtex

May 31, 2017

Did you know Spoonflower is celebrating its 9th birthday this year? While we’re not quite at double digits, the community has grown to over 16,000 independent designers from all over the globe which means you can find exactly what you’re looking for when it comes to custom fabric, wallpaper and fabric. Looking for a llama design? No prob-llama. Need the perfect fabric for your donut themed party? Donut look anywhere else but our marketplace!

We love connecting with our design community in emails for our Meet the Designer series and a highlight of our day is seeing what you’re making with #spoonflower on our favorite social channels. However, it’s not often we get the chance to meet with our design community in person. So, when the opportunity came our way to meet some of our fabulous designers and chat about all of the new things we have been up to help grow their earnings with us (like new distribution strategies with Etsy and Ebay), we knew we couldn’t miss the chance! Follow along as Spoonflower’s President, Allison Sloan Polish, and Etsy Channel Manager + Designer Advocate, Tara ( aka Tarareed ), recap their trip to the 2017 Surtex show and say hello to the designer friends they met along the way!

Tara and Kelly Gilleran are a match made in foodie heaven with a food inspired ensemble!

Great Spoonflower minds think alike! Tara and Marketplace designer kellygilleran are feeling the red cardi and food inspired ensemble at Surtex!

“Waffle” by Kelly Gilleran

Skillshare + Spoonflower Present: Designing Patterns that Work – Creating Motifs for Products

February 14, 2017

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Skillshare, an online learning community for creatives, to bring you a new class on pattern design! Taught by designer, patternmaker and Spoonflower community favorite Samarra Khaja aka SammyK (creator of the adorable Hungry Monster Laundry Bags and so much more), this class is great for pattern makers and designers who want to explore their style and theme further- or just create a set of souvenirs representing their city!

Join Samarra as she walks you through her process of creating a souvenir set for New York City using a consistent motif to create a repeating pattern. Then, using Spoonflower, she’ll print out the design and turn it into a tote bag and a pillow that support the motif. We’ve taken the course, and can confidently say that it’s sure to get your creativity flowing and inspire you to make things that are fun and functional.

We can’t speak highly enough about this course, Samarra, or how excited we are to partner with Skillshare. So click the link below to get started and get your first three months of Skillshare Premium for FREE to access this class and 14,000 others:

New and Improved Collections

January 27, 2017

Do you have dozens of favorite Marketplace designs and wish you had a way of categorizing them? Are you a designer who wants to showcase your catalog of designs under one or more themes? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, we’ve got a brand-new Collections update based on feedback from users like you!

Master the art of mix and match! | Spoonflower Blog

Master the art of mix and match with this curated collection!

Designing for the Holidays: Quick Freebies & Essentials

November 4, 2016

Welcome to the busiest time of year for designers and makers alike. On Spoonflower, now’s the time shoppers are picking out fabrics and papers for handmade gifts, decor, and stocking their handmade shops for the busy season. As a designer, you need to be ready with an updated shop and fresh designs to compete with all the other show-stopper designers in the marketplace. However will you prepare? We’ve rounded up our favorite tips and tools where you’re a designer or just looking for quick freebies to get you through the season and support indie designers and makers in the community.

Free calendar printables

Free 2017 calendar printables from Audrey of This Little Street. These make excellent gifts to hand out to co-workers and friends, or simply to keep yourself organized at your desk this year!
Gold Glitter texture pack

Sprout x Berlin: A Translation of Multi-Media Art to Modern Garments

September 21, 2016

Traditionally, art has belonged on walls––in museums and galleries. On September 7th, Sprout Patterns and Spoonflower broke down that barrier, making art accessible by way of ready-to-wear garments. We collaborated with an international cast of artists residing in the creative city of Berlin, by translating their drawings, paintings, tattoos and photos into a language easily understood: fashion. Caroline Okun, Creative Director for Sprout Patterns, just returned from a three week trip to Germany, to oversee the very first Sprout X Berlin runway show at our European headquarters in Germany.

The Spoonflower Berlin team and models getting ready before the runway show begins

Allie and Sam of the Spoonflower Berlin team

Meet the Designer: Liss Stender

June 27, 2016

In the latest edition of our Meet the Designer series, Liss Stender (livaurora) shares with us her love of frozen lakes and stormy weather as a year round resident of Greenland. She’s a Spoonflower designer inspired by her roots, her culture, and the turbulent natural environment around her.

Spoonflower designer Liss Stender (livaurora)

Earn Up to 15% With Spoonflower’s New Commission Structure + More

June 16, 2016

Huge news for designers: we’re taking our 10% designer commission and adding a bonus! If your monthly commissions exceed certain thresholds, you will retroactively qualify for an additional bonus commission on top of what you’ve already earned. And on top of that, you will be paid out every 14 days (instead of once a month) with no waiting period. We’ve even added a new payout threshold of $10 (versus the previous $20) so you can transfer that cash to your bank account even faster than ever. Check out our infographic below which breaks down the new commission tiers.

There’s no need to sign up or do anything differently, all you need is to make sure you are a verified seller on our site, and that your Paypal information is updated in your account. You can update that by logging in and clicking on “My Account” under “My Studio” and selecting the “Spoondollars” tab.

Sales not quite up to any of these tiers yet? You’ll still earn 10% on every sale–all day, every day. From professional designers who use Spoonflower for their entire income to hobbyists wanting side cash, the Spoonflower Marketplace is for everyone. And you always keep the rights to your work!

Spoonflower is experimenting with selling printed fabric on external marketplaces such as Etsy, Amazon and Ebay to increase your visibility and sales. Want to know how to join in? It’s completely free and you still earn the same commissions as you do on the Spoonflower marketplace. Just head to your account settings and click on “design distribution” to opt in. More information is available on our Help page article here.

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When you thrive as a designer, we thrive. We are committed to providing a platform for you to be successful and share your designs with the world while being compensated fairly. Get to know fellow designers and learn more about all the vast ways you benefit from offering your designs for sale in our Marketplace, from free promotion, distribution on external marketplaces and through our sister brands, and exposure to our vast community.

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2015 Year in Review

December 30, 2015

It's been quite a year and we can't believe 2015 is already drawing to a close! Our community has accomplished so much together in these last 12 months, from contest wins to the launching of Sprout Patterns, to the opening of hundreds of shops with promising new designers to explore. Take a walk down memory lane with us as we recount some of our favorite highlights of 2015!

Our 8 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2015

1 | 5 DIYs to Make Your Resolutions Stick

2 | Fabric Labels For Your Handmade Goods

3 | 5 DIY Business Card Ideas

4 | How to Make a Fanny Pack (a.k.a. Belt Bag)

5 | How to Create Dolls From Drawings

6 | The Hand Strap Clutch: Pattern + Tutorial

7 | Secrets of a Top Seller

8 | How to Create Cozy Floor Pillows

Interview with Sarah Watson: An Imaginative Illustrator

July 21, 2015

This week we've got a unique designer and illustrator interview to share with you as part of our SpoonChallenge: Creating a Collection with Bonnie Christine. She attended SCAD, she hails from Brazil, and her name is Sarah Watson. Sarah has done everything from wedding calligraphy, children's book illustration, and packaging design, but her true interest is still, and will probably always be, in textile design. Now, let's delve a little further into Sarah's creative process, her greatest fear (hint: velociraptors), and current aspirations!

A Chat With Denyse Schmidt

July 14, 2015

Today we're sharing another inspiring designer interview as part of our SpoonChallenge: Creating a Fabric Collection with designer Bonnie Christine. We were so excited to sit down with renowned designer and quilter Denyse Schmidt about her creative process, daily life, and what makes her tick. As author of Denyse Schmidt Quilts (Chronicle Books, 2005) and Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration (STC Craft, 2012); fabric designer for FreeSpirit and Fabric Traditions; and co-instructor of the Creativebug Fabric Design Series, she has become an authority on textile art and creating cohesive collections. Enjoy!

Denyse

Image courtesy of Amy Hodge