Poly Crepe de Chine
An Insider’s Look at the Indiesew x Dan Lehman Collection
Behind the Seams of the Renegade Craft Fair
Close your eyes and imagine a space where your favorite makers all get together in one place for you and your friends to shop. Lucky for you, and thanks to the Renegade Craft Fair, you don’t just have to imagine this magical place! The Renegade Craft Fair is the world’s largest curated showcase of independent crafters and designers, now with fairs in 12 cities across the world. Today we’re so pleased to welcome Madelon Juliano, Associate Creative Director at Renegade Craft Fair. We first met Madelon when she started printing the fair’s event banners on Spoonflower’s Poly Crepe de Chine. and today we’re so pleased to welcome her to the blog (and now the Spoonflower Marketplace!) to learn more about her involvement with RCF and find out how her custom designs went from paper to poly.
Using Poly Crepe de Chine, Madelon turned her artwork into event décor for the Renegade Craft Fair. Photo via Renegade Craft Fair
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The Sprout Patterns Dress We Can’t Stop Making
Have you ever found a sewing pattern that you’ve fallen in love with and can’t help but make time after time? When you open your closet, do you see that specific pattern taking over your wardrobe until you realize you now have six versions of the same project? Spoonflower team member Meredith shares the Sprout Patterns project that’s taking over her closet: the Kielo Wrap Dress by Named Clothing. Keep reading to learn how she used the Sprout Patterns’ color coordinating tool to take her staple dress to the next level!
The Kielo Wrap Dress takes a tropical twist with “tribal jungle 2” by Laura_May_Designs
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Meet the Maker: Cinne Worthington
It’s safe to say that maker Cinne Worthington may have single-handedly renewed our interest in decorative scarves. Located in San Francisco, she spends her days in her in-home design studio on the old industrial waterfront of a vibrant historical neighborhood called Dogpatch. You’ll find her splitting time between her graphic design business and her Etsy shop, C.Banning Accessories, where she sells uniquely designed scarves. Get to know Cinne and see her beautiful work below.
Cinne’s dog “Dries” and grand nephew Benjamin know all the prime spots in Dogpatch.
My day starts with: “a wake-up nudge from my dog’s snout, a bright sunrise over the bay and a little stretch/core workout topped off with a strong espresso. After breakfast I slip into my studio and get to work. My schedule is pretty unpredictable but I can usually get my graphic design work done by lunch so I have the rest of the day to focus on my own things. I fill the gaps with social media promos and admin for my Etsy shop and occasionally act as a curator for the maker’s blog, Found Made Modern.”
Meet the Maker: James Hackett of Lush Kingdom
Hazy winter days are upon us in North Carolina, but our latest featured maker has us dreaming of tropical destinations. James Hackett, a fashion designer and small business owner, hails from the island of Trinidad and Tobago, just north of Venezuela in the Caribbean. His fresh and colorful designs turn Spoonflower fabrics into wearable art as dresses, leggings, bags and more. Get to know James and his business Lush Kingdom below.
My day starts with: “Work to be honest. I like to get up and go early, so I tend to leave anything I have to get done for the morning. This would be working in Illustrator or drawings mostly.”
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Win a Copy of Gertie’s New Fashion Sketchbook + 2 Yards Poly Crepe de Chine
It's safe to say we're obsessed with Gertie's New Fashion Sketchbook! We love a good interactive book, and this one is by far one of the best we've seen–not to mention the gold foil cover! Flex your creative muscles and channel your inner fashion designer as you sketch your way through this amazing book! For Gertie’s New Fashion Sketchbook, Gretchen Hirsch teamed up with illustrator Sun Young Park to reinvent traditional figure templates—known as croquis—for the 21st century. Instead of the unnaturally skinny, tall, and frequently off-balance croquis the fashion industry has been sketching on for decades, this game-changing alternative presents hundreds of realistically sized and proportioned female forms in balanced, lifelike poses. In addition, Park has rendered the croquis with multiple tracing lines, allowing the sketcher to follow the lines that most accurately reflect the body shape desired. Also included are an overview of the design and sketching process and a visual history of garment component styles, all to make it easier to create fashion sketches for women of all shapes and sizes.
- A body-positive sketchpad to help you achieve your fashion design dreams.
- Loaded with more than 300 figure templates that are proportionally true to the female form and adaptable to different body types, plus helpful sketching tips and resources.
- A breakthrough for aspiring and experienced designers tired of the industry standard of sketching clothing on female figures that are unnaturally skinny and tall (and sometimes even off-balance).
- Printed in a special ink that fades away when you photocopy it.
Ready to get your hands on a copy? We're giving one lucky winner the chance to take home a copy along with two yards of Poly Crepe de Chine, our newest apparel fabric that is perfect for whipping up your beautifully sketched ideas.
Enter by Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 for a chance to win. The winner will be contact via email on Wednesday November 4th. Good luck!
This Weekend, Sew the Romper of Your Dreams
While reviewing the results of this week's 90s Nostalgia contest, it dawned on me that we're overdue for some floral romper/overall ideas to satisfy our hunger for a modern take on comfortable, throwback fashion. Today, we've gathered together a handful of cozy and stylish rompers for all ages, sizes, tastes and sewing abilities. This weekend, sew the romper of your dreams.
Our new Poly Crepe de Chine would be perfect for making rompers like these. You could also try Cotton Lawn Ultra and Cotton Poplin!
DIY Sew-Along Romper | MimiG Style
Marseille Romper for kids sizes 2T-12 | Sew What Club
Short Jumpsuit Pattern | Burda Style
DIY Floral Overalls/Romper | The Pine Needle Collective
V-Neck Playsuit | Salme Pattern Shop
If you've never worked with a polyester crepe fabric before (for example, Poly Crepe de Chine), Salme Pattern Shop offers some tips about working with it:
"Polyester crepe is a great, wallet-friendly alternative. It’s woven from hard spun yarn which gives it a crisp, textured surface. Unlike most polyester fabrics this one has a matte finish, making it look a lot more expensive than it really is.Ideal projects vary from tailored suits to floaty dresses and tops. I would recommend taking advantage of the beautiful drape and using it for dresses and skirts with wide hems.
The drape might fool you into thinking this is a light weight fabric, but it comes in a variety of weights. Because of the rough texture you might end up with quite bulky seams so grading seam allowances is recommended.
It’s a hard wearing so you'll end up with a garment that will last for decades – provided you sew it well!"
Welcoming an Elegant New Fabric to our Line Up!
Design: Chelsea by Candy Joyce
Some of you may remember when we launched Poly Crepe de Chine as a limited offering back in fall of last year. Many of you fell in love with this fabric. Hard. Since retiring it, we've received so many requests for it to come back that we decided it was finally time to bring Poly Crepe de Chine in from the cold and make it part of our fabric family!
Poly Crepe de Chine is a lightweight 100% polyester crepe fabric that is perfect for projects that require a soft drape and a delicate weight. This exciting addition features crisp, bright colors that hold up very well to multiple washings.
Designs: Slices–Grape by Kurtcyr and Boho Stripes (Purple) by: Robyriker
Poly Crepe de Chine has a 52” printable width and is ideal for women’s apparel, curtains, wedding decor, and elegant accessories.
Design: Batik Love Bug by hooeybatiks
You’ll find Poly Crepe de Chine available for order starting today. Try out a swatch to see how it feels or if you’ve already got a project in mind, go ahead and order enough to get started. Be sure to check out more photos of the new fabric!