summer
You’ll Love These Vintage Flamingo Designs
Move over, garden gnomes–the retro lawn ornament we’re loving right now is the classic pink plastic flamingo. Turns out, they look just as great on fabric as they do in a 1950s manicured lawn! We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites below, be sure to check out more from our Marketplace here.
Flamingo Party Small | Shelby Allison
Tropicana Flamingo in Grey | Nouveau Bohemian
Flamingo Faster (sea stripe blue) | seesawboomerang
Flamingo Fever in Coral | Willowlanetextiles
Tropical Harvest | dearchickie
[Read more…] about You’ll Love These Vintage Flamingo Designs
The Perfect Summer Weekend |DIY Hammock + A Good Book!
We’re deep into the lazy days of summer now. Amidst the heat, summer outdoor activities, and family vacations, it’s good to take some time to relax, breathe deeply, and enjoy simpler pleasures. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite summer DIYs and fabric recommendations to promote serious summer vacation vibes!
DIY a hammock out of a beach towel for a breezy place to rest your head.
The perfect hammock fabric? We recommend MudCloth in Black on Bone by Domesticate in Eco Canvas. [Read more…] about The Perfect Summer Weekend |DIY Hammock + A Good Book!
This Summer’s Perfect Picnic Napkins
Let’s face the facts: you’re going to be going on lots of picnics this summer. And hosting barbecues, birthday parties, reunions, back-yard cookouts. That’s a lot of paper napkins you’ll be throwing away! Add some eco-friendly pizzazz to your next picnic with our newest DIY napkin project. Featuring a classic red gingham picnic tablecloth pattern on one side and a selection of picnic food favorites on the other, this watermelon-and-lemonade-covered print will transform any gathering into celebration of sweet treats and summer warmth.
The Perfect Peach Projects
In Spoonflower's home state of North Carolina, and in many parts of the United States, August is all about peaches. This succulent, fuzzy stone fruit just soaks the sunshine right up and tastes like a bite of sweet, sweet summertime. One of our favorite ways to gather inspiration for new home dec, sewing and design projects, is by looking around us at what Mother Nature has to offer. Right now, we can't help but feel inspired by the peach! From design tools to wall art and repeating patterns galore, sink your teeth into our round up of peach-spiration. That's right. It's all brought to you by the…
Announcing the Top 10 Designs in the Lemonade Design Challenge!
When life gives you lemons, create a fabric design of course! When summer rolls around, there's nothing quite as refreshing as the combination of lemon, sugar and water – but these amazing designs do come pretty close! Congratulations to nouveau_bohemian on her third contest win with her thirst quenching design, The Lemon Orchard! Check out all the top printed in our Facebook album and in this week's fat quarter bundle.
1. 524 votes for The lemon orchard by nouveau_bohemian
2. 510 votes for Amalfi Lemon Linen by spellstone
3. 432 votes for Sun Juice by mariaspeyer
4. 424 votes for when_life_throws_lemons by mimipinto
5. 407 votes for Strawberry Lemonade by chickadeedeedee
6. 404 votes for Evening Glass of Pink Lemonade by robyriker
7. 401 votes for Miami Beach Lemonade Stand by christinewitte
8. 376 votes for MAGICAL SUGAR SPRINKLES by katerhees
9. 370 votes for Pink Lemonade Party by lisakubenez
10. 365 votes for Summer Fresh by yuliussdesign_com
[Read more…] about Announcing the Top 10 Designs in the Lemonade Design Challenge!
9 Sunglasses DIYs + Fabrics
A great pair of sunglasses is hard to beat! Enjoy these fabric designs and DIY projects that celebrate the most essential of accessories.
Stars, stripes & sunglasses orange/yellow by simboko
Quilted Sunglasses Pouch tutorial on The Haby Goddess
Hidden message sunglasses on The cheekiest monkey of them all
Sunglasses_pattern_scheme2_6x6tile by rgushi
Decorate Your Sunglasses tips from A Little Birdy Blog
Sk8shades, sunglasses made from recycled skateboard decks, on Handsome Things
Hipster shutter-shades print by thatrossiart
Here's to hoping your weekend is made in the shade!
Ice, Ice, Baby! 6 Popsicles For A Cool Weekend
The summer heat has already arrived at our Durham, NC headquarters (oh spring…where did you go!?). To cool off this weekend, we’re on the hunt for a yummy frozen treat. Here are some delicious recipes and super fresh fabrics to stave off the weekend heat.
BONUS! Check out Razberries’ clever “Queen Of Snark” design. Can you spot the icepop? Plus, more popsicle designs on Spoonflower!
10 Farmers-Market-Fresh Fabrics
One of the great pleasures of summer is visiting farmers' markets, where the bounty of the season reveals itself in stacks of ripe corn, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes and much more. For our contest this week we asked designers to create fabrics celebrating farmers' markets. The winner turned out, for once, to hail from right here in our neck of the woods. Congratulations to Chrissie Van Hoever of Raleigh and to the rest of the top 10!
![[button] See the top ten Farmers' Market fabrics](http://gallery.mailchimp.com/dee209d512d07ce1c58bd6a4f/images/SeeTheTop10.png){kind=small}
The final voting results were:
1. 662 votes for Farmers Market by chrissievh
2. 547 votes for MarketLove_onDeepRed3 by robinpickens
3. 536 votes for Getting to the Root of It All by hootenannit
4. 535 votes for Julie's Fresh Market by juliesfabrics
5. 492 votes for vegies by johanna_design
6. 430 votes for Farmer's Market Fun by gsonge
7. 382 votes for Farmers Market 2 by sary
8. 380 votes for Vintage Veggies by dianne_annelli
9. 379 votes for Farm Fresh by mariafaithgarcia
10. 363 votes for 4th Saturday of the Month by ebygomm
Wiksten pattern and fabric giveaway and quilting notions winner
I've often joked to my more sporty friends that summer is my indoor season here in sunny and humid North Carolina. It's hard for me to get motivated to even open the front door when temperatures are in the upper 90's and 100's as they have been lately. The garden gets super weedy for a couple of months and maybe I gain a pound or two but I'd much rather sit inside in the air-conditioning and sew.
And what better to sew up when it's hot than an airy blouse to keep you cool and comfy? This week's giveaway is for your choice of one of Wiksten's two pretty downloadable blouse patterns, either their beginner level Tank pattern or their intermediate level Tova pattern (both of which include dress-length variations). These patterns are sent as downloadable zip files so you don't even have to go out to your mailbox to pick it up. We'll also throw in 3 yards of the Spoonflower fabric of your choice to make it up in. The Spoonflower cotton voile or cotton silk would be perfect for a floaty, lightweight blouse, don't you think?
If you'd like a shot at winning this week's giveaway, just leave your comment below or on the corresponding Facebook post and do include your Spoonflower screen name or other means of tracking you down easily in case you're our winner. Entries close next Tuesday, 7/17 and we'll announce a winner on Wednesday, 7/18. Good luck, everyone! This giveaway is now closed and we'll be announcing a winner on the blog shortly.
Last week's winner of the quilting notions set was Robin Hadden in Vermont — congratulations, Robin! I think you'd better hide that rotating cutting mat as soon as it arrives, though. It was coveted by quite a few commenters!