What do you get when you combine the harvest season, sushi that’s just too cute to eat and an artistic technique that’s spot on? The September design challenge themes, of course! This month’s themes will require you to pull out your design toolbox and show us how you celebrate the season! Are you ready for the challenge?
Pointillism – Results Announced September 28
We think this week’s theme is spot on! Also referred to as dot art, pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Use your favorite medium to create a repeating pointillistic design that will fool the eye. Entries will be previewed at the fat quarter size: 21″ x 18.” Submissions close September 19, 2017 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Voting begins September 21, 2017. See official rules.
Grand Prize
One Grand Prize Winner each week will receive $200 in Spoondollars. The winner will also receive additional exposure in our email newsletters, professional photography of their printed designs, and social media mentions.
Second Place
The 2nd place winner will receive $100 in Spoondollars.
Third Place
The 3rd place winner will receive $50 in Spoondollars.
The rest of the top 10
4th through 10th place winners will receive a $20 Spoondollar credit.
All of the top 25
Each of the top 25 entries, determined as set forth above, not receiving one of the foregoing prizes will be automatically proofed for sale in the Spoonflower Marketplace (approximately a $5 value) (the “Runner Up Prize”) if winners are verified sellers.
Good luck, designers! We can’t wait to see where your creativity takes you this month! See the current top 10 winners.
tea towel designs by spottedpepperdesigns, amel24 and wickedrefined
We’re getting a jump-start on the holidays with a month of design challenges highlighting your go-to gift of the season, tea towels! Whether you’re doing the hemming yourself or leaving it to the experts over at Roostery, the season wouldn’t be complete without a few new tea towels added to your kitchen collection. Like last year’s challenge, all designs made available for sale in the four tea towel challenges will also automatically be previewed on Roostery’s Special Edition Spoonflower Tea Towel.
Jump ahead to learn more about the ins and outs of formatting your entry to ensure a picture-perfect preview!
2018 Tea Towel Calendar | Results Announced October 5
featured designs from our 2017 Tea Towel design challenge
Ring in the new year with a favorite Spoonflower design tradition: Tea Towel Calendars. Celebrate 2018 (the year of the dog!) with a tea towel calendar design for the new year ahead. Need a little design kick-start? Find a 2018 calendar template here!* Entries will be submitted at the Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter size (27″ wide x 18” high, landscape orientation) but previewed during voting as a Spoonflower Special Edition Tea Towel (16″ wide x 24″ high, portrait orientation). Submissions close September 26, 2017 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. Voting begins September 28, 2017. See official rules.
*This is also a great time to upload a revision on your 2017 calendars for the new year or move them to the private setting.
Family Recipes | Results Announced October 12
Family traditions are especially present during the holidays as everyone gathers in merriment and celebration around the dinner table. For this week’s challenge, share a family recipe that is a yearly staple. Whether it’s Grandma’s famous casserole or the wiggly fruit jelly salad that mysteriously makes an appearance, we want to see what recipe completes your holiday traditions! Entries will be submitted at the Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter size (27″ x 18”) but previewed during voting as a Spoonflower Special Edition Tea Towel (16″ x 24″). Submissions close October 3, 2017 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. Voting begins October 5, 2017. See official rules.
*Want some culinary inspiration? Check out last year’s Grandma’s Kitchen design challenge.
Botanical Block Print | Results Announced October 19
Do you spend your weekends venturing to local botanical gardens, dreaming of the next oversized houseplant to make its way into your home? This week’s challenge will be the cure to your leafy green obsession. While you are not required to block print for this challenge, your entry should be inspired by the block printing technique. Find inspiration and learn more about this time -honored technique from block printer and Spoonflower designer, Rochelle New. Entries will be submitted at the Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter size (27″ x 18”) but previewed during voting as a Spoonflower Special Edition Tea Towel (16″ x 24″). Submissions close October 10, 2017 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. Voting begins October 12, 2017. See official rules.
Farm to Tea Towel | Results Announced October 26
Turn the next trip to your local market into an inspirational adventure for this week’s design challenge. Using your design technique of choice, create a repeating pattern inspired by your favorite local produce.Entries will be submitted at the Linen Cotton Canvas fat quarter size (27″ x 18”) but previewed during voting as a Spoonflower Special Edition Tea Towel (16″ x 24″). Submissions close October 17, 2017 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. Voting begins October 19, 2017. See official rules.
Spoonflower Edition Tea Towel Guidelines
In order to ensure the entirety of your design is captured in a finished Spoonflower Edition tea towel on Roostery, they’ve created a guideline that can be followed to ensure great previews and finished tea towels.
A preview of a Linen-Cotton Canvas Fat Quarter on Spoonflower measures 27″ wide x 18″ tall. A finished, hemmed, Spoonflower Edition Roostery tea towel measures 16’’ wide x 24’’ tall. Your design will be automatically rotated 90º clockwise for the Roostery tea towel preview. Following the guidelines below will ensure that your design looks beautiful as both an unfinished Fat Quarter on Spoonflower as well as a finished tea towel. Need a little help? Download the Spoonflower Edition Tea Towel template here and see our guidelines below.
QUICK TIPS:
- Orient your design so that the top of the design is the left side of the design file
- Let the background color or pattern extend all the way to the edges!
- Keep any main content (like calendars) within the safe area (14.5″ x 22.5″) to ensure it doesn’t get cut off or sewn over
If you still have questions about our tea towel design challenges, send us an email at help@spoonflower.com!
Grand Prize
One Grand Prize Winner each week will receive $200 in Spoondollars, $200 in Roostery store credit and one custom Linen Cotton Canvas Spoonflower Edition tea towel in their own winning design from Roostery ($17 value). The winner will also receive additional exposure in our email newsletters, professional photography of their printed designs, and social media mentions.
Second Place
The 2nd place winner will receive $100 in Spoondollars and one custom Linen Cotton Canvas Spoonflower Edition tea towel in their own winning design from Roostery ($17 value).
Third Place
The 3rd place winner will receive $50 in Spoondollars and one custom Linen Cotton Canvas Spoonflower Edition tea towel in their own winning design from Roostery ($17 value).
The rest of the top 10
4th through 10th place winners will receive a $20 Spoondollar credit and one custom Linen Cotton Canvas Spoonflower Edition tea towel in their own winning design from Roostery ($17 value).
All of the top 25
Each of the top 25 entries, determined as set forth above, not receiving one of the foregoing prizes will be automatically proofed for sale in the Spoonflower Marketplace and Roostery (approximately a $5 value) (the “Runner Up Prize”) if winners are verified sellers.
Below please find the rules for participating in our Design Challenge.
To Enter
- Log in to Spoonflower. If you don’t have an account, create one.
- Go to your design library. If you don’t yet have any designs, upload the design you wish to enter.
- On your design library page, pull down the Action menu underneath the design you wish to enter in the contest, then select the contest you wish to enter under Enter in Contest.
- Choose the layout option for your design, then click the button that reads “Enter Contest”. If you wish to change the size/dpi of your design, you can do so using the edit option on this page.
- Be sure to wait until your entry preview fully loads, with a message confirming your contest entry, before you leave the page.
- If you decide to enter a different design or make changes, you can withdraw a design by following the same steps, then entering a new design.
- You can only have one design active in the contest at a time. Once the entry period closes, we will ‘freeze’ the submitted designs. ****If you update your design after this point, you will break the image thumbnail and voters will not be able to see your design.
Themed Design Challenge Rules (updated 10/25/2016)
- Official rules may change depending on the contest, and will always be updated on this page as they become available.
Overview. The general idea behind our Design Challenge is that each week members of the Spoonflower community choose to submit designs and we put them up for voting to determine the Design Challenge. Designs can be entered by the designer via our entry process, but each month the winning fabric is selected by community voting. The winning fabric is then promoted through our weekly email, blog, etc. as a fabric for sale. In addition to earning up to 15% on any fabric sold, the winning designer receives a unique prize that will be determined by the design challenge partners and Spoonflower.
Voting. Each week we will take fabric designs submitted by their creators to the contest and open them to voting from the community. The design with the most votes is declared the winner unless stated otherwise. One vote per person is counted. Duplicate votes are removed automatically from the totals. The full results of voting are generally posted on the blog on the day the winner is announced.
Prize. Prizes will vary based on our contest. If you receive Spoondollar credit for winning, please note that this cannot be redeemed for cash. This has no effect on the commission you earn from sales of your winning fabric through our efforts to promote the contest.
If you enter your design, we may or may not offer it to the community for possible selection as the Design Challenge. The best motivation for submitting a design is the chance to share your work with an amazing community of your peers. Please note that all submitted designs must be original and comply with the Spoonflower Terms of Service.
As of July 7, 2011, we began making all ten of the top ten designs in each competition available for sale. By entering the contest, you agree that if your design is voted in the top 10 and is marked for sale that you agree to be bound by the terms of the Seller’s Agreement and become a verified seller. Designs must remain for sale for one week after the top ten designs are announced. Designers are free to change the for-sale status of their own designs at any time after that week. Please note that designs will remain visible in our past contest archive. Should you change the for-sale status of your design, please keep the design public to keep our archive complete.
Designers who sell designs via Spoonflower are required to supply tax information by filling out a W-8BEN or a W-9 form. Spoonflower will make all top ten designs for sale on the day that the contest standing is announced. If you have not completed your tax information at this time, we will automatically select the option to withhold 30% of the Spoondollars you make from sales for tax purposes.
You can complete your tax information at any point. Once tax information is supplied, we will no longer withhold your Spoondollars. Please find instructions for completing your tax information here.
Notes:
- All submitted designs must be your own (you cannot nominate other people’s designs or use designs based upon other people’s work)
- Designs must already be in your Spoonflower account. To have a Spoonflower account, you have to have registered on the site and uploaded a design. Doing so is free, by the way.
- Designs in the contests must be public (to edit which of your designs are public, visit the Designs page in your Spoonflower account.). Please submit no more than one design for each contest. Thanks!
While we do not require that a design submitted to the contest have been purchased first (by the designer), please consider that it’s a good idea to at least see for yourself what your design looks like on fabric before entering it in a public contest. Swatches are only $5!
More Q&A
What if I don’t want my design to be purchased by other people? We will never sell or offer for voting any design without explicit permission from its creator. Making your design public on Spoonflower does NOT mean that it will appear in a Design Challenge. In order to appear in the contest you must specifically submit a design using the process described above. Note that the top ten designs in each contest will be made available for sale.
Can I submit more than one design? Please submit no more than one design for each themed contest.
Am I giving up copyright of my design by entering it? You are not giving up ownership of your design, but by entering your design in the contest you give us the non-exclusive right to make it available for sale in the Spoonflower marketplace for no less than a week per the usual terms of the Spoonflower marketplace, which give you up to 15% commission on retail sales. You will always be credited for your design and you are free to continue to sell it on your own now and in the future. After a week, you are also free to remove your winning design from the marketplace.
Please always feel free to let us know what you think by emailing us.