Designing Fabric Patterns



"Serpent Stars II" now available as fabric on Spoonflower!

 So, thanks to the awesome Samantha Cotterill on Etsy, I've found Spoonflower, which is a print-on-demand fabric company. I first located Cotterill's store by chance--I believe via Etsy's front page. I'd been thinking about how I might design fabric, whom I could contact to see how such things were printed and marketed. I so enjoy standing in front of the fabric bolts in Joann and drinking in all those colors and patterns, some of which are so intricate. Last year, I had started a dress using fabric covered in purple, orange and red dragons that consistently elicited expression of surprise from other customers when I carried the bolt to the clerk to have more fabric cut--"Oh! Where did you get that? I haven't seen that one." And I thought, as I trotted out to the car with my bag, "How does an artist get designs on fabric anyway?) When I saw Cotterill sold fabric, I wondered just how she managed that. Then I saw how: Spoonflower. I just ordered a different pattern ("Sea Stars", which I applied a mirror-repeat pattern to, just like that above) to see how it actually turns out. I'm excited to see the possibilities!

My fabric designs so far on Spoonflower, all based on drawings I've done.
They'll be available for purchase in June.

Oooo! Also, I sold an illustration from The Famous and The Anonymous yesterday. This drawing, done in pen and ink, appeared on the opening page of a story about Bonnie and Clyde, called "Freedom and Its Alternatives," which was also the last story in the 2004 collection. Now, it is on its way to New Haven, CT.