Pattern School

Fabric design is calling me...



In order to create fabric designs I have to learn about fabric.



Reactions that my own artwork create on swatches. Although I have tried many designs in my Design gallery on Spoonflower, not every design works. I have experimented and learned so much in this last year. But there is so much to know.



The different types of fabric and what things they are best used for.



Then when my swatches arrive, I need to ask what kind of things might
someone make with these fabrics.



I have been searching fabric places,



Looking at nature for shapes and colors.



Browsing through blogs and videos that show off the art of patterns. And then there are those incredible aisles and aisles of bookshelves in the library. Filled with books by Patternistas like Kaffee Fassett, Mary Engelbreit, Laura Ashley and Mary Emmerling.



I don't sew, so it doesn't come naturally to me to know what one might create out of different kinds of patterns.



Yet, I am thinking that it is a bit like watercolor painting. The best paintings are not necessarily created by someone who can draw. These paintings focus on the color and shapes of things.



So, here I am lost in the land of fabric design and feeling so thrilled. I can't wait for my Spoonflower order to arrive. I tried fat quarters of their dreamy Sateen Cotton.



My goal is not to learn how to sew, because the Lord knows I failed bobbins and I can't even thread my sewing machine. No, I think I'll leave that to the talented people who sew. Instead I am going to create fabrics for those people.



Perhaps a marriage between some incredible seamstress and me creating dreamy one-of-a-kind designs just for them to use for their creations.

I needed a new medium to create with, I have been at a bit of a creative crossroad. I am entering new worlds for me, and so the song for this post is Worlds Outside performed by dreamy Chris Botti.