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Sunday, February 14, 2016

Why I Use Spoonflower to Print Fabric


In the picture above, is the Spoonflower Workbook and a fatquarter of printed fabric. These are sitting on top of the original tablecloth, and the actual thread nests I used, are sitting to the right hand side of the fabric and are on top of the actual workbook. This was my first print-on-demand fabric order. It's primitive and unsophisticated. I wanted to see the quality of their fabric and their printing. I can say I have purchased more and am very pleased. 

Spoonflower is located in North Carolina. They print 'your' design onto giftwrap, wallpaper, or any of their fabrics. They have quilting weight cottons, silks, decorator canvas, jersey knits, and about 20 more options! 

You don't need the workbook to get started, but I have learned a lot since that first print job by having it.  Go to Spoonflower.com and set up a free account. They have everything within or connected to their site for uploading and manipulating your images into a design and color family you're happy with. I first did this with my iPad and found that not all things were functional. So, if you use your laptop when starting, you will have more options right away. You don't pay anything until you decide that you want to purchase something. You can even save all your designs until you want to print them up. I think this is so nice because you can take a photo, manipulate it, and print it to fabric for a one of a kind piece of artwork. You can also use drawings, original artwork, etc. The workbook  explains  how to achieve a continuous pattern. Definitely not how I thought it was done! Another learning experience for me. 

They also have design challenges. They send out emails about these and then a follow up as to who won each challenge. And you have the option to make as many of your designs available to others as you wish. Then, when someone purchases something with your design on it, you get compensated. 

Back in December they offered a 12 Days of Design. They sent out an email each of those days with a step in the process of creating your own designs for printing. Things like; where to get ideas for designs, choosing colors that speak to you, how to upload your images, information regarding some of the different tools on the site for manipulating your images, and choosing the best cloth for your application. They are very helpful and friendly. 

I want to encourage you to check them out. I think you may find it to be a new avenue of adventure. I certainly did. 

Let's Create Today,
Luann

PS: I am writing this without any compensation from Spoonflower. It's my honest opinion. 





5 comments:

Unknown said...

Luann, this is a very encouraging and informative article you write on Spoonflower. I've been to their site a number of times, mainly to look. I hadn't yet made the leap to registering because I figured I'd wait until I was ready to have them print something for me. However, I have been searching for a print and not having much luck with commercially available offerings. Spoonflower would be the solution to that! Duh, why I didn't consider it before I don't know.

Marjee/TheeCoyote

Luann Fischer said...

Thee,
I still have the gar fish piece you made for me. Actually, unless a piece was used in my Princess, Canberra Tree, or Wisteria projects, I have all of them yet to play with! Anyway, what I wanted to say was this. If you have a piece similar to my gar fish, you can scann it, upload it with a large number of pixels, and then print it out onto the canvas that can be put onto stretcher bars. That one, in particular, would be a nice large piece of artwork. Many of your pieces would lend themselves to this application. I even think that the piece I received from you that is reds, oranges, and gold with some deep green (or black?) would make very interesting wallpaper. You can even get samples of the wallpaper with a sticky back. That would be great for covering composition books and the like.
I'm sure you will enjoy it. If we lived closer, we could have coffee and you could browse thru the workbook. With your art background, you may not need as much help as I do. It contains projects for using the different process methods. I always enjoy seeing 'how' others use what they produce.
All the best to you. It's good to be back in touch. - Luann

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Luann, interesting post about Spoonflower. I know others who also had a wonderful experience. I haven't tried it nor have I looked at their site. . .guess what I'm going to do now??? Thanks! --Terry

Monica said...

I have bought fabric from Spoonflower but I'm not ready to start getting my own fabric printed. Thanks for all the info, though. It's definitely worth thinking about.

Luann Fischer said...

I want to encourage everyone to visit the site, set up your account, and PLAY! It doesn't cost to play and that way you will be familiar with the site, and not quite so hesitant, if you come across something that you know you want printed onto cloth. One of the very unique things that can be done: upload a picture that you wish was available as a ready made large piece of artwork. Print it onto the proper cloth and then mount it onto stretcher frame when you get it back. Viola! You will have just created your own gallery wrapper art piece!
A fun thing to do on the site, upload a photo of your Grandkids, create wallpaper, and you can see what it would look like on a wall (in someone else's dining room). I did that with the hubby's photo, and asked my grands if they wanted Papa watching them when the were eating. They thought it was really funny. I'm easily entertained and I guess my family members are too.
Thanks for commenting, you know how much it means to a blogger.