Author Archives: Ella Mackay

‘Nostalgic Florals’ Textile Collection by Kathrin Legg

It’s come that time again to introduce our newest featured artist of The Designer Project for the month of May! Let’s welcome the talented Kathrin Legg

Kathrin was born in Germany and raised in Australia, she works as a surface pattern designer from her sunny studio, where she uses both traditional and digital media to create her designs and collections.

Finding inspiration from both her surroundings and European heritage, her designs are a blend of aesthetically pleasing colour palettes, modern floral designs and trending themes.

Each of Kathrin’s wonderful prints can be printed onto any of our fabrics, which means you can order custom designer fabric that’s tailored to you. Keep reading to find out more about Kathrin Legg and her ‘Nostalgic Florals’ collection!

‘Back to School’ is a nostalgic design featuring blackboards, pencils and notebooks.

We think this is so fitting for kids school projects; Whether that be some DIY pencil cases, book bags or even an apron for art classes!

‘My Two Geese’ is a ditsy repeat floral pattern with a homey, country feel to it. A warm colour palette of orange and yellow blossoms and complimentary deep blue flowers sway between the farmyard geese.

‘My Two Geese’ is such a perfect print for any homeware projects. We can definitely picture this print on a lovely Tea Towel in the kitchen.

‘Retro Floral’ is a geometric repeat pattern featuring a 1970’s inspired flower. The bold yellow and orange colour palette is sure to brighten up any space.

We would love to see ‘Retro Floral’ on some statement cushions or curtains!

‘Seashells’ is a soft flowing, nautical print featuring underwater life in shades of blue and highlights in peach and white.

‘Seashells’ is the perfect project for beachwear. Think beach towels or a beach bag, perhaps even a kaftan!

‘Spring Bee’ is a fresh, colourful springtime floral featuring an array of hand drawn flowers, busy bees and honeycomb dripping with sweet honey.

These adorable little bees would look amazing on any DIY project! From homewares to fashion garments, the ideas are endless.

‘The Simple Life’ is a detailed, imaginary village with everything you need. From a delicious bakery to a small lake with fishing boat, a children’s playground and a town fountain.

‘The Simple Life’ is perfect for kids room homewares! We think it would look amazing on a playmat or even some decorative cushions.

The possibilities are truly endless with Kathrin’s ‘Nostalgic Florals’ collection. Our ideas above are suggestions only and we hope they’ve gotten your creative wheels turning! Each of Kathrin’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop online.

Katrina Potter – The Designer Project

We’ve absolutely adored sharing Katrina Potter’s designs with you all and hope you’re all enjoying this installment of The Designer Project! Kat is on a mission to make the world a happier, brighter place with her art through her label Little Black Kat creative! The designer’s ‘Funky and Fruity’ collection has been made available in our Fabric Shop and features a wonderful range of designs inspired by our adorable native critters and all things funky and fruity! What’s more is we’ve been so very fortunate to have the artist herself put together a guest blog which is shared below! Keep reading to find out more about Kat’s work, inspirations and typical creative process!

‘Katrina Potter

Hey, I’m Kat Potter …and I love colour!

I’m on a mission to make the world a happier, brighter place! So, making artwork and seeing it out there in the big beautiful world, gives me an incredible amount of joy.

‘Katrina in her studio’

I studied Visual Art straight out of high school, majoring in illustration. It was there I learnt and developed a love of digital art and design, which led me toward a career in the print and graphic design industry. An industry I’ve worked in for the past 20 years. I’ve freelanced on and off during that time and started my Graphic Design and Illustration business “Little Black Kat Creative” in 2014. I took my biz full time in 2020 and more recently, I’ve been obsessed with learning all things surface pattern design.

‘What a Galah work in progress’

My patterns are inspired by everyday little things, happy memories and family adventures with my children. Most of which involve pets, animals and the outdoors, which you can no doubt see in my work. I’m thrilled to be a part of the Digital Fabrics Designer Project and even more excited to see where this little turn in my creative career takes me. There are a couple of different ways I work when it comes to developing a pattern. Sometimes I’ll start by drawing whatever is inspiring me that day (usually a collection of different animals) and eventually make it into a pattern.

‘design layout ideas’

But when it comes to client work, or if I have too many ideas and need to be a little more structured, I’ll start with a theme and keywords (like “bright happy summer” for example). I’ll then jump onto Pinterest and search for all things “bright happy & summer” related. I’ll pull out images and colours that I feel will work well together to fit that description and put them together to form a mood board. From there I’ll cull back my images, so there’s a cohesive theme, develop my mood board and create a colour palette. The images from my Pinterest search usually give me lots of ideas on the motif subject matter, but I’ll also write a list of possible motifs to draw.

‘Collection Moodboard’

To find even more reference images to work from, I’ll either do a “google images” search, take photos on my phone, or refer to the thousands of photos I have saved to my camera roll. Photos don’t have to be great, as it’s usually just the shapes I’m looking at. I’m a little old school …I don’t have an iPad, I either draw directly into Adobe Illustrator using my keyboard, mouse and/or Wacom table, or I’ll draw basic line sketches, scan them in and redraw them in Illustrator. My Illustrator pasteboard is (much like my tiny home studio) messy, with oodles of reference images that I can refer to for each motif. It doesn’t exactly look amazing in the development stage, but it works for me.

designer fabric_custom fabric_kat potter_what a galah WEB RESIZE CROP

‘What a Galah design’

Once my motifs are finished, and I’ve decided which ones I want to use, I’ll create a new file and start the process of building my pattern. For me, putting together a pattern feels like doing a puzzle. Getting all of the pieces in just the right spot! I adjust the scale of each motif, rotate, flip and really just have a play around to see what fits and looks the best. When I’m happy with the pattern, I’ll fine tune the colours and motifs if needed, to ensure everything is working well visually, and voila, she’s done!

‘Katrina Potter’

If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!

‘Funky and Fruity’ Textile Collection by Katrina Potter

For our latest installment of The Designer Project, we’ll be featuring the work of surface pattern designer Katrina Potter from Little Black Kat creative!

Kat’s “Funky and Fruity” collection is inspired by everyday little things, happy memories and family adventures with her children. Most of which involve pets, animals and the outdoors, which you can no doubt see in her work. She is a digital artist, who loves to use bright, happy colours. Her work includes illustrations of animals, abstract shapes and florals, drawn in a style that’s quite flat, minimalistic and a little bit quirky.

What’s more fantastic is that the whole collection has been made available in our Fabric Shop online, meaning each of the designs can be printed onto any of our stock fabrics. Below we’ve shared a bit about each of the designs and the types of projects we think they’d be great for so keep reading!

‘She’ll be Apples’ is a bright, yet vintage feeling design, featuring overlapping digital apple graphics in the most wonderful shades of red and pink.

We think ‘She’ll be Apple’ would be perfect for some fun fashion accessories such as tote bags!

‘Aussie Animals’ is a bright and fun feeling design, that was inspired by family day trips to the country. The blue colour palette pairs perfectly with some of our favourite native animals such as Koalas, Kangaroos and your classic Cockatoo!

‘Aussie Animals’ is such a great print for kid’s room projects, whether it be a decorative cushion or a custom toy!

The ‘What a Galah’ print is a bright and happy design, inspired by the Galah’s you see every day in your backyard or on your afternoon walk with the dogs. We love the mix of peach pink tones with the minty green to make those Galahs pop!

‘What a Galah’ would be super cute for kids wear like a sweet little romper or leggings!

‘Fruity Possums’ features everyone’s favourite house guest, the possum! Paired with some delicious Dragon fruit, Kiwi and Passionfruit motifs! We love the colour palette of this design. The green, pink and yellow mixed together with the splash of great from the cute possums.

We think ‘Fruity Possums’ is a perfect pattern for funky fashion accessories such as bucket hats and scarves!

‘Eat Your Veggies’ makes you think of your dream veggie patch! It features a range of yummy vegetables in tones of blue and pink against a dark background (which definitely brings those veggies to life!)

‘Eat Your Veggies’ would be so perfect for homewares such as Tea Towels and Cushion Covers!

‘Look at the Bears’ features the cutest little bear motifs, paired with some adorable mushrooms! The earthy colour palette of this design makes it feel so warm and cozy; the grey-brown tones with pops of green and orange.

The cozy vibes of ‘Look at the Bears’ make it perfect for kids garments like pyjamas!

‘Arctic Animals’ is an adorable frosty print, full of sweetest arctic animals! This design features a wonderful cool toned colour palette, that gives a soft, delicate feel to the print.

We think ‘Arctic Animals’ is another design that would be great for babies and kids projects. Think baby swaddles, little beanies and blankets!

The possibilities are truly endless with Kat’s “Funky and Fruity” collection. Our ideas above are suggestions only and we hope they’ve gotten your creative wheels turning! Each of Kat’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop online.

Custom Textile Products for your Business

Heartwood Custom Eye Pillow

Did you know we create custom textile products for businesses?

Have you been looking for an easy way to create and manufacture custom textile products for your business? Well, look no further. Digital Fabrics has you covered. We can help you easily create whatever product you need featuring your own designs.

What’s more, all our fabric products are produced locally in our Marrickville studio by our friendly team. This means you can choose to support an Australian independent business and support sustainable textile practices with your purchase.

There are two main ways that you can create custom products for businesses using Digital Fabrics.

Select from a range of standard products and apply your designs.
Create a completely custom product and apply your designs.

Cut & Make Service

Our Cut & Make service is the quickest and easiest way to get your designs onto a range of pre-designed standard products.

Simply select from a range of standard fabric products available (think cushion covers, scarves, tote bags, tea towels and more) then choose your preferred size, fabric quality and finish. You can even add your own branded labels! Apply your own fabric design or you can hand pick your favourite from our existing collection of unique prints and patterns.

Our Cut & Make service features the perfect textile products for marketing and PR events for businesses. We’ll walk you through the process from start to finish making it simple and stress-free.

NSW Training Awards Custom Tote Bags

Completely Custom Textile Products Service

This is your chance to make whatever you need for your business featuring your own designs.

We regularly work with businesses to help them create eye-catching unique marketing products and items, from some of the world’s leading corporate brands to small businesses and independent retailers.

If you need something completely custom or daringly different, we can help! No idea is too big or wild. Let us help you bring that awesome idea to life.

Local Beverages Custom Branded Keg Covers

Wildheart Pets Custom Snoods

Fast Custom Product Solutions for Businesses

We do everything we can to make creating custom products for your business a breeze.

By ordering with Digital Fabrics you’ll reduce your workload by removing the need to research outsourcing or work with multiple businesses to bring your ideas to life. Everything is created under the one roof at our Sydney studio, from the printing and cutting to all the sewing and finishing. We want you to be completely confident in what you’re ordering.

Little Peach + Pip Custom Cover Covers with Fringe

To find out more about our custom products for businesses, get in touch with us today.

Marie Schmitt – The Designer Project

We’ve absolutely adored sharing the beautifully detailed work of Sydney-based designer Marie Schmitt and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! Maries designs are modern and elegant creations that are sure to delight. To coincide with Marie’s ‘Natural Wonder’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which we’ve shared below! The blog takes a closer look at Marie’s creative process, detailing every step from initial sketch to final design. The blog also includes gorgeous photographs and process images which really help tell the story of Marie’s work and the ‘Natural Wonder’ collection. Keep reading to find out more about Marie Schmitt and her stunning designs!

Marie Schmitt

Hi,

My name is Marie Maignan. Since I was a child, I loved to draw and I love nature. I developed my own style, drawing floral motifs with lines in different thickness and shape creating movement and elegance.

I am born in France where I spend all my childhood. After a while living in Germany, I moved to Australia in Sydney with my family. The surrounding nature is fantastic source of inspiration.

As an adult I really enjoyed again the pleasure of creation and drawing. It is such a magical moment.

Marie’s Workspace

Marie’s Nature Inspiration

My designs start as hand drawn illustrations, line by line, first with pencil, then with my beloved Waterman ink pen. This way of using the lines create elegant motives, all in finesse, simple but with its own movement. Modern, graphic and somehow fascinating.

These were then scanned using a printer to create a digital version. Once I had the scans, I then opened them up in photoshop and got started on cleaning up the background. Pretty much just removing everything in the file except the drawn motifs.

Finesse Original Sketches

Once everything was nice and cleaned up, I started working on the layout, copying and rearranging the motifs to create a nice flowing design. Once I had a layout that worked and that I liked, I cropped it so that each side joined up to the other so that it would be seamless when you repeated the tile.

From here, I made all my colour edits, changing the background colour and colour of my illustrations.

Illustration Sketches

I am very happy to be given the opportunity to valorize my drawings and patterns with Digital Fabrics. I was so delighted by the first design project I did which was a wonderful cushion, that I thought it was maybe time to do more with my drawings and share them through the Designer Project by Digital Fabric.

Thank you!

Monstera Work in Progress Sketch

‘Natural Wonder’ Textile Collection by Marie Schmitt

With a new season, brings a new featured designer of the month! We couldn’t be more excited to announce that our next featured artist of The Designer Project will be none other than the amazing Marie Schmitt!

Marie is a France born designer, who now resides in our wonderful home of Sydney! She has found the surrounding nature as a fantastic source of inspiration as is very noted in all of her creations. Her designs feature her favourite ‘models’, leaves and flowers and her way of using line work creates an elegant movement to each motif.

Marie’s ‘Natural Wonder’ collection is full of simple yet modern graphics with a natural colour palette of Taupe, Beige, Green and Stone Grey. We’re so excited to have them all available in our Fabric Shop!

Finesse is composed by elegant and thin palm leaves, inspired by nature. The fine lines of the leaves give an elegant and fascinating feel to this design, with the grey tones pair perfectly the the taupe background.

Finesse is the perfect print for some stunning homewares such as cushion covers and curtains, maybe even some tea towels!

Monstera of course features the famous Monstera leaf! The fine line work of the motif showcases the intricate holes and lines of the plants leaves and the greyscale colour palette absolutely pops against the soft sage green background.

Monstera would look amazing as some fun fashion accessories, think tote bags and zipper pouches!

Botanical is a collection of three different ‘herb’ inspired illustrations in a deep brown colour. It´s like a walk in an dream garden!

We think Botanical is perfect for homeware products such as table linen and tea towels!

Fleurs features the sweetest floral motifs and leaves, with a touch of blooming warming yellow; giving this design a feminine flair.

Fleurs is a beautiful print for any fashion garment or accessory such as scarves, skirts, dresses and blouses!

Etoiles is a poetic design composed of little imaginative stars scattered across a stone grey background. The fine lines of each hand drawn stars create a fascinating and elegant flair to this design.

We think Etoiles would work well for fashion garments like flowing dress and skirts, perhaps some pants too!

Each of the designs in Marie’s ‘Natural Wonder’ Collection is available to be printed onto any of our stock fabrics. Simple head to our Fabric Shop online, choose the design and then select the base cloth that’s right for your project!

New Fabric – 100% Pure Linen!

After months and months of testing, we are super excited to finally announce that we have everyone’s favourite fabric in our range…introducing Pure Linen!

Keep on reading to find out all about our newest print base fabric and get inspired for your next project!

digitally printed Pure Linen sample featuring ‘Gypsy Skull’ by Brianna Pawlik

Our Pure Linen is a divine mid-weight 245GSM fabric that is 100% Linen, and has a maximum printable width of 145cm. This woven fabric has the loveliest linen slub texture and a vivid white base colour, that ensures good colour reproduction when printed. This is an ideal fabric for home and interior purposes such as cushion covers, table linen, creative signage & banners such as wedding signs and curtains.

unprinted Pure Linen fabric

close up of unprinted Pure Linen fabric

When considering our Pure Linen for your next project please keep in mind that some fading after washing is normal for natural fabrics that have been used for digital printing. The fading often gives our printed natural fabrics a softer finish which suits the natural fibre itself. Fading can be minimized through the use of cold hand-washing and phosphate free detergent.

digitally printed Pure Linen fabric featuring ‘Strawberry’ design

digital fabrics_digital fabric printing_linen_pure linen_fabric base_natural fabric 2

digitally printed HEX colour swatches on Pure Linen

Sample swatches of Pure Linen are available through our Sample Pack Order Form in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘Home and Interiors’ and ‘Super Pack’ sample packs on the website. Contact us to find out if this fabric is a suitable option for your next textile project!!

Carly Westbye -The Designer Project

We have absolutely loved sharing all of the amazing floral prints by artist Carly Westbye, and hope that you’ve enjoyed them as much as we have!

To coincide with Carly’s ‘Spring in Bloom’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself.

Keep reading to find out more about Carly Westbye and her wonderful floral designs!

‘Carly Westbye’

I am honoured to share my art through Digital Fabrics and look forward to bringing more designs to this unique network of talented designers.

‘Carly in her studio’

I am a Canberra-based designer and founder/owner of FinBok Publishing. I commenced my business as a Graphic Artist/Desktop Publisher and have spent the last eighteen years expanding on my design skills. My surface designs for interiors and fashion launched in 2016 and my designs have branched from collaborations, prints for personal use and expanding through to creators abroad in the textile industry.

‘Flame Pea Moodboard’

We are often asked what drives our passion to create and generally speaking for myself, I gain much satisfaction viewing the appreciation of those who support my work. Sharing the love of art and bringing a smile is what speaks to me. I have been creative since I was a child and have also been fortunate to explore a number of art shows where I have been able to sell my paintings.

‘Carly’s Design Workspace’

Most of my inspiration is drawn from nature and more recently I have spent some time observing my history and culture. I enjoy exploring nature’s contours, textures and colour palette. Together, I like to combine this with a variety of mediums, as I continue to explore new techniques and learn to work with organic materials sourced from Australian suppliers. I am currently working on many new designs to be released this year, all of which have been created using a unique self-taught technique. This method combines natural pigments that I mix with inks and gel mediums. I find this to be a rewarding process to see my illustrations and paintings brought together, as I continue to develop on my seamless signature style.

‘Whimsical Sketches’

The process in developing my designs will vary, depending on where I draw my inspiration from. Sometimes it begins with a walk in nature; other times a colour I am drawn to, a memory, or experience. My sketchbook is a big part of my life, and I never leave home without it. This is a journal that I hope will be treasured in my family for the years to come.

‘Ruby Blomst Sketches’

Each design is taken through a process that I have constructed over time. This process enables me to keep my designs on track during my creative thought process. My designs are structured with sketches, both initial and final stages, a colour selection process and consideration of purpose for print. All of my final designs are then imported to Adobe Creative Suite, where I then clean my files and prepare the layout for print production.

‘Singapore Butterfly Sketches’

‘Spring in Bloom’ Textile Collection by Carly Westbye

It’s come that time again to introduce our newest featured artist of The Designer Project for the month of February! Introducing the wonderful Carly Westbye

Carly is a Canberra-based designer and founder/owner of FinBok Publishing. Her inspiration is drawn from nature, where some of her recent designs have captured some of the finer elements that are often missed on our tracks in nature. From her local nature reserves, to the coastline and mountains, places where she might be seen exploring natures contours, textures and colour palette.

Each of Carly’s stunning prints can be printed onto any of our fabrics, which means you can order custom designer fabric that’s tailored to you. Keep reading to find out more about Carly Westbye and her ‘Spring in Bloom’ Collection!

Whimsical Peach & Teal feature the Rose Quartz, Rosehip and the Zebra Finch. Both designs featuring a striking red and pink Rosehip flower and the sweetest Zebra Finch Birds. There is a choice between the soft and harmonious peach tones or the more deep and moody teal blue.

Whimsical Peach & Teal would work perfect for fashion projects such as kimonos, or silky evening wear and lingerie.

Singapore Butterfly features a subtle image of rose quarts illustrations hidden beneath an array of beautiful black and white butterflies. There is also a honeycomb pattern added to the design, giving in a delicate hint.

Singapore Butterfly would also suit fashion garments such as sarongs and shawls as well as scarves or a tote bag!

Ruby Blomst is a striking design that features bold red florals mixed with a swirl behind the soft delicate layers of the Rhododendron.

Ruby Blomst is a perfect print for activewear such as leggings!

Spring Summer Orchid (Blue, Night & Tan) features delicate orchid illustrations that come to life in three colourways. The subtle red tones in the Orchid pair well with each background, creating a new look with a unique flow across all three.

We think Spring Summer Orchid is perfect for skirts, dresses and blouses!

Iris is a beautiful design featuring the divine Iris flower. The purple colourway for this design brings a sense of warmth, joy, balance and spirituality. Think of the sweet scent on a sunny day at Floriade – Canberra’s Flower Festival!

Iris would is ideal for swimwear, dresses, blouses, or even a delicate scarf!

Koimaroo & Koimaroo Waters feature the Japanese Koi Fish, a reflection in time. The beautiful red fish pair perfectly with either the periwinkle colourway or the aqua colourway; both soft, subtle prints

Koimaroo Waters & Koimaroo are perfect for summer kaftans or sarongs, perhaps an outdoor cushion by the pool.

Flame Pea Flower is a funky retro design contains both illustrated drawings and digital illustrations of the Chorizema varium, or the Flame Pea, and sadly, this flower is listed as a threatened species (endangered) in Australia. This design embraces curves with a fun, vibrant colour for summer and is a sweet match for the Flame Pea print and Flame Pea Lines.

We think Flame Pea Flower would be amazing as a cool summer tote bag or zipper pouch! Maybe even a cute skirt or dress!

Flame Pea features the beautiful, bright Flame Pea flower. We are obsessed with this orange flower, which pairs perfectly with subtle floral motifs. This design embraces curves with a fun, vibrant colour for summer and is a sweet match for the Flame Pea Flower print and Flame Pea Lines

This amazing Flame Pea design would look great as some swimmers, activewear, or even lingerie!

Flame Pea Lines is a perfect match with the Flame Pea and Flame Pea Flower Designs. It features a digital illustration of the Flame Pea flower, coated in some wonderful stripes!

Flame Pea Lines is the perfect print for swimmers, kidswear, cushion covers, or even a beach towel!

All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the sky’s truly the limit with Carly’s wonderful collection! Each of Carly’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!

Krystal-Anne Knafl – The Designer Project

It’s been an absolute pleasure starting off this year’s series of The Designer Project with the ultra-talented designer Krystal-Anne Knafl and have adored sharing her funky and colourful textiles designs with you. Krystal has made a range of her designs available as print ready artwork in our Fabric Shop online, which can be printed onto any of our stock fabric base cloths. To provide some more insight into each of Krystal’s designs, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which details her process behind creating her designs as well as what inspired the prints in her collection.

Keep reading to find out more about Krystal-Anne Knafl and her surface designs!

‘Krystal-Anne Knafl’

Hi everyone, Krystal Knafl here from @missappledesigns. I am very excited to announce that some of my designs are now up for sale in the Digital Fabrics fabric shop! Exciting times for all of us, because you get to have some fun creating some amazing products and I get to enjoy hearing about the awesome things you make, which inspires me to design more. I’m looking forward to you all sharing some of the works you were inspired to create. When I was initially designing, I envisioned my designs on curtains, bedding, tea towels, pillows, dresses, skirts, maybe even some cheeky pencil cases and make up bags. There are some great ideas throughout the website and all over the great wide web.

‘Krystals Design Studio’

I thought it would be fun to share my inspiration and process behind my final designs including some photos of my main design space as well as stimulus images. The majority of my works are hand-drawn on my ipad pro using Adobe Fresco and an Apple pencil. I am a big fan of fun, funky and whimsy designs, but I do like to occasionally find balance through use of warm, more neutral tones.
I am a storyteller at heart and most of my works started from either an experience, feeling or observation. I have found that when an experience captures my imagination, I can put more heart into the final product.

‘Work in progress design’

Chickens With Hats was inspired by one of my lessons as a Secondary Teacher in 2021 when a student brought in a chicken that he had found on the way to school. This chicken became a big conversation point in the class which lead to me being inspired to explore what this chicken could look like with a hat on (much to the excitement of my students.) Sarah’s Orchard Garden was inspired by my friend Sarah’s growing orchard collection. I was obsessed with the colours and would get even more inspiration every time she added another one to her collection. Crazy Plant Lady was inspired by another friend of mine that developed a deep love/obsession with building a plant collection. She would share all these amazing photos of the plants like they were her own children. There were such beautiful design elements in the plants she shared which inspired me even more.

‘Work in progress design’

When designing, I’ll typically search for stimulus through images and particularly look at colours and lines that can work well together. From there, I’ll work towards creating motifs outlines and start experimenting with different colour palettes until I find one that works. Creating motifs can take anywhere from an hour to two weeks depending on how much work and experimenting I need to do.
I do have a ‘dedicated design space’ but I do love designing in spaces where I can relax and stretch my legs. Three of my favourite spaces to design are my couch while listening to music, my bed on a Saturday morning after a big week of work and on occasion down The Strand where I take in some sunshine and sea breeze.

Below are some images that inspired Sarah’s Orchard Garden some of the initial motifs I created before collaging them (Thank you, Sarah Risdale, for allowing me to use these beautiful images):

‘Orchard Motifs’

‘Orchard inspiration photos’

Below is an example of how Sarah’s Orchard Garden can be used. I found a super cute and easy baby doll dress no-pattern dress on Youtube and create this. It prints beautifully on fashion fabrics such as bamboo or fabric but would look incredible on some bedding fabrics. Get in touch with the team at Digital Fabrics about which fabric base would be suit your project.

‘Krystals Baby Dolly dress’

As a fan of fresh and delicious produce, I was inspired to create Summer Salad. A super cute and colourful design that brings out the natural fun and beauty of vegetables which would look amazing as a tote bag, tea towel or even some funky cushions! Or why not make a statement in the kitchen and create a fun apron. This print can also be ordered here in a wide variety of fabrics to meet your sewing needs.

Here’s a cute mock up of Summer Salad as a funky cushion to get you inspired:

‘Summer Salad Cushion Mockup’

I hope you enjoyed hearing about what inspires my designs, the process I undertake and some cool ways you can bring these all to life! You can view more of my designs in the fabric shop. The epic thing is you can choose a fabric base to suit your sewing needs, and the minimum purchase is only 1m! Don’t forget too that if you’re needing support to chose the right fabrics and get started, get in touch with the Digital Fabrics team and they will gladly help you out.

‘Krystal in her studio’

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope I have inspired you to bring out some inner fun and creativity. Don’t forget to tag both @missappledesigns and Digital Fabrics in any projects you undertake with these designs!

If you want more fun and colour in your world, give me a follow on Instagram or Facebook.
Lots of love and inspiration,
Krystal Knafl

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