Did you know custom cushion covers are one of the most popular products we help our customers with? At Digital Fabrics we offer complete ‘Print & Make’ services, including cushion covers which can be made in various sizes and can be ordered through both our Online Uploader which is available 24/7 here and our One on one Service which is conducted through email and phone.
Want to create your own cushion cover but unsure of where to start? Whether it’s for an event, a gift or simply for your home we have a fabric suitable. Keep reading to find out which of our fabrics we offer for different types of cushion covers so that you can confidently choose what will work best for your next DIY project!
WARATAH – 100% polyester & 200gsm
Our Waratah fabric has minimal stretch, is durable and easy to care for. It’s a mid-weight, twill weave fabric with a bright white base colour and a slight sheen to its surface. The composition and finish of this fabric provides excellent colour reproduction when printing, making it perfect for designs with bright and deep colours.
Waratah works well for cushion covers intended for commercial settings, events, marketing collateral, hobby project, gifts and idea sampling.
This fabric is our first choice for cushion covers, due it colour vibrancy and affordability. Waratah cushion covers can be ordered online 24/7 through our Online Uploader and One on One Service.
Cushions printed and made for Twitter
COTTON LINEN – 97% Cotton / 3% Linen & 250gsm
Our Cotton Linen fabric is a durable natural fabric with a gorgeous linen texture. This heavy-weight fabric has an off-white warm base colour, a matte finish and minimal stretch. The Cotton Linen has strong colour reproduction when printed. When comparing printing results to those on polyester fabrics expect a slightly softer result.
Cotton Linen is one of our premium fabric choices and is perfect for cushion covers produced as designer goods, bespoke gifts and deluxe homewares.
This fabric is available to order through our Online Uploader and One on One Service.
Cushion covers printed and made for Cathy Hamilton Artworks
CANVAS – 100% Polyester & 300gsm
Our Polyester Canvas is a premium canvas fabric which is water resistant, easy to care for and has no stretch! Whilst being a highly durable fabric it softens over time with use. This is a plain weave fabric with an optic white base colour which ensures high quality colour reproduction for printing. This fabric is a fantastic choice for designs with dark and vibrant colours.
Canvas is suitable for cushion covers to be used for commercial settings, outdoor use, designer goods and homewares.
This fabric is only available through our One on One Service.
Canvas fabric printed for Lauren Skye Studio
The other fabrics we recommend for cushion covers are our London and Chevy from our polyester fabrics range and Cotton Drill and Linen Deluxe from our natural fabrics range. These great additional fabric choices are only available to order for custom cushion covers through our One on One Service. Fabric samples of each of these recommended fabrics are available in both our ‘Home & Interiors’ and ‘Superpack’ sample packs and can be purchased online.
If you’re not sure which fabric or ordering method is best for you? Contact us and discuss your ideas with a member of our team!
At Digital Fabrics, we love showcasing our diverse range of stock fabrics through our blog. This time, we’re diving into an application-focused post, spotlighting the best fabric choices for custom scarves—a versatile and enduring product that we frequently assist our customers with!
Scarves come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and styles, making them a perfect canvas for your creative ideas. Whether you’re looking for the light, airy feel of Chiffon and Dilly from our polyester fabric range or the elegant drape of Romance and Cotton Voile from our natural fabrics, we’ve got you covered for fabric printing.
Our recommendations will help you choose the ideal fabric for your custom scarf project. And remember, our ‘Print & Make’ services are here to assist you in creating unique scarves that perfectly match your vision. Contact us to get started on your custom scarf journey!
Chiffon 100% polyester & 75gsm
Chiffon is an airy, sheer fabric with a matte surface and crepe finish. Despite being sheer the fabric provides great colour reproduction when printed and works well for designs with bold colours.
Chiffon is an excellent choice for both every day and evening wear scarves whilst its lightness makes it popular for warmer months. The texture of the Chiffon also makes it a good choice for head scarves as it isn’t too slippery.
Image via Pinterest
Dilly 97% polyester / 3% spandex & 95gsm
Dilly is light-weight, silky, has a beautiful drape and a lustrous surface. This fabric is our most popular choice when looking for a polyester silk-alternative. Dilly has excellent colour reproduction when printed and is ideal for designs with bright and deep colours. The sheen to the fabric’s finish gives printed colours an added vibrancy.
Dilly is a fabulous choice for a classic silk scarf dupe and for scarves designed for special events.
Image via Pinterest
Romance 100% Rayon 100 gsm
Romance fabric is a lightweight material with a warm white base, and a gorgeously subtle sheen. Its fine weave, beautiful drape, and elegant finish make it perfect for scarf projects, bandanas, and body wraps. For matte finish scarves, Romance is an ideal choice—super soft to the touch and comfortable to wear. You can learn more about the Romance fabric in our detailed article here.
Image via Pinterest
Cotton Voile 100% cotton & 70gsm
Cotton Voile is similar to muslin, is ultra-soft and will only get softer after washing! Cotton Voile has an off-white base colour, is semi-sheer and has a matte finish. Despite the fabric’s transparency it provides strong colour reproduction when printed and has good colour show-through on the underside.
Unlike the vibrant printing results typical for polyester fabrics, printing results on our natural fabrics are softer. Some fading through washing is also normal and gives the fabric a soft ‘worn’ appearance.
The Cotton Voile is a perfect choice for breathable scarves for warm weather and scarves intended to have an understated yet elegant finish.
Image via Pinterest
Samples of each of these suggested fabrics are available in either our ‘Fashion Fabrics’ or ‘All Stock Super Pack’ sample packs which are available from our Sample Pack Order Form. Get in touch with us to find out which of these fabrics we would recommend for your upcoming scarf design!
One of the joys of Winter is the wardrobe that comes with it! The layering of textures and garments and accessories – oh my! For those who think prints are best saved for Spring & Summer, think again! The layering and clashing of prints is perfectly suited to an outift where more is more.
We thought we’d put the spotlight on a few of our Fabric Shop classics which are perfect textile designs to wear during the cooler months. What ties these designs together is their cool colour palette, a heavy focus on texture and their creation which relied on purely digital techniques and methods of manipulation. Introducing ‘Blue Fall’, ‘Brilliant Cactus’ and ‘The New Check’.
Blue Fall
This dizzying haze of aqua, violet and jade features digital paint brush textures which create a print that feels like an abstract checkered design. We love this contemporary reinterpretation of a winter wardrobe staple.
Brilliant Cactus
This graphic print pairs bright and neutral colours to create a design that is both bold and versatile. ‘Brilliant Cactus’ is bursting with energy and is a great example of a deconstructed floral print.
The New Check
This geometric print puts a kaleidoscopic spin on a classic red tartan print. This design works well worn on its own, or if you’re feeling adventurous, take some style tips from Fran Fine and pair this with an animal print!
We’ve popped some inspiration below of similar design styles and print combinations!
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
We’d love to know what you think these designs, or any of the others in our Fabric Shop, would be perfect for – so get in touch!
Snippets. Chats with Creatives.
Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes print designers tick.
This series we are focusing on textile designers as our creatives to get into the nitty gritty of the thing we love the most, textiles and surface design! We have asked a different set of questions relative to this and as always we hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories.
Today we are chatting to Crystal Kruger from Sydney based Textile studio ‘Skye St Studio‘ who offer a range of services such as textile design, colour matching, pattern grading and mood board creation. They have a range of fun, bright and often hand painted prints that you can license or buy exclusively for all sorts of projects and needs as well as offering custom illustrations and design work.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your brand/label name what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
My name is Crystal Kruger and I am the designer behind Skye St. Studio. I am a textile and surface pattern designer and also a design educator. My career began straight out of school, studying fashion and textile design and technology education at the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney. I have spent the last decade both teaching textiles and design subjects to students, as well as starting my own business as a textile designer. For me it has always been textiles or fashion in some form or another that fill my heart and fuel my inspiration. It took me a bit longer to realise the textile design was the right fit.
Where do you call home and what is your favourite thing about where you live?
I live in Sydney, Australia which is such an exciting, vibrant and inspiring place to be. Everything is fast paced but there is a wonderful balance between the urban and natural landscapes. I love being able to explore the ocean, the rivers and the mountains which surround Sydney but then also experience the wonderful, eclectic mix of cultures (and foods!) that inhabit this place. Culture, travel and nature are some of my biggest inspirations.
What 3 words best describe your creative style.
Colourful, painterly and fun! Trend-driven designs with soul.
Tell us a bit about what kind of studio, space or practice you run? Do you sell online or license your prints, do you do commissions or lots of freelance and what do you like doing the most?
Skye St. Studio is a very flexible design studio. Because it is so small I can be agile and accommodating to the needs of different clients. I sell the copyright to textile and surface pattern designs outright, as well as licensing prints through the catalogue on my website. At Skye St. Studio, I often work with local makers and other small businesses, but also larger companies and I love the variety that comes from working with different creative businesses. I do commission based pattern design and have worked with clients to design a range of other products including logos, tote bags layouts, soft toys and bespoke wall art for giftware. Skye St. Studio offers freelance design services as well and I would love to build that side of my business further. I also have an exclusive collection of designs available through Pattern Observer Studio. These are shown at trade shows such as Premiere Vision and Surtex but are also available for viewing at any time through Pattern Observer.
Do you have a favourite medium and/or method to work with, if so what is it and why?
My favourite way to design Skye St. Studio prints is to paint. I love to put some music on, something like The National and let the creativity flow. Sometimes I will just paint freehand, other times I will sketch first. I love to use gouache paints mostly, but also ink and watercolours. Not all Skye St. Studio prints are painted, but all are hand-illustrated before they are digitised. Colour is quite intuitive for me and so I tend to pick my palette right at the start of a project. I usually work with inspiration images in front of me, such as a Pinterest board I have created, a mood board I put together, or reference images from a client brief. I love the subtle variations of colour and texture that paint allows me to capture in my prints. I really feel this adds life and soul to my prints.
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
Well, I love all of the creative process! But I must say, there is nothing like getting your hands on a new design brief or a new idea. I love that inspiration and idea development phase, putting together a mood board and sourcing amazing imagery. In that moment I love the sense of purpose, drive and that excited feeling in my stomach. I love the potential of that stage and the intuitiveness of being inspired. I feel that this is a real strength of mine as a designer, I am very good at synthesising the mood of a brief and bringing ideas together.
What would you say is the biggest challenge when running your own business, what is your favourite and least favourite part?
The biggest challenge is the potential for isolation. As a designer we can get some absorbed in our thoughts and be in our heads too much. But also as a small business, it is easy to forget that other designers just like us are struggling with the same business challenges. It is really important to try and build a network of people that you can chat with and share your journey with. Often you are working from home or in a studio on your own and it can be a bit lonely at times. I love having someone else around to just ask, ‘what do you think of this?’ Otherwise it is so easy to overthink things! Finding the right clients can sometimes be a challenge as well, being a small business.
The best part is the creative freedom and the satisfaction I get from fulfilling my creative goals. When you have a win, it is amazing! I love it when a client gives me great feedback and I see them getting excited like I am about a print I am working on. That validation is amazing as a designer. It is wonderful working for myself, because I can choose what and who I want to work with as well. After the restrictions of working in schools for many years, I love the flexibility of being able to work from my studio or a cafe, to set my own schedule and to dress like me!
What would your dream creative project or collaboration look like? Tell us about why you would love to collaborate with them and what you find inspiring about their work.
My dream project would be to have my own print-driven, body positive clothing range. My background is in fashion and I have always approached clothing as a form of expression. Prints say so much about the wearer, which I love! Yes, trends come and go, but if you can find pieces for your wardrobe that really sing and show the world who you are, then that is a wonderful thing. I feel it is especially hard to find fashion like this for women size 14 and up. Your options become so limited and I think everyone deserves to be able to buy clothes they love, no matter your size.
What projects or collaborations from last year stuck out, good or bad and what is coming up over this year that you would like to plug!
I have a brand new collab which is launching right now and I am super excited about it. I recently worked with fashion designer Kathryn Shaw of Rattamatatt on her new spring collection called Jungle Fever, which is available for preorders on Etsy from 5th August. She has featured Skye St. Studio hand painted patterns from my Jungle Snakes print collection on her garments and it all looks so amazing! Kathryn has been a dream to work with and I am so proud of what we have created – we hope you all love it too!
All of Rattamatatt’s designs are classic and vintage cuts with a focus on fit and they all feature gorgeous, fun, modern prints with personality. Kathryn is all about slow fashion and ethical clothing production, making everything herself. I love this design philosophy and she has made my prints look absolutely fantastic on her garments! With Rattamatatt’s silhouettes and Skye St. Studio prints, the Jungle Fever collection is fun, bright and whimsical – check it out online! Stay tuned to our social media accounts also, as there may just be a fun little giveaway in the works, where you can score yourself some original Ratamatatt x Skye St. Studio goodness! Jungle Fever Collection available for preorder on 5th August 2019 at Rattamatatt’s Etsy store.
Where would you like to see your work featured?
One day I would love to see my work adorning some amazing dress in Vogue or for sale in Gorman! I am obsessed with their artist collabs haha.
You can find what Crystal is upto here: Website, Instagram, Facebook.
The City of Sydney once again played host to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Australia for 2019 with a string shows, events and parties set against the gorgeous backdrop of our harbour city. This week long celebration of Australian design brings out the most stylish of industry insiders, whose fashion ends up being as much of an attraction as those being paraded down the catwalk!
We’re always on the lookout for textile design inspiration and what’s really caught our eye this year are all the playful prints being seen in Men’s fashion. We’ve collated a few of the key street style prints we spotted during MBFWA that have a perfect partner design in our Fabric Shop!
#1 – MINIMAL FLORALS
Photographer: Christopher Queyn
This print teams a restricted colour palette with graphic motifs and an uncomplicated layout to prove that sometimes simple works best. Soft canary yellow is always a winner in our eyes!
Get the look! Our ‘Turmeric Flower’ approaches colour and form in a very similar way. The print celebrates traditional block print designs and keeps to a minimal colour palette of marigold yellows, denim blues and white.
#3 – SPLATTERED FRENZY
Photographer: Christopher Queyn
This print is absolutely bursting with energy and we love that it feels like it was snapped up from an artist’s work desk!
Get the look! Our ‘Hand Dyed’ print features similar splattered elements throughout the design, focusing on inky watercolour textures rather than the painterly style shown above.
#3 – NAÏVE CHIC
Photographer: Jack Steel
We love the use of childish illustrations as textile motifs and think this print’s use for a beautifully tailored garment is a match made in heaven.
Get the look! Our ‘Vanity Fair’ print is inspired by playfulness and decadence. It’s warm tan background is the perfect bed for sweeter than sweet watercolour motifs.
We’d love to know what you think these designs, or any of the others in our Fabric Shop, would be perfect for – so get in touch!
It’s that time again – our design team has been busy working to deliver new range of textile designs for our Fabric Shop that delight and inspire. Having focused solely on digital methods to create designs for our previous launch we’ve returned to hand-drawn and hand-painted motifs, texture and line for our latest range. Introducing our Wildflower Collection.
Once again we found ourselves being inspired by nature. It’s hard not to be when it still feels like Summer in Sydney. Our research began by collecting imagery of picture perfect gardens and the creatures that lie within them. These were then used to start drawing and painting interesting forms and surfaces.
From the variety of motifs drawn, a selection of watercolour elements were chosen to develop further for the range, with detail rich designs being an area of focus. We wanted to create a range of prints where the designs could work on their own as well as complement each other when used together. By choosing the unifying feature of watercolour motifs across the range we knew we could be experimental with colour and still create a balanced and harmonious collection.
The Wildflower Collection plays with primary colours throughout the designs, with warm and cool variations of reds, yellows and blues being seen throughout. This balancing of undertones and vibrant colours results in a fun range of designs perfect for those who love to make a statement by mixing and matching bold prints together. We’ve included some reference imagery below that show not only designs comparable to those in this collection, but also those that celebrate the art of clashing prints.
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
image via Pinterest
The Wildflower Collection is full of dramatic colours, textural hand-drawn elements and motifs that feel both ‘naughty and nice’. Whilst ‘Viper Sun’ and ‘Tea Party’ are best suited for fashion rather than homewares, ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Zephyr’ can definitely work well for both. We’d love to know what sort of applications you think these designs would be perfect for – so get in touch! Designs are available in our Fabric Shop now.
Lately on the blog we’ve focused on writing about any new fabrics for printing we’ve introduced to the Digital Fabrics range. Whilst we’ll continue to write these fabric introductions, you can also expect us to write up on some of our old favourites, to help keep you familiar with our complete Fabric Range for printing and make the right selection for your next textile project!
This time we’re brushing up on a long standing Digital Fabrics favourite – Waratah! Our Waratah is a 100% polyester fabric which is highly durable, easy to care for and has a printable width of 147cm.
It is a twill weave, medium weight fabric with a bright white base and slight sheen to its surface. Waratah’s composition and finish provides excellent colour reproduction when printing, making it perfect for designs with vibrant and deep colours!
Waratah fabric is 200 GSM and has minimum stretch meaning it holds its shape very well. This makes Waratah fabric an ideal for homewares applications such as cushion covers, tablecloths and wall hangings, as well as marketing collateral such as banners and signage. We think it’s such a great choice for interiors we’ve chosen Waratah as the standard choice for Digital Fabric’s Custom Cushion Cover Service!
Interested in Sample swatches of Waratah fabric are available through our Sample Pack Order Form. Get in touch to find out if this fabric suits your upcoming project!
We have another very exciting addition to our fabric range which we are dying to introduce. Please meet our newest polyester fabric, the Chevy! We think this will be a particularly exciting launch for those with budding summer fashion projects!
Chevy is a polyester / spandex blend (92% polyester / 8% spandex) which provides the fabric with a little stretch. The small amount of stretch provides the fabric with some give, making it a really comfortable fabric to wear.
The fabric has an off-white base, with a chevron weave and a matte finish. The fabric’s composition and finish, results in strong colour reproduction when printed, making it an excellent choice for projects with bright and deep colours.
Chevy is a mid-weight 170 GSM fabric that is both durable and smooth to touch. Chevy is ideal for fashion garments designed to have structure to their form, whilst still being super comfortable to wear. We think the Chevy will be perfect for light suit jackets and blazers, bomber jackets, pants, culottes, shorts, skirts and dresses.
Tata Naka
Vogue Spain
Markus Lupfer
Whilst we think this fabric is most suitable for fashion applications, it’s durability, printed colour results and resistance to creasing would also make it a great choice for some interiors and events projects, such as tablecloths and banners.
Sample swatches of Chevy are available now through our Sample Pack Order Form. Get in touch with any projects you think our Chevy would be great for!
Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. We are back with series two! Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This second series is all about asking some fun and different questions and learning about the inspirations and ideas behind the artist and their work. We hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories. We gave the artists and designers featured a varied and different set from series one list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!
Today on Snippets we are talking to Stephanie and Amy, Sydney based couple behind Outer Island. A design label that prides themselves on creating products inspired by nature such as ornaments and textiles, all made from natural or recyclable materials in Australia with a colourful and fun vibe as well as being educational and respectful to the environment.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your brand/label name what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
Outer Island is the collaboration of Sydney based couple Stephanie Chambers (artist) and Amy Ranck (graphic designer). We love traveling, collecting and being in nature. I’m from New York and Amy is from Australia so we joke that we’re both from islands, which is where the name Outer Island comes from, but really what connects us is our love for collecting and making things. Two years ago we moved to Sydney from Brooklyn and had our first Aussie Christmas together. Inspired by our endless birding and bushwalking, we wanted to bring the magic of Australian nature to our own Christmas tree. We moved here with our beloved ornament collection, but found it hard to find unique, colourful, well designed Aussie ornaments, so we started there. After making ornaments we expanded to fabric items. Everything produced by Outer Island is made in Australia using only natural or recyclable materials. Sustainability is a big part of our mission statement and we work with ethically minded vendors and manufacturers. We work out of our sunny studio in Darlinghurst and our business is a year and a half old.
Where do you call home?
Sydney, NSW
What 3 words best describe your creative style.
Magical, Colourful, Purposeful
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
The beginning is always the most fun. When we’re working on a new design, we work together to decide what we want it to look like, then I do the drafting and Amy does the art directing. Running a business, we try to divide and conquer to make the best use of our time, so this beginning part is always the most fun because we get to work together.
What does a typical creative day look like for you? How do you stay on plan and organised?
Each day varies, but after about 10 months in business, we sat down to create a schedule that we felt would keep our business on track. We scheduled weekly meetings and also started calling Mondays ‘Marketing Mondays’ to force us to step away from painting and designing and to focus on getting our product out into the world. We use google drive to organise our documents and really started treating our business like a business around 10 months as well. Think: BINDERS. We also use spreadsheets to track our productivity and a free online project management tool called Kanban-chi. I use an old school paper and pen planner to stay on track and each month we have different larger projects that we try to get done so we can make sure to stay out of the weeds. I love to paint and Amy loves to design so it’s important for us to have easy tools and systems to work with to keep our productivity on track and to also move the vision for Outer Island forward. We try to think ahead and put systems in place now that will make it easier for us to scale.
If you could spend a day in another artist’s studio shoes who would that artist be?
[Stephanie] I’d actually love to see how it worked in large workshops during the 1600’s in Northern Europe. I’m obsessed with Dutch still life paintings and would very much like to be a fly on the wall to understand how it all came together. I’m a big Northern Renaissance nerd. I love how their paintings represented nature better than nature could have through their compositions and richness which then really emphasised for the viewer how beautiful nature truly was.
Tell us about your creative space, what are your tips for keeping a creative studio space organised?
Buy a label maker! Every now and again we have a big strategy meeting and in our last one we realised our studio was a mess. So we went out and got proper storage things and a label-maker and went to town. It’s been so much easier for us to work efficiently since we did that. We also regularly clean the studio because it makes us feel crazy if it’s a mess, especially if it’s during a busy time.
If you could go back and tell yourself one hot tip or piece of advice when you started out what would it be?
Don’t rush.
What projects or collaborations from last year stuck out, good or bad and what is coming up this year that you would like to plug!
We’re expanding our line of ornaments with lots of new ones and will also be expanding our Christmas crackers this year. We really want to be able to give people items to enjoy that will bring the magic of Australian nature into their homes and create special memories. Nature needs all the help it can get and we believe if people have reminders in their homes then they’ll feel more connected to nature and if they feel more connected to it then they can begin to protect it.
You can follow what Outer Island are upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook.
Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. We are back with series two! Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This second series is all about asking some fun and different questions and learning about the inspirations and ideas behind the artist and their work. We hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories. We gave the artists and designers featured a varied and different set from series one list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!
Today on snippets we are talking to Stacey from Kalaii Creations who is an artist and designer who loves working with watercolour, creating textile art, and helping creative brands with their surface pattern and design needs as well as teaching workshops! She has a flair for colour and a style that is elegant, playful and enchanting.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your brand/label name what your creative practice is, how and when you began:
My name is Stacey and I established Kalaii Creations in 2016 when I was on maternity leave with my second baby. I needed a little bit of me time, and participated in a creative workshop and from there I was hooked! My creative streak was reignited. I was always very interested in drawing in my school years, and did art through high school, but lost track of it all during my later years. I am so glad to have found it again! I started by making an Instagram page, and sharing some of my artwork, and soon had orders coming in for custom pieces and I just decided to explore it all, and it has opened up a lot of doors for me. Now I host creative workshops with Workshop Brisbane, The Craft Parlour on the Gold Coast, in shopping centres, and I am soon to help teach a textile design workshop, with you here at Digital Fabrics which I am very excited about! Currently I focus on watercolour art, graphic design, textile design and creative workshops ranging from knitting, watercolour art and textiles. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.
Where do you call home?
I have been based in South Brisbane, Queensland, for most of my life (I moved from NSW when I was just a baby).
What 3 words best describe your creative style.
Feminine, Boho inspired, Vibrant
Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?
I love the initial stages of creating, when a client comes to you with their vision, and their inspiration, and you get a rush of exciting ideas and ways in which you can help them. I love being able to see what I will paint in my mind, and then how I can manipulate that in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and then still always be pleasantly surprised at the finished result.
What does a typical creative day look like for you? How do you stay on plan and organised?
A typical day for me is a little bit of a hot mess actually! I have two kiddies under 5, and I also work at a Brisbane based university for 3 days a week and thus arrange my creative design work at varying stages around this. Mostly I work at night, once the kiddies are asleep and I host my creative workshops on the weekends. I stay on top of my workload by completing little bits every day, and stay organized by using a Passion Planner. I write down all my clients needs and deadlines, and I also write down all the personal designs, and tasks I want to achieve within my business, which keeps me focused!
What would your dream creative project look like? Who or what is your dream project, client or job? Tell us about why you would love to collaborate with them and what you find inspiring about their work.
I would love to further explore the possibilities of having my designs feature more on active wear and swimwear out in the market place. I would love to be custom creating designs for people left right and centre! I find it so exhilarating when you see your artwork making a product pop! I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity to work with Sarah from @saltysparrowbikini on her new line release coming later in the year. I would also love to work with @midoribikinis. I love their designs and aesthetics and feel my designs would fit well with this brand.
Which other artists/ designers/ makers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?
I am currently in love with @jessswan_art I love the colours she uses, the shapes, tones everything! It is mesmerizing watching her work!
Tell us about your creative space, what are your tips for keeping a creative studio space organised?
It is my dream to soon create a creative space. Currently I work from my dining table (I know there are many of you out there just like me) and I also have a very small old fashioned house which does not leave a lot of room for arts and crafts and product storage. I use a combination of storage draws and desk space to stay on top of my organisation at home. I am hoping soon to extend our house for multiple reasons, and I may just sneak in a little studio while I am at it!
What has been your proudest creative business achievement to date?
My proudest creative business achievement to date and a dream come true is an upcoming swimwear design project I have been able to assist with. Sarah from Salty Sparrow Bikini (@saltysparrowbikini), has chosen my designs to feature on her first swimwear line which I am over the moon about! I am also super excited to be working with Jemma from Newymummyblogger on the designs for an upcoming project she will be releasing soon. But I will keep that hush hush for now 🙂 Another major achievement for me is being able to work so closerly with Digital Fabrics to help teach textile design classes. I keep pinching myself about this amazing opportunity!
Tell us about how you get your creative juices flowing, what is your process?
I love speaking with new clients about their design ideas and inspirations, as often their ideas require me to push my artistic and creative boundaries each time. They make me think outside the box and think of ideas/combinations that I would not have ventured into, if it was not for their influence! This is my favourite part! Then I usually research their inspiration and competitors to get a vibe for the type of project I am working on and then I get to creating. I usually see the end product first, and then work towards creating the elements to bring this to reality.
What projects or collaborations from last year stuck out, good or bad and what is coming up this year that you would like to plug!
I have loved working with Workshop Brisbane, The Craft Parlour, Sarah and Jemma, and also Lauren from @cocokini_ (another bikini designer who has also featured my designs)
I am super excited to further develop my relationship with Digital Fabrics and help by teaching textile design class for beginners, and I look forward to printing some more fabrics for some special pieces I have in mind. Watch this space! My next venture is the release of a cute little day clutch, great for the beach, where I have collaborated with Kate from @blue_eyed_girl_creations who has helped to sew the clutches for me. I can’t wait to see what people think of them.
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