For the launch of our new organic cotton fabric Poppy we asked Lilli of Frocks and Frou Frou to test it for us. Lilli is a creator and a maker and we were so excited to collaborate with her. We sent her the Hearts Garden design print by Susanna April on Poppy sateen fabric to create a dress that her readers would love, and to share with you also! As Lilli said: The Poppy is light enough to billow when it catches the wind, but with a weight of 140gsm, it’s perfect for use in items that need just a little structure! Interested to know more about Lilli’s creation? Keep reading Lilli’s blog post!
Dress pattern: Cashmerette Honeybourne, made from cotton sateen fabric Poppy printed by Digital Fabrics (print design by Susanna April)
I am not, let’s just say, an accomplished sewist. I can sew a straight(ish) seam, and I’ve more or less learned how to read the instructions of a sewing pattern. I know the difference between a French seam and a felled one. But apart from moving a hem up or down I don’t really know how to do alterations. About this time last year I bought myself a copy of Jenny Rushmore’s book Ahead of the Curve, thinking that it was probably time to teach myself how to do a full bust adjustment at the very least.
Reader, the book sat on my shelf. Then it sat on my shelf a little more. And then the team at Digital Fabrics got in contact to see if I’d like to road-test their brand-new cotton sateen, and I thought ‘Ooooh, I’ll need to make something really special with that!” and decided maybe it was time to try my very first Cashmerette pattern.
Based in Sydney, Digital Fabrics is a digital textile print house that prides itself on its quality, quick turnaround, and ease of design services. All their inks are non-toxic and water based, and they have a huge range of fabrics on offer including cotton, rayon, linen, ponti, lycra, canvas and more. They also offer on-demand cut-and-make product services for people who might not sew, but would like to take advantage of the ability to print their own artwork onto cushions, teatowels, curtains, totebags, etc.
On the website they have straightforward tutorials on how to create your own seamless fabric repeats, and if you’re feeling Very Serious about this textile design thing, you can actually take a one-on-one online class that will guide you through the process. Or you can do what I did, and simply choose an existing print from Digital Fabrics’ gallery of artists.
The print that I chose leapt out to me from the screen with its gorgeous painterly hues of blues and greens and hints of pinks. It reminded me immediately of Claude Monet’s Water Lillies series. Perhaps aptly, it’s called My Heart’s Garden, and it’s by Brisbane based artist, Susanna April.
Digital Fabrics sent me My Hearts Garden printed on their beautiful new Poppy sateen, a 100% cotton fabric with a slight sheen, and a soft hand-feel. It’s light enough to billow when it catches the wind, but with a weight of 140gsm, it’s perfect for use in items that need just a little structure. Which is to say: it was perfect for Cashmerette’s Honeybourne.
The Honeybourne is available exclusively with Ahead of the Curve, and it’s a woven dress pattern with a darted front, sleeves, and a full skirt. It’s the pattern where Jenny teaches you a brand range of alteration techniques, including full and small bust adjustments, a narrow shoulder adjustment, a full bicep adjustment, a swayback adjustment, and broad back adjustment. It comes in sizes 12-32 and in three cup ranges: C/D, E/F, G/H. I made the 18 E/F, and full disclosure – for all my hyping myself up to learn how to do adjustments, it fit perfectly (as far as I can tell) straight out of the packet.
With the full gathered skirt, fitted bodice, and half-length sleeves, it’s got a real 1950’s party-dress vibe to it. There’s an enormous amount of yardage in that skirt – it’s actually six panelled, though the abstract print disguises that well – and it’s actually the perfect length for me to wear over my tulle skirt when I really want to fancy it up.
I love the pattern, and I LOVE the fabric; which at just $44 per metre (limited time only) is virtually the same price you’ll pay for fabric from one of the big European design houses. I’m keen to try my hand at designing my own print next time (or enlisting some three-year-old help!)
Have you felt inspired reading Lilli’s blog post? Are you ready to dive into your own creative project? If so, don’t forget to visit out
fabric shop online to view an enviable range print-to-order designer prints!
We’re super excited to announce that our next featured artist from The Designer Project will be ever so talented, Meredith Simpson!
The ‘Aussie Cuties’ collection was inspired by our beautifully unique Australian native animals. Meredith feels that we are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures that are native to our home and finds them so gorgeous to draw. Created from pastel pencils and that she finds to be the perfect medium for capturing the texture and softness of animal fur.
Keep reading to find out more about Meredith Simpson and her adorable animal designs!
‘Walter Wombat’ is a fluffball full of fun. Paired with our beautiful native gum blossoms, this print is pretty and playful.
‘Walter Wombat’ would be such an adorable design for kitchen homewares and garments such as aprons!
‘Native Cuties’ is a super cute print that features four of our iconic native animals: koala, echidna, platypus and wombat. The natural colours of the animals and the green gum leaves against the bright white background make the colours shine!
We love ‘Native Cuties’ for some fun fashion accessories like tote bags or even some kidswear!
‘Keeley Koala’ is the most gorgeous green print that features the cute Keeley koala together with her favourite eucalyptus leaves!
‘Keeley Koala’ is the perfect print for sweet accessories such as pouches and bags!
‘Quinn Quokka’, this cheerful, adorable print features the always smiling Quokka! The watercolour flower detail and warm colour palette make this such a joyful print that will make you want to smile too.
We think ‘Quinn Quokka’ would be an amazing design for home and interior projects such as Cushions!
‘Titch the Tasmanian Devil’ is a celebration of all things Tasmanian! This lovely print features Titch the Tasmanian Devil together with the beautiful Tasmanian Blue Gum.
‘Titch the Tasmanian Devil’ is a super fun print that would be perfect for projects such as a DIY laptop case or homewares such as Tea Towels!
‘Native Cuties 2’ is a sweet print featuring three of our unique native animals: dingo, quokka and Tasmanian devil together with our beautiful blue gum leaves. The natural colours of the animals and the native foliage against the bright white background make the print come to life!
‘Native Cuties 2’ would work perfect for some cute fashion garments like an adorable skirt or even some kidswear!
All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the sky’s truly the limit with Meredith’s adorable animal collection! Each of Meredith’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!
We understand designers put their heart and soul into their work, which is why we want to ensure we bring your vision to life in the most professional and efficient way possible.
Whether you are requiring beach towels, cushion covers or promotional banners – some of the most common reasons for delays are due to simple things such as submitting the incorrect file format or poor image quality.
Our mission is to bring your creativity into reality in a matter of days, not months, so below is your one-stop guide to printing your own products with Digital Fabrics.
Pre-Submission
Before you hit “save” for the final time, here are some handy tips to ensure you don’t have to do any more work and or spend any additional money on changes.
- Save your work in JPEG format. If you are using Adobe Illustrator- we recommend you “save as” a PDF first and then use Photoshop to save your file as a JPEG. This ensures you get the best possible image resolution. Whilst we can work with image resolution between 72dpi and 300dpi, we want to ensure you receive the best product possible so the higher the quality, the better.
- White is not a printable colour. Any areas in the image that are white or transparent will be the colour of the fabric.
- Black on your screen isn’t always black in print. If you are after a pure black colour ensure that all four CMYK options are set to 100%: C=100%, M=100%, Y=100%, K=100% in Adobe Illustrator and in Photoshop (Hex Code #000000, Decimal Code 0, 0, 0 ) when developing your artwork.
- Use the same software for your designs to ensure colour consistency (even within the Adobe suite). If you are using Photoshop for one design, use the same program for any additional artwork.
- Save your work in the same scale as you want it printed. If your finished product is 50x50cm, save your work as 50x50cm.
- Double check your margins and gaps. Add any allowances for cutting and making if needed, making sure you are providing your design with appropriate margins for cutting and sewing.
We love seeing the magic that our customers make with our product printing service. We see artists create beautiful custom printed scarves with their artwork, graphic designers releasing a product range for themselves or their clients, as well as corporate merchandise ideas. You can also create thoughtful gifts for your friends and family, capturing moments in time with children’s art printed onto tote bags, cushion covers and more.
Be inspired by some of our previous work
The Thoughtful Gift shop released a range of ‘Inspirational Women of Australia’ merchandise featuring Aussie icons, with profits going to Support the Girls, a charity that empowers and supports young women in Australia.
Sancha Prowse Art released a stunning ‘A rose is a rose’ custom printed scarf for her online store.
You can also get creative for your corporate or business merchandise needs, just like Moccona did through Mix Agency.
Thoughtful gift ideas starring your children’s masterpieces that friends & family will love.
To start bringing your ideas to life, head to our Make Your Own Product page, or contact us!
With Spooky Season well and truly on its way, we wanted to give you a fun little Halloween DIY project to make for your pets…well, cats specifically!
Everyone on our team is avid cat lovers and most of us have our own fur babies to dress up. We always see cute seasonal looks for dogs but where’s all the fun cat costumes, right? Well with this tutorial, you can create your own custom Halloween bandana for your cats this October!
Get creative, keep on reading to find out how you can make your own Spooky Cat Bandanas!
What you need:
- Custom Printed Fabric (we recommend our Ashton, Ebe, Oliver, Aerocorp and Cotton Poplin fabrics).
- Scissors
- Dressmaker Pins
- Sewing Machine or Sewing Needle
- Sewing Thread – you can match the colour of your fabric.
- A cat of course!
Introducing our cats:
Method:
1. The most important step of all…order some wonderful custom printed fabric, you can design your own or order designer fabrics from our Fabric Shop. We recommend our Ashton, Ebe and Cotton Poplin for a natural fabric option or our Oliver and Aerocorp fabrics for a polyester (easy care) option! We’ve gone with our Ashton fabric which is a lovely lightweight Cotton Jersey.
2. Using a pair of scissors cut out a square shape, we’ve gone with 40 x 40cm, but you can go smaller or larger depending on the size of your cat.
3. Once you’ve got an even square cut out, you’re going to fold over your fabric diagonally – printed side to printed side, corner to corner; to create a triangle shape.
4. Once you have your triangle shape and all the edges match up, you’re going to pin together the edges so the fabric doesn’t move around when trying to sew.
5. Now it’s time to sew! We’ve used a sewing machine for our bandanas but you can easily use a sewing needle as well. You’re going to stitch a straight stitch, 1cm in from the raw edge starting from one of the corners. Sew around the sides of your triangle angle shape, leaving a 6cm open gap so you can flip it right-way out when you’re done.
6. Once you’ve got your pieces stitched together, from the 6cm opening you’re going to pull the inside out. Make sure all the corners are completely pulled out and everything is lying flat, as we’ll be stitching around each edge again.
7. When you’ve got your Bandana completely pulled out, so that the print is now on the outside; you’re going to top stitch 0.5cm in from each side, the whole way around. Make sure to tuck in the raw edge of the 6cm gap, pin it and stitch over this part as well. This will create nice, flat edges around your Bandana and a stronger stitch for durability.
You now have an adorably spooky Cat Bandana to dress your cat in for the Halloween Season!
Keep on scrolling to check out some more fun Halloween Prints that are available now in our Fabric Shop. You can order any of these prints on our stock fabrics and create your own custom cat bandana or any Halloween themed DIY project!
‘Bone Collector’ by Sami Sparrow
‘Zombie Ducks’ by Krystal-Anne Knafl
‘Vintage Halloween Masks’ by Sue Michael
‘Spooky Ink’ by Emilie Otto
‘Crows’ by Carly Westbye
‘Crows Gathering’ by Carly Westbye
‘Spooky Skulls’ by Ianny Bastos
‘Skulls and Roses’ by Ianny Bastos
‘Monochromatic Skulls’ by Ianny Bastos
‘Spooky Costume Cats’ by Ella Mackay
‘Spooktacular Halloween’ by Ella Mackay
‘Coffee Monsters’ by Louise Addison
We have absolutely loved sharing these fun loving designs by creative Emilie Otto and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! To coincide with Emilie’s ‘Life of the Party’ 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 one of a kind creative process and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Emilie Otto and her unique design process!
‘Emilie Otto’
Hi, I’m Emilie Otto (aka Em).
Let’s get creative friends, I’m so excited to share these fun filled fabric prints with you all! It has been one of my wildest dreams since I can remember to create bold, eccentric and joy filled designs to inspire people to create and feel authentically themselves. I am never someone who likes to blend into a crowd or follow the leader and I wanted these designs to reflect this.
‘Emilie painting in her studio’
This a slice of my first collection “Life of the Party” an eccentric mix of colourful coordinates. Curated for fun lovers, sun-seekers, and most importantly good times! These designs are created from hand carved stamps, which have been elevated using a variety of digital techniques. The bright colour palettes embody my favourite parts of summer. These designs where made to suit fashion and accessories projects, but the sky’s the limit.
‘Carving design stamps’
These designs didn’t come about in a conventional way, in fact it woke me up at 2am! I couldn’t stop thinking about carving little stamps and creating little still life artworks. It all happened within a matter of hours, I was listening to my favourite playlist hand carving wine bottles, crabs, lemons, and a range of flowers. I fell in love instantly and after finishing the carvings I could head back to bed for some more sleep.
‘Emilie using her handmade stamps’
Most of the designs are inspired by items I have in my studio, which spark happiness. Items have been collected from thrift stores, gifted, and saved to remind me of special moments. I love bright colours and love high contrast patterns, so these colour combinations feel very true to my style as a designer.
‘Emilie painting in her studio’
All of the designs I create are something that I would love wearing, most of the time they don’t start out with a purpose in mind. I focus on enjoying the making process and more often that not they turn into whatever they were meant to be, these stamps started as card designs but evolved into statement fabric designs.
‘Clothing Mockups of Designs’
Here are a few clothing examples that really get me excited, they have an element of comfort, are carefree and also let people’s personalities shine through. Any of the fabrics in this collection would work well on their own, they can also be mixed and match to really turn up the fun.
‘Emilie Otto’
My studio space is full of dancing lights, disco balls and prims hanging from the windows along with artwork from other designers who inspire me. It’s a chaotic space, but I always feel so inspired when I sit down at my desk and start painting.
I hope that these designs bring some energy and fun into your next DIY project.
Em xo
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!
We couldn’t be more excited to announce that our next featured artist from The Designer Project will be none other than the amazing Emilie Otto!
Her ‘Life of the Party’ collection is an eccentric mix of colourful coordinates. Curated for fun lovers, sun-seekers, and most importantly good times! These designs are created from hand carved stamps, which have been elevated using a variety of digital techniques. The bright colour palettes embody the best part of the Australian Summer.
Keep reading to find out more about Emilie Otto and her fun loving designs!
Play Time Ocean Blues is a feel-good vibrant print, featuring a few items that you would find at a celebration with friends. The colours are inspired by warm sunny days and sparkling blue oceans.
We think this is the perfect print for some funky swimwear, can’t you picture it as some board-shorts or a bikini?
Picnic Rug Candy is a vibrant gingham print, inspired by picnic catchups with friends. The colours are warm and are like those you can enjoy during a candy-coloured sunset.
This print would look fantastic for fashion garments and homewares! We love this colourway for a super fun picnic blanket or perhaps a summer dress.
Picnic Rug Dawn is a vibrant gingham print, inspired by picnic catchups with friends. The colours are cool and soft like those you can enjoy during a dreamy early morning.
Another amazing print for a range of fashion and home and interior projects, think flowing pants or cushions!
Stripey Bubblegum is a bold geometric print; it is a statement and fun take on traditional tartan. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by watermelon flavoured candy.
This design is perfect for some summer accessories such as bucket hats or tote bags/beach bags!
Stripey Violet is a bold geometric print; it is a statement and fun take on traditional tartan. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by wildflowers.
We think this print would work so well for a statement beach towel or even a new onepiece.
Sunday Sesh Mint is a hand carved print inspired by long days in the sun with friends, sipping on your favourite drinks. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by Mint & Pink Gin cocktails.
This design is so perfect for beachy/pool attire, think a loose over shirt with matching shorts!
Sunday Sesh Violet is a hand carved print inspired by long days in the sun with friends, sipping on your favourite drinks. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by Lemons & blueberries.
We love this print for a fun kaftan to throw on at the beach!
All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the sky’s truly the limit with Emilie’s super fun collection! Each of Emilie’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!
Being in the fabrics manufacturing industry, we are lucky to work closely with some incredible indie designers and brands. Not only do they design beautiful collections, but are closely aligned with our sustainability values as well. Being ‘indie’ categorises independent designers, artists, and craftspeople who design and make a wide array of products − without being part of large, industrialised businesses. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite Australian indie designers worth knowing about.
Tara Whalley Australian Fashion Designer
Tara Whalley an Australian designer with a heavy focus on bold prints (the way to our heart!) In 2020 Australian designer Tara Whalley was invited to premiere her fashion collection at New York Fashion Week, and in 2021 she stole the runway show again at Paris Fashion Week. Tara established her self-titled fashion brand in 2015, after returning to Australia after a year of working with war-affected Mayan weavers. It was this time in Guatemala that formed Tara’s painting practice- translating experience into artwork for fabric print and a clear direction for the basis of her fashion signature style. Her collections are made in Melbourne with natural fibres, digitally printed to reduce environmental impact and utilise offcuts to minimise waste. Her designs are available in sizes XS to 10XLovely and feature Tara’s hand painted artwork.
Deadly Denim Australian fashion brand
Deadly Denim is a beloved customer of Digital Fabrics. Sustainability is at the heart of their brand; a natural fit with our ethos and connection to caring for country. Deadly Denim was founded in 2018 by Rebecca Rickard, a Ballardong, Whadjuk woman from the Nyungar nation living and working on country Perth W.A.
It all begins with recycled denim from local Boorloo (Perth, Western Australia) op shops. Then, a Deadly Denim artist creates a unique design that is sent to us at Digital Fabrics to be printed. The artwork is worked into the denim to create a unique Deadly Denim garments.
Frida Las Vegas Photographer Eamon Donnelly
Where to begin with fashion icon Frida Las Vegas. Designer Stavroula is a customer of Digital Fabrics, she is a talented illustrator who is fascinated by Australian icons and infuses that with her Greek background. Her iconic haute kitsch label Frida Las Vegas has been worn by incredible personalities such as Katy Perry, Sam Smith and Kate Miller-Heidke as well as her affectionately dubbed ‘Glamazons’ around the world.
Variety Hour Australian fashion brand
Variety Hour is a Melbourne based design studio started by textile designer Cassie Byrnes in 2016. At its core they remain a textile focused studio, exploring the technicalities and craft of print design and using Digital Fabrics products as the canvas. All their prints are hand painted by Cassie using gouache, inks and markers which are then digitised and adapted into artworks, homewares and clothing designed with flattering shapes in mind, focusing on the stunning prints.
At Digital Fabrics, we love supporting Australian designers in their quest for a more sustainable world of fashion, and of course bold prints that are to die for. Custom printing designs onto our fabric ensures an angle of individuality, and less harm to the planet with our low minimum order requirements. We can’t wait to see what you’ll design!
Starting a new hobby or skill can be daunting, and factoring in an entire machine that you need to navigate makes learning to sew a little more difficult, but sewing is a skill for life! Even if you’ve never stitched a hem or replaced a button, learning to sew is a gateway to sparking creativity!
You may think back to Grade 9 ‘Home Economics’ classes or Nana’s quilting, but sewing is great for easy DIY projects for home, altering or creating your own clothes (earth-friendly), making thoughtful gifts for friends and family and so much more. There’s nothing quite like the pride of wearing one of your own creations. We’ve collected some of our favourite tutorials from creators that are perfect for beginners.
Copyright – The Essentials Club
Reversible Bucket hat – The Essentials club
We love how Maddy has taken an everyday essential and made it so accessible with her free template and video tutorial (just ask the 1.2 million views on YouTube). Customise your bucket hat by using your favourite prints, this pattern is reversible to reflect your mood or match your outfit! Our Cotton Linen fabric will be perfect for this!
Copyright – Sotak Handmade
Tote bag by Sotak Handmade
A great tutorial for beginners, a versatile tote bag with french seams with the option of woven handles, or a follow up tutorial on how to make your own matching straps.
Our Cotton Drill fabric would be perfect for this project! Don’t fancy making your own? Digital Fabrics will make a range for you, head to our shop to find out more.
Copyright – DIY Daisy
Drawstring Tie Top by DIY Daisy
Versatile and perfect for summer, this drawstring tie top from DIY Daisy takes less than an hour and only 1 metre of fabric! Perfect for a beginner to practice making straps and drawstrings, you’ll be so proud of your ‘me-made’ creation.
Copyright – The Essentials Club
Bias Slip Skirt – The Essentials Club
A necessary addition to any stylish minimalist wardrobe, the slip skirt. Maddy has made hers with silk satin, however our Dilly fabric’s silky feel is perfect for this project. As a beginner sewer, once you are confident with your way around a measuring tape, you’ll be ready to move onto cutting your patterns on the bias. This refers to placing your measurements diagonally across your fabric for a more natural drape and less rigidity.
We are so excited for your journey in learning to sew and hope these tutorials can help get your creativity flowing. With some marking pencils, a measuring tape, pins and a sewing machine there is so much you can create.
You asked and we listened! After receiving plenty of interest in a DIY tutorial on how to make your own Beeswax Wraps, we’re very excited to give you this wonderful Blog post. Beeswax Wraps are such an easy at home project and are a great addition to anyone’s eco journey. You can make them by yourself, with a friend, or even get the kids involved!
We love using beeswax wraps in the office and at home, it is a very simple thing that we all can do for food waste and plastic wrap reduction! Use them to cover tins, jars, bowls and plates, wrap around cut fruit and veg or close up an open fresh food packaging. Get creative, keep on reading to find out how you can make your own Beeswax Wraps!
What you need:
- Custom Printed Cotton Poplin Fabric. Featured designs in this post are: Going Bananas -Tammy De Zilva, Lemonade -Crystal Kruger, Spring Bee – Kathrin Legg, and She’ll be Apples -Katrina Potter.
- Pinking Shears or Regular Scissors
- Large Flat Baking Tray
- Baking Paper or Reusable Baking Sheet
- Beeswax (bar or pellets). We used pellets from Bunnings.
Method:
- The most important step of all…order some wonderful custom printed fabric on our Cotton Poplin, you can design your own or order designer fabrics from our Fabric Shop. Our Cotton Poplin fabric is the best fabric in our range for beeswax wraps! Its a perfect fabric for the job, it has a smooth texture and a perfect weight for an even wax distribution.
- Using pinking shears, if you want beeswax wraps to look a little bit fancy or just some regular scissors, cut out some squares at your desired size (we’ve gone with 30 x 30cm). You can create beeswax wrap in any size or shape, as long as it will fit into an oven.
- Preheat your oven to a low temperature, 100 degrees works best as we don’t want the fabric to burn.
- On a large, flat baking tray, an old cookie tray is great for this, place a sheet of baking paper (or a reusable baking sheet). Then place your cut fabric on top.
- Sprinkle a generous handful of beeswax across your piece of fabric evenly. Keep in mind that once the wax melts, it will double in diameter. We’ve used a bar of beeswax which we’ve cut up for ours but you can use whatever beeswax you can find, whether it be a bar or pellets. If using a bar, you can grate it or cut it into little pieces like we have (be careful when cutting at the wax is quite hard).
**As an extra step after this, you can add a few drops of Jojoba Oil across the fabric. This helps keep the coating soft and supple, and it is also food safe. This is optional and your beeswax wraps will still be perfect without it!
- Once your fabric is happily covered in beeswax, place the tray into the oven.
- Keep an eye on the fabric piece whilst it’s in the oven, as you want to take it out when all the wax has melted. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Once the wax has all melted, this is where you need to be quick and careful! Take the tray out of the oven and place it down on the bench. Whilst the wax is still melted, grab the top two corners of your fabric and lift it up. Hold the fabric over your tray until the wax has completely dried and hardened.
You now have your own wonderful beeswax wrap! This can be used to cover opened jars, leftover meals, wrap around cut fruit and veg, or to close up open fresh food packaging. You can also fold your beeswax wraps to create some reusable ‘sandwich bags’ or snack pouches.
All the featured designs that we’ve used to create our Beeswax Wraps are available to order via our Fabric Shop. You can also design your own fabric and make a beeswax wrap with your own artwork!
It’s been such a treat sharing these wonderfully sweet designs by illustrator and pattern designer Madeline Hawkins. We hope that you’ve enjoyed all of her amazing prints as much as we have!
To coincide with Madeline’s ‘Scenes from a Daydream’ 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 one of a kind approach to creating surface patterns and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Madeline Hawkins and her beautiful designs!
‘Madeline Hawkins’
Heya! I’m Madeline, Artist behind Wilder Studio. I create whimsy illustrations, from which I design into repeat patterns for textiles. I work from my home studio based in Murwillumbah, NSW – a beautiful, creative and vibrant town where my little family and I reside. I have lived and breathed drawing since I could hold a pencil and have in recent years found a love of home textiles. When I put two and two together and began teaching myself online, I knew I had found where I wanted to play – textile pattern design!
‘Madeline Hawkins in her studio’
I’m super excited to have an array of Wilder Studio repeat patterns available here at Digital Fabrics. This collection of handcrafted, stand-alone patterns speaks of romance, femininity, nostalgia and wonder. Inspired by the likes of Lewis Carrolls ‘Alice in Wonderland’, these patterns are an ode to day-dreaming.
‘Madeline creating in her studio’
An ideal start to a morning in the studio consists of music, a brew and a little playtime- sketching or painting anything that comes to mind with no pressure to turn it into anything. Then I’ll get stuck into whatever I have on the to-do list.
‘Madeline working on original paintings’
‘Madeline colour matching her design’
When designing a repeat pattern for a client, I generally write down a bunch of descriptive words of what the general feel is I’m wanting to create, and a rough description of the colours, layout and orientation and any other parameters the brief has set. I then have a little rough sketch of motif ideas. Sometimes these may be used in the final design, otherwise they are set aside with the rest of my notes for when I begin illustrating. I love using watercolors and gouache for romantic florals, but I’m most fond of inkline pens, poscas and pencils for whimsy, detailed illustration.
‘Close up of Madeline’s studio’
I love watching my illustrations come to life on fabric and seeing others make something with a piece of my imagination. It’s really a collaboration with other creatives. I think there’s the most magic in collaboration. The coming togetherness of it. Expressing ourselves and inspiring others to do the same. A ripple effect of creativity. It brings me deep joy as I hope my prints inspire joy in others.
‘Madeline’s studio’
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!
