Tag Archives: custom made fabric

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 6

Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This 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 list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Margot Warre from Margot Design, a Sydney based Textile artist and designer with a passion for supporting Local and Ethical Production.

Margot Warre Design_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 3Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

Creative practice for me is all about telling a story through my designs. That story will be carried all the way through the complete integrity of the design – where the designs are printed, finishing style and packaging.

I want to tell stories about the city I love. When I first started designing it was all about the trends in NY, London etc which didn’t resonate with me. I felt that my country and city is so unique that we didn’t have to look to others for inspiration it is all around us. Inspiration and stories such as uniqueness of Sydney summer, the beach on a winters day and more recently the beautiful Art Deco buildings all over Sydney.

After I have the realised the story – I start researching images, sketching, painting patterns sometimes in gauche, water colour, texta, collecting scraps of fabrics, paper – a real mixture of process, never are two collections developed the same way.

The sketches are scanned and then played with in illustrator and photoshop to create the designs digitally. I started designing my own range of textiles after years of designing for some of the industry leaders, such as Warwick Fabrics. I moved back to Sydney after living in Melbourne and began my own ranges.

Margot Warre Design_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 4Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?

Putting a concept / mood boards together, sourcing images that communicate your idea and colour palette. I could look for images for hours.

Which five words best describe you?

I have been told and don’t disagree: Energetic, Fun, Personable.

How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?

It has a very distinctive style, it not pretty style but handsome and I would hope reflects how we live in Australia.

Margot Warre Design_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 5What does a typical day look like for you?

I am up early and generally do most of my work after a morning workout before heading to my “day” job.

What would your dream creative project look like?

I would love to work on a full collection of prints, weaves, knits, embroideries all made here in Australia and then work with an amazing photographer to shoot the collection.

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?

Loving what the Mirador team are doing with their textiles and knits

What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise?

That changes, I had so many amazing moments working with Mokum and Warwick, travelling to international mills and textile trade fairs. But I do get a huge buzz when someone buys one of my designs.

Margot Warre Design_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printingIf you could spend a day in another artist’s studio shoes who would that artist be?

Ahhhh that is SO hard – Sonia Dealunay

In another life what natural talent would you wish for?

I would love to be a dancer….. Another way of using my energy and being creative

If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be?

PINK! And all is shades.

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

Sydney

Favourite spot for a bite:

Love Supreme, Oxford Street

Secret Inspirational spot:

Swims at Bronte pool on a winters day

Margot Warre Design_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 2You can follow what Margot is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 3

Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This 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 list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Darren Church, graphic designer behind ‘Raw Inc’ a street design division based in Australia. Inspired by graffiti and street culture they design and create unique apparel, cushions and accessories.

Darren Church_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

I’m currently based out in Penrith in Sydney’s lower Blue Mountains, but personally I enjoy the days out into the city and other areas I have to go, walking between stores and checking out what’s new on the streets in the graffiti scene catching up with shop owners.

How would you describe your work, and what influences your style?

I base 99% of our designs around graffiti and the classic sneaker culture, and we’re all about bold clean lines with fresh colours, using illustrations and different elements in photographs to create for that next cushion design. It’s our little niche and very different to what is out there in the industry.

We find people can relate to our different types of cushions, by bringing out what they grew up with a twist and purely for the love of the novelty of the item. We get contacted all the time by paint companies asking when are we going to do a cushion of their design.

Darren Church_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 3What does a typical day look like for you?

Always finding myself sketching up new designs and redrawing artwork ready for print for clients. And always hunting around Sydney fabric stores to find that perfect fabric to match artwork being printed. Cutting and sewing up fabric for those store orders.

It does get chaotic sometimes and a little stressful but very satisfying and it’s worth it in the end to see people loving the products.

Darren Church_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 6What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise?

After many years of Managing retail stores here in Sydney and while living in the UK for 10 years, I got to the point of having enough and had to do something I enjoyed. So I studied Diploma in Graphic Design and a quick 12 month course in Screen Printing and realized I had so much to artwork and ideas I could do.

Now I have people coming up to me here in Sydney and in other states, that don’t even know me and treat me with a lot of respect. When we get emails weekly from European and US stores asking for order forms, it makes your day.

Darren Church_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 5Tell us something people may not know about you

I’ve been doing graffiti since the late 80’s and I like to combine the elements and influences into my work and whilst living in the UK I studied fashion and design for 2 years.  It really opens up your eyes to how things are designed and so easily produced.

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

Sydney West

Favourite spot for a bite:

I don’t really have a favourite food spot, I like to try new things all the time and sometimes catch up with friends for lunch or drinks and talk about new projects and ideas.

Secret Inspirational spot:

I’m always out and about in the city. I like to walk around the city and look at all the different graffiti, art, stickers, advertisements and t-shirts people wear, I carry around a little sketch book and I’m always stopping and sit down somewhere doodling ideas down.

Darren Church_digital fabrics_custom fabric_fabric printing 2You can follow what Darren is upto: Website, Instagram,  Facebook

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Colourful Bunch by Sharon Wilson

floral design Sharon WilsonNot going to lie it’s very nice getting sweet notes of appreciation from our customers, but more than anything we love receiving photos of makes and completed projects. We just love seeing what fabrics that we have printed has become. Sharon Wilson surprised us recently with images of her amazing colourful creations, box pleated skirt & boxer shorts, she used her photo to create this beautiful floral fabric. Her honest feedback and tips and tricks on working with Aerocorp fabric are truly appreciated and we are sure will be really helpful and inspiring to other sewers. Here is what Sharon wrote:

About 7 years ago I took a digital photo of this colourful bunch of flowers in Switzerland.  After seeing what Digital Fabrics could offer with their range of fabric types, I couldn’t wait to order the Aerocorp fabric and make a knee length box pleated skirt with waist yoke.  It turned out beautifully and there was even enough remnant to make a pair of boxer shorts .

print your own fabric, make your own skirt, fabric printingmaking shorts, sewing project, make your own clothes

  • I found the Aerocorp not difficult to work with.  As the website said, it did have a soft handle and cotton look and feel, however it was resilient, as 100% polyester is, but with a good press, it is easy to tame into place or make a crisp line where necessary.
  • Aerocorp fabric has a tendency to unravel immediately after being cut.  So don’t over handle it, and make sure that raw edges are tamed as soon as possible. 
  • The skirt has a lovely drape and swing to it.
  • I probably would not make a top out of it unless it was for a cooler climate and a dressier look.  
  • If the print is very busy (as this one was) you could even possibly get away with not ironing it – great for traveling. 

The fabric order delivery was on time and well packed.  Inside was also a sample pack which I really appreciated because sewers really need to feel a fabric to gain good judgement on what to use.  I would definitely recommend this service and am tempted to order again some time in future.

If you are like Sharon have a creative project in mind and would like to print your own fabric, you can upload your design and start creating right away here.

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5 DIY Clothes for Christmas

The Holidays are the perfect moment to go all out when it comes to fashion. But if you truly want to have a unique look for Christmas, designing your fabric, DIY and sewing it the only way!

Design & order your custom made fabric HERE before December 9 to get it before Christmas. And if you’re looking for fashion inspiration for the Holidays, check out these 5 DIY festive dresses tutorials

How to make a special christmas dress

DIY Balmain 2015 Runway GOWN COLLECTION | BEGINNER LEVEL

DIY Holiday Fringe Dress | DIY Clothes

MY DIY | Gem Cotton Sweater & Holiday Dress

Sew With Me: Halter Dress with High Split

5 Prints for People Who Love Cats | #printsinfashion

Last week’s Halloween Print Fabric giveaway made us clear that you guys love cats! The cat print was the most chosen print which is why we wanted to delight you with more fun prints for people who love cats. And what’s not to love? Both in real life and on print, cats are beautiful to look at and bring a fun factor.

Below you’ll find cat prints inspiration but don’t stop here. Create a design inspired by your favorite animal and print it on fabric, pillows or leggings. The possibilities are endless and Digital Fabrics helps you bring your creative ideas to life!

1. Black & White Cat Prints
5 prints for people who love cats
Source: Pattern Blog

2. Sanderson Cats
5 prints for people who love cats

Source: Vicke Lindstrand

3. Black Cat Pattern
5 prints for people who love cats
Source: Mia Mandarina 

4. FREE Black Cat Halloween Print
5 prints for people who love cats

5. For My Cat Ladies
5 prints for people who love cats
Download it here

Design your own leggings – How to prepare legging pattern for fabric printing in Photoshop

Garment making and production can be daunting and a complicated process especially placement or engineered printing. A lot of time and effort goes into research and understanding where to start. We have put together tutorials on how to design, work with and prepare legging pattern for digital placement fabric printing. For this tutorial  you need to be proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator or at least have basic knowlage. Our tutorial is based on industry standards. This technic can be applied to printing other products such as bikinis, t-shirts, singlets , dresses etc.

How to prepare legging pattern for fabric printing in Photoshop

Open the PDF file in Illustrator. You can purchase our digital leggings pattern on our website or use your own.

Copy and paste the size you would like to use within the same file, we have selected size 10.

Photoshop_design_pattern_fabric_printing_leggings

Delete all details and notches within the pattern piece and select the pattern shape and fill in black.

fashion_legging_design_digitalfabrics_printing

while legging is selected copy and take note on the sizing.

selection_legging_size_prints_fabric_lycra

Open Photoshop and select a new artboard, keep the pixels and resolution the same, just make sure you’ve selected RGB color mode. Click OK and Paste pattern piece as a smart object, click enter to place.

Double check that the sizing is correct by selecting Image>image size, in this case it is only a few points off which will be fine.

Design_tutorial_fashion_legging_black

Next you’ll need to increase your artboard size to fit the other leg, change the width of your artboard to the width of the fabric you’d like to use and select the anchor points to extend from corner.

tutorial_design_fabric_digitalfabrics_legging

Copy Layer and while selected transform (Ctrl+t), while still selected right click on top of the layer and select Flip Horizontally, you know have a pair.

fabric_printing_tutorial_design

photoshop_tutorial_legging_fabric

With both layers selected you will need to select transform again (ctrl+t) and while select cover over to rotate, when rotating make sure you hold down shift to make sure it rotates correctly.

Right_photoshop_design_legging_tutorial

Copy and paste the design you would like on your leggings and place layer on top of the one of the pattern legs.

pattern_legging_fashion_design_printing

Right click on the design layer and in the drop down menu select create clipping mask.

layers_photoshop_design_fabric

clipping_mask_design_legging_luxe_sports

Repeat for other leg

Group all layers and centre.

Your file is now ready to print!

leggings_sportsluxe_fintess_sport_fit_fashion

Soon you’ll have your printed fabric which you’ll be able to whip up into these comfy leggings

legging_sports_luxe_design_fasion_rose_print

 

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Designing Fabric: How To Make A Repeat Pattern – Full Drop repeat in Photoshop

For this tutorial we have choose Full Drop pattern repeat. It is not an advanced technic, mostly for those who is not very proficient in Photoshop yet like to be creative and play.  This fabric pattern repeat tutorial mainly suitable for photographic and abstract images.

Full Drop repeat in Photoshop

Full Drop Repeats can also be referred to as Square repeat.

Open your artwork file in Photoshop. It’s always a good idea to check the resolution quality before beginning, a minimum of 150 dpi is recommended. Crop/alter the image as desired till you are happy with an artwork that will be tiled to repeat seamlessly.

first full drop screenshot

Original image – all four corners of image are relatively different and this is what will need to be fixed to create a seamless repeat.

screenshot 2

Original image with no fixing of the seams, looks mismatched.

Take note of the pixel size of your image (Image – Image Size)

third full drop screenshot

As well as HALF this amount. An easy way to do this is let the computer decide, halve the resolution amount (150 dpi in this case), and re-note the new pixel dimensions. Click cancel as you don’t want to actually change the resolution, just take note of it.

Now cut (OFFSET) the image in half both length and width ways. This will give the edges or seams that need to be fixed for seamless repeating. It is ideal to do this step with a flattened layer. (Filter – Other – Offset) Now put in the HALVED horizontal and vertical values determined in step 2 and make sure that Wrap Around is selected. Click OK.

fourth fulldrop screenshot

It is clear to see where the image needs to be fixed to create a seamless repeat, where no harsh contrasting lines can be seen as in the above image. There are several tools to use in photoshop that you can use to do this including (but not limited to) stamp, blur, patch, clone…enjoy the play!

fifth full drop screenshot

It is a good idea to offset the now fixed image, just to check the four points that you haven’t missed anything and nothing is looking odd.

sixth full drop screenshot

This now forms your Repeat Tile and this is the tile/image that is required when sending artwork to a printer or uploading it for fabric printing online.

SAVE!  Save file as (Artwork Name)_Repeat Tile
You must now check your repeat and to see it duplicated across the width and down the length of your fabric. An easy way to do so is to define your reworked artwork as a pattern. Menu>Edit>Define Pattern>Save as preferred name.
Open a new blank document with a set up reflecting something similar to a roll of fabric i.e. 145 x 100 cm depending on you repeat tile dimensions.
Menu>Edit>Fill>Select your saved pattern from the drop down box>OK

seventh full drop screenshot

(shown below is only 50 x 50 cm)

eigth full drop screenshot

Now you can use your repeat pattern or repeat tile for digital custom fabric printing.

 

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DIY Pleated Bodice+Circle Skirt Dress | DIY with Digital Fabrics

DIY Pleated Bodice+Circle Skirt Dress DIY with Digital Fabrics
The beauty with fabrics is what you can make with them. Creative DIY talent Oaishe created a gorgeous DIY pleated bodice and circle skirt dress using the TEA ROSE cotton sateen fabric

In her tutorial she shows us how to beautiful details of how she creates the pleats in the bodice and then how you can create and attach the circle skirt to create a unique dress. For this DIY project you need about 2-3 yards/meters of fabric.

Did you know that printing fabrics with us is super easy? Create your design, Upload and pay, Receive your fabric! Our minimum order is just 1 m.

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