Tag Archives: illustration

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

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!

‘Everyday Experiences’ Textile Collection by Krystal-Anne Knafl

We’re super excited to announce that our next featured artist from The Designer Project will be ever so talented, Krystal-Anne Knafl from Miss Apple Designs!

Miss Apple Designs is about sorting inspiration from everyday experiences and turning them into fun designs. From chickens in classrooms to people’s gardens, each piece is digitally hand-drawn and given its own colour story. Ultimately, these designs are made to be a part of your own fashion story and hopefully inspire your fun and creative side as well!

Keep reading to find out more about Krystal-Anne Knafl and her fun loving ‘Everyday Experiences’ Collection!

Sarah’s Orchard Garden is inspired by orchard pot plants resting in the Queensland sunlight. These bright purple hues with pops of white and yellow provide layers and dimension that keep the eye flowing.

Sarah’s Orchard Garden would be the perfect print for fashion garments and accessories such as shawls and scarves!

Chickens With Hats is a playful print that is balanced out by warm, earthy tones. The Chicken motifs add such a fun element to the design and hats add a subtle layer of ‘extra’ to these adorable chickens.

We think Chicken With Hats would look amazing on some funky mens fashion garments! Think board shorts or button up shirts

Crazy Plant Lady presents various plant leaf motifs in wonderful shades of green. The contrasting pinkish maroon background really helps the plants truly be the feature of this piece.

Crazy Plant Lady is such a great print for any homeware project! Bedding, blankets and throws or even cushions as well!

Summer Salad is inspired by the beauty and colours of Australian produce. This print features a range of vegetable motifs, each in varying sizes and colours which creates a fun and colourful design. We love the combination of realism and Krystal’s own twist to the illustrations.

We think Summer Salad would work perfectly for both home and fashion projects such as tote bags or aprons!

All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the possibilities are endless with Krystal’s funky and fun collection! Each of Krystal’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!

Gouri Babshet – The Designer Project

It’s been so wonderful having the delightful designer Gouri Bashet, as our current feature artist of The Designer Project and have adored sharing her absolutely lovely textile designs. Gouri has put together a guest blog for you all, which shares a bit of background info on herself, some behind the scenes of her creative process and as well as what inspires her and this collection.

Keep on reading to find out more about Gouri Babshet and her creative style!

‘Gouri Babshet’

I’m a surface pattern designer and illustrator from India who is based in Melbourne, Australia with my husband and two kids. Being in Melbourne and surrounded by beautiful nature has become the source of my inspiration. My patterns and designs are known to be bright, cute yet delicate that are inspired from my love for nature and colours.

‘Delightful Roses – Olive Design’

I’m a former techie who is a creative soul since childhood. I am also a self-taught artist with an absolute love for drawing, crafting, scrapbooking and quilling…just to name a few! I like to think I have a keen eye for colours and just love to bring in bright, detailed and colourful aesthetics with a modern and feminine touch to all of my designs.

‘Work in Progress Design’

‘Morning Melodies Textile Collection’

Nature is my biggest inspiration. I take long walks in the nearby walking trails, creeks and wetlands and capture beautiful images of birds, animals and foliage that serve as a starting point for my design process. I put together a mood board with the images from my inspiration and color palettes that go with the current theme. Then I start by sketching loosely in procreate app on my iPad Pro which is such a versatile tool in art making.

‘Design Inspiration Moodboard’

‘Rough Bird Sketches’

These sketches are refined and transferred to Adobe illustrator to create vector motifs using colour palettes I create using adobe colour tool. The final motifs are tossed in a repeat pattern that can been transformed into beautiful fabric, home decor, stationery and other products.

‘Rough Bird and Floral Sketches’

‘Chirping Birds Design’

‘Morning Melodies’ Textile Collection by Gouri Babshet

It’s come that time again to introduce our newest feature artist in The Designer Project and we are so excited to announce that the amazing Gouri Babshet as our designer for the month of December!

We are so lucky to have Gouri’s ‘Morning Melodies’ collection available in our Fabric Shop. ‘Morning Melodies’ is inspired by the nearby creeks and wetlands that are home to beautiful chirping birds, ducks, butterflies and the air filled with fresh fragrance of the lovely meadows. This collection is made up of hand drawn detailed delicate motifs with lots of texture and calming colours with a hint of feminine and vintage vibes that are perfect for apparels, home decor and various fabric products and accessories.

Keep reading to find out more about Gouri Babshets beautiful designs!

Chirping birds is a lovely print full of little birds and stunning florals! This design has a and fresh calming colour palette of blues and pinks against a white background.

Chirping Birds would be the perfect print for kids projects such as baby swaddles and blankets and kids clothing too!

Delightful Roses – Navy features a print full of detailed hand drawn roses and butterfly motifs. We love this combo of soft pinks and dark blues with that pop of light blue!

We would love to see Delightful Roses – Navy on some lovely makeup bags and fashion accessories such as scarves and scrunchies!

Delightful Roses – Olive features a print full of detailed hand drawn roses and butterfly motifs. The peachy tones paired with the olive background and pops of navy blue pair perfectly together!

Delightful Roses – Olive would be great for fashion accessories such as tote bags and beach bags!

Morning Blooms consists of a variety of native Australian florals in a divine peach and blue colour palette. The scattered flow of the floral motifs make it such a versatile print.

We think Morning Blooms is great for both fashion and home projects, think blankets and dresses!

Ducks is the Lake is a gorgeous print featuring the sweetest little family of ducks swimming in a calm Lake. The duck motifs are so adorable and look perfect with the blue ‘lake’ background.

Ducks in the Lake would be perfect for homewares such as baby blankets and cushions!

Geometric butterflies is a blender pattern with butterfly motifs and tiny blooms arranged in geometric fashion. We are loving the peachy tones of this print!

We think Geometric Butterflies is the perfect design for accessories such as zipper pouches and makeup bags!

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

Custom Handkerchiefs by Sue Michael

One of our wonderful Designer Project Designers, Sue Michael, had the amazing idea of putting together some Hankie designs as a fun DIY idea for our customers. She collaged a series of prints together where multiple squares would be prepared, with their seam allowances included, so that purchasers could have the designs printed onto a metre of some of our suitable stock fabrics (we recommend Cotton Poplin or Poppy) and be able to cut out, then sew, to make a set of home-made hankies!

This is such a fun and easy DIY project, making it perfect for even the most beginners at sewing! Sue has put together a blog post, talking about why she was inspired to create these hankie prints and what

hankies mean to her and her family. Keep reading to find out more.

‘Shell Trail Handkerchiefs’

‘Mammoth Skiing Handkerchiefs’

During my childhood, hankies were used in daily life in my home. A skinned knee could use a triangular hankie on the way home, faces were scrubbed with Mum’s saliva-moistened hankie when dirt on the cheeks was an unsightly problem, the children could be cooled with wet compresses at their necks and wrists, coins could be bundled into knotted hankies when on bicycle excursions, orange peel could be collected, and Mum had drops of perfume on hers that she kept, always at the ready, in her handbag. My first housekeeping skills were honed with a stack of hankies to iron each week…triangles or squares…it was my choice. There was sharing of hankies when tears fell, of course. Dad’s blowing of the nose sounded out like a foghorn during hay fever season. I can still remember its musical note.

‘Sue in her studio working on a hankie design’

A modest piece of cloth can be carried close to you and provide reminders of qualities such as back-up, usefulness, freedom, recovery and even healing. Images can be updated from traditional designs, less pretty and less in balance, perhaps, whilst concurrently directing curiosity, organising visual information, and promoting humanist qualities. My ancestors have left many treasures including a box that houses vintage hankies. Some are finely textured plaids, some have been hand-appliqued and embroidered. There is a bride’s silk hankie, hand-made and kept as a precious ‘gift handkerchief’. Many of these vintage hankies have very delicate edgings.

‘Vintage Hankies Box’ digital fabrics_designer fabric_sue michaels_hankies blog 6 ‘Vintage Hankies’

Alongside the box of hankies, sits two vintage baskets of sewing notions, including old laces and trim borders. Not only could these present-day squares be cut from the large joined cloth lengths, they could have further embellishments at their edges, either with added trim, edging stitches, or applique.

A link to handkerchief edging hems from the Smocking Arts Guild of America on YouTube, shares techniques:

Most of the images for my handkerchief’s have been hand painted, collaged from paper, or printed with simple printmaking techniques without a press. I like to assert the ongoing art-making traditions that provide contrast to the perfect lines and smooth colour rendering of computer software’s image making. I also chooses a variety of themes and art methods, reflecting the diversity and choices within daily life. Whimsy and an urge to create new traditions are stylistic features.

‘Lace and Trimmings for Hankies’

‘Vintage Hankie’

With a hankie, I could rinse freshly picked plums at the backyard tap during my childhood. My Nana had placed an old hankie over the tap of her rainwater to collect the wrigglers. I attended children’s parties where precious, hand-made favours were wrapped in fresh hankies within new cups for each of the guests. This is much like the Japanese gift-wrapping tradition of furoshiki.

‘Lace and Trimmings collection basket’

Whatever the task of a hankie, it could be washed, ironed and stored for future use, in a universal cycle that has always been.

Check out our Fabric Shop now, to order some of Sue’s wonderful hankies!

Nicole Spencer – The Designer Project

We have absolutely loved sharing these divine floral designs by Queensland-based designer Nicole Spencer and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! To coincide with Nicole’s “Take Delight” 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 Nicole Spencer and her stunning designs!

Hello! I’m Nicole, the face behind Ebb & Flow Surface Design. I am a wife to one, mum to 5, painter to some and emerging as a surface designer to many. My family I and live in Bundaberg, QLD, a town not far from the beach, which is our happy place. I love to paint, enjoy a hot morning coffee, have the sand between my toes and just be with my family. Being a stay home mum to 5, I realised a few years ago I had no hobbies and needed to do something for myself. I quickly fell in love with watercolour painting, and over time it’s grown from doing painting commissions, to digital prints, and now to wanting to see my work on all sorts of surfaces and textiles.

I’m constantly inspired by the seasons we face, the beauty of the world around us, and I love how I can incorporate story telling into my designs. Ebb & Flow not only creates designs, but captures elements from the beautiful world we’re in, and uses those to bring encouragement through the ebbs and flows we face in life. It finds beauty in the seasons of growth and in the seasons of change, and always aims to create joy in the simple things.

My process usually involves a few different elements, mostly watercolour painting, sketching, scanning random objects from the yard… weeds weirdly have the prettiest shaped leaves and always looking amazing in designs! Let me walk you through a design I put together this summer. “Take Delight”, is a collection I created, inspired by the reminders I had to embrace the pauses in life, (even the unexpected ones), and to choose to take delight in the simple things in front of us.
I had inspiration from both flowers in the garden and a gorgeous basket of florals I received over Christmas. I just loved the colours in this bouquet, and was able to use this to create a colour palette for the collection.

Like I mentioned my designs can include lots of different elements. For my one design in this collection – “Sunny Days”, I was able to pick some flowers out of the garden, pull apart some petals and create my own flowers on paper to scan in for design. This is the fun part where I love to play around with shades and textures. Remember how I said I love to incorporate random things. The centre of some of my florals in this design, was actually created by using a photo of the fabric on my bed head.

Watercolour painting has become a real love of mine, and a big part of my process. These paintings are often inspired by things found outside. I love when my daughter walks home from school and finds random flowers and leaves for me on the way home, it always brings a smile to my face, and gets the creative mind ticking over. The wattle in the picture was actually one of her treasures she found for me.
I think designing for me is a process of joy, discovery and creating beauty. I love using what’s around me to create designs, and I hope you find the joy in them too.

‘Take Delight’ Textile Collection by Nicole Spencer

It’s come that time again to introduce our newest featured artist of The Designer Project for the month of November! Introducing the lovely and amazing Nicole Spencer from Ebb & Flow Design.

Ebb & Flow creates designs that are full of florals and nature, with colour palettes drawn from the beautiful outdoors. Nicole loves to create designs that flow across the page and as you can see, she kinda has a thing for flowers!

Each of Nicole’s beautiful designs can be printed onto any of our fabrics. Keep reading to find out more about Nicole Spencer and her ‘Take Delight’ Collection!

Fresh Pickings is a combination of both paintings and elements of things picked from the garden. We love how it dances across the page and is a sweet reminder that seasons change and beautiful things await us. The blue tones of this design work so well with the floral motifs.

Fresh Pickings could work for a variety of fashion and home projects, perhaps some lovely pillowcases and napkins? Or maybe a new beach kaftan!

Sunny Days is full of wonderful summer florals, with a few hand painted elements. Inspired by summer days, fresh sunflower blooms, and the warm sunshine, it’s a fun print for the warmer days ahead.

We think Sunny Days would be such a fantastic print for homewares such as picnic rugs or tea towels, perhaps even some sweet, summer pants!

Hidden Beauty, a gorgeous print that features hand painted elements. With the florals peeking out from the foliage in this design, it reminds you not to miss the little moments of beauty hidden in the unexpected moments.

Hidden Beauty would be perfect for kids clothing such as dresses and pants or even a lovely matching pants and top for you!

Swept Away showcases soft pink leaves and petals, scattered across the design. Think the wind carrying all the freshly fallen leaves across the ground, reminding you that as one season ends, a new one begins.

Swept Away is such a versatile print! We think it would be amazing for homeware projects such as cushions, tea towels and throw blankets!

Sunshine Swirls, a sweet and simple print. It incorporates painted elements, scanned in florals as well as different textures. Full of warm, sunny colours to make you think of twirling around the yard, with a picked flower in hand.

We this Sunshine Swirls is such a wonderful design for fashion garments such as long flowing skirts and dresses.

Pick a Posy is a lovely design that incorporates small painted elements. It’s a sweet reminder of little posies, gathered rustically but little hands, small gestures of big love – joy in its simplest form.

Pick a Posy would be the perfect print for summer dresses for yourself and the kids, or even a sweet little baby swaddle!

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

Meredith Simpson – The Designer Project

It’s been such a treat having Meredith Simpson as our Featured Artist for the month of October! We have loved sharing her adorable animal prints and hope you’ve loved them just as much as we have!

To coincide with Meredith’s ‘Aussie Cuties’ 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 Meredith Simpson, her inspirations and design process!

Meredith Simpson

This collection was inspired by our beautifully unique Australian native animals. I feel we are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures that are native to our home, they are just so gorgeous that I had to draw them. It started off only going to be a collection of 3 or 4 animals but grew as people kept suggesting others that were their favourites.

Galah Bird Drawing

This design process has been a learning curve for me, as it is my first real experience using my artwork to create digital designs. I love drawing and painting and now also enjoy using my artwork digitally too – it has opened up so many more possibilities of how to share my artwork with others.

My designs all start off with hand drawn artwork. I enjoy working with both pastel pencils and watercolour paints, but find that for furry animals the soft texture I can achieve with pastel pencils is best.

Black Cockatoo Bird Drawing

To create my prints, I first used an editing program to remove the backgrounds from my pictures and to cut small details, such as leaves and gum nuts, from larger art works. I then used Publisher to experiment with various backgrounds and combinations, with the ever patient help and feedback from Ella.

Meredith and her daughter with her Animal Artworks

The Australian animals used in the ‘Aussie Cuties’ collection were created by me as part of me finding time to create art work for the enjoyment of it. I had been drawing lots of pet portraits and then drew some woodland animals for my sister in law’s nursery. I loved the freedom of drawing animals that weren’t for a particular person and wanted to draw our native animals because I feel they are just so beautiful and unique.

Titch the Tasmanian Devil Sketch

It was fun collaborating over email to create these designs and I am so thankful to the Design Project for their guidance and for this opportunity. I look forward to creating more from my artworks in the future.

‘Aussie Cuties’ Textile Collection by Meredith Simpson

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!

Madeline Hawkins – The Designer Project

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!

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