Tag Archives: textile design

‘My Hearts Garden’ Textile Collection by Susanna April

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

Susanna  is an intuitive abstract artist driven by emotion and feeling in her art practice. Her pieces are created from multi-layered acrylic artworks which sing with detail and depth. She lives in Brisbane, sunny QLD, with her two kiddos and husband and loves a good day at the beach.

Her ‘My Hearts Garden ’ collection is vibrant and full of colour, the perfect patterns to bring art to life in your textiles! What’s more fantastic is that the whole collection has been made available in our Fabric Shop online, meaning each of the designs can be printed onto any of our stock fabrics. Below we’ve shared a bit about each of the designs and the types of projects we think they’d be great for so keep reading! 

‘My Hearts Garden’ is a vibrant, fresh print with lots of detail, layering and brush strokes. It features pink brush strokes mixed together with teal and green.

‘My Hearts Garden’ would be perfect for any fashion project! We especially love it for pyjamas

‘Pink Terrazzo’ is a wonderfully detailed small scale print with clear brush strokes and abstract shapes. As you can probably tell by the name, this print has the sweetest pink colour palette.

‘Pink Terrazzo’ would be fabulous for fashion accessory projects! Think Tote Bags, Scarves or Bucket Hats!

‘Treasures Above’ is a wonderfully detailed small scale print with clear brush strokes and abstract shapes. We love the combination of Pink and Neutral shades in this design.

‘Treasures Above’ would look amazing on some custom cushion covers for table linen! Any Home & Interior project really!

‘Gardens Alive’ is a vibrant, fresh print with lots of detail, layering and brush strokes. The design features wonderful shades of green and teal with pops of white.

‘Gardens Alive’ is another wonderful print that would work perfectly for Home & Interior projects!

‘Let the Heart Dance’ is a beautiful and vibrant multi-layered, pink abstract print created from an original acrylic painting on canvas. The detail of the brush strokes really make this design stand out!

‘Let the Heart Dance’ works absolutely perfectly for any and all fashion project! Summer dresses and skirts, silky pyjamas!

‘Many Waters’ is a beautifully complex design created to captivate your eyes with its delicious swirling brush stroke, in this divine teal shade.

‘Many Waters’ would be amazing for a wide range of project; not only fashion garments but also home and interior projects such as Tea Towels!

‘Desert Dawn’ is a beautiful, neutral print layered with lots of brush stroke and paint detail. It’s colour palette is reminiscent of the desert with warm tones and soft pinks.

The cosy vibes of ‘Desert Dawn’ make it perfect for homewares such as cushion covers, blankets and bedding and maybe some fashion garments such as scarves!

 

We truly hope you love these beautiful collections as much as we have, and can’t wait to see what you create- the ideas are endless! Each of Susanna’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop online.

Andrea Maurer – The Designer Project

It’s been so amazing sharing all of these beautiful designs by textile designer Andrea Maurer with you! We feel to privellaged to have not only one..but two stunning collections from her. To coincide with Andrea’s ‘Warm Winter’ and ‘Coming Home’ collections being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself. 

Keep reading to find out more! 

Andrea Maurer

Hello! I’m Andrea Maurer and so excited to be included in the Digital Fabrics designer project. A selection of my prints will be available as part of their print on demand offering which I think is just a wonderful option for makers and creatives to have unique fabric without the minimums required by other suppliers.

Flowers are my go to inspiration! If I could spend my days surrounded by flowers and basking in the sun I would! My colour palette usually leans towards soft tonal colours and would say this is inspired by vintage wallpapers and textiles. My style is naturally feminine and I love creating a whimsical timeless feeling in my prints.

Andrea in her studio

My process often begins with an idea of a composition or at least of one or two elements. Once I get these original ideas onto paper I can see the rest of the print coming to life. This blossoming of an idea usually leads to many elements that help create a collection of prints which have originated from the original feeling of those first few sketches and paintings.

Once I have finished drawing or painting I then can’t wait to get my artwork digitised and imported into photoshop so I can clean them up and start playing around with a composition for a print. I scan them in and am always amazed at how well everything translates onto my screen! I love the flexibility of working digitally and being able to change the colours and composition to create a different feeling than if it was left on paper. After putting it into repeat the print is born and can be made into absolutely anything which is such a thrill!

Original watercolour motifs for ‘Winter Pantry’ Design

I love using mock ups to see how my print would look once it is made up into something and the way it looks on folds of fabric and wrapped around the body or onto a product. This process is really addictive and makes me want to turn everything into a print, which I nearly always try to do.

Winter Fruits Design

I am so passionate about creating and love the studio space in the corner of my home that allows me this sacred time to create amidst the chaos of being a mother to a tiny human. I try to keep paintbrushes and pencils close by so that when I have a spare moment I can create without much fuss. It’s important to me to see the artwork that I’ve created in the past and love, this helps me to know that I can do it again and builds my confidence to keep creating even if I’m not feeling 100% inspired in that moment.

Winter Fruits Product Mockup

I’m so grateful to be a part of this platform of other designers doing amazing things and whose artwork I love! I hope some people resonate with my prints and I can’t wait to see the creations and designs that come of it.

Thanks Digital Fabrics!
– Andrea x

 

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!

‘Coming Home and ‘Warm Winter’ Textile Collections by Andrea Maurer

For our latest installment of The Designer Project, we’ll be featuring the work of artist Andrea Maurer with not one…but TWO amazing textile collections – ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Warm Winter’ ! 

The ‘Coming Home’ collection is about Andrea coming home to herself in motherhood.  She realised that her motherhood wasn’t holding her back, but is in fact the source of inspiration if she lets it. Think of a beautiful array of flowers that have been given the space to flourish, each tender delicate leaf turning out rewards the sun proudly in its unique but confident way. It means allowing some failed shoots, embracing the broken damaged leaves and imperfections. This collection of prints combines her findings in nature, her sketchbook scribbles, digital interpretations all in soft dreamy colours that bring her happiness. It’s Andrea coming home to herself.

The ‘Warm Winter’ collection was inspired by warm European summers dreamt up during our winter. Imagine brick line alleyways with the flowers in bloom and the smell of baked goods being baked and the cosy insides of a home with in season fruits and vegetables. Andrea wanted this collection to take her there and bring warmth through its colours.

We think these two collections are utterly perfect for fashion projects! Think of stunning dresses and most luxurious garment sets. They would also be perfect for sweet homewares such as table linens and perhaps even tea towels!

 

Coming Home:

Happy days is a fun floral print consisting of loose sketchy flowers finished in watercolour in warm hues.


Oddly Calm is a print that was her form of meditation one day. She hopes it brings calm to you when you see it. The design features a series of watercolour squares in a perfectly imperfect odd arrangement.


Wattle is a cute little block print featuring a wattle sketch in muted soft tones.


Coming Home is a soft watercolour print featuring gum leaves and native banksias


Summer is a linear repeat of local leaves foraged on my walk and hand painted. This print is finished in a vibrant summer peach tone!


Flourish is a loose line, watercolour print, featuring the most stunning floral motifs in an olive green tone/


Neutral Native is a series of hand sketch native plant elements in soft muted colours


Golden Bloom is a warm golden print featuring native plants hand picked and digitised – inspired by Indian block prints.

 

Warm Winter:

Peachy Watercolour is a warm peachy print consisting of loose watercolour swirls, flowers and leaves.


Soft Leaves is a vintage inspired print consisting of loose watercolour leaves in warm sunny tones.


Sunflower Fields is a lovely ditsy sunflower floral in warm yellow and peach tones.


Wildflowers is a watercolour confetti floral in pink and lilac hues.


Winter Fruit is inspired by warm sunny kitchens in the cooler months, this print consists of citrus fruit and sunflowers painted in watercolour.


Winter Pantry  was inspired by the comfort of the kitchen in winter and painted in a loose watercolour style.

 

We truely hope you love these beautiful collections as much as we have, and can’t wait to see what you create- the ideas are endless! Each of Andrea’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop online.

Dominique Collins – The Designer Project

It’s been an absolute blast sharing the playful work of Dominique Collins for our current installment of The Designer Project and we hope you’ve fallen as in love with her designs as we have! The Brisbane-based designer creates illustrations and print designs which typically incorporate bright vibrant colours and hand drawn motifs . We’re so thrilled to have Dominique’s ‘Whimsical Nature’ collection available in our Fabric Shop and are keen to see all the inventive ways our fabulous customers will use them! As part of Dominique’s feature the designer has also put together a guest blog which details her typical creative process as well as the things that inspire her! We’ve shared the blog post below so keep reading to find out more about Dominique and her charming designs!

Dominique Collins

Hi everyone! My name is Dominique Collins, everyone calls me Stixy. I am over the moon to be working with Digital Fabrics as part of the Designer Project. I currently own and run Stixylin, a very new illustration and pattern design business, I only started this in May 2022. I live in sunny Brisbane, with my hubby and two energetic children who keep me on toes and push me to create new designs and illustrations each week, with all their little requests (I love it!). I am following my dream as a creative freelancer so I can spend more time with my family while doing what I love.

Workspace + WIP Designs

Recently I took the leap to be a full-time artist/designer/business woman while being a full-time mum of two. I have been passionate about art and creating colourful designs since I was a child living in South Africa. Most of my work is self-taught and I love exploring different mediums, but found Procreate and Adobe Fresco are what I love to use the most (not to mention those apps being easy to travel with as you only need to take your iPad).

Fabric Testing of Falling Blueberry Leaves

I am excited to share my curated collection of pattern designs, creative inspiration and process and give you a sneak peak at my workspace. My work is still new and evolving in ways I could only dream of, with nature and family as my biggest inspiration. My work typically incorporates bright vibrant colours, hand drawn motifs and illustrations.

Work in Progress Falling Soft Blueberry Leaves

A little sneak peak into my workspace and how I got my dream space. We build our house two years ago and I designed it with a front office, featuring a great big floor to ceiling window which offers the best natural light. My workspace is generally clean with my iPad, computers and some fabric swatches and maybe a workbook. While creating I am always at my desk or on the couch, even sometimes outside. Depending on my creative mood, you will find me wondering the house with my iPad in hand and a big pot of coffee or tea floating around.

Dominique working on Blooms and Shrooms Design

Most of my inspiration comes form being outdoors, either with the kids or while running/cycling. Nature offers such a great inspirational palette of colours and shapes. My curated collection reflects this with rainbows, leaves, snakes and flowers.

My creative process will vary depending on what I am creating. I will often be prompted by something in nature that catches my eye and quickly try to sketch it or take a photo of it to use as a reference. I will sketch my ideas digitally on separate layers so I can adjust and move motifs around before creating the final design. Often I will get creative input from my son or daughter on new ideas and colours or if I am feeling stuck. During my creative process, I will search Pinterest for images to go on my mood-board to help select a colour palette and maybe alternative ideas to help me bring more life to my designs.

Snakes in Leaves Digital Sketch

An example of my kids helping me, will be when my daughter told me how she imagines snakes gathering in the leaves, their beautiful colours and how they flow from one destination to the next. From this I was able to create Snakes in Leaves Peachy Pink. All hand drawn in procreate with the colours and shapes on the snakes selected by my daughter.

Rainbows Forever Work in Progress

Design Workspace ft. Rainbows Forever Design

Rainbows Forever was inspired by the rainy days in Brisbane and the beautiful rainbows that followed every storm. Everyone has down days just like the storms, we need to remind ourselves that there is a rainbow after every down/stormy day. The pattern started as a single digital watercolour painting and then I started to play around in procreate to make it into a seamless pattern. This was one of the first patterns I created this year and by far still one of my favourites.

Blooms and Shrooms Original Sketch

Blooms and Shrooms Original Sketch Closeup

Blooms and Shrooms Moodboard

Blooms and Shrooms was first created as a whimsical illustration and has since been re-worked into a seamless pattern. The motifs are inspired by vibrant mushrooms and my daughters love for pretty little flowers. She helped me select photos for my moodboard from Pinterest to help create the inspiration and guide for creating this pattern. I used a magnolia tree and morel mushroom colour palette to create a bright yet whimsical feel. Once I finished drawing this illustration in procreate, I exported it to Adobe illustrator to create it into a pattern.

Sewing!! I have never tried making a dress with a sewing machine even though I own one. Its about time I took the leap. Definitely a new skill I would love to learn as there are so many great designs on Digital Fabrics. I would really love to create a Rainbow Forever Skirt to brighten my day everyday.

Design Workspace

I hope you enjoyed my work and the behind the scenes of my creative process. I look forward to seeing what you will make with these lovely designs. You can view more of my designs in the fabric shop and I would love to see what you will create with them. Please tag both Digital Fabrics and myself in any projects or crafts you make with these fabrics.

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to view more designs and how I make them. Heaps of Love Stixy.

 

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!

Diane Quee – The Designer Project

It’s been amazing sharing all of the wonderful designs by textile designer Diane Quee with you! We hope you’ve loved them just as much as we have. To coincide with Diane’s ‘Delightful Patterns’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself. 

Keep reading to find out more! 

Diane in her Studio

Hello, my name is Diane Quee, artist and designer. I’m so excited to be joining up with Digital Fabrics to bring you designs for you to create personal items with.

I am a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about designing logos and brand identity, drawing, painting and creating surface pattern designs. In my leisure time, I love to create artworks using different media such as pencils, oil, watercolour and pastel.  Also, I am inspired by the works of other artists; for example, the impressionist painters and certain contemporary artists. Inspired by the beauty of nature, I experiment and create various pattern designs.

Eucalyptus Flower Sketches

My design process usually starts with doing sketches in my sketchbook. I am inspired by the colours, textures and patterns in nature and nature provides the trigger for my creative juices. For example, I would use a pen or pencil and watercolours to sketch flowers and trees that inspire me.

Dinosaur Design Sketches

After creating the sketches, I scan and convert them to digital files so that I can edit and manipulate them in Photoshop and Illustrator.

For vector repeat patterns, I create each individual design element first and then arrange them in a visually pleasing composition on the computer screen. I experiment with different colours and compositions to see what works best for the design elements.

Nature Inspiration

Often, I use a limited number of colours in each pattern so that the design is clean and cohesive.

Creating repeat patterns can be challenging, but it is also a satisfying experience when I see the design process coming together and the endless possibilities that the patterns can be used for. I would like my patterns to bring joy and happiness to people, as well as being versatile in its application. That is, the patterns can be used on a range of items from fabric to homeware products.

Summer and Spring Leaves Sketches

I hope you are inspired to bring some of my designs into your life! Be inspired. Be Creative.

Starfish and Shells Sketches

Starfish and Shells Sketches 2

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!

‘Delightful Patterns’ Textile Collection by Diane Quee

For our latest installment of The Designer Project, we’ll be featuring the wonderful work of artist Diane Quee! 

Diane is a freelance graphic designer, who is passionate about designing logos and brand identity, drawing, painting and creating surface pattern designs. In her leisure time, she loves to create artworks using different media such as pencils, oil, watercolour and pastel. 

Her goal with her ‘Delightful Patterns’ collection is to create simple, fun, vibrant and versatile patterns that convey positive feelings to viewers. 

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

‘Northern Territory Eucalyptus Flowers’ features Eucalyptus flowers and was inspired by Dianes trip to the Northern Territory a few years ago. The olive green background of the pattern reflects the colour of nature and ties in with the bright colours of the Eucalyptus flowers.  

‘Northern Territory Eucalyptus Flowers’ would be super cute as a statement garment! A fun dress or pants? Perhaps a luscious long skirt! 

‘Summer Leaves’ was inspired by the plants growing in Dianes back garden. The colour palette of lime green and aqua blue, symbolise the blue sky, swimming pools, bright green leaves and the heat in summer. 

We think ‘Summer Leaves’ is the perfect design for any women’s fashion garments such a sweet summer dress 

‘Spring Leaves’ is another design inspired by Dianes garden. It features a vibrant green and subtle pink which symbolise the wonderful start of new life during the season of Spring.   

‘Spring Leaves’ is utterly perfect for any and all Home and Interior projects! Think Cushion Covers and Tea Towels. 

‘Starfish and Shells’ is a fresh and relaxing print, full of blue, green and yellowish green shades that you always associate with the beach, the sea and objects found in this environment. 

We think ‘Starfish and Shells’ would be amazing as a summer kaftan or sarong, perhaps some outdoor cushions by the pool. 

‘Starfish and Shells 3’ features a wonderful colour palette of blue and green with a touch of orange that compliments the other colours beautifully. You can also see little patterns inside each motif that adds an extra element of texture to this design. 

‘Starfish and Shells 3’ is the perfect print for any beach project! Think beach towels, beach bags or swimmers! 

 

‘Dinosaurs’ is a funky multicoloured Dinosaur print, featuring orange, blue, pink and green. You can also see some black patterns on the inside of each dinosaur motif which really helps to make each one pop! 

‘Dinosaurs’ is such a great print for kidswear projects, whether it be pyjamas and shirts or even a little custom pencil case! 

 

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

Julie Bunyard – The Designer Project

It’s been an absolute pleasure sharing these stunning prints by designer Julie Bunyard and we hope you have all enjoyed her designs as much as we have!

Julie is a freelance designer for print studio and fashion brands, working by hand in watercolours and gouache and digitally in Procreate. Her goal as an artist is to create prints that will make you feel good when you wear them, use them, or have them in your home! You might recognise her ‘Tasmanian Waratah‘ design from our lovely Cooper fabric samples as well! To coincide with Julie’s ‘For the Love of Australian Natives‘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 Julie Bunyard and her beautiful designs! 

Julie Bunyard

Hi everyone I’m Julie, a surface pattern or print designer, designing under my own name Julie Bunyard Designs. I design freelance for several print studios around the world, which I love, but even though my designs are out there on homewares and garments, I rarely get to see them. Which is one reason why I’m thrilled to be a part of the Digital Fabrics Designer Project. You will be able to buy fabric with my designs printed on it, and I can’t wait to see what you make.

Julie’s Workspace

I live in Hobart; I can see the beach from the front of my house and at the back is the bush; I am surrounded by nature. I often pick flowers or leaves, gather shells, and take photographs on my daily walk, to use as inspiration for my designs.

Design Inspiration

But probably the biggest inspiration has been growing up in the 60s with a dressmaker for a mother. There was fabric everywhere in the house, cupboards full of fabric. Bought simply because it was beautiful, and we ‘might’ make something out of it one day. I no longer sew, but I still have boxes of beautiful fabrics and an addiction to searching Vinnies for vintage fabric scraps. Have you heard the saying ‘she who dies with the most fabric wins’, well that was us.

Leucadendron Paintings

Apart from my vintage fabric collection obsession, I also get great inspiration from design books, I love collecting them. And I can’t forget to mention two of my absolute favourite designers, Vera Neumann, and Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer, both women were inspirational designers and businesswomen.

Flowering Gum Paintings

I’ve been trying to narrow my style so it’s more consistent and cohesive, because I’ve been told that’s what I should do, but I struggle. I get distracted by wanting to try different techniques and materials. Recently I have been exploring working digitally with Procreate on the iPad. But if there is one thing that is a constant in my work, it’s colour. I love using colour and seeing the way it can change the feel of a design and how different colours work together.

Silver Dollar Gum Paintings

All the elements of For the Love of Australian Natives Collection started with me collecting plants from the bush around my house. Each plant was painted in water colour before the hand work was then scanned and opened in Photoshop where I created a layout and decided on final colours. The thing I love about working with watercolours, is when the colours bleed into each other creating new colours and gorgeous rich blooms. You will see this technique used in the Collection.

Design Work in Progress

I spent over 30 years working in a tonne of different jobs before I stumbled upon surface pattern design and realised that it was what I wanted to do. It makes me happy, and my hope is that my designs make their users happy as well.

To follow my design journey, follow me on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/juliebunyard_designs/

Julie’s Workspace Moodboard

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!

‘For the Love of Australian Natives’ Textile Collection by Julie Bunyard

It’s come that time again to introduce our newest featured artist of The Designer Project…introducing the wonderful Julie Bunyard and her textile collection ‘For the Love of Australian Natives’! 

‘For the Love of Australian Natives‘ is a colourful mix of Australian native plants painted in watercolours.  Suitable for a range of textiles and products, from garments to homewares.  Some of the designs such as the ‘Silver Dollar Gum‘ and ‘Tasmanian Waratah‘ feature mesmerizing watercolour blends and bleeds, creating interesting colour blends.  While others such as ‘Pink Leaves‘ is more stylised and monochromatic.  It is the vibrant colours in this collection which are the standout feature and sure to bring a sense of style and luxury to any project! 

All of Julie’s beautiful designs can be printed onto any of our fabrics, which means you can order custom designer fabric that’s tailored to you. Below we’ve shared a bit about each of the designs and the types of projects we think they’d be great for so keep reading! 

‘Flowering Gum’ is a stunning, bright, watercolour design in pinks, purples, blues, and greens, on a crisp white background. It features an Aussie favourite, the Flowering Gum! 

We think ‘Flowering Gum’ is the perfect design for any women’s fashion garments such a sweet summer dress 

‘Silver Dollar Gum’ is an elegant hand painted watercolour design featuring the classic Eucalyptus leaf. It’s full of rich blues, greens, and a touch of yellow.   

‘Silver Dollar Gum’ would look incredible as some fashion accessories such as Tote Bags!  

‘Tasmanian Waratah’ is a fun and vibrant design in tones of rust, red, green and a hint of blue. We love the hand painted watercolour Waratah flowers! It has us thinking of our Waratah fabric. 

 ‘Tasmanian Waratah’ is utterly perfect for any and all Home and Interior projects! Think Cushion Covers and Tea Towels. 

‘Leucadendron’ features watercolour motifs of the Leucadendron plant in bright shades of pinks, purples and reds and brings a fun twist to the classic Leucadendron. The white background really makes those colours pop! 

 We think ‘Leucadendron’ would be fabulous for fashion accessories! We’re thinking Makeup Bags and Pouches, Tote Bags and Scarves of course! 

‘Pink Leaves’ is a crisp design of pink leaf illustrations against a white background. The watercolour texture of the leaves really brings life to this design. 

 ‘Pink Leaves’ would be super cute as a statement garment! A fun dress or pants? Perhaps a luscious long skirt! 

‘Wattle’ is a loose hand painted watercolour design featuring our beloved Wattle in it’s classic shades of green and yellow, with just a hint of pink.  That bright vibrant yellow always brings some colour to our Australian Winter. 

‘Wattle’ would be the perfect addition to your home! Whether it be on some lovely Cushions, Tea Towels or maybe even Curtains!  

‘Blue Native Flower’ features the most stunning bold blue tones that really bring an extra something to this design! It pairs well with the hand painted watercolour details throughout the floral motifs. 

‘Blue Native Flower’ would look great on a range of products from leggings to homewares! 

 

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

Aiai Zhang – The Designer Project

We’ve absolutely adored sharing the beautifully detailed work of Sydney-based designer Aiai Zhang and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! Aiai’s designs are inspired by the harvest season where the leaves turn orange and yellow while fruits grow ripe and juicy. To coincide with Aiai’s “Orange Harvest” collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which we’ve shared below! The blog takes a closer look at Aiai’s creative process, detailing every step from initial sketch to final design. The blog also includes gorgeous photographs and process images which really help tell the story of Aiai’s work and the “Orange Harvest” collection. Keep reading to find out more about Aiai Zhang and her stunning designs!

Aiai Zhang

Hi everyone! Aiai here from @breezybirdstudio. I’m very excited to let you know my Orange Harvest collection is now up on the Digital Fabrics shop. You can choose any of these designs to print on a variety of fabrics for your next sewing project, whether it be a garment or homeware decor, we can’t wait to see what you make! 

Now you might be curious to know how this all began. Well, nature provides the biggest source of inspiration for everything I create. Travelling to new places definitely helps keep the creative juices flowing. However, most of the time I gather ideas from little things in everyday life. It can be a blooming flower in the garden, unusual patterns on the trees, shrubs waving in the breeze or a cute animal running through the neighbourhood. When I intentionally look for ideas, they seem to appear everywhere. 

Mood Board for Collection

An inspiration board provides a reference point for the entire collection. It helps pull together all the ideas swirling in my head. This is why I have a habit of taking and collecting random images that stand out to me in my surroundings or online. Once I decide on what elements to use, I move onto the most enjoyable part of the process – painting up motifs and choosing a colour palette! 

Floral Watercolour Painting

My favourite mediums to use are watercolour and gouache. I paint each element in various forms. The image on the left is an example of the original scan of “earthy bouquet” & “earthy bouquet blue”. I then clean and edit the artwork in photoshop and turn it into seamless repeats. Because of the variety of forms and values within this large motif, I created two prints from it with two colour ways. It is definitely the most versatile print out of this collection that is suitable for both fashion and Interiors. 

Here are examples of how “Earthy Bouquet” and “Earthy Bouquet Blue” would look like on children’s PJ sets. Which one do you like more? Get in touch with the team at Digital Fabrics to chat about printing base fabric options that are available for your sewing DIY project. 

Earthy Bouquet Floral Mockup

 

 

Earthy Bouquet Floral Mockup

Now let’s look at another print from its original form. “Orange Bouquet” was inspired by the ripe and juicy oranges bursting with colours from the harvest season. I used my favourite earthy tones to paint this design, such as flesh tint, yellow ochre, permanent rose and burnt amber. I then took it to the computer, cleaned it up and turned it into a seamless repeat. 

Watercolour Oranges

Watercolour Stripes

Below is the final print “oranges on stripes” looks like after digital adjustments. The second colour way with a blue background creates a lovely contrast against the foreground. This design is to celebrate the earthy colours and shapes from nature. I hope you love it as much as I do! 

Oranges on Stripes Blue

Oranges on Stripes Pink

So, all the magic happens here – my home studio! This is where I emerge myself into creativity. I absolutely love experimenting with colour palettes. From soft subtle tones to happy bright colours, I love to incorporate them to express different feelings in my designs.

Aiai’s Studio Space

Thank you for reading this far! Having a great idea of an upcoming project that you can use one of my designs for? Please check them out via my Digital Fabric online shop. 

We can’t wait to see what you make! Please tag both Digital Fabric & myself in any crafty projects you undertake with this collection of fabrics. If you would love to follow my creative journey, I can be found via Instagram and Facebook. See you there! Warmest regards, Aiai 

Oranges Bouquet and Floral Ditsy Orange Gingham

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!

Kathrin Legg – The Designer Project

It’s been amazing sharing all of the wonderful designs by textile designer Kathrin Legg with you! We hope you’ve loved them just as much as we have. To coincide with Kathrin’s ‘Nostalgic Florals’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself. 

Keep reading to find out more! 

‘Kathrin Legg’

Hello! My name is Kathrin Legg. I am a Surface Pattern Designer from Newcastle, NSW.

I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Newcastle and I have a background in Art Teaching. These days I work from my sunny studio for global companies in the fabric, greeting card, stationery, homewares and tech industries.

‘Retro Florals Textile Design’

When I start with a new brief for clients I firstly think of the colour scheme, the audience I am designing for plus the end product. Then I focus on the motifs and layout of the pattern or stand alone illustration.

I love traditional art supplies, the calming sense of using watercolour paints and the smooth texture of layering acrylics but most days I use digital mediums to create my designs and patterns. I draw all of the motifs in procreate and then create the final seamless repeat pattern in photoshop.

‘Kathrin’s Watercolours’

My favourite design theme is florals and I gather my inspiration from the native flowers in my backyard as well as international flora from my European heritage. My other illustration passion is drawing intricate and engaging designs for the baby and children’s market.

‘The Simple Life sketches’

I am always inspired and amazed by the creative community out there and the ways in which they use my fabric designs. If you are a sewing enthusiast and would like to share your amazing creations using one of my designs, tag Digital Fabrics and me in your Instagram post, I can’t wait to see what you make!

‘Design work in progress’

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!