The Designer Project – Katy Dee

Our first designer at The Designer Project – Artists designed fabrics and textile goods program, is simply wonderful human, textile designer Katy Dee from @shiztastic. She is passionate about all things prints, textiles and surface design and has unique fun cheerful design style that is she known for. Here is what Katy has to share about her beautiful collection.

Hi all! Katy Dee from @shiztastic here with some exciting news..  You may have seen in the recent newsletter that I have some print designs up in the Digital Fabrics fabric shop that you can choose to print on any fabric of your choice which is pretty fun! We can’t wait to see what you might make from them, perhaps a dress or some cushions?! The internet has many answers to this question.

I am excited to launch a small curated collection of textile prints that are suitable for fashion or interiors, they range in scale and each one began as an original artwork, painting or collage.

We thought it would be fun to share with you some studio behind the scene photos where the designs were made as well as some ideas for what you can use the fabrics for and a small guide of how I made them and their inspiration. Fun!

Most of my prints are inspired by botanicals, op shop finds, shapes and general fun that have an 80’s colour palette running through them even when I try to avoid it. I love bold bright clashing colours and shapes and exploring the fun you can have with it. Playful bold prints for you and your home.

Katy Dee -Studio Shot

Most of my prints begin as paintings or collages in some form or another. I tend to paint sheets of colours and/or shapes and play around until I find the colour or scale that I want or I might paint an artwork straight up. This process can be a labour of love and I like to take my time and enjoy it as it is the part I find most fun!

Painted Love fabric design – Original scan.

This is an example of what an original artwork “Painted Love” scanned in will look like before it has been cleaned up digitally and then turned into a repeating artwork. I use both Photoshop and Illustrator to create my prints and both have qualities that are great for different things. This design was inspired by the 80’s and a love for double denim! It is a funky print full of pizzazz and nostalgia, a stripy print suitable for fashion or interiors.

‘Painted Love’ Imagined as a skirt

Here is an example of how ‘Painted Love’ fabric would look as a skirt! This print is available here and could be printed on a fashion fabric such as London or Oliver to make a skirt like this one. Get in touch with the team at Digital Fabrics  to chat about other printing base fabrics that are available for your sewing DIY project.

Painted Love fabric design printed on Ponti print base fabric

Wild Thing fabric design -original scan

This is the original scan of the print ‘Wild Thing’ that is also available in the shop. It began as a series of funky leopard print paintings in my favourite colour combo, Pink and red! I then took it to the computer to clean it up, change scale, background colour and create a repeat:

Studio shot – Digital editing of Wild Thing fabric design

My studio space is a very bright and colourful place to be. I like to be surrounded by things and artists that inspire me as well as my plants, that I try to keep alive and many trinkets that I have collected. I have lots of artwork up as well as fabric samples and vintage finds to reference when I need to.

Wild Thing fabric design after digital adjustments

‘Wild Thing’ fabric design ended up with a cobalt blue background because I just felt like it needed to be super bold and brash, just a fun twist on the classic animal print. This print would be great on an interior fabric as a statement piece such as a cushion or even a chair. You can order this print here and can be ordered on all-sorts of fabric for your crafty needs.

Wild Thing fabric design printed on Aerocorp fabric base

I hope you have enjoyed seeing behind the scenes and perhaps have given you an idea for a fun sewing project while we are all stuck indoors in this strange pandemic time.

You can view more of my designs in the fabric shop where you can choose the print base fabric and how many metres you want, minimum is only 1m!

Katy Dee painting botanical elements

Katy Dee at work designing her next fabric collection

Thank you for taking the time to have a read, I would love to see what you make with my designs and hope this has inspired you one way or another! Please tag both Digital Fabrics and me in any crafty projects you undertake with these fabrics!

If you want to follow along with my design stories, come find me on Instagram or Facebook. Big Love, Katy Dee

If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project initiative and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you want to be part of this and sure, I will be in touch.