Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I wanna be a fabric designer!!!!

Ok so this is my secret ambition, my dream job is to be a fabric designer, up until now I have done nothing about it apart from fantasize about setting my own business up when I move to Australia. I did however recently enter a handprinted fabric swap and it has really inspired me to learn more, teach myself and hopefully really do it in the future.

So this week I taught myself how to screen print using photo emulsion, and I have to say, for a first attempt I'm pretty pleased with my results, what do you think?

I definitely have a lot to learn, but hey practice makes perfect (hopefully). So my mission now is to read more about printing, learn how to design on my computer, think about setting up a studio once we get to Australia and decide how I will need to kit it out (for sewing, designing and printing).

So now I can get some of these ideas out of my head or out of my sketchbooks and make them real!!!

11 comments:

Alli said...

That's a great first attempt! You're going to become one of those fantastic Australian designers whose fabric I can't afford, aren't you? :D

Pat Merkle said...

How COOL!!!

Katy Cameron said...

Hmm, this must be fate, I was just reading about this on another blog, and she was mentioning the perfect book that might be right up your street:


A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design, Print & Sell Your Own Fabric; Traditional & Digital Techniques; For Quilting, Home Dec & Apparel

Kathy said...

Good luck with the fabric design - your horse design is great :) I'll be looking out for you in your reincarnation as designer at a trade show in the future!

Katie said...

Your printing looks good for a first time! I did photo emulsion screen printing last semester in one of my classes. We had expensive equipment for the exposure so I'm wondering how you are doing it at home. I would love to print my own fabrics as well.

Tanya said...

So country cool! I like it! I'm one of tyour swap partners :) I hope you'll like the fabric I'm sending :)and textile design is the best thing ever!

Sarah said...

ooh I'd love to do that too, but I cant even sketch never mind draw.. Good luck!!

kelly said...

well done! it's beautiful. and p.s. designing fabric is my dream, too.

Jodi Godfrey said...

I love it! I have ideas but not the skill. Can't wait to see more! (where is oz are you moving to?)

ozsuzsanna said...

It's a good start! I hope few years later we'll buy 'Lotti fabrics'!

Leah said...

Awesome screen printing!

You know, you can start printing your own fabric right now at Spoonflower.com? You don't need a studio, just a computer and an ability to draw your designs and turn it into a jpeg file. Then upload it, the design is printed on fabric, and you can buy as much as you like.