Spoonflower and Textile Design Resources

I've been interested in textile print design for many years; the seed was planted, I think, when I first encountered Marimekko fabrics at the original Crate & Barrel store in Chicago sometime in the 1970s. I missed some opportunities for formal study, but have collected a pretty cool shelf of books on the topic, with several classics and a few treasures from the design heyday of the late 1950s and early 1960s:

The Internet has made textile design a bit more democratic -- where you once had to be in New York or PhiladelphiaLondon or , you can now research textile design to your heart's content from anywhere. Now you can also try your hand at the design process -- the wish-I'd-thought-of-that Spoonflower is out of beta mode and available to all. Upload a digital file and they'll print it for you on high-quality cotton fabric and send it back.

There's no minimum order at Spoonflower, so you don't need to be producing on a commercial level. And they have a great blog, too. The cost for printing is $18 a yard, not bad for custom fabric in small quantities -- and you get to experiment with repeats and colorways and all the things that textile designers do, and all the amazing ways that computer software can manipulate images.

At the other end of the technology scale, hand-printed fabric is in vogue, too. Artisans in India, for example, have mastered the art of block printing for centuries with breathtakingly beautiful and complex designs, but even there, kids probably start as we all did, with corks and sponges cut into simple shapes. Somewhere in between, at-home printing, stamping and stenciling on fabric can yield bold, modern designs.  A lovely friend sent me a birthday gift of Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand (read her blog, too), and it's full of wonderful ideas and instructions. 

There are centuries' worth of masterful textile designs to explore. Begin by looking at some of the iconic 20th century brands -- Marimekko,  of course, for Finnish modern, and Liberty of London for beautiful florals and paisleys. Galbraith & Paul in Philadelphia makes gorgeous hand-block-printed fabrics. Visit Fibercopia and The Textile Blog. Trueup is a good spot to learn about contemporary cottons by independent designers. 

Inspiration is everywhere. You could spend a year just making stripe patterns, testing colors and patterns and the mysterious Fibonacci sequence. For a long time I collected fabrics with fruit and vegetables (conversationals, in print design lingo) and now mostly just have a weakness for cherries and eggplants. 

Corrected: Finland is the home of Marimekko, not Sweden . . .a dumb error, my apologies. 

Comments

[Darlene]

Thanks for sharing this information...I especially like the block printed fabrics.
Darlene

[Eva]

I owned an original Marimekko dress in 1972. A long dress out of slightly stiff cotton and the pattern was an outbreak of pink and raspberry red worms in agony. Wonder what it would be worth today...

[Heather]

Mmmm ... spoonflower sounds like it could be a wonderful resource as I continue in my textiles degree. Or maybe just a fun daliance?

[Lainie]

Oh, ooooops . . . of course it's Finland. I'll fix that right away. Thank you for the correction and the very kind words! My apologies to the Finnish textile masters and your family of weavers. Send photos of weavings if you like, anytime.
Warmly
Elaine

[marja-leena]

I've been loving your blog for some time. Though I'm not a fabric artist per se, except for some batiking I did a long time ago, I love textiles. They are part of my Finnish heritage, with many weavers in my family. And of course, there is Marimekko from Finland (not Sweden). Thanks for the always interesting and informative and inspiring, Elaine!