You Can Be A Fabric Designer

A few weeks ago I discovered Spoonflower. Is it a new item of cutlery or even a new flower? No Spoonflower is neither of these but a fairly new business offering you the chance to be a textile designer.  For many years only design houses produced fabric by the bolt, employing designers but then in 2008 along came an alternative; Spoonflower.  After a complaint from their wives that they wanted to be able to print fabric to use for their curtains, two men came up with a revolutionary concept in textile design, allowing their wives to be the designers without the costly expense of minimum order quantities. Unsurprisingly they were not alone in wanting to design their own fabric with Spoonflower now having around 70,000 members designing their own fabric for their use or to sell. 

The Spoonflower website allows you to upload images that can then be used in pattern repeats in a vast array of colours even without prior knowledge of design. Once you are happy with your design you can order a swatch, a fat quarter, a metre or more and your designs are then available for reprinting anytime.  In addition to this you can offer your designs within the Spoonflower marketplace, allowing other people to purchase fabric printed with your designs, therefore allowing people to be independant textile designers without a huge outlay.  There is no minimum order, yet if you want to allow others to purchase your designs you will need to purchase a swatch of your fabric, with a metre of fabric starting at $18.  Spoonflower offer different fabrics to have your design printed onto including organic cotton.

Now there are no excuses....you too can be a fabric designer....I'm certainly planning on having a try very soon!