I had been thinking for a while that I would like to order custom printed fabric from Spoonflower. I had in mind that I would like to use some of my zentangle inspired designs and have them printed so I could do something with them without having to draw a each and every one of them. What I had in mind was some of my heart designs for valentines. I scanned some of my drawings and fiddled with them in Picasa.
I drew them with a black Pigma pen and a Sharpie ultra fine point pen. In Picasa I was able to change the black to red. I was not able to do what I wanted in Picasa so I downloaded PaintNet and I was able to manipulate my images. I finally got it the way I thought would work and this image on the left is what I uploaded to Spoonflower. I could have ordered a quarter yard test piece but I went with the whole yard instead of having to order twice.
In just a few days this is what came in the mail. I want to say that I am happy with the quality and the service. the color was uniform throughout and not yellow at the sides which is the result of my photography. I couldn't take another shot because i had already cut it all up into squares and ovals.
There were, however, some problems with my own design. I did not space my motifs far enough apart and I spent a week and a half trying to figure out how I could cut the large motifs so I could use all of them. In the end I cut ovals and squares and I was able to cut squares of the small hearts as well. I should have skipped the small hearts in my design as they are a bit small and fussy and not really suitable for what I wanted to do. I ran out of time because after I cut all the ovals and squares it took me too long to figure out how to use them for what I wanted.
I did get a few valentines made after all and I sent one to my daughter and one to a friend before thinking that I wanted photos. They were a little different than these below which is what I finally settled on.
I quilted it by stitching over some of the long lines with red thread and I colored in some of the little hearts with a red colored pencil to make them pink. I fused the heart ovals and squares to white fabric so there would be no color or print showing through and then I fused the white squares and ovals to a pice of hot pink after I trimmed them with a pinking blade. I fused the whole thing to fusible batting and quilted it with red thread. after I pulled all my thread ends to the back and tied them and burried the tails in the batting I fused a piece of backing fabric to the back and stitched around the outside of the white and a quarter inch along the outside edge. I trimmed the outside edges with a pinking blade to finish.
Next time I will know what I want and how to do it (well, maybe).
There will be a next time but I am going to do some homework first.
I need to learn more about photo editing and maybe spend some time on Jack's computer (gasp) to see if I want to buy Photo shop. It came installed in his new computer and I am sure it is an abbreviated version but it will give me some idea about whether it is going to be any better for what I want than PrintNet, which was free.
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I suggested she make a card for her grandparents. Her grandmother (my daughter) came in the room as we were making her fathers card and admired the fabric we were using for the fused heart. She used what she cut away around the heart to fuse on a piece of card stock for a quick card. She was eager to finish and go out to play in the snow so we wanted something fast.These are her 3 projects on the right. She was all dressed to go out in the snow and didn't want to get undress to a photo shoot.
When she came back in she changed her clothes and I had to get a picture of her in her outfit with her penguin sweater, tutu style skirt and striped socks. A girl after my own heart!
