Yearly Archives: 2017

Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 2

Snippets’. Chats with Creatives. Here at Digital Fabrics we love everything print, pattern and colour and we love to know what makes designers tick. This series is all about asking some fun and different questions and learning about the inspirations and ideas behind the artist and their work. We hope to inspire others by sharing snippets of these creative stories. We gave the artists and designers featured a varied list of questions to choose from so we will learn something new from everyone involved, should be fun!

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Jasmin Owen, the designer behind Jazminbell, a homewares brand that designs and creates heat packs from fabrics she designs and prints.

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

Hi there, my name is Jasmin Owen and I am the founder of the jazminbell® brand. The dream of running my own business all started at the age of 4 when I decided that I would work within Australia’s creative industry. After completing my design degree I went on to deliver my products to the world. I never realised how much there is to learn in the world of business and it has been the most amazing journey.

Jazminbell® began as a homewares brand, offering a unique range of cushion covers. With a pile of scrap fabric I sought to make mini hand warmers and they instantly took within the market. I never really saw success until I took the brave initiative to turn the business into a cold/heat pack brand and it has thrived ever since. It is hard to imagine now that it all began with tiny hand warmers – That is the incredible and unpredictable journey of business, I guess!

Working with Digital Fabrics has given me the opportunity to deliver a unique range of textile designs for my products and also create a relationship with another local business within the Australian industry.

Which five words best describe you? Quirky, happy, bright, inspirational, goal-digger.

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment? I am forever inspired by the creative practice of Nicola Cerini. Her beautiful studio and printed textiles are so inspirational for me and what I do.

What has been your proudest achievement to date, creative or otherwise? Completing a Bachelor of Design Arts and Graduate Certificate in Accounting, bringing the most wonderful daughter into the world and having the opportunity to work on my business and have the freedom of my own career.

If you could only use one colour in your work what would it be? Pink!

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside: Canberra, Australia

Favourite spot for a bite: Canberra Yacht Club

Secret Inspirational spot: Lake Burley Giffin

You can follow what Jasmin is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook

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Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 1

Today on Snippet’s we are talking to Shyanne Clark, the swimwear and textile designer behind ‘Printsea’ a print design brand who love to spread sparkle and magic and inspire others to do the same.

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

I’ve been a textile fabric designer for the past 5 years. My style is very mermaidy and I love tropical florals, so my business PRINTSEA has naturally progressed to helping bikini designers find their signature style and launch beautiful labels.

I am such a cheerleader for people doing what they truly love, the things that make them all sparkly inside. I was always that kid that didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t fit in one of the boxes. I think it’s because I didn’t know this job existed or how all my talents could come together to be something. I adore what I do so much and its always growing and changing me. I feel so grateful that I listened to my heart and followed its windy path, you learn so much along the way and I would love that for everyone. I get giddy just thinking about it.

At the moment I’m creating a signature range of beautiful hand designed, high vibrational pieces. There is such magic in colour and creativity. My hope is that each piece will add a little extra sparkle to your day and that owning a piece will feel like a precious treasure that brings you many heart swelling, quiet smiles and inspires your soul.

What would your dream creative project look like?

I’ve actually got a bit of a fascination with creating a print that would cover a whole aeroplane. Could you imagine a giant bunch of gorgeous flowers flying through the sky. Instant happiness I reckon. I wonder if Richard Branson would let me print wrap a Virgin plane for fun?

In another life what natural talent would you wish for?

I’m pretty much tone deaf, sometimes I’ll sing + scare myself with how out of tune I am. I have always admired people that can make your heart swell with emotion from their singing voice. I’ve secretly wished that I could do this, but in saying that, I wouldn’t want to trade my talent of drawing flowers. Can I have two natural talents?

Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?

I absolutely love the moment when the inspiration strikes + your imagination goes all bright + sparkly. You can’t wait to birth this creation that’s swirling around inside. It’s just such a rush of ecstatic excitement. I love that part. The finished piece is pretty amazing too, but the journey is the best.

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?

I adore Annie Everingham. Her paintings evoke so much feeling. They are so happy and beautiful. I could stare at their gorgeousness for hours.

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

I live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, some people say, it’s like what Byron Bay was 20 years ago.

Favourite spot for a bite:

There is a gorgeous cafe at Rosemount called ‘GURU Life.’ The brother sister team roast their own beans + it truly is enlightenment in every cup, they have delicious raw treats and the staff are super friendly.

Secret Inspirational spot:

Well if I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret! … I actually adore the Noosa National Park, it’s a stunning feast for your eyes and soul (and a good workout if you walk all 8kms.) On a great day you’ll see turtles, whales + koalas.

Feeling inspired by Printsea to start a swimwear brand? You can buy her E book here. AND she is currently running a promo where you can purchase 1 print and get one for free with the code: PRINTME until August 17^th, then you can print it onto lycra here at Digital Fabrics and start YOUR creative journey.

You can follow what Printsea is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook.

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Fabric Design Development by Rachael Ozich

Last week we had a wonderful opportunity to provide work experience to a student from one of the local colleges. Despite her young age Rachael demonstrated good knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, great imagination, creativity and made the whole week extra pleasurable and fun. Rachael was working on stripy fabric prints designs and was very happy to share her fabric designing process with us. We are sure this will help many people to understand how fabric design process works and steps required.

Brief

I was given a design brief to come up with 3 different stripe design prints relating to the current trends for women’s wear in summer. I needed to explore stripe designs and its versatility, playing with negative and positive spaces, sizes, mix & match and texture. The design was also going to be inspired by crystal rock colours.

Mood Research

To support the ideas I made two mood boards both displaying two different moods and stories. I used Pintrest as a starting point for developing ideas. I found different summer stripy trends and categorised the images into: bold, thick stripes- conveying a heavier look; and thin, light stripes- conveying a more peaceful look.

Colour research

I also found images of crystals and looked at the many different colours. I really liked the lighter blues and pinks. I found darker crystals that had a different mood to them. The darker colours consisted of dark purples and blues. Once I had found my two different moods I linked the two ideas together: the crystal colours with the stripy designs.

Moodboarding

I made two different mood boards displaying two different unique styles on Photoshop, The bold stripes and dark colours & simple and relaxing.

My first mood board conveyed a peaceful, simple and relaxing mood with small thin stripes, using light and dark pinks. I thought that the light pink colours would work well with detail in the stripes. I went with the whole crystal, spiritual idea and I was really influenced by henna. Henna is traditionally used in Indian weddings, but today henna can be found at most local markets. I thought about combining the two ideas: busy stripes and floral henna style flowers.

My other mood board was going to contain more of a bold strong stripe designs with darker purple colours.

Defining colours

Once I had made my two mood boards I wanted the colours on my Photoshop document to match the final design on fabric. For this I had to go through a Pantone formula guide colour book to find colours that I liked and when I found a colour that matched I would write down the number. In Illustrator I made boxes with the exact colours, with their number. I printed them out and checked to see if they were the correct colours. Depending on the fabric, the colours print slightly differently.

Design experimentation and development

Simple and relaxing

I wanted to make a design that incorporated stripes with a henna style floral. I wanted to have a detailed design with not too over-the-top with colours. I started to draw up some ideas on paper. I really liked having colourful flowers with black and white stripes crossing under them. I made an Illustrator document with the idea. After some fiddling and small changes to my design I thought the background being one colour would be really boring. I wanted to make a colourful, but not too bright background. I thought about something like an army camouflage pattern, just to make it a colourful but not overpowering the stripes and flowers.

The bold stripes and dark colours

I decided to make a print with my second mood board The Bold Stripes and Dark Colours. I thought it might be more interesting and fun to experiment with darker colours on fabric. My design contained a purple and light blue theme but I wanted to add more colour to my design so I added some pinks.

My final three designs looked like this.

We are hope you have gotten inspired by this whole creative process. Stay creative!

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Colourful Bunch by Sharon Wilson

Not going to lie it’s very nice getting sweet notes of appreciation from our customers, but more than anything we love receiving photos of makes and completed projects. We just love seeing what fabrics that we have printed has become. Sharon Wilson surprised us recently with images of her amazing colourful creations, box pleated skirt & boxer shorts, she used her photo to create this beautiful floral fabric. Her honest feedback and tips and tricks on working with Aerocorp fabric are truly appreciated and we are sure will be really helpful and inspiring to other sewers. Here is what Sharon wrote:

About 7 years ago I took a digital photo of this colourful bunch of flowers in Switzerland. After seeing what Digital Fabrics could offer with their range of fabric types, I couldn’t wait to order the Aerocorp fabric and make a knee length box pleated skirt with waist yoke. It turned out beautifully and there was even enough remnant to make a pair of boxer shorts .

I found the Aerocorp not difficult to work with. As the website said, it did have a soft handle and cotton look and feel, however it was resilient, as 100% polyester is, but with a good press, it is easy to tame into place or make a crisp line where necessary.
Aerocorp fabric has a tendency to unravel immediately after being cut. So don’t over handle it, and make sure that raw edges are tamed as soon as possible.
The skirt has a lovely drape and swing to it.
I probably would not make a top out of it unless it was for a cooler climate and a dressier look.
If the print is very busy (as this one was) you could even possibly get away with not ironing it – great for traveling.

The fabric order delivery was on time and well packed. Inside was also a sample pack which I really appreciated because sewers really need to feel a fabric to gain good judgement on what to use. I would definitely recommend this service and am tempted to order again some time in future.

If you are like Sharon have a creative project in mind and would like to print your own fabric, you can upload your design and start creating right away here.

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Snippets: Chats With Creatives – Series 1, Snippet 1

The Snippety Snips:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what your creative practice is, how and when you began:

What would your dream creative project look like?

In another life what natural talent would you wish for?

Which part of the creative process is your favourite and why?

Which other Australian designers, artists or creative people are you enjoying at the moment?

I adore Annie Everingham. Her paintings evoke so much feeling. They are so happy and beautiful. I could stare at their gorgeousness for hours.

Love your Locals:

City/Town/Village where you currently reside:

I live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, some people say, it’s like what Byron Bay was 20 years ago.

Favourite spot for a bite:

Secret Inspirational spot:

You can follow what Printsea is upto: Website, Instagram, Facebook.

Save

Colourful Bunch by Sharon Wilson

I found the Aerocorp not difficult to work with. As the website said, it did have a soft handle and cotton look and feel, however it was resilient, as 100% polyester is, but with a good press, it is easy to tame into place or make a crisp line where necessary.
Aerocorp fabric has a tendency to unravel immediately after being cut. So don’t over handle it, and make sure that raw edges are tamed as soon as possible.
The skirt has a lovely drape and swing to it.
I probably would not make a top out of it unless it was for a cooler climate and a dressier look.
If the print is very busy (as this one was) you could even possibly get away with not ironing it – great for traveling.

If you are like Sharon have a creative project in mind and would like to print your own fabric, you can upload your design and start creating right away here.

Save

Create a strong identity for your brand through Fabric Print and Design

We live in a hyper-visual world, where imagery dictates your rating. The increasing need to have a positive impact on sales especially high in a vast and competitive design world.

That is why print design is becoming an increasingly utilised tool in any designer’s tool kit, be it swimwear, stationery, fashion, brand or home wears designer. Print designs, surface design, patterns they called different but carry same purpose, is to capture people’s interests in instant, unifies the design collection and creates point of difference from other brands.

For example Tigerlily always been known for they boho and travel inspired prints and easily recognised in Australian fashion market.

Say, We Are Handsome and beautiful swimwear with stunning photographic print design are evoked.

But what if to take print and fabric a bit further? Doesn’t this collaboration open more door? There are so many ideas and product that can be created with using fabric as a base medium. Don’t think of a fabric as a cloth on a roll.

Would be a wedding invention a luxurious idea to make your invitees fill extra special and setting the tone of your weeding?

Fabric packing is very unique concept too, wrap your product, or even how about envelops or business cards?

To archive all the above ideas is a breeze now days. We live in the new era of digital printing technologies. Fast, cost efficient, ecofriendly they opens doors to the craziest creative projects!

That is why we are in love with digital fabric printing!

Save

Create a strong identity for your brand through Fabric Print and Design

We live in a hyper-visual world, where imagery dictates your rating. The increasing need to have a positive impact on sales especially high in a vast and competitive design world.

For example Tigerlily always been known for they boho and travel inspired prints and easily recognised in Australian fashion market.

Say, We Are Handsome and beautiful swimwear with stunning photographic print design are evoked.

Would be a wedding invention a luxurious idea to make your invitees fill extra special and setting the tone of your weeding?

Fabric packing is very unique concept too, wrap your product, or even how about envelops or business cards?

To archive all the above ideas is a breeze now days. We live in the new era of digital printing technologies. Fast, cost efficient, ecofriendly they opens doors to the craziest creative projects!

That is why we are in love with digital fabric printing!

Save

Learn and Explore

If you have a curious mind and would love to learn a new skill or extend your current knowledge, you can learn more about textile design and fabric design set up for digital fabric printing with us.

Explore our options, we have put together multiple textile design tutorials for setting up files and repeats. These might be very helpful to you to start off setting up your design. All you need is a bit of basic skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Seamless repeats tutorials

Cushions artwork basic set up

Learn and Explore

If you have a curious mind and would love to learn a new skill or extend your current knowledge, you can learn more about textile design and fabric design set up for digital fabric printing with us.

Seamless repeats tutorials

Cushions artwork basic set up

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