It’s been amazing sharing all of the wonderful designs by textile designer Kathrin Legg with you! We hope you’ve loved them just as much as we have. To coincide with Kathrin’s ‘Nostalgic Florals’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself.
Keep reading to find out more!
‘Kathrin Legg’
Hello! My name is Kathrin Legg. I am a Surface Pattern Designer from Newcastle, NSW.
I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Newcastle and I have a background in Art Teaching. These days I work from my sunny studio for global companies in the fabric, greeting card, stationery, homewares and tech industries.
‘Retro Florals Textile Design’
When I start with a new brief for clients I firstly think of the colour scheme, the audience I am designing for plus the end product. Then I focus on the motifs and layout of the pattern or stand alone illustration.
I love traditional art supplies, the calming sense of using watercolour paints and the smooth texture of layering acrylics but most days I use digital mediums to create my designs and patterns. I draw all of the motifs in procreate and then create the final seamless repeat pattern in photoshop.
‘Kathrin’s Watercolours’
My favourite design theme is florals and I gather my inspiration from the native flowers in my backyard as well as international flora from my European heritage. My other illustration passion is drawing intricate and engaging designs for the baby and children’s market.
‘The Simple Life sketches’
I am always inspired and amazed by the creative community out there and the ways in which they use my fabric designs. If you are a sewing enthusiast and would like to share your amazing creations using one of my designs, tag Digital Fabrics and me in your Instagram post, I can’t wait to see what you make!
‘Design work in progress’
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
We’ve absolutely adored sharing Katrina Potter’s designs with you all and hope you’re all enjoying this installment of The Designer Project! Kat is on a mission to make the world a happier, brighter place with her art through her label Little Black Kat creative! The designer’s ‘Funky and Fruity’ collection has been made available in our Fabric Shop and features a wonderful range of designs inspired by our adorable native critters and all things funky and fruity! What’s more is we’ve been so very fortunate to have the artist herself put together a guest blog which is shared below! Keep reading to find out more about Kat’s work, inspirations and typical creative process!
‘Katrina Potter
Hey, I’m Kat Potter …and I love colour!
I’m on a mission to make the world a happier, brighter place! So, making artwork and seeing it out there in the big beautiful world, gives me an incredible amount of joy.
‘Katrina in her studio’
I studied Visual Art straight out of high school, majoring in illustration. It was there I learnt and developed a love of digital art and design, which led me toward a career in the print and graphic design industry. An industry I’ve worked in for the past 20 years. I’ve freelanced on and off during that time and started my Graphic Design and Illustration business “Little Black Kat Creative” in 2014. I took my biz full time in 2020 and more recently, I’ve been obsessed with learning all things surface pattern design.
‘What a Galah work in progress’
My patterns are inspired by everyday little things, happy memories and family adventures with my children. Most of which involve pets, animals and the outdoors, which you can no doubt see in my work. I’m thrilled to be a part of the Digital Fabrics Designer Project and even more excited to see where this little turn in my creative career takes me. There are a couple of different ways I work when it comes to developing a pattern. Sometimes I’ll start by drawing whatever is inspiring me that day (usually a collection of different animals) and eventually make it into a pattern.
‘design layout ideas’
But when it comes to client work, or if I have too many ideas and need to be a little more structured, I’ll start with a theme and keywords (like “bright happy summer” for example). I’ll then jump onto Pinterest and search for all things “bright happy & summer” related. I’ll pull out images and colours that I feel will work well together to fit that description and put them together to form a mood board. From there I’ll cull back my images, so there’s a cohesive theme, develop my mood board and create a colour palette. The images from my Pinterest search usually give me lots of ideas on the motif subject matter, but I’ll also write a list of possible motifs to draw.
‘Collection Moodboard’
To find even more reference images to work from, I’ll either do a “google images” search, take photos on my phone, or refer to the thousands of photos I have saved to my camera roll. Photos don’t have to be great, as it’s usually just the shapes I’m looking at. I’m a little old school …I don’t have an iPad, I either draw directly into Adobe Illustrator using my keyboard, mouse and/or Wacom table, or I’ll draw basic line sketches, scan them in and redraw them in Illustrator. My Illustrator pasteboard is (much like my tiny home studio) messy, with oodles of reference images that I can refer to for each motif. It doesn’t exactly look amazing in the development stage, but it works for me.
‘What a Galah design’
Once my motifs are finished, and I’ve decided which ones I want to use, I’ll create a new file and start the process of building my pattern. For me, putting together a pattern feels like doing a puzzle. Getting all of the pieces in just the right spot! I adjust the scale of each motif, rotate, flip and really just have a play around to see what fits and looks the best. When I’m happy with the pattern, I’ll fine tune the colours and motifs if needed, to ensure everything is working well visually, and voila, she’s done!
‘Katrina Potter’
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
We’ve absolutely adored sharing the beautifully detailed work of Sydney-based designer Marie Schmitt and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! Maries designs are modern and elegant creations that are sure to delight. To coincide with Marie’s ‘Natural Wonder’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which we’ve shared below! The blog takes a closer look at Marie’s creative process, detailing every step from initial sketch to final design. The blog also includes gorgeous photographs and process images which really help tell the story of Marie’s work and the ‘Natural Wonder’ collection. Keep reading to find out more about Marie Schmitt and her stunning designs!
Marie Schmitt
Hi,
My name is Marie Maignan. Since I was a child, I loved to draw and I love nature. I developed my own style, drawing floral motifs with lines in different thickness and shape creating movement and elegance.
I am born in France where I spend all my childhood. After a while living in Germany, I moved to Australia in Sydney with my family. The surrounding nature is fantastic source of inspiration.
As an adult I really enjoyed again the pleasure of creation and drawing. It is such a magical moment.
Marie’s Workspace
Marie’s Nature Inspiration
My designs start as hand drawn illustrations, line by line, first with pencil, then with my beloved Waterman ink pen. This way of using the lines create elegant motives, all in finesse, simple but with its own movement. Modern, graphic and somehow fascinating.
These were then scanned using a printer to create a digital version. Once I had the scans, I then opened them up in photoshop and got started on cleaning up the background. Pretty much just removing everything in the file except the drawn motifs.
Finesse Original Sketches
Once everything was nice and cleaned up, I started working on the layout, copying and rearranging the motifs to create a nice flowing design. Once I had a layout that worked and that I liked, I cropped it so that each side joined up to the other so that it would be seamless when you repeated the tile.
From here, I made all my colour edits, changing the background colour and colour of my illustrations.
Illustration Sketches
I am very happy to be given the opportunity to valorize my drawings and patterns with Digital Fabrics. I was so delighted by the first design project I did which was a wonderful cushion, that I thought it was maybe time to do more with my drawings and share them through the Designer Project by Digital Fabric.
Thank you!
Monstera Work in Progress Sketch
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
We have absolutely loved sharing all of the amazing floral prints by artist Carly Westbye, and hope that you’ve enjoyed them as much as we have!
To coincide with Carly’s ‘Spring in Bloom’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her self-taught design process, what inspires her designs as well as bit more about herself.
Keep reading to find out more about Carly Westbye and her wonderful floral designs!
‘Carly Westbye’
I am honoured to share my art through Digital Fabrics and look forward to bringing more designs to this unique network of talented designers.
‘Carly in her studio’
I am a Canberra-based designer and founder/owner of FinBok Publishing. I commenced my business as a Graphic Artist/Desktop Publisher and have spent the last eighteen years expanding on my design skills. My surface designs for interiors and fashion launched in 2016 and my designs have branched from collaborations, prints for personal use and expanding through to creators abroad in the textile industry.
‘Flame Pea Moodboard’
We are often asked what drives our passion to create and generally speaking for myself, I gain much satisfaction viewing the appreciation of those who support my work. Sharing the love of art and bringing a smile is what speaks to me. I have been creative since I was a child and have also been fortunate to explore a number of art shows where I have been able to sell my paintings.
‘Carly’s Design Workspace’
Most of my inspiration is drawn from nature and more recently I have spent some time observing my history and culture. I enjoy exploring nature’s contours, textures and colour palette. Together, I like to combine this with a variety of mediums, as I continue to explore new techniques and learn to work with organic materials sourced from Australian suppliers. I am currently working on many new designs to be released this year, all of which have been created using a unique self-taught technique. This method combines natural pigments that I mix with inks and gel mediums. I find this to be a rewarding process to see my illustrations and paintings brought together, as I continue to develop on my seamless signature style.
‘Whimsical Sketches’
The process in developing my designs will vary, depending on where I draw my inspiration from. Sometimes it begins with a walk in nature; other times a colour I am drawn to, a memory, or experience. My sketchbook is a big part of my life, and I never leave home without it. This is a journal that I hope will be treasured in my family for the years to come.
‘Ruby Blomst Sketches’
Each design is taken through a process that I have constructed over time. This process enables me to keep my designs on track during my creative thought process. My designs are structured with sketches, both initial and final stages, a colour selection process and consideration of purpose for print. All of my final designs are then imported to Adobe Creative Suite, where I then clean my files and prepare the layout for print production.
‘Singapore Butterfly Sketches’
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
It’s been an absolute pleasure starting off this year’s series of The Designer Project with the ultra-talented designer Krystal-Anne Knafl and have adored sharing her funky and colourful textiles designs with you. Krystal has made a range of her designs available as print ready artwork in our Fabric Shop online, which can be printed onto any of our stock fabric base cloths. To provide some more insight into each of Krystal’s designs, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which details her process behind creating her designs as well as what inspired the prints in her collection.
Keep reading to find out more about Krystal-Anne Knafl and her surface designs!
‘Krystal-Anne Knafl’
Hi everyone, Krystal Knafl here from @missappledesigns. I am very excited to announce that some of my designs are now up for sale in the Digital Fabrics fabric shop! Exciting times for all of us, because you get to have some fun creating some amazing products and I get to enjoy hearing about the awesome things you make, which inspires me to design more. I’m looking forward to you all sharing some of the works you were inspired to create. When I was initially designing, I envisioned my designs on curtains, bedding, tea towels, pillows, dresses, skirts, maybe even some cheeky pencil cases and make up bags. There are some great ideas throughout the website and all over the great wide web.
‘Krystals Design Studio’
I thought it would be fun to share my inspiration and process behind my final designs including some photos of my main design space as well as stimulus images. The majority of my works are hand-drawn on my ipad pro using Adobe Fresco and an Apple pencil. I am a big fan of fun, funky and whimsy designs, but I do like to occasionally find balance through use of warm, more neutral tones.
I am a storyteller at heart and most of my works started from either an experience, feeling or observation. I have found that when an experience captures my imagination, I can put more heart into the final product.
‘Work in progress design’
Chickens With Hats was inspired by one of my lessons as a Secondary Teacher in 2021 when a student brought in a chicken that he had found on the way to school. This chicken became a big conversation point in the class which lead to me being inspired to explore what this chicken could look like with a hat on (much to the excitement of my students.) Sarah’s Orchard Garden was inspired by my friend Sarah’s growing orchard collection. I was obsessed with the colours and would get even more inspiration every time she added another one to her collection. Crazy Plant Lady was inspired by another friend of mine that developed a deep love/obsession with building a plant collection. She would share all these amazing photos of the plants like they were her own children. There were such beautiful design elements in the plants she shared which inspired me even more.
‘Work in progress design’
When designing, I’ll typically search for stimulus through images and particularly look at colours and lines that can work well together. From there, I’ll work towards creating motifs outlines and start experimenting with different colour palettes until I find one that works. Creating motifs can take anywhere from an hour to two weeks depending on how much work and experimenting I need to do.
I do have a ‘dedicated design space’ but I do love designing in spaces where I can relax and stretch my legs. Three of my favourite spaces to design are my couch while listening to music, my bed on a Saturday morning after a big week of work and on occasion down The Strand where I take in some sunshine and sea breeze.
Below are some images that inspired Sarah’s Orchard Garden some of the initial motifs I created before collaging them (Thank you, Sarah Risdale, for allowing me to use these beautiful images):
‘Orchard Motifs’
‘Orchard inspiration photos’
Below is an example of how Sarah’s Orchard Garden can be used. I found a super cute and easy baby doll dress no-pattern dress on Youtube and create this. It prints beautifully on fashion fabrics such as bamboo or fabric but would look incredible on some bedding fabrics. Get in touch with the team at Digital Fabrics about which fabric base would be suit your project.
‘Krystals Baby Dolly dress’
As a fan of fresh and delicious produce, I was inspired to create Summer Salad. A super cute and colourful design that brings out the natural fun and beauty of vegetables which would look amazing as a tote bag, tea towel or even some funky cushions! Or why not make a statement in the kitchen and create a fun apron. This print can also be ordered here in a wide variety of fabrics to meet your sewing needs.
Here’s a cute mock up of Summer Salad as a funky cushion to get you inspired:
‘Summer Salad Cushion Mockup’
I hope you enjoyed hearing about what inspires my designs, the process I undertake and some cool ways you can bring these all to life! You can view more of my designs in the fabric shop. The epic thing is you can choose a fabric base to suit your sewing needs, and the minimum purchase is only 1m! Don’t forget too that if you’re needing support to chose the right fabrics and get started, get in touch with the Digital Fabrics team and they will gladly help you out.
‘Krystal in her studio’
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope I have inspired you to bring out some inner fun and creativity. Don’t forget to tag both @missappledesigns and Digital Fabrics in any projects you undertake with these designs!
If you want more fun and colour in your world, give me a follow on Instagram or Facebook.
Lots of love and inspiration,
Krystal Knafl
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
It’s been so wonderful having the delightful designer Gouri Bashet, as our current feature artist of The Designer Project and have adored sharing her absolutely lovely textile designs. Gouri has put together a guest blog for you all, which shares a bit of background info on herself, some behind the scenes of her creative process and as well as what inspires her and this collection.
Keep on reading to find out more about Gouri Babshet and her creative style!
‘Gouri Babshet’
I’m a surface pattern designer and illustrator from India who is based in Melbourne, Australia with my husband and two kids. Being in Melbourne and surrounded by beautiful nature has become the source of my inspiration. My patterns and designs are known to be bright, cute yet delicate that are inspired from my love for nature and colours.
‘Delightful Roses – Olive Design’
I’m a former techie who is a creative soul since childhood. I am also a self-taught artist with an absolute love for drawing, crafting, scrapbooking and quilling…just to name a few! I like to think I have a keen eye for colours and just love to bring in bright, detailed and colourful aesthetics with a modern and feminine touch to all of my designs.
‘Work in Progress Design’
‘Morning Melodies Textile Collection’
Nature is my biggest inspiration. I take long walks in the nearby walking trails, creeks and wetlands and capture beautiful images of birds, animals and foliage that serve as a starting point for my design process. I put together a mood board with the images from my inspiration and color palettes that go with the current theme. Then I start by sketching loosely in procreate app on my iPad Pro which is such a versatile tool in art making.
‘Design Inspiration Moodboard’
‘Rough Bird Sketches’
These sketches are refined and transferred to Adobe illustrator to create vector motifs using colour palettes I create using adobe colour tool. The final motifs are tossed in a repeat pattern that can been transformed into beautiful fabric, home decor, stationery and other products.
‘Rough Bird and Floral Sketches’
‘Chirping Birds Design’
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
We have absolutely loved sharing these divine floral designs by Queensland-based designer Nicole Spencer and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! To coincide with Nicole’s “Take Delight” collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her one of a kind approach to creating surface patterns and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Nicole Spencer and her stunning designs!
Hello! I’m Nicole, the face behind Ebb & Flow Surface Design. I am a wife to one, mum to 5, painter to some and emerging as a surface designer to many. My family I and live in Bundaberg, QLD, a town not far from the beach, which is our happy place. I love to paint, enjoy a hot morning coffee, have the sand between my toes and just be with my family. Being a stay home mum to 5, I realised a few years ago I had no hobbies and needed to do something for myself. I quickly fell in love with watercolour painting, and over time it’s grown from doing painting commissions, to digital prints, and now to wanting to see my work on all sorts of surfaces and textiles.
I’m constantly inspired by the seasons we face, the beauty of the world around us, and I love how I can incorporate story telling into my designs. Ebb & Flow not only creates designs, but captures elements from the beautiful world we’re in, and uses those to bring encouragement through the ebbs and flows we face in life. It finds beauty in the seasons of growth and in the seasons of change, and always aims to create joy in the simple things.
My process usually involves a few different elements, mostly watercolour painting, sketching, scanning random objects from the yard… weeds weirdly have the prettiest shaped leaves and always looking amazing in designs! Let me walk you through a design I put together this summer. “Take Delight”, is a collection I created, inspired by the reminders I had to embrace the pauses in life, (even the unexpected ones), and to choose to take delight in the simple things in front of us.
I had inspiration from both flowers in the garden and a gorgeous basket of florals I received over Christmas. I just loved the colours in this bouquet, and was able to use this to create a colour palette for the collection.
Like I mentioned my designs can include lots of different elements. For my one design in this collection – “Sunny Days”, I was able to pick some flowers out of the garden, pull apart some petals and create my own flowers on paper to scan in for design. This is the fun part where I love to play around with shades and textures. Remember how I said I love to incorporate random things. The centre of some of my florals in this design, was actually created by using a photo of the fabric on my bed head.
Watercolour painting has become a real love of mine, and a big part of my process. These paintings are often inspired by things found outside. I love when my daughter walks home from school and finds random flowers and leaves for me on the way home, it always brings a smile to my face, and gets the creative mind ticking over. The wattle in the picture was actually one of her treasures she found for me.
I think designing for me is a process of joy, discovery and creating beauty. I love using what’s around me to create designs, and I hope you find the joy in them too.
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
It’s been such a treat having Meredith Simpson as our Featured Artist for the month of October! We have loved sharing her adorable animal prints and hope you’ve loved them just as much as we have!
To coincide with Meredith’s ‘Aussie Cuties’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her one of a kind creative process and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Meredith Simpson, her inspirations and design process!
Meredith Simpson
This collection was inspired by our beautifully unique Australian native animals. I feel we are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures that are native to our home, they are just so gorgeous that I had to draw them. It started off only going to be a collection of 3 or 4 animals but grew as people kept suggesting others that were their favourites.
Galah Bird Drawing
This design process has been a learning curve for me, as it is my first real experience using my artwork to create digital designs. I love drawing and painting and now also enjoy using my artwork digitally too – it has opened up so many more possibilities of how to share my artwork with others.
My designs all start off with hand drawn artwork. I enjoy working with both pastel pencils and watercolour paints, but find that for furry animals the soft texture I can achieve with pastel pencils is best.
Black Cockatoo Bird Drawing
To create my prints, I first used an editing program to remove the backgrounds from my pictures and to cut small details, such as leaves and gum nuts, from larger art works. I then used Publisher to experiment with various backgrounds and combinations, with the ever patient help and feedback from Ella.
Meredith and her daughter with her Animal Artworks
The Australian animals used in the ‘Aussie Cuties’ collection were created by me as part of me finding time to create art work for the enjoyment of it. I had been drawing lots of pet portraits and then drew some woodland animals for my sister in law’s nursery. I loved the freedom of drawing animals that weren’t for a particular person and wanted to draw our native animals because I feel they are just so beautiful and unique.
Titch the Tasmanian Devil Sketch
It was fun collaborating over email to create these designs and I am so thankful to the Design Project for their guidance and for this opportunity. I look forward to creating more from my artworks in the future.
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
We have absolutely loved sharing these fun loving designs by creative Emilie Otto and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! To coincide with Emilie’s ‘Life of the Party’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her one of a kind creative process and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Emilie Otto and her unique design process!
‘Emilie Otto’
Hi, I’m Emilie Otto (aka Em).
Let’s get creative friends, I’m so excited to share these fun filled fabric prints with you all! It has been one of my wildest dreams since I can remember to create bold, eccentric and joy filled designs to inspire people to create and feel authentically themselves. I am never someone who likes to blend into a crowd or follow the leader and I wanted these designs to reflect this.
‘Emilie painting in her studio’
This a slice of my first collection “Life of the Party” an eccentric mix of colourful coordinates. Curated for fun lovers, sun-seekers, and most importantly good times! These designs are created from hand carved stamps, which have been elevated using a variety of digital techniques. The bright colour palettes embody my favourite parts of summer. These designs where made to suit fashion and accessories projects, but the sky’s the limit.
‘Carving design stamps’
These designs didn’t come about in a conventional way, in fact it woke me up at 2am! I couldn’t stop thinking about carving little stamps and creating little still life artworks. It all happened within a matter of hours, I was listening to my favourite playlist hand carving wine bottles, crabs, lemons, and a range of flowers. I fell in love instantly and after finishing the carvings I could head back to bed for some more sleep.
‘Emilie using her handmade stamps’
Most of the designs are inspired by items I have in my studio, which spark happiness. Items have been collected from thrift stores, gifted, and saved to remind me of special moments. I love bright colours and love high contrast patterns, so these colour combinations feel very true to my style as a designer.
‘Emilie painting in her studio’
All of the designs I create are something that I would love wearing, most of the time they don’t start out with a purpose in mind. I focus on enjoying the making process and more often that not they turn into whatever they were meant to be, these stamps started as card designs but evolved into statement fabric designs.
‘Clothing Mockups of Designs’
Here are a few clothing examples that really get me excited, they have an element of comfort, are carefree and also let people’s personalities shine through. Any of the fabrics in this collection would work well on their own, they can also be mixed and match to really turn up the fun.
‘Emilie Otto’
My studio space is full of dancing lights, disco balls and prims hanging from the windows along with artwork from other designers who inspire me. It’s a chaotic space, but I always feel so inspired when I sit down at my desk and start painting.
I hope that these designs bring some energy and fun into your next DIY project.
Em xo
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
It’s been such a treat sharing these wonderfully sweet designs by illustrator and pattern designer Madeline Hawkins. We hope that you’ve enjoyed all of her amazing prints as much as we have!
To coincide with Madeline’s ‘Scenes from a Daydream’ collection being made available to all of our customers through our Fabric Shop online, the artist herself has put together a guest blog which further explains her one of a kind approach to creating surface patterns and what inspires her work.
Keep reading to find out more about Madeline Hawkins and her beautiful designs!
‘Madeline Hawkins’
Heya! I’m Madeline, Artist behind Wilder Studio. I create whimsy illustrations, from which I design into repeat patterns for textiles. I work from my home studio based in Murwillumbah, NSW – a beautiful, creative and vibrant town where my little family and I reside. I have lived and breathed drawing since I could hold a pencil and have in recent years found a love of home textiles. When I put two and two together and began teaching myself online, I knew I had found where I wanted to play – textile pattern design!
‘Madeline Hawkins in her studio’
I’m super excited to have an array of Wilder Studio repeat patterns available here at Digital Fabrics. This collection of handcrafted, stand-alone patterns speaks of romance, femininity, nostalgia and wonder. Inspired by the likes of Lewis Carrolls ‘Alice in Wonderland’, these patterns are an ode to day-dreaming.
‘Madeline creating in her studio’
An ideal start to a morning in the studio consists of music, a brew and a little playtime- sketching or painting anything that comes to mind with no pressure to turn it into anything. Then I’ll get stuck into whatever I have on the to-do list.
‘Madeline working on original paintings’
‘Madeline colour matching her design’
When designing a repeat pattern for a client, I generally write down a bunch of descriptive words of what the general feel is I’m wanting to create, and a rough description of the colours, layout and orientation and any other parameters the brief has set. I then have a little rough sketch of motif ideas. Sometimes these may be used in the final design, otherwise they are set aside with the rest of my notes for when I begin illustrating. I love using watercolors and gouache for romantic florals, but I’m most fond of inkline pens, poscas and pencils for whimsy, detailed illustration.
‘Close up of Madeline’s studio’
I love watching my illustrations come to life on fabric and seeing others make something with a piece of my imagination. It’s really a collaboration with other creatives. I think there’s the most magic in collaboration. The coming togetherness of it. Expressing ourselves and inspiring others to do the same. A ripple effect of creativity. It brings me deep joy as I hope my prints inspire joy in others.
‘Madeline’s studio’
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you would like to be part of this initiative, and we will be in touch!
