It’s been an absolute pleasure featuring the work of surface pattern designer Lauren Powell, and we hope you’ve adored her designs as much as we have! Lauren is a self-taught artist and designer who creates designs inspired by the everyday and rural living. We’ve felt very fortunate to have Lauren make her “Home Sweet Home” collection available in our Fabric Shop online, with each of the designs available to print onto any of our gorgeous stock fabrics. To coincide with Lauren sharing her delightful range, the designer has also written a guest blog which we’ve showcased below! The blog invites you into Lauren’s background, inspirations and creative methods. The blog also includes some fantastic snaps showing Lauren’s home life, process and printed designs. Keep reading to find out more about Lauren Powell and her charming designs!
Lauren Powell
Hi Everyone! I’m Lauren Powell from LozzieElizaDesigns based in the beautiful Southern Highlands, NSW, surrounded by stunning rural bushland and heritage towns. I am overjoyed to be a part of The Designer Project by Digital Fabrics.
Lauren’s orange tree
My collection “Home Sweet Home” is inspired by life on a semi-rural property, where I have lived since I was little. At a young age, I was often covered with paint, outside in the garden planting flowers with my family or around all of my animals including my chooks, horses and dogs.
Wild grass in the Southern Highlands, NSW
Some of my patterns start as a simple drawing in an art book, painted artworks or can even be parts taken from my photography. I love to scan parts that I bring into Illustrator to vectorize and I love to draw parts on my iPad Pro in either Procreate, Affinity Designer or Adobe Draw.
Watercolour sketch used for Lauren’s “Painted Tartan” design
In my studio I love to display all of my interests in my workspace. A range of bright colours in the objects around me from the lights in my gaming computer, inspiration by other artists who I look up to and even past artworks that I have created over the years.
Lauren working on her “Wild Grasses” design at her home studio
My pattern “Folksy Floral” is created in honour of my grandmother who was a big part of my life growing up, shaping my love of a range of crafts. She created beautiful folk art when I was young and I wanted to give her most loved style of art a modern feel via a pattern. She also loved to sew clothes, so it was fitting to feature her art as a part of my collection.
“Folksy Floral”
My style of design is influenced by all the stunning wilderness around me. From our grown native flowers around our 5 acre property to all the changes of the seasons. I have a love of trying new ways to create my art. One of my favourite mediums on my iPad Pro is gouache brushes by a fellow Australian artist and I can’t wait to explore more of this medium traditionally for future designs.
“Folksy Floral” printed onto our London fabric
I can’t wait to see what beautiful projects you create with my collection! If you want to show me what you are making you can find me on Instagram @lozzieelizadesigns!
“Folksy Floral” baby onesie mock-up
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 had so much fun sharing the incredible work of Sydney-based designer Susanna Jarman of surface pattern label Elm Road and hope you’ve adored her current showcase! Susanna has a lifelong passion for beautiful fabrics and it really shows through her mid-century inspired, crisp graphic designs. Not only has Susanna made a range of her wonderfully statement designs available in our Fabric Shop as part of The Designer Project, but she has also put together a guest blog which we’ve featured below! The blog offers insight into Susanna’s background, inspiration and the process through which her stunning creations typically take shape. There’s also plenty of product visualisations to help you imagine all the different ways you could use Susanna’s designs. Keep reading to find out more about Susanna Jarman and her iconic designs!
Susanna Jarman
Introduction
Hi there! I’m Susanna Jarman from Elm Road. Being totally elated to hear from the lovely Ella at Digital Fabrics, I’m so excited that they have chosen several of my surface patterns for “The Designer Project”. So… the journey has begun! Digital Fabrics’ model of promoting and supporting surface pattern designers like myself is an absolutely amazing opportunity. Just the thought of having my patterns printed on beautiful natural textiles for you to use, is an inspiration in itself!
Thank you to the Team at Digital Fabrics!
“Rocks Skandi” cushion cover mock-up
My Background
Since I can remember textiles, print and surface patterns have played a huge role in my life. I’d say my biggest influences were definitely my parents, both keen homemakers in the 70s. My mum’s passion for homemaking, involved hanging wallpaper and sewing curtains, cushions, and fabric wall-hangings from gorgeous fabrics designed by Marimekko, Marion Hall-Best and Florence Broadhurst.
I recall Mum taking my sister and I to many beautiful fabric shops like Finlandia in Woollahra. I’ve no doubt this is where I developed my passion for fabrics and patterns!
Susanna’s home studio
I work under the name of “Elm Road” which is the name of the road where my grandparents’ beautiful home was in a small village in UK. I have fond memories of playing in their huge garden – a typically lush English style garden with gorgeous lawns, flower beds, lots of places to hide, and a huge fishpond full of Koi. Both my grandparents with the greenest of thumbs planted and nurtured the most amazing array of flowers, including English Stock, Hydrangeas and Geraniums.
Process work
Susanna’s fur babies
Inspiration
For me, I take my inspiration from nature and the beautiful surrounds of the Northern Beaches of Sydney where I live, as well as from memories of the beautiful gardens at Elm Road.
“Hibiscus Orange & Lilac”
When out walking I always have my camera on hand taking many pictures of flowers, leaves, nuts, berries etc. Without even realising, this really is the beginning of the design process – ‘research’. Upon taking these pictures, I then can’t wait to get back to the studio in order to start drawing. All the way home I’m visualising how the pattern design and colour will come to life!
“Hibiscus Orange & Lilac” tablecloth mock-up
Favourite Designers:
Maija Isola, Orla Keily, Henry Matisse, Florence Broadhurst, Marion-Hall Best, and Elizabeth Olwen
“Hydrangea Lacecap Steely Blue”
What drives me?
My passion for home-making, along with my interest in Mid-Century architecture, and love of 1960s/70s design. These, combined with my experience as a Studio Manager in a Graphic Design, Wide-Format Print Company.
“Hydrangea Lacecap Steely Blue” apron mock-up
Design Process
Firstly, I have to say, when designing I get so lost in my work – time becomes irrelevant. It really is my happy place!
The design process usually starts by drawing and doodling away in my sketch book, either in pencil or pen, or sometimes just straight onto my iPad.
“Hydrangea Cream Moptop”
Once I’m happy with the initial sketch, I take a photo of the drawing, upload it to my Mac and trace over the drawing in Affinity Designer. I work in vector as most of my designs are simple, and large scale, sometimes up to 1000mm in width.
I strip-back the original traced sketch in order to create thick, clean lines to give a contemporary flat-lay look. This is where the fun begins as the design can easily morph into something quite playful and different – I love this freedom
“Hydrangea Cream Moptop”
Once the layout/framework of the design is complete, it’s then time for colour. For me colour is an intuitive thing. I seem to have a go-to palette in my head. That’s what really drives/excites me. The thought of those colours, and visualising the finished pattern on fabric, wallpapers, dinner/homewares, anywhere – sometimes even before I’ve begun the sketch!
Once I’m happy with the overall design, the next step is to create the repeat tile. This is truly when magic begins.
“Hydrangea Cream Moptop” bedding mock-up
Wrap-Up
The last few years I have enjoyed being part of the local Christmas Markets utilising other designers’ beautifully designed fabrics to create hand-made soft furnishings, tote bags etc. Now that I’m working alongside Digital Fabrics I really look forward to my next Christmas Market, as it will be a dream come true showcasing Elm Road’s own, Australian Designed & Manufactured textiles made into an array of soft furnishings – amazing!
“Hibiscus Lime”
Elm Road’s patterns are somewhat versatile making them suitable for a variety of surfaces such as soft furnishings, homewares and wallpapers to name a few! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you can create when using these fabrics!
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog 😊 To keep up with my latest designs follow Elm Road on Instagram, Facebook, or jump online.
“Hibiscus Lime” sofa mock-up
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 Ianny Munari Bastos and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! Ianny’s designs are rich, intricately illustrated, and feature warm muted tones that are sure to delight. To coincide with Ianny’s “Jasmine 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 we’ve shared below! The blog takes a closer look at Ianny’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 Ianny’s work and the “Jasmine Bloom” collection. Keep reading to find out more about Ianny Bastos and her stunning designs!
Hi there! It’s Ianny here from IMB Design, hope you’re all great. I’m so excited to say that I’ve created an exclusive collection of artworks for Digital Fabrics, which is now up and running in their Fabric Shop!
Click here and you’ll find a compact line of original prints suitable for fashion or interior items. I’m thrilled to present beautiful unisex designs that are perfectly suited to shirts, dresses and as well as homewares items such as bed linen and more.
All of the designs are firstly created by hand, in the ‘old school’ traditional media of pen, paper, pencil, watercolours, inks and markers. Since I love to draw, I thought it would be cool to take you through my process and show you a bit of the ‘behind the scenes’ of my home studio.
I am constantly experimenting in the realm of art and illustration and often find inspiration in all things vintage. Layered, intricate and elaborate artworks are key to most of my projects, and I have to say, black ink and detailed outlines have been my favourite ways of expression and are what I’m currently diving into the most.
“Jasmine Bloom” is what I named my collection, which is inspired by the scent of these tiny delicate white flowers. The dark, vintage, hand-painted designs were a way of registering on paper the comforting and nostalgic feeling I have just from smelling their perfume.
Let’s get to the point of how I designed these prints! As I mentioned before, everything begins on paper, and it’s one of my favourite steps. I spend some time drawing and painting the motifs, just making sure I have everything well-detailed and nicely painted. This time I used black ink to paint the leaves and fine liners to outline the jasmine flowers, which would later be re-coloured on Photoshop.
After that, I scan the motifs at 300 dpi, clean all the little marks and work on levels to get a nice, clear image. I also remove the background and re-colour the elements digitally. Here’s an example of the scanned and cleaned images.
Then I go to my computer and that’s when the magic happens! I play around with the motifs on Photoshop, just trying to find the right balance and harmony between the different sizes of flowers and leaves as well as the colours.
For this collection I envisioned a dark and muted palette, and below you can see how my screen looks when I’m in the middle of the process on Photoshop:
And that’s the final print. Voilà!
This design is called “Evening Jasmine”. With muted and earthy tones, “Evening Jasmine” has a vintage feel. I wanted to give it multiple layers of flowers to create a rich artwork, that could print perfectly on dresses, blouses and shirts.
Hope you enjoyed a little sneak peek behind the curtains and that it may inspire you and generate ideas for your next DIY project. How about a skirt or a new cushion cover? Don’t forget to check the Fabric Shop to see this collection as well as other designer prints, where you can choose your fabric and order online.
Thank you for coming along with me in this journey! I can’t wait to see what you make with my designs! Please tag Digital Fabrics and myself in any projects you create with these fabrics. Also, please join me on Instagram and Facebook, and have a look on my website www.imb-design.com to see my new adventures in the printed t-shirt world!
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 felt so very fortunate to have the incredibly talented Beck Ng of label Fabric Drawer taking part in this instalment of The Designer Project and have loved sharing her creativity and designs with you all! Beck has a background in graphic design however the maker eventually found her passion for textile design and we’re so glad that she did! Not only has Beck made a range of her wonderfully playful designs available in our Fabric Shop online as part of The Designer Project, but the designer herself has also written a guest blog which is featured below. The blog details how Beck came to surface design, her inspirations and how she typically creates her quirky pieces. Keep reading to find out more about Beck Ng and her fabulous designs!
Beck Ng
Hello! I’m Beck and I’m a surface designer and maker from Melbourne who has a love of creating patterns and making things.
Beck’s inspirational books, sketch book and all important iMac
After working as a graphic designer for many years and yearning to create something away from the computer, I enrolled myself into a couple of screen-printing courses, which led me to become fascinated with pattern repeats and eventually to study textiles.
Beck’s sketch book
“The Meadow Strike” design
I enjoy drawing and find inspiration from my travels, nature and life living in Melbourne. Florals, animals and geometric shapes feature heavily in my work.
Beck’s sketch book
“Roar Neon” design
I start most of my patterns as sketches on paper. I’ll usually draw quite a few different motifs in my notebook before I bring them into Adobe Illustrator to digitise. This means I am often re-drawing them on the computer, which allows me to easily edit and re-colour later. I tend to gravitate towards busy repeats and lots of motifs for my hero prints, but I also love the simplicity of a simpler design (which is not always simple to create!). From a hero print I will develop a collection of prints using the same theme and colour palette. It can be a bit of a process building a collection, so nowadays I will often just work on a hero print and come back to secondary and basic prints if I want to later on.
“Roar Neon” printed onto fabric
“Roar Neon” t-shirt mock-up
I created my label Fabric Drawer to showcase my work on a small range of fabric and paper products. The range is evolving, but I love to see my designs come to life on products. I also collaborate with clients to license my work to feature on their products.
“Siesta Blue” printed onto fabric
“Siesta Blue” tote bag mock-up
I’m really excited to have a collection of prints available through Digital Fabrics. One of the things that I love about having my prints on fabric is the joy of seeing what people create. As a sewer myself I know the possibilities are endless, so I look forward to seeing what you create!
You can continue to follow my creative journey through my Instagram account @fabric_drawer, and please do tag me if you would like to share what you make with my designs!
You can also check out more of Beck’s work at Fabric Drawer.
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!
What a joy it’s been sharing the incredible talents of artist and designer Tina Dinte through our current instalment of The Designer Project! One Blu Eye is the recent brainchild of Tina’s, expanding her creative practice to develop the surface design focused studio. Tina has developed a unique method of pairing her fun illustrations with her detail rich paintings and has made a range of her gorgeously intricate designs available as print-ready artwork in our Fabric Shop online. To coincide with the launch of Tina’s designs the artist herself has written 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 Tina Dinte and her spellbinding designs.
Tina Dinte and her dogs
My name is Tina and I am a full-time artist based in the bayside suburbs of Brisbane. Traditionally trained as a graphic designer and with a true love of drawing that emerged as a child, I’ve developed a style of painting that throws out the brushes, instead ‘drawing’ with paint onto the canvas with squeeze bottles. Each set of bottles has different paint consistencies — thick / normal / thin. The metal nibs enable me to do all the fine detail, just like I would do with a sharpened pencil when finessing drawing. I can produce paintings with wonderful textures and depth using areas of solid colour, different line thicknesses, stippling and blending of paint.
Tina and her unique style of ‘drawing with paint’
The subjects in my paintings are inspired by my bushland property, daily adventures, conversations with strangers and my large collection of books. The intricate details in my work come from studying everything around me – patterns and textures in nature, the linework of a building, the squiggly lines of coral, the typography of landscapes, the flow of moving water and even the movement of animals running.
Tina’s creative inspiration
When I first set about creating a range of surface designs, I came up against the question ‘how do I turn my extremely intricate artworks into a repeatable pattern?’. Seriously, it was impossible! However, after over a year of experimentation (and lots of failed designs), it came to me in a dream that I needed to create a ‘vessel’ for my paintings. I set about developing a series of digital illustrations (aka. the vessels) and overlaid my artworks inside them. And voila, I can create a unique repeatable pattern that is a combination of hand-drawn digital artwork and bespoke painting.
Tina’s original artwork “Nourishment in the Sea”
“Dalia Dragonfruit Blooms” is the first in my exotic fruit series. The digital illustration isn’t meant to be realistic but representational of a dragon fruit with its seeds and deep red colour. I teamed the illustration with a close up of my abstract painting titled “Nourishment of the Sea”. The name of the design was inspired by the floral type bloom from the top of the dragon fruit.
“Dalia Dragonfruit Blooms”
“Pastel Blue Blossoms” is a pastel-coloured abstract piece inspired by a visit to the Queensland Art Gallery. The digital illustration was drawn whilst sitting in the gallery surrounded by amazing iconic artworks. The super imposed abstract has been taken from my original painting titled “Australian Aurora Burst”.
“Pastel Blue Blossoms”
I am super excited about my debut range of designs under the One Blu Eye umbrella. As time goes on more designs will be added as I am inspired to create different artworks every day. Please follow my journey on my new Instagram account @one.blu.eye! You can also check out my extensive range of original artworks at @tinadinte_artist.
“Cheeky White Cockatoo”
P.S. Why the name “One Blu Eye”?
This is an easy one to answer… my rescue dog Tully has one brown eye and one blue eye. Every time we go for a walk I always hear from passers-by “Oh look, he has one blue eye”. And because I love my boy to bits, I decided to call my illustration practice after his quirky feature, just like my quirky illustrations!
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 Daniela Glassop and have adored sharing her beautifully detailed textiles designs with you. Daniela 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 Daniela’s designs the artist herself has put together a guest blog which details the different ways she likes to work and create imagery. Keep reading to find out more about Daniela Glassop and her surface designs!
Daniela Glassop in her studio
Welcome! I’m Daniela Glassop of Daniela Glassop Illustration and Design and I’ve been asked to write about my process and behind the scenes. First of all, I am thrilled to be part of Digital Fabrics’ “The Designer Project” and their intention to promote and nurture the designers that come up with the patterns for fabrics that you can choose from for your own creations.
Daniela’s designs mockup
All my work is about making it possible for myself and others to create living spaces and clothing that make us happy. If your décor and clothing bring joy, then you feel more confident in yourself.
Daniela’s desk space
I take numerous photos wherever I go and use these along with other research to develop ideas which I will roughly sketch while I try out some different design options before deciding on the layout I want to use. It is at this point that I start to draw the elements on hot pressed (smooth) watercolour paper with more details and at a larger scale before adding colour. I use gouache and watercolour mostly.
A canvas painting being varnished
Botanic paintings
Sometimes I will make paintings on canvas with acrylic paints, create imagery from cut paper as in my “Botanical Collage” design or draw my design digitally on my iPad after the research phase. Sometimes I also like to use coloured pencils or ink in my work. After the elements have been created, they will be digitized via scanner or camera and placed in my computer so that I can clean up edges and assemble the design.
Artwork for “Australian Flora, Birds, Butterflies and Bees”
“Australian Flora, Birds, Butterflies and Bees”
I don’t usually make use of a mood board although I always do some visual research before I start and will get together photographic imagery as reference material for my drawings. I will look through visual material, fill my head with some ways that I could approach my own design and then put that material out of sight while I rough out my ideas. If I am going to try a new technique, I may refer to a small collection of images while I try something new or if I have an essence that I would like to instil in the designs to keep me on track. My visual research will take into account the type of aesthetic required and if I have any trend research that I might incorporate. Sometimes, I might want to try a new colour scheme so I will find an image with a mix of colours I admire and use that as a starting point, or collect some coloured objects and plant material so I can work out my colour palette. I usually aim for a modern but elegant look that is kind of timeless so that they remain contemporary for longer as I prefer what I design to look beautiful and modern while not looking out of date too quickly.
Creative inspiration
I remember how thrilled I was when fashion designers were starting to use more vivid and striking colour combinations inspired by location. I have always made art and been able to make things from fabric so designing my own textile prints was always something I aspired to do.
Daniela’s paint studio
I have two workspaces, a clean space for work on paper and computer work while I have a paint studio for my canvas paintings and sewing.
Collection of paintings
Listening to the radio, podcasts or music and visits by my indoor cats help to keep me company while I work and I am surrounded by my favourite design books and sentimental things that have been made for me by my children along with trinkets from my travels.
“Botanical Collage”
I used to like to make gifts to give to special people but ended up with less time to be able to do this, but now that I can get my art onto products means that I can share my work with others and that feels very special to me.
“Australian Flora, Birds, Butterflies and Bees” cushion cover mock-up
I am looking forward to seeing what you create!
“White Butterflies” purse mock-up
You can check out more of Daniela’s work at Daniela Glassop Illustration & Design and via Instagram @danielaglassop.
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 sharing the work of artist Sue Michael through our latest instalment of The Designer Project. Sue has an on ongoing commitment to bring into form the subtle beauty of Australia. We think this notion is so beautifully seen through her “Everyday Life” Collection which is available as a series of print-ready designs in our Fabric Shop online. We’ve also been fortunate to have Sue put together a guest blog which delves deeper into her artistic practice and inspiration. Keep reading to find out more about Sue Michael and her “Everyday Life” Collection.
Treasures found at Marree, Far North South Australia
My name is Sue Michael and I have been painting and photographing overlooked moments of everyday life since 1996. I recently completed a Visual Art PhD at the University of South Australia and feel like I am only now beginning to fully understand the various aspects we can consider when we go to a new location. It is as if the small things all have meaning and are worthy of our consideration.
South Australian Land
My ancestors were pioneers on the land in the Mid-North of South Australia, and although they were faced with challenges with the heat and lack of rainfall, they quickly learnt to love the land, itself. I have been looking at the way people make life more comfortable and accepting of the natural environment, whether that be with hardy garden plantings, bird baths, built arrangements made to provide shade, or the unique rural colour schemes to promote a cooler atmosphere.
Everyday inspirations
The natural patterns in the vegetation seem to be imbued with a sort of untidiness, perhaps are stunted in size, and the colours carry a sort of greyish tint. And then you can have a flock of brilliantly plumed finches that can fly past all of this! I too have come to appreciate these Australian design elements and like to include them in my fabric designs.
Petal arrangement
“Squatter’s Dream”
“Squatter’s Dream” scarf mock-up
Most of my fabrics carry a generous percentage of subdued colours, leaving only small notations of brilliant colour. I like to use colour as if it were like bejewelled broaches or a richly coloured scarf upon a tailored suit. My Mum used to decorate the children’s feasting table with jellies and drinks, providing these points of colour in the same way.
Rocks, fossils and roses
Old photograph capturing a set table
I exhibit genre paintings of everyday life mostly through the West Gallery, Thebarton. People are understanding that I am not being sentimental in my place studies, and that instead, I am locating essential understandings, specific to those little country towns. I am trying to be true to the districts I am visiting, rather than copying overseas models. Much like a painting on the wall, I hope my ‘picture designs’ can follow previous traditions in fabric design and can adorn a city apartment with an endearing beach shack scene, for example, on a luxurious cushion, or allow a petal arrangement to adorn a scarf that can accompany the wearer when a day of resourcefulness is upon them.
“Island Spray”
“Island Spray” cushion mock-up
The connections to the natural world may be there for us to access at any time.
Earth
Second Valley, South Australia
Deep thinking occurs through the actual processes of making art. It can also bring to the surface kindly thoughts and a joyousness that can be shared. I am ‘soodiorama’ on Instagram, and you will find the wide variety of playful experimentations that I have enjoyed there. I am new to fabric design and am absolutely bursting with possibilities.
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!
Our current feature artist in The Designer Project is surface pattern extraordinaire Sarah Ossitt and we have loved sharing with you all her colourful statement textile designs! To provide a little more insight into Sarah’s playful “Moments” and “Dancing Flowers” collections, which are both available in our Fabric Shop online, Sarah has put together a guest blog which shares her typical methodology for creating designs. Keep reading to find out more about Sarah Ossitt’s creative process and her fantastic surface pattern designs!
Hello!
I am Sarah Ossitt, the designer, girl boss and chief tea maker behind Sazerelli Designs. I’m here to share a selection of my pattern designs, for you lovely readers, sewers and crafters, to turn into something magical!
Sarah Ossitt in her studio
The designs can be printed on a large selection of stock fabrics and can be selected from Digital Fabrics Fabric Shop, which can then be made into clothing, homewares and so much more.
“Spring Flowers”
Below is a sneak peek behind the scenes in my studio.
Sarah Ossitt working on repeat surface designs
Sarah Ossitt sketching artwork
My patterns often start from drawings with black ink pens. Currently I am loving using brush pens, to add a variety of pen thickness and hand-drawn feel to my designs. I also like to work on my iPad, to sketch ideas and start playing with colour combinations. I then send everything to Illustrator to fit the puzzle pieces together, create a repeating pattern and start to build up a collection. The colour wheel tool is where I can spend hours of time, it’s amazing how different a pattern can feel in a different colour palette. I usually start with a navy blue – it’s my favourite go-to colour, and I love how the bright colours can really pop when using navy as a background.
“Windows”
“Windows” singlet mock-up
My hand-drawn geo collection “Moments” started out as some mark-making and simple sketches. I didn’t have an end vision, it was just about getting pen to paper whilst my daughter was busy drawing rainbows and my baby son was napping. With a young family I have to fit in my creativity when I can, sometimes there is no plan and that can be the best place to start!
Hand-drawn pen illustrations
“Spotty Stripe”
The second collection “Dancing Flowers” is a curated selection of some of my bold and bright floral designs. I like to use different pattern techniques in a collection, from tightly placed motifs to big and bold flowers, and add in some simple coordinates such as spots and stripes to add variety. I can imagine these designs on full circle skirts or dresses.
“Dance”
“Dance” cushion mock-up
I love to create fun, vibrant patterns that bring a smile to your face. I create a mix of florals, geometric and occasional prints and patterns. I am also a stationery addict and have my own range of greeting cards & printable wall art.
Sarah’s workspace
Sarah’s greeting cards
I would love to see what you create, feel free to tag me so I can share your creations. You can find me on Instagram or Facebook @sazerellidesigns.
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 been very excited having the super talented creative Rachel Darling as our current feature artist as part of The Designer Project and have adored sharing her breath taking textile designs. To coincide with Rachel’s “Peninsula” designs being added to our Fabric Shop online, Rachel has put together a guest blog which shares some background information about the artist herself, the inspiration for the collection and how Rachel likes to work creatively. The blog is simply a joy to read! Keep reading to find out more about Rachel Darling and her “Peninsula” Collection.
Rachel Darling at her home studio
My partner and I recently bought our first home and we were over the moon that we managed to stay on the LeFevre Peninsula, in the suburb of Largs Bay. We both mostly grew up on the peninsula, so we had personal connections and community here, plus we love the historical and industrial vibes of the area. And of course, the beach! Our house is just a short walk from the coastline and while I love all the usual things one would love about the beach, I have always thought the foliage in the peninsula sand dunes to be uniquely beautiful. This is what inspired my collection “Peninsula”.
Largs Bay, South Australia
Foliage found around Largs Bay
Foliage found around Largs Bay
I spent a lot of time photographing and sketching different plants and flowers from the dunes and walkways, observing their unique shapes and textures. I also love the overall colour palette of the landscape, how it looks different according to the time of day, but always has an underlying muted feel to it. Some of the flowers I found offered crazy pops of colour, but I chose to stick to the overall colour scheme of the landscape for this collection.
“Beach Wattle”
Process artwork for “Wisp”
“Wisp – Sand”
At the moment, I “balance” full-time work with my creative freelance work. I am a marketing officer for the government by day, and a creative by night (or by very early mornings, which is when I most like to work!). Because of this, my creative process can be a little disjointed, and I’ll fit creative work in wherever I can. I also do a lot of my creative work on the weekends.
Rachel’s home studio
“Yellow Daisy Magic” designs
Rachel’s home studio
On an ideal day, I will go for a walk in the morning with my dog, Lottie – this is her favourite part of my creative process! Along the way I’ll collect photos of plants, flowers, textures and colours to take back to my studio. Once I’m back in my studio I use the photos as reference to sketch out my designs (either with pen/pencil or directly onto the computer, using my Wacom tablet). I like to include as much detail as I can. While I am not going for a ‘realistic’ look, as such, I am trying to capture textures, impurities and fine points that make up the overall look. I will then colour my sketches digitally, and this is where I loosen up a bit. I do not stay within the lines and I take the time to colour my designs in a ‘manual way’ so that these imperfections come through. I feel that this contributes to my illustrative style. I will often add some little markings made up of tiny dots, circles and star shapes. I am not sure why or when I started doing this, but the markings have become part of my style and I have started to describe them as “bits of magic.” These feature a lot in my “Peninsula” collection.
“Spring Begins – Sky”
Rachel and her studio manager – Lottie the pup
Floral illustrations for the “Peninsula Collection”
You can check out more of Rachel Darling’s work at Rachel Kate Darling and via Instagram @rachkatedarling.
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!
Our current feature artist as part of The Designer Project is the wonderfully creative designer Tammy de Zilva and we have been so fortunate to have her talents on board! Tammy has offered a range of her colourful and figurative designs as print-ready artwork in our Fabric Shop online, with each being available to print onto any of our stock fabrics! What’s more exciting is that the artist herself has shared with us a guest blog which discusses her primary inspirations and creative processes. Keep reading to find out more about Tammy de Zilva and her “Playground Stories” Collection!
Hello friends! Tammy de Zilva here from Loopla. I’m a Surface Pattern Designer from Brisbane and am so excited to join The Designer Project with Digital Fabrics. I love to create playful retro designs for both kids and adults, using bright bold colours to inject a punch of happiness into my work. My biggest goal is to bring joy to others with my art.
Tammy de Zilva
Today I’m sharing with you my collection “Playground Stories”. This playful collection was inspired by the creative storytelling of an imaginative 4-year-old and his mum, me! From bunnies frolicking through gardens to pink bananas rolling down hills, this collection has sweet, playful and happy tones. The designs are perfect for fashion, bedding, homewares and interiors for kids and big kids (like me!) alike.
“Floral Lines” tote bag mock-up
My son loves creative storytelling, especially a progressive story where we will take turns adding to the story which often adds many crazy twists and turns or something just plain silly. They give me so much inspiration for my designs and often make me think outside the box.
Tammy’s wonderfully colourful studio
Quite often I will start my design development on my iPad Pro and then take the designs into Adobe Illustrator on my computer to turn them into a repeat pattern. I love having the flexibility to change things around easily by working digitally from the start.
Tammy sketching motifs for “Floral Lines”
Occasionally I do go back to the sketchbook and do some initial doodles there first before digitising them.
Initial sketches for “Bear Faces”
Initial sketches for “Bear Faces”
“Bear Faces” will make the most adorable children’s clothes. I just love these cute little baby harem pants. The wonky lines just add that extra element of playfulness to them and the darker background really makes the colours pop.
“Bear Faces”
“Bear Faces” baby harem pants mock-up
I also love creating some designs in a larger scale to add impact. “Happy Flowers” and “Going Bananas” are both large scale designs in this collection and would look amazing as a dress, cushion or tea towel. I love having bold colourful tea towels in the kitchen to brighten things up.
“Happy Flowers” dress mock-up
“Going Bananas” t-shirt mock-up
I cannot wait to see what fabulous things you make with my designs. Be sure to tag me on Instagram and Facebook so I can see them and cheer you on!
Tammy de Zilva
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project initiative and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you want to be part of this and we will be in touch.