Tag Archives: print your fabric

Print on organic cotton. New Organic Cotton Fabric – Poppy!

Print on organic cotton. Organic cotton fabric Poppy

This year our focus is to test as many new fabrics as we can find and get to know fabric mills worldwide. Through our exploration, we came across our new fabric base which has won our hearts.

Say Hello to our latest addition to the fabric family, Poppy! This fabric has a soft handle, a lovely texture when washed (you probably won’t even want to iron it!), brilliant colour reproduction and most important of all, colour fastness. We simply couldn’t resist introducing this glorious fabric to our range.

Keep on reading to find out more about our brand-new natural fabric print base and get inspired for your next project!

Fabric design: Sunday Drive to the Coast – Sue Michael

Printed Poppy fabric. You can print your own artwork online or select a unique design from Australian artists and designers in our Fabric Shop!

Fabric design: Checkered Lavender – Britney Munday

Fabric design: Sunflower Fields – Andrea Maurer

Poppy is a luscious 100% Organic Cotton fabric woven in fine sateen weave with a slight sheen. It has beautiful colour reproduction when printed due to its bright white base and washes well keeping the print lovely and bright. Even though this fabric washes well, the pigment inks are one of the most fragile inks on the market and require special care. For the best results, we recommend washing the fabric gently by hand with cold water or a cold, gentle machine wash with phosphate free detergent.

Unprinted Poppy fabric

Left side: colour chart before wash. Right side: colours and shrinkage after wash.

It’s a wonderfully versatile, easy to sew fabric with a maximum printable width of 145cm. It has a weight of 140 GSM making it a perfect lightweight print base for fashion garments and accessories such as skirts, dresses, pants, shirts, bandanas and hair scarves. It would also be suitable for some homewares such as table linen, pillowcases or even a sweet wedding banner!

Image source: Rachel Antonoff

Image source: Poppy and Honesty via Etsy

Sample swatches of Poppy are available through our Sample Pack Order Form in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘For the Little Ones’ and ‘Super Pack’ sample packs on the website. Contact us to find out if this fabric is a suitable option for your next textile project!!

Fabric design: Sunset Poppy – Jenni Rogers

Fabrics design: Snakes in Leaves Peachy Pink – Dominique Collins

Samples of Poppy fabric can be ordered online

Print on organic cotton. New Organic Cotton Fabric – Poppy!

Print on organic cotton. Organic cotton fabric Poppy

This year our focus is to test as many new fabrics as we can find and get to know fabric mills worldwide. Through our exploration, we came across our new fabric base which has won our hearts.

Keep on reading to find out more about our brand-new natural fabric print base and get inspired for your next project!

Fabric design: Sunday Drive to the Coast – Sue Michael

Printed Poppy fabric. You can print your own artwork online or select a unique design from Australian artists and designers in our Fabric Shop!

Fabric design: Checkered Lavender – Britney Munday

Fabric design: Sunflower Fields – Andrea Maurer

Unprinted Poppy fabric

Left side: colour chart before wash. Right side: colours and shrinkage after wash.

Image source: Rachel Antonoff

Image source: Poppy and Honesty via Etsy

Fabric design: Sunset Poppy – Jenni Rogers

Fabrics design: Snakes in Leaves Peachy Pink – Dominique Collins

Samples of Poppy fabric can be ordered online

Emilie Otto – The Designer Project

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!

‘Life of the Party’ Textile Collection by Emilie Otto

We couldn’t be more excited to announce that our next featured artist from The Designer Project will be none other than the amazing Emilie Otto!

Her ‘Life of the Party’ collection is 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 the best part of the Australian Summer.

Keep reading to find out more about Emilie Otto and her fun loving designs!

Play Time Ocean Blues is a feel-good vibrant print, featuring a few items that you would find at a celebration with friends. The colours are inspired by warm sunny days and sparkling blue oceans.

We think this is the perfect print for some funky swimwear, can’t you picture it as some board-shorts or a bikini?

Picnic Rug Candy is a vibrant gingham print, inspired by picnic catchups with friends. The colours are warm and are like those you can enjoy during a candy-coloured sunset.

This print would look fantastic for fashion garments and homewares! We love this colourway for a super fun picnic blanket or perhaps a summer dress.

Picnic Rug Dawn is a vibrant gingham print, inspired by picnic catchups with friends. The colours are cool and soft like those you can enjoy during a dreamy early morning.

Another amazing print for a range of fashion and home and interior projects, think flowing pants or cushions!

Stripey Bubblegum is a bold geometric print; it is a statement and fun take on traditional tartan. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by watermelon flavoured candy.

This design is perfect for some summer accessories such as bucket hats or tote bags/beach bags!

Stripey Violet is a bold geometric print; it is a statement and fun take on traditional tartan. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by wildflowers.

We think this print would work so well for a statement beach towel or even a new onepiece.

Sunday Sesh Mint is a hand carved print inspired by long days in the sun with friends, sipping on your favourite drinks. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by Mint & Pink Gin cocktails.

This design is so perfect for beachy/pool attire, think a loose over shirt with matching shorts!

Sunday Sesh Violet is a hand carved print inspired by long days in the sun with friends, sipping on your favourite drinks. The colour combination is what make this print POP, which was inspired by Lemons & blueberries.

We love this print for a fun kaftan to throw on at the beach!

All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the sky’s truly the limit with Emilie’s super fun collection! Each of Emilie’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!

Madeline Hawkins – The Designer Project

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!

The Creative Night -Recap

About a month ago we hosted the Creative Night exhibition in support of The Designer Project to celebrate all of the designers we work with as well as to demonstrate what we do at Digital Fabrics and how you can bring your creative ideas to life through digital printing and design.

We have had a “Design transfer to fabric” demonstration, a gallery display of fabric prints by The Designer Project designers, Fabric headers flip-through station, a “Creative Opportunities” custom products display, complimentary drinks, photos, DJ, and lots more fun.

It was a great pleasure to meet so many wonderful people and creative minds under one roof. Quite frankly it was humbling to see so many people come to support our work, we didn’t anticipate how much interest and love we would receive on the night. Curiosity and appreciation of creative processes and the artistic work of others were simply infectious!

22 Designers were showcased that evening demonstrating the talent and creative possibilities that surface design and digital fabric printing can offer! A huge thank you to all the participating designers and those who came to meet us. A special Thank You goes to Tracy Hall, Marie Schmitt, and Michaela Burgess who took the challenge to create and draw on the spot, demonstrating and sharing their knowledge and processes the night.

And because sometimes pictures speak louder than words, please enjoy this visual recap of our Creative Night! Samee and Wade.

‘Digital Fabrics Team – Group Photo’ ‘Designer Project Designer – Michaela Burgess’ ‘Designer Project Designer – Sarah Ossitt pictured with her design Dance’ ‘Designer Project Designer – Lillie McDonagh pictured with her design Sunshine Confetti’

‘Video recap of the exhibition’

With special credits to our Photographer – Samee Lapham @samsette and Videographer – Wade Van Den Hoek @van.flix of the night, for capturing what a wonderful evening this was.

The Creative Night -Recap

And because sometimes pictures speak louder than words, please enjoy this visual recap of our Creative Night! Samee and Wade.

‘Video recap of the exhibition’

With special credits to our Photographer – Samee Lapham @samsette and Videographer – Wade Van Den Hoek @van.flix of the night, for capturing what a wonderful evening this was.

‘Pressed Flowers’ + ‘Retro Resilience’ Textile Collections by Britney Munday

It’s that time again where we introduce our newest feature artist in The Designer Project and we are so excited to announce that the wonderful Britney Munday will be our designer of the month!

We’re so excited to have her on board and that we’re able to share not only one but TWO of her amazing textile print collections with you all, ‘Pressed Flowers’ and ‘Retro Resilience’.

Britney is based in the Gippsland area of Victoria but is originally from the US! Her style is what she describes as ‘organised chaos’. She tries to make sense of the varieties of colours and motifs by placing them in a structured way. Her love for all things bright and colourful means no colour palette is out of bounds, but she does tend to stick to the general “floral” motif.

All of Britney’s designs can be printed onto any of our fabric base cloths which means you can order custom designer fabric that’s tailored to you! Keep reading to find out more about Britney Munday’s beautiful designs!

‘Pressed Flowers’

‘Mixed Florals’ is a fun, playful print that pulls together elements from all the designs in the “Pressed Flowers” collection to create a fun and carefree design.

We’re loving this arrangement of florals and think it would work the best as some stunning statement pants or perhaps some lovely curtains for your home!

‘Tossed Bouquet’ is a cheery yellow design featuring small bouquets of flowers. It brings to mind childhood memories of picking flowers for mom in the backyard.

This print is absolutely perfect for any and all fashion projects! It can work for such a variety of garments, especially a lovely flowing skirt.

‘Ditsy Daisy‘, a print that is simple and sweet and suggests clear blue skies and rolling prairies.

This print would work beautifully for any fashion project! It will suit any and all garments, from sweet dresses to a lovely shirt.

‘Plentiful Daisy’ is a lovely design that keeps the eye moving and grooving with subtle vintage feels. It showcases a variety of pinks, oranges, yellow and off white that can be seen throughout the collection.

This design is such a fantastic print for fashion. It could be used for a variety of garments…the ideas are endless!

‘Falling Petals’ features small scaled elements, which makes this a perfect blender print. It represents the swirling of petals in a gentle breeze and showcases the soft peach colour that is also utilized in the “Mixed Floral” print in this collection.

The sweet pinks and white combo makes this ideal for fashion projects, we think it would work best for some adorable kids wear! Perhaps some cute pyjamas for your little ones.

‘Retro Resilience’

‘Star Flower’ is a larger scaled vintage floral motif which goes perfectly with the other designs of the collection. One colourway features a beige base with a floral motif coloured with fun and bright pinks, blues, and ochre; the other colourway features a blue base, with the floral coloured with white, blues and ochre.

‘Star Flower’ is such a divine print! We think this would work perfectly for heaps of fashion projects, from a cute skirt or dress to some lovely pyjamas.

‘Waving Geometric’, a groovy geometric print that stands out in the “Retro Resilience” collection as true to the 60’s and 70’s feel. One colourway featuring cool blue and green colours with brown outlines and the other colourway soft warm tangerine and blush colours with ochre outlines.

We think this design would work perfectly for any home and interior projects, whether it be a funky blanket or some statement curtains!

‘Checkered Beige and Lavender’ are fun checked patterns that will make any project pop. The first colourway ties together many of the pinks, oranges, and blues from the rest of the collection and the second colourway ties together the lavender and teal colours.

We are obsessing over the ‘Checker’ designs. These prints would look so cute as a matching top and pants, as well as some funky bed sheets!

‘Window Plaid’ is a classic blender print that can be used for a variety of projects. One colourway uses a simple beige and ochre colour palette and the other colourway uses more of a cream with lavender colour palette.

We think ‘Window Plaid’ is a perfect print for a variety of both fashion and home projects. We can see this as some stylish pyjamas and also some lovely statement cushions.

All of our project ideas above are suggestions only as the sky’s truly the limit with Britney’s beautiful collection! Each of Britney’s designs can be found in our Fabric Shop, so head on over to be inspired for your next DIY project!

Gabrielle Marlow – The Designer Project

We have absolutely loved sharing these beautiful floral designs by Southern Highlands based designer Gabrielle Marlow and hope you’ve loved her designs as much as we have! To coincide with Gabrielle’s “Nature’s Garden” collection being made available online to all of our customers, through our Fabric Shop, 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 Gabrielle Marlow and her gorgeous prints!

Gabrielle Marlow

Art has always been a part of my life; until recently, I was focusing mainly on traditional art, painting horses, pets, and animals as well as landscapes, still lives and florals. I have always had a tremendous love and fascination for surface pattern design.

Two years ago, I came across some very good online courses in digital illustration and surface pattern design. Now, I am fully immersed in creating designs for fabric. They are used in fashion and home décor, it’s wonderful.

Fairy Wren Sketches

The Southern Highlands, NSW is the place I call home. Living and working from home in Balmoral Village I am surrounded by nature, my inspiration. I can walk into the bush or the garden, pick flowers and draw them. Or I photograph them and return to my studio to paint. I then use them in a wide variety of surface pattern designs.

Gabrielle’s bushland inspiration from her walkAustralian Floral with Red Bottlebrush

I love drawing and painting and using pure paint pigments. I use a real painting as my initial design. Art on paper. I pick flowers on walks in nature or photograph flowers, plants, foliage, insects, birds, and other animals to use as inspiration. There is nothing quite like being outside and immersing oneself in nature to get truly inspired. Handpicked botanical collectionKangaroos, Tiny Fairy Wrens and Springtime

I use an ordinary pencil for the initial sketch or drawing on paper, then watercolour paints on artist quality paper. Sometimes I work in oils and pen and wash as well. It just depends on what I feel like doing and what it is for. Some of my best artworks are scanned, digitised, and made into illustrations and repeat surface pattern designs though!

Digital Fabrics_ The Designer Project_Bright and bold Australian Floral Gabrielle’s website: www.planetwombat.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriellemarlowdesign

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ahappyplaceforeveryone

Cotton Linen Fabric

Been interested in printing on our Cotton Linen fabric, however unsure if it will suit your work? Then keep reading! Below we’ve listed this fabrics specs, printing characteristics and the types of projects, products and applications we think it’s perfect for! You’ll soon find out why this fabric is consistently one of our most popular fabrics.

Cotton Linen is a fabulous natural fibre blend (97% Cotton / 3% Linen) with a gorgeous texture and durable weave. This sturdy fabric is 250gsm, has zero stretch and a maximum printable width of 140cm.The fabric has a warm off-white base colour (think cereal milk or fresh cream) and a matte finish. Its robust weave provides great colour reproduction when printed! When considering the Cotton Linen for your next project please keep in mind that some fading after washing is normal for natural fabrics that have been used for digital printing. The fading often gives our printed natural fabrics a softer finish which suits the natural fibre itself. Fading can be minimized through the use of cold hand-washing and phosphate free detergent.

Our Cotton Linen is a really versatile, premium choice fabric, which gives a deluxe yet relaxed feel to homewares, garments and displays. It is often selected by customers as an alternative to Cotton Canvas fabrics. Popular applications for the Cotton Linen include cushion covers, upholstery, tailored jackets, bags, tea towels, wall hangings, art displays and event back drops. We’ve included some examples below of the types of projects that this fabric is the ideal choice for!

Image via Pinterest

Sample swatches of the Cotton Linen are available through our Sample Pack Order Form and can be found in our ‘Fashion Fabrics’, ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘Home and Interiors Fabrics’ and ‘Superpack’ sample packs. Get in touch to find out if this fabrics will be suitable for your next project!

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