Pattern Play

There is nothing I love more than playing around with patterns. It's something I absolutely ADORE that I don't do enough of unfortunately. Time stands still when I make these I could go on & on for hours.

I had an hour to play around with today & ended up putting this together.

The plan is that these will be used in the future for something.

farm inspired fun

Playing with repeat patterns, SO MUCH FUN!!

A bit of farm inspired fun.

Oink piggy on  forks

Nine piece farm fun collection.

Lovely windmill, some fallen apples & a blue bird.

Nautical patterns

It's been a busy week & to be very honest with you, I can not believe Friday is here already. What I would do to be able to make time stand still!! Between working incredibly hard behind the scenes to learn as much as possible from my course, maintaining customer orders, working on new designs for release, & my kids having sniffles this week, I have decided to add something else to the mix.

I need to start building my pattern repeat collection up if I am to every grab hold of my elusive surface design dream. I sat here doodling ideas of what to create & then it dawned on me. Yep right under my nose. I have hundreds of cushion designs, why not develop each one into a collection of pattern repeats. It will be a great way to present my work, & show how it coordinates with my current product. This doesn't mean I wont be working on new designs also!!

I can see this in a quilt for a little boy, it's bright & lots of fun. I love the yellow in it, it's so happy, & it co ordinates perfectly with products shown available which are available in my shop.

Have a great Friday.

New Updated Pattern - Garden Party

Monday is here already & my weekend was a shocker. I finally caught my kids sniffles, & it hit me like a tonne of bricks. There is nothing I dislike more that being down and out with a cold, not just for the obvious reason that I feel like crap, but I am a rather productive person & hate to sit around doing nothing. Yesterday I had a golden opportunity to work on a few personal projects that have been in the "pending" basket. Hubby was at golf & my parents to the kids to Scienceworks. Instead of me revelling in the 'aloneness', I was on the couch, sleeping. So frustrating!!

Anyway today I am feeling a little better, but with kids to collect & look after, there really is no opportunity to be feeling sorry for myself.

One super exciting project I did manage to get done was a new design repeat. I have been playing around with these a lot, as part of my new online course I am doing. I am working on building up my portfolio so I can look into some streams of work I have been passion about for a long time.....actually forever. I will fill you in on that tomorrow.

But here is my new print collection. The print is based on my Garden Party cushion. I have already completed a version of this but when I looked at it gain I wasn't happy with it. So here I have fixed it up.

Here is my NEW sketch.

Here it is in a dreamy repeat hopefully one day to end up on fabric.

Besides the obvious choice to be used on a quilts, I thought it would love in a little girls dress too?
What do you think?

I am playing around with lots of coordinates, which I will share also when I get them complete.

Mosaic inspired pattern repeats

I have been really interested in mosaic designs at the moment, after having a chat with my sister in-law the other night. Our conversation was purely in relation to gardens, and how I would love to create some stepping stones outside in my garden beds with a mosaic design on them. She has some she  made for herself in her garden and they are super cute.

With this inspiration I have been working on some new pattern repeats. Using the mosaic inspiration I wanted to create little squares with a design inside, imagining each one was a pretty glass tile.

I kept everything very abstract because I wanted to design something that naturally looked great on fabric. My intention was simple and rather ageless, when I say that I mean babies to pre tweens. Not to cutesy and without any specific theme involved. This is a favourite boy classic colour palette I used quite a lot navy, sky blue, red and gray. 

A very girly and pink version for the girls with a minor change. Stars to hearts. I am a huge pink fan, I just can't help myself and I particular love it with white and fresh apple green.

I can really see this fabric on soft furnishings & decor. I am seeing cushions, bean bags, lamp shades, even a blanket of some sort. I am looking in the very near future of creating some fabric via spoonflower, so you just never know this could be one of them.

Hope you're have a great day :)

My love for pattern repeats

Did you know that I am completely a self taught artist? No graphic design training, just an education in fashion design. Digital illustration has been a passion that I have had since I saw a graphic design drawing on a computer, back in the late 1990's, in one of my first assistant jobs. Since then I have been obsessed with.

My love for pattern repeats has also been something that I have truly enjoyed & haven't dabbled much in it since I left the fashion industry. Designing kids & women's wear, it was part of my job to design repeat prints so I could have fabrics made exactly how I wanted them. I loved doing them as it was the fondation of a whole fashion story. The print, the tee shirt design, or a border a print, an embroidery detail, even a second colour way. All were derived from the initial print.

During this time I have started to build an inspiration folder in pinterest, which is growing believe me. here are a couple of favourites to date.

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I have also started to play around with my own again which can be quite addictive & I look forward to sharing some with you.It's jumping back on a bike again really, I have been a bit rusty achieving that perfectly seamless repeat, but it hasn't taken long.

Have a great Monday,