Collection Highlight: Peter Pan and the Lost Boys of Neverland

Hey everyone!

Today, I just want to highlight my most popular collection, Peter Pan. Honestly, I'm not sure why this is so popular, but I hope it shows a revival of classic children's literature. The idea of never growing up appeals to kids and parents who realize that childhood is short.

For the color scheme, I chose to go with mostly greens and blues. I added some purple in later designs so it could also be a bit feminine. The best part about working with the Peter Pan story is the variety of characters. You have pirates, indians, fairies, and mermaids all in one story. Because of that wide variety, I can easily made designs that appeal to boys and girls, just like the story of Peter Pan.

Truth be told, I have never been too fond of the film adaptations of Peter Pan. I feel like there was always that missing quality that J. M. Barrie's storytelling had that turned Peter Pan into something completely magical for children and endearing for adults.

Here's a few of my highlighted designs from this collection. To see the full collection, click here.

 

Summer Reading List

Hello everyone!

As you may have guessed, my designs are often based on what I read. That makes design research just reading books. So for fun, I thought I should share my summer reading list (and maybe hint at a few upcoming design ideas).

The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Great Gasby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Wonderful Wizard of Ox by L. Frank Baum

If you have any suggestions, leave them in a comment below!

Charlie and The Chocolatier

Hello everyone!

I'm super happy to announce that the first fabrics of Charlie and The Chocolatier are now available to purchase!

Here's a sneak preview of some of the designs.

The Chocolatier

Square Candies that Look 'Round

Visitors to the Chocolate Factory

And there's more to come!

See the collection here on my shop.

I'm Back!!!

Hey everyone!

I have been on a long hiatus, thanks to school and work. But I'm happy to announce I'll be back to designing and posting updates about my designing journey. There will be a bunch of new designs up as soon as the proofs come in. I also started a new collection based on Roald Dahl's masterpiece Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I recently read the book and fell head over heels in love with the quirky Willy Wonka. I had avoid the book because growing up, I was scared on the crazy boat scene in the movie. However, I felt the need to give the book a chance, and it was so delightful and led me to love the old movie as well. So the first designs of that collection will be available at the end of the week.
I also designed a companion fabric for my very popular Doctor Who-inspired "Quotes From a Mad Man in a Box." I also added a few new fabrics to my existing literary collections based on Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, abd Peter Pan. In addition, I'll be releasing to the public my Professor Layton-inspired collection "Puzzles and Gears."

So stay tuned for more posts and more fabrics!

Choosing a Color Scheme

Hi everyone!

I'm back again for a quick post about choosing a color scheme. As a person who just loves color, I find it hard to narrow myself down to just a few colors. Here's a few things I like to do when choosing a color scheme for a collection.

1.  Pinterest
Like I said in my previous post, Pinterest is a great place to start to find colors that look good together. Literally all you have to do is type in "color scheme," and voila! Several hundred color schemes to get you started.

2.  Find colors in your inspiration source
This is probably how I choose most of my colors. For example, the Queen of Hearts is obviously going to be red. Then there's Alice, whose dress was originally yellow but was change to blue by Walt Disney. I decided to go with blue for my collection, because it created a nice contrast to the red. In my Anne of Green Gables-inspired collection, I immediately have green as an obvious color choice. I have one Doctor Who-inspired design, so royal blue was my first choice of color.

3.  Listen to music/audiobooks
Sounds trigger my mind to think certain colors or shades. Think about the dainty classical dances featured in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Would you use neon colors or lots of highly contrasting colors? Probably not. What about the adventurous soundtrack of Lord of the Rings? Would you use pastels or even bright colors?

Well, that's all for today. Leave me some tips about how you choose your color schemes in the comments below!

-Lauren

Tools For Designing Fabric

Hi everyone!

Today, I want to talk about some of the tools I use when I design fabric.

1.  Pinterest
First tool I always use is Pinterest. Pinterest is an awesome place to find possible color schemes and art styles you may want to use in your design. It's typically where I start, and I make a board for each design collection idea I have. So I have an Anne of Green Gables board and a Peter Pan board to save color schemes, quotes, and artwork that I can refer back to.

2.  Pencil and Paper
Drawing by hand is the best place to start. Personally, I feel like I have more control drawing first with paper and pencil and then tracing it later digitally.

3.  SketchbookPro App
My personal favorite is the SketchbookPro App for my iPad. I do all of my script patterns on SketchbookPro because it's easy to rotate my iPad. It's easy to upload designs on the go from the app. Also, the SketchbookPro app includes the Copic marker colors, which have turned out nicely on my designs. Cons to the SketchbookPro App is that it has only preset sizings and minimum layering. Also, it takes up a big chunk of my iPad storage.

4.  Adobe Photoshop
Perhaps the mother of all tools is Adobe Photoshop. It has a pen tool that makes it easy to trace over my drawings and a grid so it's easier to make even stripes and repeating patterns.

What about you? What are some of your favorite design tools? Leave me a comment below.

-Lauren

Finding a Source of Inspiration

Hi everyone!

Finding inspiration is always the first step when designing a fabric collection. Like I said previously, my inspiration often comes from what I read. Why? Well, a story contains everything from people to places, and their descriptions are wildly fun to pull from. Let's take Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and brainstorm some possibilities. 

The first thing I like to do is list characters. We have the curious protagonist Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March O'Hare, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, Bill the Lizard, and the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum--as well as several others. When designing my collection, I also listed characters from the sequel Through the Looking Glass. I took my list and created this design by just writing their names and adding some doodles of them.

The characters themselves can also inspire designs. The Mad Hatter, for example, wears a crazy hat, but also, his name implies that he creates crazy hats. I took that idea to create this design:

Also, Tweedledee and Tweedledum inspired this simple design:

The Queen of Hearts inspired this design:

Events in the story can also inspire designs. The most famous event in Alice in Wonderland is the Mad Tea Party. Food in general plays an important role in the story, so I decided to include a "Drink Me" vial and some "Eat Me" biscuits in this design:

Another well-known event is when the cards paint white roses red. That event inspired this design:

Carroll's rich storytelling and poetry provides tons of inspiration. I still have some design ideas I just haven't gotten around to drawing from Alice in Wonderland. You can find all these designs and more at my Spoonflower shop.

That's all for now.

-Lauren

Finding Design Inspiration from Novels

Hello!

My name's Lauren, and I am a huge reader, thanks to my mother who read aloud to me all the time. I also happen to be an amateur fabric designer on Spoonflower, and my reading selections have influenced what I focus on in my designs. I decided to start this blog as a way to share my design inspiration.

My primary source of inspiration comes from my favorite classic novels. I decided about a year ago I wanted to create a fabric collection that focused on one of my all-time favorite classic children's book Alice In Wonderland, and since then, I've also worked on an Anne of Green Gables collection and a Peter Pan one.

I hope that this blog will not only allow me to share my inspiration with you but also for you to share your novel ideas with me. Leave comments on the posts to recommend new color schemes, books, or patterns! I'd love to hear from you.

-Lauren