My Spoonflower Fabrics Maker-Submitted Project Showcase

Feb 25, 2015 | By Carly J. Cais, From You

As you may know, I designed some fabrics awhile ago and offer them for sale by the yard through my shop on Spoonflower.
mygalaxydesignsonspoonflowerAt first I created them because I couldn’t find any galaxy-print fabrics that I liked, and I wanted to play with the trending print. After I opened my shop though, people that I didn’t even know began purchasing my designs and using them in their own projects. I was so thrilled to see other creators designing with fabrics that I had spent so long laboring over their designs, their colors, their pattern repeat until my eyes were practically crossed!

Some people were kind enough to share with me some projects they had made:
yansev-wakeboard-coverSource

Like Yannick who goes by @yansev on Instagram, who made this amazing wakeboard cover using my palm tree fabric. (He’s working on a line of wakeboard covers coming in Summer 2015 – follow him on Instagram for updates!!) Whoever thought of making a wakeboard cover with Spoonflower fabric…isn’t that cool??!

galaxytoteAnd Maria, who made this galaxy-print tote she offers for sale in her Etsy shop 162Pens.

galaxypencilcaseShe also made this cute little pencil case/makeup pouch too.

Her craftsmanship is just beautiful…you should definitely check out the other pretty designs in her shop to ogle!

Thank you everyone for sharing your amazing projects with me! I’m so happy that you found these fabrics useful and fun for you:-)
outfit9.02.13_bag2Just to share some more ideas, I made this DIY Flat Bottomed Zip Pouch with my Sideways Palm Tree Tropical Photo Print in organic cotton sateen…

diygalaxyskirt2

…this DIY Galaxy-Print Mini Skirt with my Alternate Blue Galaxy Print in organic cotton sateen…

scrunchie2

…and this scrunchie with my Red Star Field Galaxy Print in silk crepe de chine.

In addition to fabrics, you can also get any of these prints available for sale as wallpaper or gift wrap too!

I’m so happy that something like Spoonflower exists, where fabric designers can made beautiful fabrics come to life, and people like me, who just like playing with pattern and color, can even aspire to be a fabric designer.

If any of you have used my Spoonflower fabrics for anything, please share your projects with me! I’d love to showcase them on Chic Steals 🙂

xo
Carly

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DIY Galaxy Print Mini-Skirt

Aug 2, 2014 | By Carly J. Cais, DIY

0.diygalaxyskirt_introphotoA couple years ago I was desperately wanting some galaxy-print fabric since clothing featuring photorealistic prints of stars was just about everywhere. But I couldn’t find any fabric sellers that sold this particular print!! So I just Did It Myself, and designed a number of fun galaxy-print fabrics on Spoonflower.com, utilizing licensed Hubble Telescope images of star fields, quasars, Red Giants, planets, and galaxies. I worked on them in Photoshop to adjust the colorization and created seamless repeating patterns so they would be perfect for fabric (or even wallpaper!). sparklestarwallpaperIn order to offer them for sale in my shop, I had to order test swatches to check the color and printing. For one of the designs I ordered a fat quarter of Organic Cotton Sateen (upper right in the photo above), not quite sure what I wanted to make with it but certain that I wanted a good enough amount to make something neat. And I finally hit upon a little mini-skirt (though had I ordered 1 yd, I would have had enough for front AND back!).

diygalaxyskirt1 As it was I had to use some black cotton sateen for the back, but it turned out pretty well regardless and I’m just as pleased with it as if it had been galaxy-print all the way around.

diygalaxyskirt3I used Butterick Pattern 6834, chopping the length at View E (since that’s all the galaxy-print fabric I had). (I believe the pattern is no longer available.)
diygalaxyskirt6Here are some similar patterns you could use:

diygalaxyskirt5It sewed up quickly and was pressed and hemmed in no time, and now I have a fun mini-skirt for Summer!

If you’re looking for this same galaxy fabric, it is here:

Alternate Blue Galaxy Print by CarlyJCais

Or other galaxy print fabrics: (click through to access my shop on Spoonflower)

They look great as blouses, T-shirts, even leggings (on stretch cotton jersey!!)

diygalaxyskirt4Stay tuned for my outfit featuring this skirt, coming soon to the blog.

Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly

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New Galaxy Fabric Swatches from Spoonflower Arrived!

Nov 8, 2012 | By Carly J. Cais

I had designed some galaxy photo-print fabric last year on Spoonflower, ordered some swatches, and then sort of forgot about them.  I made a silk tank top from one of the swatches, but didn’t do much beyond that.

Made with 1 fat quarter of my Red Star Field Galaxy design fabric, on Cotton Silk.  It’s so lightweight and drapey!

A reader recently messaged me on Facebook about that galaxy-print fabric…which sent me into design overdrive!  I then put together 8 more galaxy photo print fabric designs, and ordered test swatches on a variety of different fabrics to see how they printed.

I just got them in the mail today (obvs, judging by the fold lines still in them I haven’t ironed out…), and I’m thrilled with how they turned out!

The organic cotton sateen Alternate Blue Galaxy Print (above) I’m using as the backing to the skirt I had planned when I made my first round of galaxy-print fabric.

This is my Sparkle Star Field, printed on Cotton Poplin.  Gorgeous as a tablecloth…but even better as a swingy skater skirt or pieced blouse!  (I haven’t decided which just yet…)

Clockwise, from top left: Rainbow Star Field on basic combed cotton, Orange and Red Galaxy basic combed cotton, Purple Swirl Star Field Nebula on cotton silk, Pink and Green Burst Galaxy on organic cotton knit.

Of course the test swatches are too small to do much with; maybe I’ll make little purses or scrunchies with them.  They were more to just see colors and make sure the repeat was correct.

And also my Purple Galaxy Nebula Burst fabric, which I got done on cotton silk.

I had a blast designing them all, which are originally from hi-res photos of galaxies, stars, and nebulae, completely repeating and seamless.  Maybe you’d be interested in using something for your next DIY project?

See My Galaxy Print Fabric on Spoonflower

And if not, why not design your own fabric?  Spoonflower offers a number of tools and how-tos to designing your own fabrics, including vector designs and making difficult repeating patterns.

Happy DIY’ing!

xoxox
Carly

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