A Trio of Techniques for Designing Fabric: Surface Design For Beginners
You just need to make some art.
This class will introduce you to three different techniques for designing novelty and geometric prints starting with hands-on art. You don’t need to learn Photoshop or Procreate, because in this class we will make designs using paper, markers, tape, and a scanner.
That’s because fabric design is something everyone can do! Even though there are many classes out there that jump into teaching you custom brushes and repeats using Photoshop or Illustrator or Procreate, you don’t need those sophisticated apps to make great fabric designs. You don’t need to spend the time to learn about that technology when the most important part of your design is making the art.
We’ll learn a trio of design techniques.
In this class, I’ll show you three different design ideas that start with a hands-on paper art project. We’ll work with marker doodles, paper collage, and some layered paper illustrations. Don’t worry, you don’t need super drawing skills. Every design is easy to personalize with your favorite colors and style. Once your designs are finished, you’ll scan or photograph them so you’ve got a digital version to work with.
Next we’ll explore simple ways of layering your designs to combine your art with some digital colors and effects. We’ll make a simple novelty print, a faux batik and a kaleidoscope geometric design. I’ll introduce you to Repper and Pixlr, two apps that work right in your web browser, which allow you to create layers and complex repeat tiles with just a few simple steps.
Not sure where to start designing fabrics?
This is the class! There are no rules when it comes to making your own fabrics and it’s really hard to know what you really need to get started. This class shows you ways to make designs that you can do right now with the art materials on your desk and the technology you already have right in front of you.
Because the goal is to design fabric, I’ll also cover uploading to Spoonflower.com as a way to preview the designs and see what they might look like printed on fabric.
What’s included in this class:
• Includes 63 minutes of video with captions
• 13 bite-sized lessons with 3 complete design projects and ideas for many more
• Resources and links to help you learn more
• Comment sections on every lesson to ask questions or share ideas.
Here are some of the skills we will cover:
• How to digitize your art through photos or scanning
• An intro to Pixlr and Repper as design tools you can add to your tool box
• Experimenting with Layers and Layer Blends
• Adding digital effects (like gradient) to your handdrawn art
• Making repeating patterns from sketches and paper collage
• Giving yourself permission to try things and play with new tools
• Creating coordinating prints from a single source
Materials you’ll need
- scrap paper
- markers or paint
- scanner or camera
This class is really meant to use what you have so there are lots of options and ideas.
This isn’t a software class. It’s a design class that uses simple digital tools. If you’ve been avoiding fabric design because you thought you needed expensive software or advanced tech skills, this class was made for you.
This class works on your schedule.
In this on-demand version you work at your own pace, completing the lessons on your schedule whenever you want to stitch. There’s a comments section in every lesson to ask questions if you need help.
Want to watch a sample lesson? You can watch the “Materials & Tools” lesson for free by clicking on the “Enroll in this class” button below.
I love beginners.
You don’t need any experience to start designing fabric in this class. You should be comfortable uploading images to a website, doing some simple photo editing and saving files to your computer.
Skill Level
Beginner.
You don’t need any fabric design experience for this class. It is helpful to take the Spoonflower Step One and Intro to Pixlr class before this one.
