"Shaggy Lava Lamp by Luke" on six different Spoonflower fabric swatches

One of my grandchildren spent four days with us recently.  He created a surface design using my desktop computer using Crayola Art Studio Draw & Paint with Digital Paint.  I worked with the design, creating a basic repeat from the design.  I showed him how to upload it to Spoonflower and he got to see what it would look like if printed on fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap.  He really enjoy seeing the virtual displays on Spoonflower. We ordered 6 swatches of  different Spoonflower fabrics so that he could see how each fabric surface accepted the colors in his design.  See all of my grandchildren's artwork here.

It has been interesting to watch the progression of my grandchildren's artwork.  What struck me about this design is that this grandson is moving from the literal to the abstract -- at least on this visit. :-)

Going down on the left are:

1. Faux Suede
2. Linen Cotton Canvas
3. Performance Knit

Going down on the right are:

1. Eco Canvas
2. Minky
3. Cotton Poplin

This photo was taken indoors on a cloudy day, no flash.
 

The Spoonflower Adventure Continues

Note finished hem of blanket -- 1) straight stitching 2) double zigzagging 3) zigzagging.

Spoonflower's newest fabric, Minky, is fabulous.  It is forgiving, it is soft, and it is a joy with which to work.  Having said that, above is a picture of my first effort at a blanket.  I ordered one yard of Minky fabric in "A Tumble of Sheep," one of my designs in my Spoonflower shop.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the tactile sensations of this fabric impressed me the minute I pulled it out of the Spoonflower shipping envelope.  I washed and dried the fabric and the colors held.

I like easy-peasy projects and I decided to make a baby blanket.  Now, mind you, I rarely look for directions on anything and just plunge directly into whatever I'm doing.   I should learn to Google first, sew later, but I didn't.  I folded the right sides of the Minky together, pinned them, and stitched the folded over yard -- now 27" wide instead of the original 54" wide -- of fabric together, leaving a small hole so I could pull the fabric right side out.  I stitched up the hole then straight stitched a 5/8" seam along the outer four sides of the blanket.   Then I folded over and pinned a strip of 2" wide pink satin blanket binding to both sides of 1 side of  the Minky, mitering the corners once I had determined the length of that one side.  (If you look at the above picture, there is no longer pink satin binding on this blanket.)  I zigzag stitched the binding to the blanket, messing up everything.  I stopped and looked at my effort.  I showed it to my husband.  Now my husband thinks just about everything I do is great -- possibly because he has to live with me -- but he is not an honest critic. My last honest critic went off to college 15 years ago -- my daughter --  and she is now a mother of three of my grandchildren. 

I looked at my work objectively, saw that it did not look good, reminded myself that I had purchased a yard, and boldly sheared off everything -- the binding and the fabric -- leaving -- when folded -- a 25" wide blanket.  I stitched everything back up and then Googled binding a Minky blanket and there were several generous people who has posted advice and tips.  And next time I will follow those tips.  :-)  I wanted to get this sucker done because I'm giving it to my oldest granddaughter tomorrow as part of her birthday gifts -- she loves soft fabric and she can use it with her baby dolls.

So my next step -- because I had now decided NOT to use the pink satin binding --  was I laid out the stitched together fabric on the dining room table and grabbed a dinner plate and a sharpie and I put the dinner plate in each of the four corners and marked off rounded edges with the sharpie.  Then I carefully tucked in the rough edges and stitched the rounded corners together.  Then I zigzagged around the whole border of the blanket, then double zigzagged again all around the blanket leaving a nice finished look to the blanket . . . except all the sides are not precisely even but they are close enough.  Next time I WILL do better.  But for a first try on an unfamiliar fabric, the result, for me, was acceptable.  :-) 

My Spoonflower Minky Arrived!

Because of Presidents' Day, my Spoonflower Minky did not arrive until today.  I ripped open the now familiar Spoonflower package and pulled out this fabulously soft fabric . . . even the reverse side of this fabric is soft.  This design is "A Tumble of Sheep". The colors printed brilliantly.  I attempted to get a good photo of the yardage -- I wanted to try to convey the softness of the fabric in a photo.  However, that is not possible.  The fabric is soft like a baby bunny's fur and there is a beautiful drape to it.  This photo was taken in natural indoor light.