Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Want to be a Textile Designer?

There are always interesting things on Kickstarter - especially if you have a few dollars to spare for something novel and are willing to wait a very long time.

Awhile ago, I was describing how I have gotten all these new thread lines designed and made and the business model I was using.  The sharp gentleman I was talking to at the cocktail party was amazed and said 'you have invented your own crowd funding mechanism!?' or in other words, a Kickstarter for historic embroidery materials.  I smiled and said 'yes - exactly'.

SOOO - since my audience is willing to risk on the new and novel, I thought I would bring up a real 'historic' meets tech textile development that is on Kickstarter right now.  You might have heard about Spoonflower, a way to digitally print small batches of fabric using your designs.  Well, now there is something much more complicated - WOVNS - a way to digitally design your own Jacquard fabrics and have them woven in very small batches - as low as a yard.  This is certainly something that I wanted to play with!  So I was waiting for the launch of this kickstarter for several months.  Who knows, I might just make a cool scarf OR something inspired by historic patterns for a couch pillow.  WHO knows.  I don't know yet - but I am sure that this type of low volume digital printing and weaving will lead to other unique opportunities in the future that might end up in one of my kits.  :-) Maybe silk will be down the road someday.

Here is even a design from an embroidered jacket in the V&A (I have pillows made from a Jacquard version of this pattern on my couch) that has been uploaded to Spoonflower and available in several color way prints.   So you can start to see all kinds of options.  Someday I wish they would allow great linen - can you imagine pre-printing embroidery designs...

Tricia

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the cool link, Tricia. I was trying to find some good fabric to line a project, and have ordered a yard!

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  2. Great stuff to look forward to. I love it! I can see all kinds of fun things coming from both of these companies! Thanks for the info.

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  3. Wonderful! So funny, because I have just found Spoonflower myself and have been busily designing fabrics now for about a month - based on public domain illustrations from Jane Austen's books printed in the late 1800s. I'm having a ball, and am now branching out to "samplery" types of designs.

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  4. I think that it would be really cool if the V&A would team up with a company like spoonflower and provide yardage of the designs of their embroidered Jackets etc for historical geeks to be able to buy, embroider and then make up in whatever size necessary. As I am sure it is the thought of drawing up the embroidery patterns that stops a lot of amateur costumers from making their own embroidered jackets. RosemaryC

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