Christmas in July

A Holly Jolly Christmas collection for the sewists out there.

I know, I know. I said that I would be posting my new Christmas collection weeks ago. Well, samples were NOT all approved. All of the ones I designed in procreate printed blurry. This has never happened before, in 10 years of using Spoonflower. So, I have changed some dpi (actually made it 150 not 300 like it was) thanks to the help of a surface pattern design friend Mindy. Oh well, learning curves make us better artists even if they get us all out of whack for a few days. But best laid plans and all that. I am a girl whose entire life was derailed by cancer, not just during treatment, but years after remissions, so I am smart enough now to have “plans” then about 3 sets of back up plans. Got to be prepared.

I wasn’t able to style my photos the way I wanted, but figured just show you them regardless. I also got samples in all different fabrications. Below the tree print is printed on seersucker and I am absolutely obsessed with this fabric. My next favorite is the green ornament print below it printed on cotton silk. I will be printing a lot in this fabrication soon. The hand is great, the coloring is lovely, a little more subdued than when printed on normal cotton. I think it is a great fabric for some scarves. And then a winter favorite for blankets, minky is below in my holly print. Minky fabric is delicious, luxurious and holds up really well after years of heavy laundering. I have made a lot of minky blankets for us and my dog loves to chew them, they get washed at least twice a month.

Designing this collection was super out of my comfort zone, but I am trying to push myself to do 3 full collections year. I always have designed for myself, yep a truly selfish artist. What can I say, corporate fashion design parameters made me rebel! Okay, but honestly, I also design for customers of course, I just never really understood why I needed to do collections. But, now I get it. I have learned that of course I don’t always know best, DUH! I have already started planning some for next year.

I probably won’t have another full collection come out this year, but I add new fabrics to my shop almost weekly, sometimes 10+ a week. So make sure to keep on checking there for new designs.

How would you use these designs? I honestly wish I could make a Christmas quilt with them and use the more abstract fabrics as the back and binding. I also am quite obsessed with using the whimsical Christmas tree design printed on wallpaper and making my own laminated reusable holiday placemats for my dining room table. And while we are on that note, table runner and napkins, throw pillows. The list goes on.

Reflecting now that I released this collection, I want to do so many other things, of course. So now my brain is already thinking next years holiday collection.