What Are Little Boys Made Of?

Little Boy fabric is more fun to create than you might think!  The names of these 4 designs are:  Snips -n- Snails, Scissle, Swirled and Wags.  I'll let you guess which ones are which ;) 

Pete -n- Repeat

Another easy way to do a repeat with a hand drawn picture is the mirror repeat.  All you need to do is copy and paste your picture, flip it vertical and join it up to the first part.  Then copy and paste the joined two and flip them horizontally.  Spoonflower already has this option in their software.  Sometimes it ends up looking odd.  This has been my experience when I've mirror-repeated designs with characters in them.  But sometimes,as is the case with ol' Minty Leafy again, it comes out fractally divine. :)

Here is another sketchbook peek.  I still miss my old sketchbook, which reached its last page about 2 months ago.  I really need to find another one like it.

Creating Repeating Patterns in Photoshop Tutorial

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! 

Want one of those perfect repeating background tiles you’ve seen on someone’s Twitter

or MySpace? Or, in my case, the knowhow to make a continuous repeat for a textile

pattern to upload to Spoonflower so your design doesn’t look like a block print?

Let me reveal the mystery!

First choose a picture you want to repeat. I chose “Minty Leafy.”

Next, make note of how big your image is. Go into Image>image size.

Divide those numbers in half. If you’re like me--not a numberish person--

write them down.

Now, go into Filter>other>offset. Put the two new numbers into those

boxes. Make surethat ‘wrap around’ is checked off.

Your picture will now look like this with the four end corners

turned inward. Manipulate it so that it joins up on the ends.

Move some stuff around, cut and paste, use your patch

tool--whatever you need to do.

When you are satisfied with your alterations. Hit ‘Ctrl F’ to turn

your picture right sides out again.

You always want to do this because there may be something

you’ve missed. Right here I see that I’ve missed a bump on the edge that

would make a flaw in my repeat.

Okay! It’s good

I bet you’re dying to see what it looks like. I used to cut and paste over and over

and do the repeat myself which resulted in flaws and took a looong time.

There is an easier way!

Select your whole image with the marquee tool. Select Edit>define pattern. It’ll

pop up and ask you what you want to name your new pattern. I let PS choose a name

for me...

Sometimes ‘define pattern’ will be grey and unchoosable in the menu.

Just crop the image to the edges. You can do this by choosing Image>crop.

Some other reasons the ‘define pattern’ option is unavailable:

There are too many patterns in the menu. Choose pattern>reset patterns.

Your image is too big. Resize by hitting ‘Ctrl T’ and using the bounding box.

*Update:  I've discovered that having too many patterns in your patterns palette will considerably show down Photoshop and even your computer.  After you are done with a project reset the patterns to declutter your PS.

Now open a new document that is larger than your image. Choose the bucket tool,

check off ‘pattern’ and click. You now will see your design repeated. Look it over

to see if there are any flaws you may have missed--but if you’ve caught

everything--it should look like this!

And there you have it. Let me know if you found this tutorial useful.

Thanks for reading!

***UPDATE  Want to save all your new patterns together in a set that you can reuse when you need it?  Here's how in my new tutorial!

Snowed IN!

This is my front porch and it is STILL snowing and blowing here in Central PA.  In the past, I like to take a day like this and sit by the fire sewing or crocheting something that covers and warms up my lap.  Today, I've made 3 small quilts--on my laptop.  These 3 are a taste of the fabrics that I've been designing.  I'm gearing up to send them off to fabric companies to see how they are received.  Wish them luck!

Rain or Shine

OctobriaSugarbelle

Worth One Miilllllion Dolllars....

I have long felt like the Dr. Evil of wannabe fabric designers--hoping that somewhere someone would "throw me a frikkin' bone" in regards to breaking into the textile design industry.  Lizzy House, the designer behind the very hip and cool "Lizzy Dish" fabric line has done just that with an e-book titled How To Enter The World of Fabric Design.  Since I was beginning to think that this world was about as easy to enter as Narnia or Underhill, her book couldn't have come at a better time!  Thanks Lizzy!  Your book's great.  Now I've got some homework to go do.

"Do you like your quasi-futuristic clothes Mr. Powers? I designed them myself....."

Color Me -- freebie

For you to color and give to your sweetie :)  Click on her, then right click to save the picture to your desktop.
 Not for resale!  Mass production is not allowed!