Thursday 3 July 2014

Thursday Inspiration: Hand printed fabric

Today I want to share some special hand printed fabrics that I think are totally awesome.  Don't worry, the interviews will be back next week.  I just wanted to share some of the other things that inspire me from time to time.

First up is Umbrella Prints.  Based in Australia, they screen print wonderful designs on hemp and cotton base cloths.  I bought a trimmings pack with the intention of entering the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition but ran out of time before the competition closing date.  They're still hanging out on my design wall and I love looking at them and plotting what I might make.

Umbrella Prints Trimmings Pack - Earth

When I bought my trimmings pack I also splurged on a Floating World fat quarter set.  The fabrics are seriously gorgeous and lovely to work with (if you look at my Winter Plus Quilt top, you can see that one of the prints has sneaked in at the top right corner).

Floating World Fat Quarter Set

Another person making wonderful hand printed fabrics in Australia is Leslie Keating of Maze and Vale.  I managed to score some sample packs last time they were available and the fabrics are just delightful.

Maze and Vale Sample Packs

Now that I've had a little taste of the Maze and Vale fabrics, I think a larger purchase is in order.  This gorgeous Flight print is high on my list.

Flight in Dove Grey

Karen from Blueberry Park  in the UK has a variety of beautiful designs that she screen prints on a range of fabrics (mostly Kona cotton).

Charm Pack

I recently asked Karen if she would be willing to do a custom order for me, involving printing her designs on this stunning Pretty Potent Solids bundle from Westwood Acres (the fabrics are FreeSpirit designer solids, which are my favourite solid fabrics).  Karen has been absolutely fantastic to deal with and posted this picture of the bundle all printed up and ready to ship out to me (exciting!!!).

Photo from Karen's blog

While I love buying commercially printed fabric, I think there is something special about hand printed fabric.  It's a little bit imperfect, which is part of what I think makes handmade things so charming.  I also like feeling like I'm helping makers live their creative dream by supporting their businesses.

Finally, if fabric hand printed by someone else is outside your budget, consider printing fabric yourself.  I thoroughly enjoyed the fabric printing I did at Handmade, and I've done a little bit more since.  My stamped fabric is no masterpiece, but it's very satisfying nonetheless.  Rubber stamp carving materials are not expensive, and you can always go down the potato carving route if you just want to use things you have to hand.

So - anyone else a fan of hand printed fabric?  Do you have any other makers of hand printed fabric that you love and you'd recommend?  I especially love buying local so if you know of anyone in New Zealand making cool hand printed fabrics, lemme know!

By the way, this is not a sponsored post.  I bought all the fabrics myself and I don't have any special relationship with the fabric printers.  I just genuinely think they are great and merit a recommendation.

13 comments:

Michelle@factotum-of-arts.com said...

I am definitely a fan and have used two of the three folks you have above. I fall in love with printing when I did Lotta Jansdotter fabric printing class. I really need to do more and cut some blocks. It is so therapeutic :-)

Juliet @ Tartankiwi said...

Your pretty potent bundle is amazing!!!

"In My backyard" sells on her screen printed fabrics on Felt. She's Christchurch based and I have bought a couple of her pieces at markets. I still need to cut into them though- trying to think of that illusive perfect project for them, because hand printed fabrics are so precious! At the moment she only has one print in her shop, but she definitely has at least a couple of other prints.

Karyn said...

On etsy I have several Mookah fabrics favourited and Cat and Vee also have some cool screen print panels. Both across the ditch. Coo and Co sometimes have handprinted linen on etsy too,

Helen M said...

Those hand print Pretty Potent solids are gorgeous - very envious :)

Schulz Family said...

wow, I love them. I have just gone over to Maze and Vale and looked. Thanks for telling us about them

Paula said...

I've already used some Umbrella prints, and have loved them. Now I look forward to trying out some of the other fabrics as well. Thanks so much for all of the links.

Karen Lewis Textiles said...

Thank you for such a wonderful blogpost, Adrianne and including me with such superstars as the Umbrella Print ladies and Leslie! As you know it was a pleasure to be involved in our fabric world trip and thank you for helping me live my creative dream! x

dutchcomfort said...

I’ve bought some Maze & Vale Sample packs, I love them. Some years ago I bought some birch fabrics from Lara Cameron (Ink & Spindle), but they have grown into a big business and I can’t find where to buy a small amount of fabric. They do have fabulous prints though!

dutchcomfort said...

I’ve been reading through my older blogposts and another great designer and fabric printer is Heather Moore from Skinnylaminx. She also has an etsy shop and sells yardage, scraps, teatowels, tableware etc. Lovely professionally screen printed fabrics! She’s also a designer for Cloud9 fabrics now.

Kim @ TiesThatBindQuilting said...

LOVE Karen's special order for you! That bundle is stunning! Can't wait to see what you make with it!

Claudia said...

I'm very attracted to unique fabric and hand dyes and would love to try my hand at stamping. I have a couple of wooden batik stamps but haven't attempted anything yet. Love your FQ bundle!

Juliet @ Tartankiwi said...

I forgot to mention Ink & Spindle (aussie based) and Yardage Design (also aussie based).
Bolt of Cloth sells Ingrid Anderson fabrics, I am not sure if they are hand printed but they are definitely designed and made in NZ.

Bridgid said...

Hi Nicolette, Ink and Spindle have listings for off-cut bundles at the moment. You used to be able to get some of their fabric bundles at Kelani Fabric but I haven't seen them there for a little while. Not sure how scary postage charges would be from Australia!