When I started working on our bedroom suite yesterday, I was confident that I would have the bedroom suite foyer finished by the end of the day. But as is often the case, something happened yesterday afternoon that demanded my attention and took me away from my work for a while. So I still have a few little projects I need to finish there before I show you the entire before and after of our foyer. If everything goes as planned, I’ll have it for you tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.
In the meantime, I wanted to share with you why Spoonflower is always my first stop when looking for fabrics. This is not a sponsored post. (I haven’t written a sponsored post in many years.) I’m just a real fan of the site, and if you’re someone who loves fabrics as much as I do but haven’t discovered Spoonflower yet, you’re missing out on a goldmine.
If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I love Spoonflower. Not only have I used them to get my own designs printed on wallpaper and fabrics, but also as a first stop when shopping for wallpapers and fabrics in general.
I designed the floral mural for my studio and then had it printed at Spoonflower.
And then I had a smaller version of this design printed on fabric for the back entrance of the studio.
And recently I designed the striped accent fabric for our bedding in our new bedroom and had it printed at Spoonflower.
Aside from having my own designs printed, the main reason I love it so much is that there are literally thousands and thousands of prints available. In fact, there are so many that it can be quite overwhelming to sort through all the options. Luckily, their search function is pretty good at narrowing down the options.
But another reason I love buying fabrics and wallpaper on Spoonflower is that it’s a bit like Etsy (the old, original Etsy, before cheap, mass-produced products took over). Spoonflower doesn’t actually design fabrics and wallpapers. They sell the designs that artists want to upload and sell, and this way the artist makes money from every sale of their designs. To be honest, I wish they had made a higher percentage of the sale. But at least they get paid for their designs. I like the idea of supporting these individual creatives who may never be offered a partnership with a large fabric or wallpaper company.
I admit that while it has an Etsy vibe, it also has a Goodwill vibe. And by that I mean that not everyone who claims to be a pattern designer is actually a good pattern designer. Just like you go to a thrift store and have to go through a whole bunch of stuff to find that one treasure, that’s how Spoonflower feels sometimes. But unlike Goodwill or other thrift stores, the treasures at Spoonflower aren’t all that rare. They are actually quite abundant.
But here’s another reason why I love Spoonflower so much, and probably the main reason it’s my first choice of fabric. Each design can be printed on one of 30 different fabric options. That’s the biggest advantage in my opinion. When shopping at a regular fabric store, be it brick and mortar or online, I often find a print that I absolutely love with all the colors I’m looking for, but the fabric itself is completely wrong. Maybe I’m specifically looking for curtain fabric, but the perfect print I found is actually a heavy-duty upholstery fabric or a stretchy fabric that would be completely unsuitable for use as curtains. This can be so frustrating.
But with Spoonflower that’s not an obstacle. Once you find a print you like, you can choose the fabric you want it printed on. They have options for clothing, upholstery, curtains, and options for just about anything else you could want, from sheer fabrics to Lycra.
When you click on a print, the Petal Signature Cotton option will almost always appear by default.
However, if you click on the “Change Fabric” location, you will find the 30 fabric options there. And you can get an idea of the appropriate use for each fabric by looking at the thumbnails shown in the large image on the left. The Petal Signature Cotton, for example, shows a thumbnail of the print on a skirt. By clicking on this thumbnail you can get an idea of the size of the print and see that the selected fabric is suitable for apparel and anything else that uses this fabric thickness.
However, if you choose a heavier fabric (in this case Belgian linen) that is not suitable for light use, the thumbnail will change from a skirt to a chair so you can see what this print would look like on an upholstered item.
And if you choose a mid-weight fabric like the Lightweight Cotton Twill, the preview image turns into a pillow.
And with others, like the Minky and Polartec fleece, it turns the thumbnail into a blanket.
There are a few fabric options such as: B. Chiffon, where no thumbnail of a specific usage is displayed. So you can just read the description of the substance and then see the recommended uses for this substance listed below. It is said that chiffon can be used for accessories, clothing, costumes, curtains, dresses and scarves.
That’s why I only want to share this information with those who love fabrics as much as I do. The selection of prints at Spoonflower is second to none, although you may have to search through some clothes to find your treasure. But I don’t know of any other company that offers so many fabric options for every print and shows you how each type of fabric would look on clothing, home decor, and an upholstery item. I’m a huge fan of Spoonflower and it’s really my first stop when looking for fabrics (and wallpaper). That doesn’t mean it’s the only place I shop, but it’s always the first. And they don’t even have to pay me to say that. This is just my real, honest opinion. I have never been disappointed with the quality of the fabrics or wallpapers I have purchased from Spoonflower.
UPDATE: I almost forgot to mention another HUGE benefit of Spoonflower. They offer extra wide fabrics! They have two different weights of extra-wide fabrics with a width of 116 inches. These are perfect for making duvet covers without having to hem the outer fabric or for quilting. I used the heavier, extra-wide fabric to upholster my headboard so there would be no seams at the front of the headboard. And every single print on their website can be printed on extra-wide fabric.
