I’ve been looking for a striped fabric for the bed for a long time that combines all the colors of the room in one fabric. I was originally looking for a wide stripe, but the more I tried wide stripes on my bedroom model, the more I realized that wide stripes detract from the bird fabric. Then I concentrated on fabrics with small stripes. But after a fairly extensive search, I couldn’t find one that was the right color.
So I decided to make my own. I don’t have any fancy design software like Procreate, but since I only needed a striped fabric, it was easy to do with my regular photo editing software. I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro for years, which is basically a stripped down Photoshop-like software. It has all the basics you need to edit photos (brightness, clarity, aspect ratio, etc.) and much more.
I used this software to create a horizontal repeat of a striped pattern with all the colors I wanted to include, all taken from the rug, headboard fabric, dresser color, bird fabric, and curtain fabric. I went through several different iterations, testing stripe widths (i.e. all the same width vs. random widths), color arrangements, etc. After all of these tests, I finally settled on this stripe arrangement with different widths. This is one repeat of the pattern, and I created this one repeat with a width of 13.5 inches, a height of 12 inches, and 150 pixels/inch.
Once I had it exactly how I wanted it, I uploaded it to Spoonflower, used their options to further edit the overall look, and then ordered a yard of fabric to use as a pillow on the bed.
It arrived on Saturday and here it is with the other fabrics, carpet and wallpaper.
Another great thing about Spoonflower is that it is a quick and easy way to get the perfect color and shade of solid fabric you need for your project. In addition to the striped fabric, I also designed a solid green fabric that I plan to use as an accent, probably as cording for the bird fabric pillows. It matches the green dresser almost perfectly and it was so much easier to just create my own rather than searching all over the internet for the perfect solid green, ordering samples, waiting for samples, choosing the right one and then ordering fabric.
I also found this fun fabric on Spoonflower (affiliate link) that I plan to use as a lumbar pillow on the recliner. Since I don’t have a lumbar pillow, I just wrapped it around an 18″ square pillow for now to get an idea of what it will look like.
I tried out the idea of swapping the fabrics because I also really like the striped fabric on the recliner. But I think this pattern (which I really love and want to use) is too big for the accent pillow on the bed. I think it’s far too big and bold to stand in front of the bird fabric.
But I love the stripe on the armchair…
I love how it combines all the colors in one fabric, but I don’t want to use the stripe in two places.
That’s why I’m sticking with using the larger print on the chair and the stripe on the bed. I have seven pillows that I need to sew (six for the bedroom and one for the foyer), so I need to set aside a day to have all of these pillows made. But at the moment I’m still trying to finish the curtains and the second lamp.
In other news, check out who’s inside!
I spent way too much time and energy last winter making sure Tiger was okay on our really cold nights and then worrying about him all night long. So I decided to bring him indoors this winter. So far he prefers to spend his days outside, but then he comes inside at night. Cooper (our dog) is still pretty aggressive towards him. He’s not mean to Tiger, but when he’s inside he’s very hyperactive and focused on Tiger. I hope this will subside over time, but until that happens, I keep Tiger in our bathroom at night with everything he needs. He seems to love being indoors at night. Every night around 9:00 p.m. he comes to the back door of my studio and waits for me to take him inside.
I hope that over time Cooper calms down and we can make the transition to Tiger as an indoor cat. Until then, he seems content to be outside during the day and inside at night, even if he needs to be sequestered in the bathroom.
