Patterns all day, every day.

September 3, 2012

August was a busy month at Cotton & Flax! As I prepare for the launch of the Fall/Winter line later this month, I have been working diligently to create a new set of patterns to add to the Cotton & Flax collection. You may have seen me posting some in progress shots of my patterns on Instagram (I’m ~~@erin_dollar~~ (edit: make that @cottonandflax) in case you want to follow me!). When I am developing patterns, I spend a lot of time drawing in my sketchbook, creating hand carved stamps to try out new shapes, and scanning and editing those patterns in Photoshop.

In the next couple weeks, I hope to share a little video showing some of my drawing process for these patterns, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into how these patterns come to life.

Linen, beautiful linen.

August 21, 2012

This is the last of the linen fabric I’ll be printing for the 2011/2012 line of patterned textiles. Sad to see some of these colors go, but excited to start printing on the next batch of colorful linen. Hoping to have these last ones printed this week, I’ll be sure to post photos of the finished products.

I love linen for so many reasons (durability, how it gets softer with age…) but the beauty of woven linen fabric always makes me swoon at this magnification. So rustic, yet comfortable at the same time. It’s a joy to work with such wonderful materials.

Hand stamped gift wrap

August 9, 2012

Today is my boyfriend’s birthday, and I spent a few minutes earlier this week hand stamping some plain brown wrapping paper with this triangle design (which some of you may recognize as the Zelda triforce symbol). I used a small stamp I hand carved from a piece of printing linoleum, and a regular old stamp pad from the office supply store. It’s not a very complicated project, but I hope to do a DIY post here on the blog sometime soon. (UPDATE – I posted a DIY for this project here!)

Sneak Peek – Small Pillows

August 2, 2012

Here’s another peek at some of the pillows I’ve been working on lately. This is one of my favorite patterns, and the one that has sold best whenever I sell my work at Renegade Craft Fair. I’m hoping to have the shop open soon, so I can add the last batch of the items from my 2011/2012 collection. Excited to move on to new patterns for the 2012/2013 collection, but I have a feeling this pattern might be one of the ones that I keep around for another year.

Getting Back to Sewing

August 1, 2012

As you may know, Cotton & Flax is a new venture for me. I’ve been making textile goods for a while now, under my name, Erin Dollar. You could usually find pillows and tea towels in my Online shop, right alongside my fine art offerings (prints, drawings, and the like). I decided earlier this year to separate the textiles into a new business, and to start building that business from the ground up. It’s been a few months of working on the back end of things (bookkeeping, finding new suppliers for fabrics, getting my home studio better equipped), but I am finally getting back to the stuff I really LOVE: printing on fabric, and sewing.

So it was much to my surprise that in my haste to get back to making things, I made a couple silly cutting errors while making some pillows yesterday. They are still perfectly great, printed, sewn, and finished with the same care, just a little more plump than I would normally have them look. It’s strange though… I kind of prefer the outcome! Normally I sew the pillow cases a little larger, but I think I am starting to like the more full look these little pillows have.

All you artists/makers out there: have you had any happy accidents while making things lately?

To dye, or not to dye (fabrics).

July 24, 2012

Today I’m compiling swatches of potential fabrics I’ll be using in my next round of textiles, here’s a little peek of the fabrics I’m fond of right now. I’ll have to narrow it down considerably, since I try to stick with just four or five colors for my work, which helps me to keep the focus on the patterns.

I’m really loving the play between the brights and the pastels, but I keep getting into a rut because I can’t find a really bright tomato red. Everything I find is too ruby toned or leaning more towards carrot, which has me thinking that I may start hand dying fabric in small batches… as if I don’t have enough to do already.

Anyone have experience dying fabrics? I’ve done it before, but I’m sure there are lots of tips and tricks I’m unfamiliar with. Say hello on Twitter if you want to share ideas and resources about dying textiles, I’d love to hear them!

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