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Behind the Scenes

What does ‘Printed by Hand’ really mean?

September 10, 2012

Cotton & Flax textilesCotton & Flax is a line of handmade textiles, all of which are sewn and printed by hand. I take great pride in this fact, because I am all too familiar with the long hours and specialized skills required to complete a project like this without outsourcing any part of the production. But I find that people often ask me, “What does ‘printed by hand’ really mean?” I’d love to share some insights into what hand-printing textiles is all about.

Cotton and Flax - fabric and patternsMy textiles begin their lives as simple, natural fabrics, like linen or cotton, which are all prewashed. The process of designing a pattern takes a long time, as my patterns often start in my sketch book, then go through several revisions before I land on the final design. Even my pattern designs are made by hand, often using pen and ink, or a hand carved stamp which I will use to create a repeat pattern.

Cotton & Flax - patterns laid outAfter I finalize a pattern design, I use a transparency of that design to create a silkscreen, which I can use to reproduce larger repeat patterns onto my fabrics. In large textile factories, these screens can be big, sometimes up to 5 feet across (you can see some in the Marimekko factory video I featured a while back).  Since I work in a small studio space, I had to get a bit creative on how to print my fabrics. I don’t print the full width of the bolt of fabric, since that would require a much larger workspace. Rather, I print smaller sections cut to the exact size of my pillows and tea towels, so there is very little (often no) waste fabric when I begin the sewing process.

Cotton & Flax - silkscreensThe printing itself is my favorite part of the process. I have so many fond memories of printing over the years, and have come to love the small details that are unique to this process: the smell of the ink; the squeak of the silkscreen squeegee as it pulls across the screen, flooding it with ink; the subtle pop of the screen as it pulls away from the fabric after a successful ink impression has been made. I hope to share more about the details of printmaking processes soon, I hope you’ll find them as charming as I do.

Cotton & Flax - textile designsBut the best part of hand-printed fabric is the tactile quality it provides, and the bold opaque quality that the ink imparts on the fabric. To date, I have yet to see a piece of digitally printed fabric that can compete with a silkscreen fabric’s boldness and quality of line. Hand-printed fabric requires a level of physical labor that isn’t required of digital printmaking, but I find that the extra effort creates a striking product that is rich in tradition and history.

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes Tagged With: printing, printmaking

Patterns all day, every day.

September 3, 2012

Cotton & Flax Patterns

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.

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes, Print and Pattern Tagged With: pattern, sketchbook

Linen, beautiful linen.

August 21, 2012

Beautiful Linen Fabrics - Cotton & Flax

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.

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes Tagged With: fabric, linen, natural fabrics

Hand stamped gift wrap

August 9, 2012

Hand stamped wrapping paper - Cotton & Flax

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!)

Cotton and Flax - hand stamped gift wrap

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes Tagged With: diy, holiday, pattern, printmaking

Sneak Peek – Small Pillows

August 2, 2012

Cotton & Flax - pillow sneak peek

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.

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes Tagged With: pillows

Getting Back to Sewing

August 1, 2012

Cotton & Flax - Sewing in the studio

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.

Cotton & Flax - cutting fabric
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.

Cotton & Flax - handmade pillows

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

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes Tagged With: sewing

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A textile designer’s journal

Welcome! I'm Erin Dollar, the textile designer behind Cotton & Flax. I create patterned home decor that's rooted in creative exploration.

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A textile designer’s journal

Welcome! I'm Erin Dollar, the textile designer behind Cotton & Flax. Here I'll share peeks behind the scenes, recent inspirations, decor ideas, and more. Read More…

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