Blog - Cotton & Flax

pattern

Cotton & Flax visits the LA Fashion District

Chevron fabric - LA Fabric District

I made another trip to the Los Angeles fashion district, where there are blocks and blocks of fabric stores overflowing with things to delight even the most seasoned crafter. I was just picking up some small samples of some of the fabrics I’ll be using for my Fall/Winter line for Cotton & Flax, but I took a few shots of beautifully patterned fabrics with my phone to share here.

Fabric finds from the LA Fabric District

Ikat fabric finds from the LA Fabric DIstrict

Fabric finds from the LA Fabric DIstrict

Most of the bolts of fabric were not identified by brand, but hopefully I will find some time to track down the makers of these fabrics soon.

Liberty Prints - Fabric finds from the LA Fabric DIstrict

These ones I do know… Liberty of London!

Hand stamped gift wrap

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

Developing New Patterns

ink drawing - developing patterns

I’ve been working on some new patterns this week. This is one of my favorite parts of the process of making printed textiles, as I get to spend hours dreaming up new designs, and experimenting with inks and stamps and my favorite brushes and pens. Right now I’m working on creating larger versions of the many patterns I’ve sketched over the last few weeks, and I’m excited to see them come to life.

I create many (but not all) of my patterns by drawing directly onto tracing paper. I do this for a couple reasons: first, because I like to tape a piece of graph paper underneath, so that I can have a grid from which to work. While all of my textile patterns are hand drawn, I try to find ways to create patterns with some amount of regularity in spacing, and graph paper keeps me from getting wildly out of scale in my drawings. Second, I love being able to place the finished tracing paper patterns over a piece of unprinted fabric, and be able to get a glimpse at what the final product might look like.

I’m hoping to share a big batch of new patterns here on the blog in the coming week!