• Home
  • Membership
    • Learn More
    • Quilters Candy Membership Login
    • Craft 2 Career Club Login
  • Courses
    • Course Login
    • Quilt Pattern Writing Course
    • Craft To Career
    • FREE mini Pattern Writing Course
    • Quilt Pattern Templates
  • Shop
    • Quilt Patterns
    • My Book
    • Wholesale Patterns
    • Pattern Corrections
  • Blog
  • Podcast

Quilters Candy

Podcast
/
November 25, 2022

How to Become a Fabric Designer

A follower reached out to me with a question, which prompted me to share with you today- How to Become a Fabric Designer. In this episode, I answer followers questions on this very topic, according to my experience and what I have learned becoming a fabric designer myself for Art Gallery Fabrics. 

If you haven’t yet listened to the episode where I talk about becoming a fabric designer and  share my story and personal journey, please find that episode to listen to HERE. 

How to Become a Fabric Designer

In THIS episode, I share the tangible, nitty gritty, check-list type information with you. Really, I share the things you need to know logistically to design fabric. 

In Episode 84, I talk about and answer the following questions:

  • Getting into the hands of more people- Art Gallery Fabrics is starting to have fabric sold in JoAnn’s Fabric stores. Some people may have fears about this. I share why this is a huge thing for Art Gallery Fabrics and how it could be helpful for the smaller industry.

Here are the questions from my followers that I would like to address in this episode, in no particular order.

  • What is the time line for making a collection? I share what the process was like for me in releasing my first fabric collection. 
  • What are the steps to becoming aFabric Designer? How did you sign with a fabric company? Here are 5 Steps: 
    1. Have the desire.
    2. Quilt! Take note of the fabrics you are drawn to use. Become familiar with what you like and why.
    3. Start creating designs you’d like to see on fabric.
    4. Make multiple collections- prove you have substance.
    5. Get familiar with what companies would be a good “fit” for you and your look. Reach out and send your work to different companies. 
  • Is Fabric Designing a saturated industry? There is always room for good, quality designers. 
  • What programs do you use for drawing and making repeats?
  • When you make a collection, what is the ratio of florals vs geometric vs novelty prints? 
  • Where do you look for color trends? Examples; Trend Bible, your design company, what you’re liking. Be careful to stay in your brand. Stuck on branding? I recommend a book called Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One by Emily Heyward 
  • What exercises can I do now to become a fabric designer? Draw, practice, quilt!
  • How do you learn to draw? 
  • How long did it take to become a Fabric Designer? Everyone is different, but it tool me 4 years. 
  • How do you know when your collection is complete? LOVING what you submit. 
  • How do you get picked up by a fabric line? 
  • What is the typical income that a Fabric Designer earns?
  • Do you draw every day?
  • How do you develop your own style? 
  • My drawing style doesn’t match what I want to do? What do I do? I recommend the bool Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.
  • Do I need to use watercolor? Nope.
  • How many collections in a year does a designer put out. Usually two.
  • Can you explain licensing to me?… I can bring on a specialist on this in the future if there is interest. 
  • Is self publishing a good idea?  
  • Interested in knowing what a shop owner sells the most of?
I hope this episode is one that you find helpful. I can’t recommend enough to just quilt if you want to be a fabric designer. Also, try and create your own patterns. These two things really can help open the door for fabric designing in the quilting industry. 
 

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST

 

Join me next week and EVERY week for new content helping you turn your craft into a career. Subscribe to the Craft to Career Podcast below:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Google Podcasts
  • YouTube
 

PAST EPISODES

 

Check out these past episodes:

  • Saying No- Why You Need To and How to Do It 
  • TO THE NAY SAYERS
  • When You’re in a Rut

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

[Music] welcome to the craft to Career podcast with Elizabeth Chappell or every week we
0:06
 

dive into how you can turn your craft into a successful career get ready to have the career you’ve always dreamed of

0:15

[Music] hello and welcome to episode 84 of the

0:20

crafty career podcast I’m Elizabeth Chapel of Quilter’s candy and the host of the show and today November 25th is

0:30

actually my birthday I am recording this ahead of time but I’m already excited for this to release on my birthday

0:37

and if you’re in America it’s Black Friday I am curious if other countries

0:42

do this and call it Black Friday as well but basically Thursday every third what

0:49

is it third Thursday no fourth Thursday I should know this every fourth Thursday

0:54

of November is Thanksgiving in America so we take that day to celebrate

1:00

count our blessings then the day after Mark’s like okay it’s time to go

1:05

shopping for the holidays and so stores do a bunch of shopping specials

1:11

I’m actually not doing any for my company I’m curious if you’re doing some for yours it’s a great way to get sales

1:16

so I do recommend it if you’re interested I’m just not interested in doing it myself we’ll see maybe down the

1:22

road I will but yes today is my birthday and I have

1:28

an episode topic for you that came about because one of my listeners

1:35

I reached out and well I have asked if you’re interested in something let me know and so do like DM me or send an

1:42

email let me know if there’s a topic that you want covered and she reached out and said I would

1:47

love for you to share how to become a fabric designer so I actually put some questions out on

1:53

Instagram and asked my followers what you want to know about becoming a fabric designer and I got a lot of questions

1:58

from a lot of you so I’m going to go through those questions today and answer them with the

2:04

caveat that this is from my experience it is not the same with every company

2:10

in fact it’ll look pretty different depending on which company you work for but I’ll share all the things that I do

2:16

know and with all the questions that I’ve gotten and before we go any further if you are

2:22

loving the craft to Career podcast it would mean so much to me and for the

2:28

longevity of the podcast if you could leave a review for the podcast it’s

2:33

actually not possible to write a review on Spotify but you can leave like a a

2:39

star review one to five star hopefully five but you can leave a review with the

2:44

star system on Spotify on Apple podcast that’s the one that

2:49

really can make a difference with the podcast and getting seen and getting great guests to come onto the show so if

2:57

you go to Apple podcasts and go to the crafted career podcast you can go and

3:02

leave your own review and you know share things that you are enjoying about the podcast or that you’d want to hear and I

3:09

love to start the show by reading those so I’d love to have you be highlighted as one of your reviews on the podcast

3:17

so now let me jump in and I’m going to pull up my list of questions that I have on becoming a fabric

3:24

designer so just for you listeners if you haven’t gone back and listened to or if you haven’t listened to already my

3:30

episode on becoming a fabric designer I go through my personal Journey it’s

3:35

more of my story the emotions the history of how I became a fabric designer this episode is much

3:42

more of the tangible Nitty Gritty checklist here are the things that you need to know logistically to design

3:48

fabric so I designed fabric for art gallery Fabrics it’s a company that I love

3:55

they are I’m super excited about this they are starting to have their Fabrics carried in Joanne Fabrics it’s very

4:01

interesting to see some of the comments in the quilting Community about this where people are frustrated that oh no

4:07

this is the death of the small business the small shop owners um but as a company for art gallery this

4:17

is huge like to get into more homes to get seen by more people

4:22

and to hear from art gallery they have known and they have seen that

4:27

the more you’re let’s say for me for example the more my fabric is seen by

4:33

the average person first of all the more Quilters we can bring into this community get interested

4:38

in Fabric and learn who’s this designer what oh a quilting hmm second of all the more that this

4:44

quilting fabric is seen Again by the average person not just the people who are in the niche and know where the

4:51

local quilt shops are online quilt shops but are seen by an average person walking into Joanne’s

4:57

the more or less people it’s going to be on the radar and they’ll be like hmm what is this fabric from Art Gallery

5:02

Fabrics that’s so cool where where else can I find it do they have more and then they’re going to go

5:08

online and search for more and then they find those small online shops the

5:14

boutique shops so I do believe a rise in tide lifts all boats and so this is a

5:20

net positive I’m very excited to be teaming up with a company that is going to be carried in Joanne Fabrics

5:26

mine isn’t yet they only have a few collections that are being carried in Joanne’s so my dream and my hope is that

5:32

mine will be eventually carried in Joanne’s and they don’t change the quality at the exact same quality fabric

5:39

that you would order from anywhere else art gallery’s very particular about their quality they will not lower it or

5:46

change that so it’s really just awesome to be getting into the hands of

5:51

more people who wouldn’t have otherwise known about it and then to also have those people be like wait a minute what

5:57

is this where can I find more of it and to go and buy more so Art Gallery Fabrics that’s who I

6:03

designed for and part of the questions here are give more I’ll give more background

6:09

to how I got into this if you will again the Nitty Gritty not so much the

6:15

emotional story side of it so I’ll just jump into the questions and it’s not in

6:20

a chronological order I literally just wrote I mean it’s not like well here’s a natural progression I just wrote down

6:25

the questions in the order that they came in so if we hop around a little bit that’s why

6:31

but number one the question is what is the timeline for making a collection

6:36

so again remember this is my experience I know I’ve talked to

6:42

um other fabric designers and it’s different for everyone so I’ll speak to

6:47

myself and know that if you spoke to a different fabric designer they might have a different answer for you

6:53

but for me a timeline for making a collection first of all my first collection took

6:59

years oh gosh 2018 is when I took my first

7:04

course on how to design fabric I had been dabbling I learned how to do Adobe

7:11

but it left me in tears because I saw what I was progressing I’m like a square I

7:17

learned how to make a square how am I going to be able to design this amazing fabric with my drawings when all I can

7:24

do in Adobe is make a square and so yeah 2018 I took my first course

7:30

where I really was like aha this is how we do this 2018 to 2022 that’s when my first fabric

7:39

collection came out like into the public so 18 19 20 24 years so timeline for my first collection was

7:45

four years now there’s a lot that goes into that and some more of these questions go over that so your first collection is going

7:53

to take longer because you have so much to figure out you’re probably figuring out your style

7:58

your all of the things that we’re going to go into so that that’s that my second collection

8:07

probably um two months and that’s all I’ve done so far but I

8:14

can see that the more that I’m creating the more I’m really like oh yeah okay

8:20

this is me this is my look the easier it becomes but it still takes work so it’s not like

8:27

oh I can whip that out in a day you know uh and I do all this kind of think not

8:34

always but as I’m going throughout my day if something comes up where oh that’d make a really cool fabric collection theme

8:40

then I’ll start to think about that and I’m jump ahead of myself but yes okay so

8:45

timeline for a collection it varies it varies on so many things but that very

8:52

first collection is probably going to take the longest because you’re new and you’re figuring

8:58

everything out number two what is the timeline or steps to becoming a fabric designer again this

9:04

is so all over the place in fact I had a friend who

9:09

wanted to become a fabric designer and she is now she has her first line coming out soon I don’t know if it’s public so

9:15

I’m not going to announce that but when it does I’ll be sure to share it with you guys because she’s a friend and I’m really excited about it for her

9:21

but she asked me this what how did you sign with art gallery Fabrics what was

9:28

your story like and it’s so untraditional it’s I had a relationship with them first and then I

9:35

you know started designing fabric I showed it to Pat the owner of art

9:40

gallery and she said yeah I’m interested and then but you got to work on your style you gotta have a look it was a

9:47

year later that she returned and was like how’s it coming we’d love to see your stuff

9:52

so it was not traditional it was not me like reaching out to some unknown company and pitching myself to someone

9:59

that I didn’t know you know it was very different and she was like well this is so frustrating because

10:05

everyone I’ve talked to it’s been that way it’s been very untraditional so I

10:11

guess I could say it’s a traditional which leads to other things I’ve mentioned before if you get a chance to

10:17

be in the room with someone like the owner of a fabric company or the art

10:23

director of a fabric company do it get to know them like those personal

10:28

connections are so big and if they know you and like you and

10:34

you have a good following you’ve built a good brand that’s very attractive but it’s to speak to what the timeline

10:41

or steps becoming a fabric designer timeline I I just can’t even give one

10:46

because but I’ll speak to the steps so steps first of all

10:51

have the desire which if you’re listening to this that’s clearly there the intrigue

10:57

second of all there are so many different ways that you could design Fabric and things you could design it

11:03

for so I clearly designed fabric for Quilters so that I can speak to

11:08

as to designing Fabrics in other Industries I’m just not familiar so I don’t know but so let’s go down the road

11:15

of being a fabric designer in the quilting industry so have an interest

11:20

second I would definitely say quilt use Fabrics as you are quilting and you’re

11:28

making things you will naturally see okay or if you don’t take note

11:33

what kind of fabrics do I use as far as colors what kind of contrast do I have

11:39

do I have darks lights low volumes what do I like to use and

11:45

get very familiar with it if you make a quilt and you’re like I did not love these colors like take note of that why

11:50

why didn’t you like those colors what do you do you like to use geometric what what just get really familiar and

11:56

comfortable with what you like and then if there’s something that you’re like man there’s a void and I

12:02

cannot find this kind of fabric perfect that could be something that you design and you create so that’s my

12:09

second step is use fabric get familiar with what looks good in a quilt because

12:15

sometimes people are really good at Art and they’re like I’d love to design fabric just have one more thing on my

12:20

resume so I’d like to do it for the quilting world but they have no idea the

12:26

scale that works you know like really large or really small they just don’t get what works for a quilt so make

12:32

quilts use quilting fabric and get really familiar with what you like and what you wish you had more of

12:38

then start creating and we’ll talk about like how to do that in just a minute but

12:45

start creating designs that you would like to see on fabric then make a collection it’d be ideal if

12:51

you could make multiple collections so that when you do reach out to a company you can show them multiple collections

12:56

so they can get a feel for okay this person has a look rather than oh they

13:02

made one a one hit wonder and the rests are going to be want you know you want

13:08

to prove that you actually have substance it’s not just surface level what you’ve done and created

13:14

and then I guess that’s kind of the next step is to reach out and send your work to different companies

13:20

and before that I would look at those companies and really see does my look fit here

13:26

what other designers do they have am I competing with other designers at this company

13:32

um so get familiar with where a good fit for you would be and then question number three

13:38

is fabric is is it a saturated industry is it oversaturated is it hard to get into

13:44

so this is just like anything else in the business world there are there’s a lot of people who

13:51

want to do it and is it saturated I mean there’s so

13:57

much that goes into this I know some people who like love the idea of Designing fabric but they don’t want to because

14:03

environmentally they don’t feel good about producing more Fabric in the world and creating uh excess you know and then

14:11

there are people who think I just can’t do this there’s too many people out there already doing it

14:17

if you don’t know how I feel about this already let me introduce you to my school of

14:23

that there is always room for good quality work so I liken it to someone who finds

14:30

a great new restaurant that they like let’s say you live in an area where there’s a lot of restaurants and a new

14:35

restaurant opens and it’s amazing do you hear anybody complaining like

14:40

unbelievable another restaurant oh no they’re like oh my gosh this restaurant’s amazing you’ve got to go

14:48

same with a good author is it saturated the writing World ABS

14:53

absolutely there’s a lot of writers however when you find a brand new writer that’s written a book that you

14:58

absolutely love are you like oh my gosh no another good book you share with everyone you’re like oh

15:06

my gosh I love this you’ve got to check this book out so it’s the same with anything I mean

15:11

fabric designer quilt pattern designer if you’re good if you’re good there’s

15:17

room for you so then that becomes how do I do this well how how am I good at this

15:25

um so is it saturated I mean it’s as saturated as anything else you know saturated as

15:31

workout clothing company is as whatever anything dog food companies I mean you name it there are people coming out with

15:38

new things more so now with social media the barrier of Entry is low people can you

15:45

know self-publish their own fabric um so yeah so it comes to the whole

15:52

branding creating a name for yourself and being good standing out so there’s room for

15:59

you yes there is room for good quality work just like anything else

16:05

so number four the question is what programs do you use when drawing and making repeats

16:10

absolutely Adobe Illustrator for making repeats so that is just hands down the industry standard if you are going to

16:17

make fabric you have to know how to use Adobe Illustrator as for drawing you can do that you can

16:25

do that on paper and pencil and scan it in you can paint you can use a Wacom

16:30

tablet I think some people say Wacom I say Wacom I have that I have not used it very

16:36

often but that’s a that you can and then an iPad Pro I do use the iPad Pro

16:42

um so those are the ways that I know they’re they’re I’m sure there are others those are just the ones that I’m

16:48

familiar with and then question number five when you make a collection what is the ratio of

16:56

florals versus geometric versus novelty prints so

17:01

it depends I mean there are some lines that come out that it’s like a basic where it’s just let’s say polka dots all

17:07

of the lines are polka dots you generally don’t do that until you kind of are established like you wouldn’t come out the door as a brand new

17:14

designer with a line of Basics because that’s it doesn’t really

17:19

you haven’t built a name for yourself people are like wow who cares you know like you have to kind of prove that you

17:24

can make this cool line with a bunch of variety and Florals

17:31

floral cell the best they just do and so I’ve talked to I mean

17:38

I’ve gone into fabric shops whenever I travel and if there’s a quilt shop in the area I pop in and they’re

17:45

probably like who are you what are you doing because I’m asking the weirdest questions I’m like so which Fabrics sell

17:51

the best here uh why did you decide to order these Fabrics or why did you decide to carry these quilt patterns have you heard of

17:57

so-and-so would you ever carry them I mean I’m like Sherlock Holmes trying to figure out what’s what they’re buying

18:04

why they’re buying it what’s selling well and hands down floor and I ask fabric

18:10

companies that manufacture fabric florals just sell well so and people are

18:17

like oh not another floral well they sell well so yeah another floral um as far as in a collection the ratio I

18:25

mean whoever you design for the company that you work for design fabric for they’re going to work with you on your

18:32

collection and say we need some more geometrics or we need some more blenders

18:38

um or we need floor you need a big novelty print they’ll work with you on that

18:44

um but I mean as far as ratio gosh this is me off the top of my head just thinking a couple of florals a main

18:50

novelty print and that’s something that’s like unique the main print it’s got a bigger print generally

18:57

um I might have like a background scene or I don’t know something it might be Floral uh but something that’s like the

19:05

main print and then geometrics I say geometrics and blenders geometrics are it’s geometric

19:11

blenders it’s just like a low volume something that that can easily be like a background

19:18

Fabric or kind of be in the background a little bit so it’s nice to have a good balance of all of them

19:24

and then as far as I’m gonna just throw this in there even though it’s not officially a question on the list

19:31

because I’m a quilter and I’ve made quilts I know that it’s helpful to have

19:36

different volumes of color is that the right term I’m not like a color specialist but

19:43

it’s good to have some dark Fabrics that really pop a punch and then some lighter fabrics and some I like to say low

19:50

volume but like blender so that you could make an entire quilt out of your collection and if you look at a quilt

19:58

if there’s nothing that really pops or like the color saturation is all the

20:03

same it can be a little bit boring and so it’s good to have a variety of I

20:10

think color saturation you know some that are lighter some that are darker um

20:15

which does bring me to the next question number six where do you look for color trends

20:21

so there is the trend Bible and it’s a very fascinating thing I don’t know how

20:27

they come up with what they come up with but they do they look at trends that are going to happen like two or three years

20:33

from now and they kind of tell you here’s what’s going to be trending in 2024

20:39

so you can look there and see what colors are trending you also work with the company that you

20:44

are designing for and they’ll they’ll help you with colors at least art gallery does

20:49

and then I also just like to look at what I’m liking you know what what what am I liking I guess there’s no

20:57

better way to say it what colors am I digging right now I really want to use this this and this so kind of go with

21:02

what you like and what you use but the color Bible or not color Bible the trend Bible is a really great way to

21:09

get inspiration for both what to put on your fabric things that will be trending

21:15

you know in a couple of years and colors that will be trending but also I mean I

21:20

say that you want to stay in your brand so for me I’m very earthy muted if I see

21:28

oh man neon colors are trending in 2024 I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon because that’s not on brand for me

21:35

and so you don’t want to sell out to like what’s on Trend really you want to be true to your brand

21:40

brand over Trends any day so build a strong brand and if you’re wondering

21:46

what does that even mean there is a book I’m reading right now called obsessed and it’s by Emily Hayward and she talks

21:53

a lot about branding and what that means that it’s not just like your logo and the colors that you use she goes into a

22:00

deep dive on what branding is so if you’re like stuck on that I recommend that book

22:05

so number seven what exercises can you do now to become a fabric designer so

22:11

really learning Adobe Illustrator learning how to make repeat patterns how to scan your photos in or Draw on an

22:18

iPad and really figuring out what your look

22:23

is which takes practice so just drawing and I’m not going to say draw every day because I know that’s probably it’s not

22:30

realistic for me but I’ll go in spurts where I’m like okay I’m gonna draw

22:35

so draw and practice taking and it’s one thing to draw it is another to put that

22:41

into a repeating pattern and like so gather Fabrics that you like and once

22:47

you do drawing that you like try and make a repeat pattern and look at that fabric that you’ve collected that you

22:52

like and look what size are the images how are they spaced apart how let’s see

22:58

if I can imitate that with my own drawings if I can side scale it to the same size rotate it like this and just

23:06

kind of mess around with it and if it doesn’t look good maybe grab another fabric that’s a little bit different and

23:11

take your drawing and try and rotate and resize it and until you find the look that you like that you feel good about

23:18

so it’s great to just practice with that and then as I mentioned so use fabric

23:24

see you know because you might have something that looks really good but it’s not going to be good for quilting

23:30

fabric so get familiar with what you like to use when you’re sewing so that you can actually use it like make a

23:37

pattern and use that when you are sewing because it is super helpful for fabric

23:42

companies quilting fabric companies to take you on if you quilt if you can make

23:48

a pattern a quilt pattern with your fabric it definitely helps to promote your fabric if you are able to do that

23:55

and then I love this question how do I learn to draw so you don’t have to be like

24:01

Michelangelo or Picasso although I would say I’m more like Picasso because

24:07

it’s very whatever abstract um you don’t have to be an amazing

24:13

drawer to create fabric I mean some Fabrics out there are very

24:19

I don’t know I don’t even want to say names because someone would be like oh that’s not that’s rude and I mean it in the best way but just

24:25

abstract maybe not typical artistic not like wow look at that drawing that’s

24:30

amazing it’s a much more of like a geometric thing or very simple so I mean

24:37

learning to draw is just practice so I have all of these drawing books draw one image a day and I’ll sit

24:45

down and draw something I’ll turn to a page and just practice drawing it and at first it is imitation I’m like okay I’m

24:50

copying exactly how that looks in the drawing book and then I’m like okay now let’s close the book and try it on my

24:56

own let’s try like croissants I’m doing a bicycle oh gosh that was a tough one um vases I’ll if I get like a magazine

25:04

in the mail and I love this look on this page of an actual photo I’ll sit down

25:10

and try and draw it and so just practice you know pencil

25:15

paper iPad whatever that is and then yeah how long did it take for me to become a fabric designer I kind of

25:21

shared that already um what four years four years of drawing

25:27

and dreaming and finally it came to be which maybe for some people they’re like

25:33

that’s nothing up and trying for 20. so who knows for me four years

25:38

okay I do love this question how do you know when your collection is complete

25:46

so when I first submitted a collection it was with a different company that I’m

25:52

not working with right now and I just was so excited to have a collection done

25:57

I took the colors and the ideas from Joanna Gaines like

26:02

literally the colors that she had that year for I don’t know Sherwin-Williams

26:07

or something and then I just did a bunch of like wreaths and things that were very Joanna

26:12

gains because I was like well I like it and it’s super on Trend right now so it’s gotta work and the comp and I didn’t love it it

26:20

just felt like well it should be popular but I didn’t love each design

26:27

in fact I wish I could pull that up I wonder if I still have it I don’t know that I loved any there were

26:32

maybe a couple that I was like that one’s really good but some that I was like well it’s just done because I needed to have so many designs

26:39

and I submitted it and they were like I mean we’re interested in having you but this it’s got to look different and that

26:46

was all the direction I got I was like hmm it’s got a little different what do I do with that

26:53

and I asked a friend who was a fabric designer very successful fabric designer do you love every one of your prints

26:59

that you submit and she said yeah I do I’m really proud of it and I’m excited for it to come out

27:05

and I knew at that moment that I hadn’t arrived because I did not love every print that I had submitted I

27:12

was submitting it more because I want to hurry and become a designer and have that you know and so that’s when I kind

27:19

of stepped away and was like I don’t know if this is for me and it got to a

27:24

point where it was really not as fun where I was just like

27:30

so focused on I have to create because I want this and I don’t know it

27:36

was coming from the wrong place and I lost that like fun factor and I

27:41

was like well I guess this isn’t for me I don’t enjoy it the way I thought I would it’s not rewarding

27:47

uh and this person said you need to be able to recognize your fabric from a

27:53

mile away and that freaked me out I was like what how because here I was like trying to

28:00

like Joanna Gaines and it’s hard to create your own look when you’re copying not copying because I want I don’t well

28:07

I don’t know when I’m trying to like imitate I guess it is trying to imitate Joanna gains and take her colors you

28:12

know not that she has like a trademark on the colors or anything but like I was trying to piggyback on her look and not

28:20

my own and it just wasn’t truly me it wasn’t sustainable uh all

28:28

the things I was like and it wasn’t until I talked to Pat at Art Gallery fabrics and I told her I

28:34

don’t know that it’s for me and I told her why and she was like what kind of fabrics would you like to create

28:40

if you could and I said well honestly I’d love to do all small print and which I haven’t even done all of

28:46

that like but Point let me share the point I’d like to do this I’d like to do this this is what I want and she was

28:52

like what if I told you that you could design that that you could design all the tiny little floral prints that you

28:59

want low volume you don’t have to have a big novelty print just what if I was like really is

29:06

that a thing like I thought there had to be a main print and you know this formula that you had to follow and she’s

29:11

like um you can do what you want and that’s when my fire lit up again and I

29:17

was like wait a minute I can do what I want and the creative juices started flowing and I got excited about it

29:24

and I had been quilting long enough and making my own quilt patterns long enough

29:30

that I really am at a place now where I feel like I understand my brand and my

29:35

look for now I’m sure it will continue to morph over time but at least I feel

29:41

like I know who I am I’m no longer like I need to be Joanna Gaines because she’s popular and I know that that’s going to

29:47

do well that’s never how you want to approach it and I even hear my students right now

29:52

like but what’s the most popular thing like what patterns are selling the best and all make that I’m like oh no no no

29:59

no you want to approach it way differently you want to approach it with what you love

30:05

and you don’t want to care at all if someone’s not gonna like it because the

30:10

people who do like it are are your people like you want to create what you love regardless of how popular it is how many

30:18

people like it because it will be successful and you will find your people and and it’s uniquely you and so it’s

30:25

the same with fabric design you want to like really get comfortable with your

30:31

look what you love and create that and so that was just like very liberating

30:37

for me and now all of a sudden I love it and now I’ve got ideas like oh it’d be fun to do this oh I want to do this and

30:44

so that was like giving me permission to do what I wanted to do which I’ll be forever grateful for

30:52

so the next question how do you get picked up by a fair Book Company I kind of talked about that it’s I mean again

30:58

all I can do is speak to what I have known and what I’ve seen for myself and for others It Is by being in the room

31:06

with someone like actually talking face to face them seeing you and knowing you

31:13

I don’t I’m not saying that that has to be but that is what I have seen foreign

31:18

so I guarantee there’s someone out there who did not know anyone at a company that they applied to or submitted their

31:25

work to and they got picked up but with that said

31:31

it is very attractive if you can stand on your own two feet

31:36

and like you’re not trying to get picked up by this company so they can grow your audience

31:42

that they will grow Their audience because of you and so if you have a good

31:47

following you’ve built a brand you’re recognized you’re liked that is that

31:54

brings a lot of value to you as a fabric designer companies want to sell that

32:00

what their you know their products so if they bring someone on who can help sell that’s attractive

32:07

they also it’s very valuable if you are a quilter if you know how to write quilt

32:12

patterns and you can have a pattern come out every time your fabric line comes out that’s also going to help sales it

32:19

will help get more fabric sold it’s also nice if you know how to take good photos and just have some good marketing skills

32:26

under your belt if you have a Blog that gets good traffic that will be very valuable

32:33

because you can go in and write a blog about your Fabric and you know what the

32:38

story behind it and why you designed this so just all of these things I mean it really helps to have kind of a good

32:45

business underneath you you know and so it’s a piece of the pie creating fabric

32:51

is a piece of the pie and then one of the questions is what what’s a typical income that a fabric

32:57

designer earns so to be honest I have no idea I have

33:02

not gotten paid yet um and I so I can’t really even speak to

33:08

that and I don’t know what’s typical it’s like so many other things in this industry well in any industry I’d

33:15

venture to say we don’t talk about it a whole time I did just recently put out a survey what

33:22

does a typical quilt pattern designer earn and I actually was going to release that on the podcast this week but I’m

33:29

trying to do a little bit more number analysis to share with you but it’s all over the place I mean it’s

33:35

going to depend on the size of audience you have how well your sales are so I guess I can get back to you on that

33:42

down the road when I actually get a paycheck for the fabric that I’ve designed but from what I’ve heard it’s

33:48

less than what you think it’s going to be so it’s probably not something where like this is going to be my bread and

33:54

butter this is how I’m going to support my family it’s going to be a piece of the pie it’s going to be part you know you want to

34:00

diversify your income it’s going to be just a piece of the pie but it definitely builds credibility it

34:06

definitely opens up doors to earn money in other ways that you wouldn’t have been able to without it

34:12

so let’s do the exact number TBD to be determined okay question do I still draw

34:19

every day and do I draw something random every day like prompt books or do I mostly draw flowers because those sell

34:26

well so no I don’t draw every day I usually draw as I’m getting into collection mode

34:32

like okay I have a collection that’s coming up in two months so let me start drawing and I usually think I have an

34:40

idea of what I want my collection to be and by usually come on I’ve done this two or three times now so we’ll see I’ll

34:46

Circle back down the road and see if it changes because it probably will but I have an idea for a collection oh

34:52

I’d like it to be this so what makes sense to go in this collection oh drawing so this and this

34:57

and I start to draw them and then I’ll start to feel out like I don’t have

35:02

enough here or no I’m not feeling it this is not looking right or sometimes I’ll draw something and it leads to oh

35:09

this would be so cool if I tweaked it and instead of doing a theme about this I did a theme about this

35:14

and so no I don’t draw every day yes I do use sketchbooks like I have

35:20

um quite a few sketchbooks that I use that are just like how to draw this how to draw this

35:26

and so I go to those I also do especially with flowers I like to buy my

35:31

own flowers and take photos of them and then draw from my photos so that I know that that drawing is uniquely mine and

35:39

I’m not like copying it from a drawing book but the drawing book I use as a springboard to get ideas of like let’s

35:46

try drawing this like I wanted to have a bicycle with a little flower thing in one of my collections it looks so bad I

35:53

was using a little Sketchbook to draw a bike I couldn’t I don’t know we’ll see if down the road you see a bike you know

35:58

I will have arrived like oh she figured it out but no that one had to had to be

36:03

scratched because I was like no I can’t even follow the book here and like go

36:09

and take a picture of like a vintage bike that I’d want to use because I can’t even get down this basic like

36:14

bicycle so no but um yeah so there we are with how much I

36:20

draw and then how do you develop your own style again I kind of spoke to this and

36:26

for me for me my own style developed out of Designing quilt patterns so I I’ve I’ve made some

36:35

quilts where I’m like that is not my fabric like for Quilter’s candy for Elizabeth Chapel

36:42

that’s hideous fabric but I used it because it looked so good in someone else’s you know design world

36:49

it worked for their brand it didn’t work for mine and so just hit and miss try let’s get this fabric

36:55

let’s try that I’ve really narrowed down what I like and what my brand is about

37:01

and so when I design fabric it was very easy for me to be like oh it’s going to look feminine it’s gonna

37:07

look soft it’s going to have a hint of vintage but like

37:13

um I hate to say modern Farmhouse because it’s like so overused but um anyhow I I

37:20

know what it’s what my look is because I’ve quilted so long and so I’m very familiar with the fabrics and the colors

37:26

that I like so yeah they’re I feel like that’s how I’ve developed my own style now the next question ma is this person

37:33

saying my drawing style does not match what I want to do any suggestions

37:38

absolutely just keep practicing and it’s like you know like the bike thing I

37:44

haven’t gotten that bike down yet but honestly I threw in the towel because I was like let’s move on to something else because it took too long but

37:51

be a little determined be a little bit like it’s not there yet it’s like any little

37:57

kid who starts to learn how to draw they get frustrated because in their mind they know what they want to draw but

38:03

their little hands don’t have the muscle memory and the capability to execute

38:09

that so they draw and then they get frustrated because this drawing does not look like the

38:14

thing in their mind well that’s just like us you know we have this thing that we know we want to create but our hands

38:21

can’t get it out and that that is honestly if you can even just do like I

38:26

know there’s the 100 day thing but even just do 30 days 30 days in a row where you do one drawing a day I started to do

38:34

that and I came up with a whole collection from that so there is power in those little small things every day

38:41

so I would suggest and I would suggest with this so doing those 30 days just one drawing a day

38:47

find photos of things that you want it to look like and start by copying and

38:52

imitating and I am not saying that once you undraw and copy and imitate someone else’s work

38:58

that that’s what you submit I am saying that you start there and you learn how to make your hand make this

39:06

look you know how do I create this thing to look like that imitate and even

39:12

there’s a book called uh what is a steal like an artist by Austin Cleon

39:17

he talks about that that every artist starts off by copying I mean they you

39:23

consume you want to become obsessed with like gather the things that you want to have your fabric look like and study it

39:31

and copy it and then once that happens where you’re like okay I got this then go out and

39:37

find things in nature or out on your own take photos of that and you can start to

39:42

draw from that and then you can just after that you’ll have the skill set too you don’t need to

39:48

be copying you know you can come up with your own and you can mix and match things nothing Under the Sun is new

39:56

it’s just a combination of all these things to make it unique Uniquely Yours so practice copy yes start off by

40:03

copying no don’t submit copying work for as your own but use that as a learning

40:09

tool use that as a starting point and then the question is do I need to

40:14

use watercolors no you don’t you can use pencil pen

40:20

you can use watercolor it is a little bit hard when you go into Adobe Illustrator to make watercolor have that

40:26

same look because watercolor has so many I mean when you do submit a fabric

40:34

design I mean it’s like 18 colors Max that you want to have when you bring in

40:40

a watercolor into Adobe Illustrator it has like 18 000 colors and so you’re not going to

40:47

keep that same watercolor look when you put it on fabric unless it’s digitally printed

40:53

um so no you don’t need these watercolors um in fact it presents a little bit of a

40:59

artistic problem when you try to bring watercolors into fabric design

41:05

so there we are how many collections in a year does the designer put out so that depends it

41:12

depends what is in your contract you can totally negotiate you could I mean typically it’s two two per year

41:19

but some put out one a year uh once you’ve been in it long enough I mean you could probably negotiate to one every

41:26

two years but you don’t want to start off with that so typically two a year

41:31

and then this next question I’m just going to say I don’t feel confident going into this if there is an interest

41:38

to dive deeper from the listeners I can bring on a specialist but this question is explain licensing

41:45

is there a difference between licensing and signing with a fabric company is one more beneficial

41:50

I cannot speak to that it seems like I get scared like oh that’s legal terms and I don’t want someone to be like but

41:55

Elizabeth said um so I am not going to speak to licensing

42:01

I will say generally speaking like when I signed with art gallery

42:07

Fabrics they have the right to those drawings to print on their fabric however I can take

42:14

those same drawings and print them on other kinds of surfaces like wallpaper

42:20

notebooks greeting cards pencils stickers washi tape t-shirts socks pants

42:26

bags blah blah blah book covers I mean it could be anything I can do that that is okay

42:33

so I just cannot print it on other fabric that’s going to compete with art gallery Fabrics in fact

42:39

um Stacy of gingerbread is very good at speaking on how to take those designs

42:44

that you’ve created and earn more money with it and I know that I’m going to tackle that down the road I’m not right

42:50

now because I have a lot going on with like the crafted career club and The Mastermind and all the things but

42:56

eventually I know that I have money sitting on the table because I have these designs and I know that I can

43:03

repurpose them and put them on other things and so that’s kind of like I said a piece of the pie

43:09

once you’ve created these designs you have a following people like your designs and your fabric then they

43:15

usually are like oh it would be fun to see it on this or that so you can totally make money in other ways so

43:21

again Stacy of gingerbread is a great teacher and guide on how to do that

43:26

and then the question is on like the self-publishing you know there’s spoonflower I want to say paintbrush

43:32

Studios we’ll also print fabric on demand and spoonflower and I believe Hawthorne

43:39

do digital printing where like you can have that watercolor look and keep all of those colors that

43:45

are true um most other Fabrics are not that way like I said it’s like 18 colors that you

43:52

want to have um but the question is is this a good idea like should people go that route

43:58

so I can’t speak to this totally because I don’t know a ton about it but things that I would consider I mean yes there’s

44:06

a market for it it’s there’s a lot of people if you go to

44:11

spoonflower and you search up I don’t know boho floral fabric there’s a lot

44:18

so how one shows up at the top of the search I have no idea it seems like it

44:24

would be a good idea if you have a good following and they’re loyal buyers then they would

44:31

want your fabric but if you’re just doing this because you have an itch and you want to scratch it you know you just

44:37

want to design fabric you can totally do it especially if you’re doing it for yourself like I just

44:42

want to create this quilt and I want this Fabric and it’s not out there awesome go for it but if you want to go

44:49

that route to like earn good money unless you have a really loyal audience

44:54

I just don’t see it being super lucrative but if you’re doing it just for the money

45:00

um yeah I don’t know that I’d recommend it but again I cannot totally speak to that because I’ve not gone that route but I

45:07

just as far as marketing goes it’s really nice to have a company who has a large following like art gallery

45:15

fabrics and they are going to help promote and market for you or other companies who have reps who are going to

45:20

go around to different stores and say hey here’s this new fabric line you should check it out no one’s going to be doing that for spoonflower you know

45:27

um so it’s going to be a lot of self-promotion versus someone else helping promote for you

45:33

so yeah and then this last question they’d be interested to hear from shop owners what sells the most

45:39

and again I am not a shop owner but I can speak to

45:44

having gone to different shops and asking and different fabric companies and you know because people are like

45:51

well what if there’s not a lot of boy Fabrics what if I created a whole thing like just for boys

45:57

very cool not saying that it’s not going to work it’s just that most people who

46:02

quilt are I don’t know if this is why but most people who quilt are are female and they tend to buy a lot of the floral

46:09

feminine stuff so I would love to see someone really just come out swinging coming out with

46:16

all male fabric line that just does really well like I would love to see that because it just

46:22

hasn’t totally happened yet which means there’s a void there and it can be filled but

46:29

but it’s hard sometimes to fight this uphill battle where like well this is just kind of what sells so I don’t I

46:36

don’t know that I have the answer of that that’s more of a marketing I’m very very intrigued by it and one thing to

46:41

help make success is to find a niche or a void and so

46:47

so there is part of me that’s like maybe go for that Niche I don’t know I just don’t know but historically what sells

46:53

well is Florals um and feminine so you know when people are like oh

46:59

there’s just so many florals yeah there are because they just keep on selling and so there’s nothing wrong with

47:05

creating something that sells well you know it’s smart business but also if

47:10

someone can really come out with something unique that hasn’t been out there before where there’s a void there is potential there to be really

47:18

awesome so those are the questions that I had on becoming a fabric designer I hope that

47:25

this was helpful and that those of you who are out there listening and thinking I really want to design fabric how do I

47:31

do this especially if you want to be a fabric designer in the quilting world

47:36

quilt make some quilts and if you can write some quilt patterns like start to

47:42

grow your audience and let them know that you create quilt patterns and get your look out there so that people

47:48

when you do design fabric it’s like oh this is perfect this fabric goes perfectly with her look and her brand

47:53

and you can just it it goes hand in hand those go very well together designing

47:59

Fabric and making quilt patterns and then it opens up the door for many more opportunities you know once you’re

48:05

a successful pattern writer and a fabric designer all of a sudden people are

48:10

intrigued and you can be a guest at guilds you can teach you can write a book you can you know it opens the door

48:16

for many more pieces of the pie to earn more uh income

48:22

so that is my episode this week on The Crafty career podcast again if you are

48:28

enjoying the podcast and finding it helpful go ahead and leave a review and let me know

48:33

and thank you so much for being here on my birthday I hope it’s a wonderful day for you and I will see you back here

48:39

next Friday on the craft career podcast have a wonderful week [Music]

 
 
0 Comments
Share

You May Also Like

March 17, 2023

Growing A Successful Quilting Career

September 23, 2022

From TV Broadcaster to Crafterpreneur

October 7, 2021

Growing Your Business Without Social Media

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Previous Post
How SMALL Changes Make a BIG Impact
Next Post
How much does a Quilt Pattern Designer actually earn?
Hi there, I’m

Hi there, I’m

elizabeth

I am a Minnesota born girl living in Texas with my husband and 3 kids. If I could tell my 13 year old self I was a quilter, I would have laughed in disbelief.  However, a few years ago I discovered how cool quilting really is!  I want to share how cool quilting is with others.  Join me in my online modern Quilters Candy Membership, or check out my quilt patterns.  I even offer a course once a year teaching you how to write and sell your own quilt patterns. I am excited to be quilty friends!

Join the Membership

Shop Quilt Patterns

Check out the Courses

Quilting Tutorial Videos

Categories

  • Craft to Career
  • Digital Downloads
  • Patterns
  • Podcast
  • Quilt Alongs
  • Quilt Questions
  • Tutorials
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Tips on Sewing a curved quilt

    March 14, 2023
  • Perfect Point Triangles

    Perfect Points when sewing Equilateral Triangles

    March 7, 2023
  • Split Quarter Square Triangles Blog Post

    Fast and Easy Split Quarter Square Triangles

    February 28, 2023

Latest Video

Latest Video Latest Video

Subscribe to My Channel

Follow Quilters Candy on Instagram

Are you joining? QAL for #gardenharvestquilt is co Are you joining? QAL for #gardenharvestquilt is coming up, and these lovely versions are great inspiration! Click the link in my bio to join the quilt along that starts April 17th. ⁣
Makers in order of appearance:⁣
1. @magnoliaridgequilts⁣
2. and 3. @honey.spun⁣
4. @sandiego.sewn⁣
5. @bohoquiltco⁣
6. @becca.plymale.creative
Are you joining? I can’t wait to share the grand Are you joining? I can’t wait to share the grand prize! Hint: @babylocksewing There are also some amazing fabric bundles being put together by different shops. Join the #gardenharvestqal in the link in my bio to get all the details!
I love getting updates from my past students! This I love getting updates from my past students! This update from @vogonverse was too exciting not to share. Having the courage to apply and move forward pays off! Well done Nik! 🎉🎉🎉
Free coaching? That’s right! I’m giving a free Free coaching? That’s right! I’m giving a free one month business coaching session and one free 1 hour coaching session to any 2 people! This is to celebrate 100 episodes of the @crafttocareer podcast! 🎉 To enter: leave a review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts or my website for episode 100, DM me a screenshot of your review. Deadline: Wednesday at midnight. 3-22-23. Winners will be announce Friday on the podcast!
Invisible binding? That’s right! @quilterscandym Invisible binding? That’s right! @quilterscandymembership join me Monday at 10 am CST and guest @bluebeaglequilts will teach us how to face our quilts. Can’t make it? Don’t worry - this will be recorded and members can watch it later. Raise your hand if you’re excited to learn how to face your quilt! 🤚 Quilt: Sampler made with by some alumni who came to @artgalleryfabrics with me! Shirt: made with my #agfgayleloraine fabrics ❤️
The perfect curves… for your quilts! @lynsavenue The perfect curves… for your quilts! @lynsavenue gives you all the help and tips you need to get those intimidating curves to come out looking perfect every time! Visit my blog for the free tutorial.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Pattern Corrections
  • Terms And Conditions

Copyright © 2022 | Quilters Candy Site Powered by Pix & Hue.