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Maggie Whitley

joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith & simple living

You are here: Home / blog & handmade advice / {Does your handmade shop need fresh fabric designs?}

{Does your handmade shop need fresh fabric designs?}

April 1, 2013 · 14 Comments
Filed Under: blog & handmade advice, for fun, sewing

Hey, fabric lovers — have you heard of Spoonflower? I first heard of them a few years ago and had my first experience sewing with their fabrics for this BurdaStyle project where I tested out one of their purse patterns from their November 2011 book, The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook.* What I loved the most about Spoonflower is their seriously huge selection of fabrics, not to mention you can design your own fabric {even wallpaper or wall decals} to create a totally custom project.

BurdaStyle5_gussy sews ruffles

Gussy Sews + BurdaStyle project collaboration

It’s been a little while since I’ve been on Spoonflower’s site, and since my mind has been lingering over Gussy shop “stuff” since starting my maternity leave I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite fabrics from their site. I pulled six prints and paired them together. These three sample combinations would make for fab new products, dontcha think?

fabric-gussy-sews

folksong linen // coral springs

fabric-gussy-sews

umbra deco coral // cloud lines linen

fabric-gussy-sews

green budding linen // plus one linen orange

Here’s my final takeaway from Spoonflower: their fabrics are priced a little steep, especially if you’re shopping their materials to create/sell a handmade product. BUT, if your handmade items are priced correctly and you’re able to successfully turn a profit, Spoonflower is a great site to use for materials. Their selection is enormous, and because of their price point (high) you’re more likely to not see the fabrics you have in your shop in another handmade shop. These last two points are huge for me as a handmade shop owner. Lastly, you can always design your own fabrics to feature in your products {yeow!} and if you order 20+ yards you get a 20% discount — which is amazing!

Have you ever shopped Spoonflower? Which prints are your favorite? Have you ever considered a pricier material to create a feeling of exclusivity within your handmade shop? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!

*affiliate link

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14 Comments
Filed Under: blog & handmade advice, for fun, sewing

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Comments

  1. Krista says

    April 1, 2013 at 5:04 am

    I love the wonderful fabric selections on Spoonflower! Not so much the prices. I have used them once when a customer requested specific fabric from the site for a custom order. We were both rather disappointed when the fabric arrived a completely different shade than it showed online. Online, and in the packing invoice, the image was a bold, royal blue color. The fabric itself was more of a denim blue. Based on that experience, I am not sure that I will take a chance again in trusting that the color is exactly what I wanted, especially considering the price. I prefer to see fabric in person before buying. Has anyone else experienced this when ordering from them?

    Reply
    • Sae says

      April 1, 2013 at 1:08 pm

      @Krista, Most of the successful sellers I’ve seen include true-to-life photos of the actual fabric for their customers to see along with the digital design. Spoonflower won’t let someone sell fabric until they’ve purchased a sample of it for themselves, in an effort to make sure fabric designers can check the color and quality of their work. Your experience may be more of a “fail” on the seller’s part, than spoonflower overall?

      Reply
  2. Mrs Graham Gardens says

    April 1, 2013 at 5:55 am

    We love Spoonflower!

    We used our original product designs/motifs to create fabrics that we then can use on our craft show booth. We’ve always had great service from them and the fabrics are lovely.

    We’ve even had the fun surprise of people buying our fabrics for fun projects like quilts and pillows!

    We’re graham_gardens at Spoonflower!

    Reply
  3. Leah says

    April 1, 2013 at 8:56 am

    I am an artist that has considered making designs on Spoonflower and selling them, but I’m just not sure how I could ask a person to pay for fabric at a price that I am unable to afford?!

    It does seem that enough people are interested in buying their fabric to make them successful, so perhaps that shouldn’t be an issue!

    Lovin the pictures of you and your little one on your instagram widget! You are both so precious!

    Reply
  4. Honora says

    April 1, 2013 at 9:49 am

    I’ve found that it takes soooo long for them to deliver the goods. I’m certain itis because they print the fabric as it is ordered. I’ve gotten an order, and it has been so long that I no longer remember what I needed it so desperately for. The prints are amazing though. And when I do have some extra $$ to spend, it usually is one of my first stops.

    Reply
  5. Sae says

    April 1, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    I agree that the prices are a little steep–but being able to design my own fabric is such a great opportunity! I’ve seen a lot of successful spoonflower sellers. Also, sometimes creating things like your own plushie design can be fairly cost-effective.

    The other thing I like about spoonflower is the contests! I love voting for amazing designs each week. I finally entered in my first one, with a little baby animal design: http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1928228 We’ll see how it does. ;)

    Reply
  6. Chamel says

    April 1, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    I love Spoonflower! I came across them while blogging and researching how to design fabric. My experience with them have been great and awesome customer service. I design my scripture sentiments for my clutches/wristlets (www.chamelscreations.com) and have them printed with Spoonflower!

    **Would suggest ordering their color swatch to ensure that your color scheme comes out correctly**

    Reply
  7. Kate @ Songs Kate Sang says

    April 1, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    I’m in love with the green budding linen! And that picture of you – my favorite ever! hugs.

    Reply
  8. Lauren says

    April 3, 2013 at 5:48 am

    I love Spoonflower! I designed a line of location specific fabrics last year to turn into fun totes like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/110931406/sale-charlotte-nc-skyline-market-tote?ref=shop_home_active
    Of course I had to charge more for them than for my regular totes, but they were one of a kind and I find that people will definitely pay for something unique.
    As for getting accurate color, I ordered their large color swatch and now use it as art in my office (you can see a picture here): http://plumfieldshop.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-office-details.html . It was worth it for me to pay for the large swatch so that I can always know exactly what color I’m getting.
    Also, I had a chance to meet Stephen Fraser, one of the founders of Spoonflower last month at a conference and he was so inspiring! It was amazing to hear him talk about building his business and the passion behind it.

    Reply
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  12. Kimberly W. Codron says

    March 7, 2014 at 6:53 am

    I have ordered fabric from Spoonflower twice now because a customer wanted something specific. I have ordered fabric with children on it and fabric with angels. The fabric does take a while to arrive, but I knew that ahead of time and it wasn’t a problem. The colors were true and I was very pleased.

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ABOUT MAGGIE WHITLEY DESIGNS:
Maggie Whitley weaves her writings around joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith, and simple living. She homeschools her children, enjoys a quiet room while reading, and roars with laughter over the challenges & delights of motherhood. Maggie and her husband, along with their four young children, live in metro-Detroit. She has been writing online since 2008.
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So, hello! As you can gather, my name is Maggie ;) 

I started writing online (almost 13 years ago) to share the handmade products I was sewing. My shop was called Gussy Sews. ✂️👛I love the community that has grown from sewing & sharing online.

Let’s FFW to today: Zack and I live in Michigan and have four young children (2 boys & 2 girls). I slowly left the handmade industry and walked right into homemaking, homeschooling, and encouraging women through writing. 💕📝

Motherhood has been very hard on me. (And not just because of how close in age our four children are.) It’s been hard for me because I fought for years to accept that *it’s supposed to be hard*. 

I mean, how do you effectively teach another person to know and love the Lord? Bc that’s how I think of motherhood: a calling to nurture others by studying the One who nurtures me. So I gotta make the first move: study the Bible and seek Him first. As my friend Autumn reminded me, vulnerability births transformation. 

(I’ve had to be really vulnerable!)

So, yes motherhood has fully transformed me. But even more so, Christ has fully transformed me. My list of “all that He’s done for me” is off to a beautifully long start.

Something else I want you to know about me: I stalled for years before acknowledging I have anxiety and depression. It’s hard to talk about this because of course this isn’t forever “my hardship”, but rather because acknowledging this means to heal I have to work through some really difficult things. ✨

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What are you reading this year? Currently?

How many books are you planning to read? What’s your goal?

I’ll share what’s on my list for 2021 soon as I received some nice titles at Christmas. 📖✨🤍
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