The last few years our gardens have not been as happy as they once were when we actually had time to pull weeds. When they were happy, I loved to plant pretty dahlias and Iris flowers. Then, I took pictures of them!
I took some of the many pictures of my flowers (and some of my brother-in-law that likes to grow dahlias) and made them into fabric patterns. First step was cutting out a bunch of flowers from their original pictures and cleaning up the edges. I had to take pictures that had nearly perfect flowers without flaws. On a few I had to clone out some bug munches, but otherwise the flowers are as nature made them.
Next, I grabbed colors from the flowers and created a design for each one.
Here are the results, and the fabric made into some pretties for my girl. The actual printed fabric will always be less vibrant than the digital file. I have learned this the hard way!
This is the first design – Peachy Dahlias and Roses. I printed it on Modern Jersey, as I wanted to make some clothes for The Girl. She really likes to have her clothes in knit. I scaled the design to print it at 6″ x 6″.
After washing it on cold and drying it in the dryer, this is how long the one yard of fabric became:
As I had less than a yard of fabric to work with, and making a Saige dress from The Simple Life Pattern Company takes about 1.5 yards, I had to figure out something. I decided to do a lace overlay on a fabric I had gotten free from Fabric.com. It is a type of polyester, that I had NO IDEA what I would use for anything. It felt less like a gift and more like a, “No one wants this fabric, so we are just going to give it away”. Luckily, it works great underneath the lace.
Another modification I had to make due to the fabric shortage, was on the arms. I didn’t have the length I needed, so the arms were done in pieces.
The Modern Jersey is not overly thick, unfortunately. I am glad the top of this dress is lined, as it was needed for the thickness of this fabric.
I also made a pair of leggings for her out of a stretch cotton. It was a cute little outfit on her.
Now to make something with the rest of the fabrics!
I love the sleeves!
Thanks, Carolyn! I had to do some fancy cutting to get what I needed out of the yard of fabric.
Such a pretty outfit! And you saved the day with all your great strategies! Can’t believe how you maximized those 33 inches of fabric. I went to the Spoonflower book party in October and bought the book. It took me a month to read the book and just recently I registered on Spoonflower. All of this fabric designing looks really fun!
Thanks! Designing the fabric is really fun! Where was the book party? I love the design aspect of the fabric. I can sit and doodle at my computer for way too many hours. 🙂
This is beautiful, what great design and use of fabric. I love her outfit.
Thanks, Lori! 🙂