Using Your Art to Design Patterns
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I learned to sew at a very young age and I immediately became fascinated with fabric designs… By the time I was a mid-teen I was designing clothes on paper and following my favorite fashion designers and their collections. I learned fashion illustration, and I had a dream of having my own creative business. By the age of 16 I was making my own clothes, and planning for fashion design school. I saved my money and shopped for outfits with the utmost care. But I didn't make it to fashion school just yet…
Years later, I went to work for St. John’s Knits and later on for Chanel as a Ready to Wear department manager. I eventually got a chance to run my own boutique for a high-end Italian brand called Marni. They had me flying to Italy twice per year, along with the other US managers, to select garments and leather goods for my stock. It was quite an experience, and that's when I got my chance to go to fashion school. It was stellar, an as I did my job, I breezed through school because I was living every aspect of it.
One of my favorite things about all of this was the fabrics.
Another perk was getting to handle textiles from all over the world. I worked with new exploratory fabrics and saw new weaves being invented as I sold the classics along side them. I was in heaven, except… this wasn't the actual dream. It was a version of it and it was amazing, but I started to feel antsy. Was I ever going to get a chance to have my own creative business?
I had started to paint and create on the iPad at this point. I needed to have that creative outlet back in my life. I got paints and more art supplies and kept creating. I got a chance to start teaching on Skillshare and learned how to produce creative classes. In that time, I painted small squares of patterns and pretended like I could use them for repeat patterns that would fill yards of fabrics and other surfaces. I even created a class called Watercolor Fabric Swatches. It was a process that I taught my students on Skillshare and they loved it. Maybe you remember it?
It was one of my most successful classes to date and it got my wheels turning. What if I could use the same technique I used in the squares to paint fabric designs onto my fashion illustrations? Until then I hadn’t gotten too fancy with this aspect of my fashion illustrations so the prospect was really exciting.
Soon afterwards, I learned about something called surface pattern design. It was the act of using art to design unique projects for fabrics, wallpaper, and many other surfaces. It was executed in an Adobe program called Illustrator, so I would have to learn that. I had heard about graphic designers using it and I knew that there were classes about it on Skillshare, where I was already hanging out.
Someone had created a career for artists to design fabrics? My mind was blown!
One of my fashion illustrations featuring implied patterns.
So I started by taking some Skillshare classes, trying a few different teachers. I got the Adobe Creative Suite and paid attention, but I ran into a snag… I wasn't able to grasp the concepts of Illustrator. It was a big confusing program with so many tools, windows, and settings, and I was feeling so lost.
In 2019 I learned that Bonnie Christine had created a big course for people just like me; creative but with limited tech savvy. It's called Immersion, and in 2020 I took the courage to pay the big price tag and took the plunge. Immersion is aptly named. It's a giant immersive experience and I dove deep into another dream come true. I was designing my first fabric collection and it was so exciting!
Bonnie was an amazing teacher; patient, kind, and nurturing through every step of the way. I not only learned Illustrator well, but I was hired onto the Immersion support team in 2021 and 2022, to help others who where new to the course. I loved helping Bonnie’s students while my design skills got really honed.
Designs from my latest collection designed to compliment my branding.
Now I’m building multiple collections of designs and putting together my own design portfolio. I’d like to put those designs on sites like Spoonflower, where shoppers can purchase my designs on yards of fabric. Or POD sites where my designs would be featured on products like tea towels and pillows, t-shirts and hats, or stationary and tech accessories. The ultimate would be to land a licensing deal with a company who would feature my designs on their own products for sale out in the world.
But it all started with some art and an idea that turned into a dream. Have you thought about where you’d like to see your art? At one time I didn’t even think I could learn Illustrator, let alone show others how to do it and get paid for it. I didn’t know what was going to happen on that journey, but I kept going. The journey isn’t over. In fact, it could be just beginning.
What are you dreaming about regarding your art? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below so I can be rooting for you! In the meantime, do you want to do some fun watercolor implied patterns? Join me in my class to discover the process. It’s fun and easier than you might think. ;-)