ABSPD FEATURED DESIGNER - MajoBV

Hello and Welcome to Mondays installment of FEATURED DESIGNER. Today, I am happy to share the work of the lovely Maria, of Majo BV.

Maria began the ABSPD course with me way back in spring. I've shared a journey with her unlike any other, she is not only insightful, but helpful, and amazingly talented. Here is a little information about MajoBV.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background in Surface Pattern Design?

Since I was a child I've always felt attracted to fabric and textures in general. I was (and am) one of those people that like rubbing surfaces (my dog's fur, a rough wall, the bed sheet while I fall asleep, etc). As a Fashion Designer I believe a simple silhouette can be GREAT if the garment is made up of a wonderful print and/or precious fabric, so when I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer, I also knew I wanted to be a textile designer. At uni I was able to study textile printing and dyeing and also a little bit about designing repeats. It wasn't until 2 years ago though (when I discovered the wonderful Spoonflower) that I decided to take my passion and love for textiles seriously and started creating and selling my designs through their website, but only when I started the ABSPD e-course I was able to open my eyes and realise that what I was actually doing wasn't only textile design, but surface pattern design and that I could broaden my range of products to much more than fabrics and fashion products. 

What made you apply for the ABSPD course and what have you gained from it so far?

When I decided to really work on my other passion and career, I knew really little about pattern design. I mean, yes... I knew what I had learnt at school ('cause my BA is in Fashion and Textiles) but it wasn't enough. I bought a lot of books on the different types of prints (placement, repeats, borders, etc) and how to create them. I also attended a great summer short course in Central Saint Martins (Creative Portfolio in Textile Design) and learnt more about dyeing, silk screening and hand-painting fabric. I then started taking private lessons in the wonderful school of a great Textiles Professor I met last year (with her I discovered my passion for knitwear too, and even got my greatgrandmother's home knittingmachine refurbished and bring it all the way from Colombia to Milan to keep practicing). In all this time I had also been looking for a more complete e-course that could teach me more than just the technical stuff, but didn't find much. It wasn't until Dawn (a fellow designer I met through Spoonflower) emailed me to tell me she was very busy with her new ecourse, and I was like: "WHAT?! what e-course?" I immediately went to the ABSPD web page and knew this was the kind of course I had been looking for so long, but the course had already started. I emailed Beth and almost begged her to let me be part of the course even if I was late, and promised her I would have catch up with the rest of the class. 

The course has given me SO MUCH! Besides all the amazing technical and business secrets I've learnt so far, it has made me regain my confidence as a designer (that was a little crumbled after so many shut doors in the past years), find my own style (still working on it, but now I'm on the right track), be brave enough to decide to just finally start my own brand inspite of all my fears and of never feeling ready (my very strong perfectionist being can sometimes be a real pain), meet so many great designers, and build a wonderful support community.

Can you describe your style and what methods you use to create your designs?

 My style is whimsical, fun and bright. I usually hand draw my designs and then digitalise them on Ai or directly draw on Ai with my cute mini wacom tablet. I also like working with different mediums (collage, stitching, etc), but I do it less. 

Where do you see your work progressing in the next few years, and what industry would you say you are aiming at?

 I have a lot of goals for me and my work in the near and long term future. I'm currently working on developing a stronger personal style and building my portfolio. I would love to be signed by an agent to start collaborating with different brands and markets and also to get my work licensed. 

I also see myself succeed with the sustainable, eco-friendly and handmade brand I've always dreamt of creating. I've already started to work on that and I hope to launch it next Spring.

One more thing....

Dont Forget to Check out 'Mani Sunday', Maria can do amazing things with a bottle of Polish. Just Click here and check them out.

Contact MajoBV here: 

email: info@majobv.com

web: www.majobv.com

blog: www.lapatisseriedesidees.blogspot.com

FB page: www.facebook.com/muymajobv

Twitter: www.twitter.com/muymajobv

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/muymajobv

Until Tomorrow.

ABSPD FEATURED DESIGNER - Claire Smilie

Welcome back all, to another week's worth of my 'ABSPD Featured Designers'. Today I share the work and a mini interview, from the fabulous Claire Smillie. 

                                         

Claire is the brains and beauty behind the hugely successful Passion for Pattern Bloghop 2, Which I took part in last month. Here is the link to have a read through if you managed to miss out . 

And here is the link to the first round which I wasn't a part of, but spent most of my day reading.

Here is a little background information about Claire:

Can you tell me a little bit about your background in Surface Pattern Design? 

From a really young age I have always been inspired creatively. I remember many a summer holiday spent creating my own little 'magazines' and 'fashion designs'. 

As I grew up and became a mummy, I became a BIG scrapbooker and found the amazing worlds of mixed media and art journaling. I loved this new found creative world I was in. It was so addictive,all I wanted to do was to create. I felt like I had found exactly where I was meant to be. 

Whilst scrapbooking I was always surrounded by pretty papers, gorgeous embellishments and beautiful designs. I had a head full of ideas and I felt so inspired to create my own designs to incorporate within my scrapbooking and to share with others.  

I have always had a strong knowledge of computers and started to expand my knowledge of photoshop and illustrator to execute these ideas and begin creating my dream. 

What made you apply for the ABSPD course and what have you gained from it so far?

It was because of this dream to create my own scrapbooking line that I signed up for ABSPD. In fact, to be more precise it was actually a tweet, from the wonderful Claudine Hellmuth, that made me first hear about the course and want to take it. i remember clicking on the tweet and reading all about the course. I couldn't believe my luck, it seemed right up my street! I was so excited. Throughout the course, I have learnt so much about the world of surface pattern design and now my dream is much bigger than just a scrapbooking line!

Can you describe your style and what methods you use to create your designs? 

I always start with pen and paper (although more recently, that should be pencil and paper!) Once I have a motif I love, I will scan it into my computer and digitally manipulate to create my designs. Although my motif designs are usually created using pen, they are often inspired by my own personal artwork. I recently explored 'intuitive Painting' and so much imagery started to emerge within my paintings. I knew a lot of these would make great starting points for further collections, so I decided to start photographing and sketching the imagery for use later and boy am I glad I did! I now have a great little collection of sketches to use!

Where do you see your work progressing in the next few years, and what industry would you say you are aiming at? 

I dream of having a collection in Paperchase, but I would also LOVE a range of Textiles and Home Decor products. Think cushions, wallpaper, duvet covers. I absolute love, love, love those antique looking chairs which have been covered with modern fabric and I would love to have one of my designs used on one of those!

Here are Claire's Latest Collection of Designs. 

Fabulous yes?

Find Out more about Claire and her wonderful creations here:

www.clairesmillie.com

www.clairesmillie.wordpress.com

www.twitter.com/claire_smillie

www.facebook.com/designedbyclairesmillie

www.envelop.eu/shop/designers/p/detail/claire_smillie

http://society6.com/ClaireSmillie

http://clairesmillie.tumblr.com/

www.redbubble.com/people/clairesmillie

Until Next time.

Licensing and Product Mock-ups

One can dream of having their designs actually printed on products, in shops, for sale and I'm happy to say that I'm lucky enough to have been found by an agency recently, and have begun designing some new collections for them to license.

Very Exciting isn't it?

Until recently, I've but dreamed of having my designs on products to actually sell, and previously I've mocked up some of my patterns on products, to see whether they would fit.

Today I am going to share the mock-ups, and you never know, the right person might be looking.

Stationery

Dream Client: Paperchase/Marks and Spencer

Children/Baby

Ideal Client: Stokke, Mothercare

Partywear

                     

Interior and Homeware

Ideal Client: Next, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams

Fashion

Dream Client: Hunter's, Next

Thanks for Dreaming with me.

Until Next Time. 

Getting that Christmas Feeling

Hello Everyone.

Today I share my Christmas Designs, which I have had printed onto A6 Greeting Cards, and soon to be printed on to square cards, just for a bit of variety.

I wont keep you waiting long to share my designs with you lovely lot, but I did just want to share with you all that you can now access this site by using www.jlwillustration.com as well as www.jlwillustration.blogspot.com

I'm far off having my own website, However I wanted to secure my domain name and here is as good a place as any to use it until that day comes when a website is up and running.

On that note:

           Square Card                                 A6 Layout 

I also have a Christmas Shopping List notebook for Sale, which is a perfect place to save all your idea's, budgets, and purchases in one place. 

They are available in 2 different covers, with either 10 pages (£2) or 20 pages (£3), to purchase directly from me, paypal accepted, £1 postage.

WATCH OUT: I've Been Crafting

.......... Okay so it's not as bad as it sounds, I made one cushion using a Spoonflower Fabric that I bought way back in 2011, after entering (and losing) a 2012 Calendar competition. I had no intentions for the 18x21 inch piece of fabric, but I wanted it. 

So its been here since NOVEMBER just sitting nice and folded on my desk waiting to be used.  I had a spare rare afternoon free with my eldest daughter and decided to make a cushion. So off we went to YouTube and sourced a simple video for an envelope cushion, you can find the tutorial it HERE. 

Heres a visual step-by-step of how me and my not so  little lady made a cushion:

Items Needed:

1 Pillow/Cushion ( mine was 16 x 16 inches)
1 Piece of fabric 2 inch larger than Cushion (18x18 inches)
1 piece of fabric 4 inches longer and 1 inch wider (17x22 inches)
Scissors Tape Measure, Pins, Sewing Machine, Thread

Step one: Measure fabric and Cut to size

Step Two - Iron Fabric Smooth 

Step 3 - Cut larger piece of fabric in half (to make two 17x11 inch pieces).

Step 4 - Fold one length edge over 1/2 inch and iron flat, repeat to create seamless line

Step 5 -Repeat on second piece of fabric

Step 6 - Sew both Creases straight down to fix them in place.

Step 7 - Lay front of cushion fabric (18x18 inch) face up on hard surface

Step 8 - Lay one piece of back on top, rough edges on outside.

Step 9- Repeat step 8 ensuring back layers overlap.

Step 10 - Tack in place

Step 11 - SEW!! 

Step 12: Turn fabric out and ensure corners are firmly pressed out

 (possibly cut edges on inside).

Step 13: Insert cushion

Step 14- Admire your Botch job handy work.

Simples. 

Until Next Time.