Remember when you learned how to do something for the first time? Your performance was far from perfect, but I bet someone was in the background shouting encouragements and clapping hands. Well, in grown-up world, there’s usually no one around to applaud your feeble first efforts at a new venture, but that doesn’t lessen the sense of pride it brings. So excuse me while I pat myself on the back and shout a few “woo hoos” out the window. You see, I just dappled with fabric design. No fancy software and obviously no knowledge of textile construction (repeat? what’s that?) I just went (clicked) right on over to spoonflower.com and started playing.
Actually, tackling a new skill head-on with no abandon is my style. Turns out, I’m not the only one who prescribes to this school of thought. The whole NANORIMO movement (National Novel Writers Month) sprung from the very idea that the first time you write a novel it will most certainly suck. So set aside one month, write every day, and get that baby born. Subsequent novels, once your literary virginity has been sacrificed, just might be successful. In order to learn to do something, you have to TRY IT. There’s no way to avoid that first attempt.
I’ve discovered there’s actually a lot of instruction and support out there for amateurs wanting to learn the basics of textile design. Craftsy.com has some amazing video tutorials. And Spoonflower just released its brand new handbook on textile design. So now that I’ve created a crazy little pug fabric with no discernible repeat or harmony, I’m psyched to learn even more about fabric design. But hey, just humor me here – that little pug is kinda cute.
