Digital Printing - Final Interior Fabric for my Tub Chair

 

 Tropical leaf Interior fabric

It's only a few weeks until my Final Show at University so I've been busy in the print room digitally printing off lengths of my fabric designs. The design below is a scattered half drop repeat of tropical patterned leaves, which is going to be put on my tub chair in the next week.

 

 

 

At this part of the process, the 4M fabric has just come off the Mimaki printer and is resting ready to be steamed tomorrow. Then the washing process begins!

 

I printed the fabric in two separate parts so it is easier to wash and fits easily into a washing machine. The size of them separately are 136.98cm - 200cm and took 1 hour and 55 minutes to print out, which was really fast!

 

After the steaming process is finished I need to cut the fabric pieces apart in the center, and sew a small machine stitched line down each white horizontal boarder so the fabric doesn't fray in the washing process, and it may help the fabric keep its shape when it shrinks.

The washing period will probably take a few hours as the fabrics will need to go into the washing machine separately and go on atleast 3 cold washes each and then on a normal 30 Degree wash with a little non- bio washing powder.
The fabric should be fixed after this period but to check I'll iron the fabric corner onto a clean backing cloth whilst it's still a little damp to see if the dye spreads onto the cloth. If the dye does run then I'll repeat the process again until it is clear of excess dye.

I'm really happy with this design and I cant wait to see it finished and covering my tub chair.

I'll be recording the progress over the next few days, and posting my photographs of my fabrics at the finished stage, before being driven to the upholsterer.

 

Here's a quick snapshot of my fabric coming of the Mimaki printer! I watched this closely for 2 hours to keep a look out for fluff and cotton in the ink path.( I didn't want any mistakes at this late stage.)

 

Hope you all like my work!

 

 

 

 

Preperations For the New Designers Show In London

Business Packs

I have been preparing business cards and postcards for my own professional pack over the past few months. To gather my research I went to the Interiors Trade show at the NEC, and The Spring Fair International a few days later to collect business cards and packs to see what cards are in style at the moment. I also took a trip to the Manchester Craft and Design Center to look at how the designers promote themselves in their shops.

After looking at my research I started to design my own business cards. Here are my final designs for my business card and post card which are both double sided.

Business card - Front and back

Postcard - Front and Back

Personalised Pen

I also ordered a sample pen from Vista Print to see what it would look like. These would be good as marketing products in my professional pack.

I have ordered 500 business cards and 250 postcards from Vista Print for the show, and I'm now looking into packaging for my professional packs such as gift bags or Tote bags but they are all quite expensive, especially if I want my logo printed on them.

my finished wallpapers so far

Some of My Final Designs For Wallpaper

I have been working on some of my wallpaper designs for my coral and fish collection, and this is what I have come up with today. The first design is inspired by blooms of jellyfish, which gather in large groups to socialise in the ocean.

I think this design could also look good as an accompanying fabric for my collection, especially as a furnishing fabric on a blind or a pair of curtains.

I really love the bright colours on this piece and I cant wait to get it printed. I'm getting my wallpaper drops printed at Jessops in Manchester as you can bring your own plain wallpaper in to print onto, instead of the less sturdy papers that are around.

Here is another coral and fish design using turtles from my Tropical collection.

I think this design is really fun and has a almost playful feel as the turtles have quite a lot of movement.I'd like to create a fabric that would run along side this design, as id like to really play with scale on this piece.

Thanks for reading! And I'll keep updating on how my final designs for my Degree show are going!

Abi 

xx

Some Wallpaper Designs - FMP

Wallpaper Designs

I've been messing about with a few of my designs to see what they would look like in repeat, to see if they work as designs for wallpaper. Here are a few I've been developing today.

The designs above are a mixture from my 'Flower and Bird' collection and my 'Trains and Cranes' collection. I have a lot more work to do on them but I'm pleased with the development so far.
I have also been given a much better price for the re-covering of my tub chair (see posts below)at £150 and it will take the company 3-5 days to re-cover, which is much better than the other offers I have had so far!
They have also advised me to print out 3-4 meters of fabric for the job and will hopefully be coming to my house soon to evaluate  what pleats I want on the back of the chair, and any additional prices.

 I'll keep updating throughout the process =D

Development samples for floral wallpapers - colour schemes

colour ways for my designs

Today I had a quick play around with the background colours on one of my new quarter drop wallpaper designs to see which colours work.  I'm quite fond of the shades above and will be using them in my final designs.

I like the idea of using stripes in my designs and checks. Heres some of my inspiration below.

Wallpaper Direct Inspiration

NEXT Inspiration

Pinterest Inspiration

tub chair

Tub Chairs

I've been scouring the internet and shops for a decent tub chair to re-cover with my own digitally printed fabric for my Degree Show. My fabric is most likely going to be a scattered design to fit along side my flower and bird fabric collection.

Here are some of the tub chairs I have been looking at to re-cover:

Ebay UK Furnishings £78

Argos £99

Tesco £129

 Here is the tub chair I have bought to re-cover.

I bought this contemporary floral tub chair from ASDA for £79
H78 x W71 x D79cm. I have contacted around 8 upholsterers to see how much it would cost to recover and so far I have had a quote for £150-£200. 


I'm hoping to get more quotes over the next week so I can see which is the better option in terms of price and also which is the best in terms of time scale for my deadline.