I love making my own art- I paint with watercolors and it’s such a fun way to express myself! Then one day I wondered if I could take what I’d drawn and create fabric from it? Well, I figured it out so I thought I’d show you how to turn your artwork into fabric! This is something anyone can do, let’s get started!

how to turn your artwork into fabric

SUPPLIES

I like keeping a travel watercolor kit handy. Sometimes I paint from home and other times I paint while traveling. Either way it’s nice to have everything tucked in a bag, ready to grab. Here’s what I keep in the kit-

Watercolor Paints in Travel Case
Sketchbook for Watercolor
Makeup Bag (to hold everything)
Sponges (to blot my paint brush on)
Micron Pens (won’t bleed with watercolor paint)
Pencil
Ruler
Travel Watercolor Brushes
Water Dropper (to activate the paints and wash out the brush)

step 1- make the art

To begin, make some art! Sketch something out with a pencil or pen, use paint or colored pencil or crayons for all I care. I like using watercolor paint. Create some art pieces in a sketchbook.

Before you start, keep in mind this works best with bold, simple designs. Tiny details can sometimes get lost when printed on fabric, so don’t overthink it. Think playful, not perfect!

For my project, I knew I wanted a strawberry dress so I used pencil to draw the design and then went over it with watercolor paint. I started with a few strawberries (one with a border) and then added some bow designs.

Note, please don’t use AI for this. The point of this project is to express yourself and then have fabric with your designs on them. There’s something so beautiful about taking an idea from your head, turning it into art, and then seeing it exist in person on a fabric! AI takes art from other artists to create the images. So make your own art!

step 2- scan the art

Next, take your art and scan it to create a digital file of the art. For this, I like to use the free app PhotoScan. Place your art on a flat surface and make sure it’s lying flat (which can be tricky if it’s in a sketch book). This keeps the image from being distorted.

Open the PhotoScan app and position the art within the frame of the camera. Push the circle button at the bottom to take a picture. At this point, four circles will appear at the four corners of the art and one circle outline in the center. Take the circle outline in the middle of the photo and connect it to each corner circle. Make sure to hold the phone perpendicular to the art as you go to all 4 corners.

This will take 5 images that are automatically combined into one digital photo that is saved to your camera roll. If the scan looks bad, try again. You can also adjust the corners to get a more lined up image. Usually I can get a really good scan the first time- which is so cool! It automatically saves to the camera roll.

step 3- create the pattern

And now, upload the digital image of your art onto your laptop. To create the pattern, I like to use the online graphic design software PicMonkey. Canva would be another great site to use for this project.

With PicMonkey, I start by clicking on “Create New” and then selecting “Blank Canvas.” In the top right hand corner it has a box to put in the sizing. What works best for me is to use the biggest canvas they offer- 6400 pixels x 6400 pixels. This large size will help ensure the art will print clearly when it is turned into fabric. Type the 6400 pixels in the box and select “Make it!”

Now you’ll be on the canvas for your art. Begin to create the pattern by uploading the art you scanned into the software. To do that select Photos and Videos, click on “add photo or video.” Then find it on your computer. Once it’s uploaded it’ll be under uploaded photos. Select the art you’d like to work with and it’ll appear on the canvas. If needed, crop the art so only the art is shown.

The next step is to click on “remove background” so that the art is now cut out around the edges so it’s like a sticker.

pattern tips

Continue to add different art pieces on the canvas depending on the look you’re going for. For my strawberry art, I have a strawberry with a border, a bow, a scallop and a small strawberry. Once there is one of each on the canvas, just copy and paste each element multiple times to create the pattern.

For the scallop, I used the “flip horizontally” button to have the scallops facing left and right on the art.

The background color of the pattern will automatically be white. To change it, click the lock button on the background layer. Then click on the newly created white background layer and select “change color.” From that point you can use the dropper to select a color from the art or choose any color on the color wheel.

I find getting even spacing with pattern making to be a little tricky. To help with that, I’ll add a rectangle to the canvas and then size it to the space I want. Then I copy and paste it across the canvas to get even spacing. Once that’s done, I delete the rectangles.

If your pattern looks uneven or awkward at first- don’t worry. Pattern making takes a little trial and error. I usually zoom out often to see how everything looks together instead of focusing too closely on one area.

Name the pattern so it’s easy for you to find later. For example “strawberry and scallop fabric pattern.”

Once the pattern is complete, save it to the computer in the highest quality possible. I like to use a PNG.

step 4- upload the pattern

Next, go to spoonflower.com to upload the pattern!

Begin by logging in or creating a login if you haven’t ordered from Spoonflower before.

Click on “upload a design.” JPG and PNG files are both accepted. The maximum size is 40MB per file. Find your pattern and select it.

And now you need to agree to Spoonflower’s terms and conditions. By clicking “I Agree” you’re confirming that you own the art and it doesn’t reference copyrighted materials.

Click the “not proofed” button to proof the pattern. It’ll show the whole pattern and zoom to where the repeat is so you can confirm that it looks good.

You can also choose at this step if you’d like the fabric to be for sale or private. If it is for sale and someone chooses to print your pattern, you make a small percentage! It’s a super cool part of using Spoonflower.

And now the pattern is ready to be ordered! You’ll be able to see the pattern on fabric, a pillow, wallpaper- it’s really fun and exciting!

step 5- order the fabric

Finally, order the fabric. Now that the fabric has been uploaded, it’s easy to order the fabric for it. Click on “buy” under the fabric option.

Note, Spoonflower fabric can be a bit of a splurge compared to regular fabric, so I like to think of this as a special project piece rather than everyday yardage. I also will wait until there is a sale to order my fabric. Usually my patience will pay off and I can get it at 25% off.

Select “change fabric” to choose which fabric you want the pattern printed on. I like to use their cotton lawn for summer dresses and the twill for colder weather dresses. Note that each fabric comes in different widths. This will affect how much yardage you’ll need.

If you’d like to feel all the fabric options before having your pattern printed, I’d suggest getting a sample box that has a swatch of each fabric. There’s SO many fabric options, I’ve found this very helpful to have.

Select how much fabric you want to order. Since I’m making a dress, I choose the “yard” option. Then changed the quantity for how many yards needed to create my project. Make sure to order enough fabric because shipping costs per shipment, so you probably want to get it all at once. I like to order 3 yards of fabric for my dresses. I only ordered 2 yards of the strawberry fabric.

after

Once my fabric arrived at my house, I washed it, and then I started sewing a dress out of it! I like using the pattern I used in my sheet dress here. For the bodice, I didn’t order quite enough fabric to create it from the same strawberry fabric, so I grabbed some green rattan from my stash. It ended up being a really cute accident!

I hope this project inspires you and you now know how turn your artwork into fabric! It’s such a fulfilling practice to surround yourself with your art. This tuned out to be one of my favorite dresses! And when people compliment it, I get to tell them that I painted the strawberries myself!

If you need fabric for a project, why not try creating the art to have custom fabric?! If you do try this, I would LOVE to see what you make- tag me (@athomewithashley) so I can cheer you on!