Category Archives: Design
Graphic design by Jay Thomson
Big Dots (New Fabric Design)
Fresh off the digital presses: my new collection of fabric from Spoonflower… Big Dots!
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Fits and Stripes (or, How NOT to design a striped pattern!)
Who would’ve thought that designing a simple repeat pattern of hand-drawn diagonal stripes would be so difficult? Certainly not I. But more than almost any other design I’ve done so far, this one has given me fits trying to get it just right. (And if you think this looks familiar, you’re right… I first made a version of this pattern for Zazzle last year. But I needed to create a new version of it for fabric on Spoonflower.)
Why does it matter? Well because I wanted to see if I could do it. And also because there are lots of striped fabrics on Spoonflower, but none of them have a wavy, hand-drawn line like my stripes do, and still repeat seamlessly. It ended up being quite a challenging learning experience for me, and it makes me wish I’d taken some surface design courses in art school. Read the rest of this entry
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New collection of fabrics: BASEBALL
Just in time for Opening Day… here’s my new collection of baseball/patriotic-themed fabrics, now available from Spoonflower:
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Preview: New Spoonflower Cut-n-Sew Bow Ties
Encouraged by all the positive comments I’ve received recently about the bow ties I’ve been designing and making (and wearing), and my Spoonflower fabrics, I’ve been diligently working on some new designs these past few days. The first two shown are available for sale now, and the others will follow later this spring.
Adjustable Bow Ties (Instructions)
These are the detailed instructions for sewing any of my Adjustable Bow Ties cut-n-sew fabric designs, available only from Spoonflower. For less than the cost of just one name-brand bow tie at a department store, you can get five ties printed on cotton silk from Spoonflower, designed by me.
Simple sewing instructions are included when you purchase the fabric from Spoonflower (they’re printed right on the fabric), but here you’ll find detailed step-by-step instructions, pictures, and links to suppliers and other helpful information. There’s a link and a QR Code right on the fabric that will bring you to this page.
This is an easy, beginner-level project… I swear you can do it even if you’ve never sewed before!
Each yard of fabric will have five bow ties (as seen here) or more on it. This is my "Five Baroque Ties" pattern. Scroll down for a closeup view of these designs.
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Nine Eclectic Bow Ties cut & sew pattern
I designed these ties a few weeks ago as a cut & sew pattern (ie, all 9 ties appear on one yard of cotton sateen fabric). I’ve received the fabric and made all nine of the bow ties. Here’s what they look like finished:
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Trailer Trash Toile – Voting NOW OPEN!
The polling place is NOW OPEN! Spoonflower’s weekly contest is up, and I am one of 82 artists competing in this week’s “Your Town Toile” contest. (By comparison, last week’s bicycle design contest yielded over 200 entries).
Polls close on March 7th. You can vote for as many entries as you like (but please vote for mine, pictured below). VOTE NOW.
Trailer Trash Toile fabric by the yard, by J. Thomson © 2012 All rights reserved. Available from: http://www.spoonflower.com/collections/14219
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Trailer Trash Toile [new fabric designs]
Trailer Trash Toile fabric by the yard, by J. Thomson © 2012 All rights reserved. Available from: http://www.spoonflower.com/collections/14219
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New Whimsical collection of BACON fabric now available!
New BACON! fabric by J. Thomson now available for sale on Spoonflower
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Bow ties: woodgrain + cowboys
Here are a couple of bow ties I made for myself today (my first ones). They’re insanely easy to make… well, except for turning them inside out. These were made out of some cotton print fabric I had lying around, but I intend to design my own unique prints (from my drawings and artwork) and print them on Spoonflower.com in the future.
