spoonflower

My couch is in serious need of a slipcover.  It's that cheap Ikea one that only comes in a natural canvas color.  I have searched high and low and have not found a suitable cover anywhere.  So I've decided I need a sewing machine. 

My mom taught my sister and I how to sew when we were very little, letting us use her machine to practice sewing straight lines of thread on binder paper... as we got better, we graduated from paper to doll clothes and then to clothes for each other.  (This only happened once:  I made her a dress and she made me a reversible vest that we thought was extremely cool at the time.)  I haven't done any sewing since leaving home, and have certainly never attempted any project as daunting as a couch slipcover, but at this point anything would be better than what the couch looks like now.  And just think how many throw pillows I could make!  (I have an obsession with throw pillows- they offer such an easy way to add pops of crazy color or throw some pattern into a room.) 

We used to go to Poppy Fabric and spend hours and hours roaming the aisles, digging around in the bargain remnant bins, and leafing through pattern books.  It was such a magical wonderful creative place.  When I moved to New York I took a trip to Mood (fascinated by Project Runway of course)... but I remember being completely overwhelmed and feeling zero creativity.  It was a total madhouse and felt uninviting, very opposite of my childhood trips to Poppy, and as such I haven't returned since.

Recently though, I've discovered the wonder of purchasing fabric online.  (I LOVE shopping online.)  During a recent blog-surfing-session, I stumbled upon an amazing website called Spoonflower.  I was drawn to it at first by this fabric:

So simple but textural and interesting...and chevron, which I can't seem to get enough of as of late.  I found SO MANY more amazing fabrics- now I'm completely inspired and had to stop myself from buying $5 swatches of each of them.

The other thing about this website that is SO COOL is that you can design your own fabrics by uploading an image.  (Are you listening Mom?!?  This is right up your alley.)  Also, I'm sure this will become a new procrastination tool for me... I've already attempted a couple patterns and it's very addicting.

As an online-fabric-shopping-newbie I have zero point of reference as far as price points, so it could be completely overpriced...but I'm still loving it.  They have a "designer discount" that you are eligible for if you upload a design.. and you can earn commission if someone places a large enough order on your design.  Pretty neat!  I am going to stop now, as I am not being paid to advertise for them and I am up wayyyy past my bed time (was doing school work and learning about 34093489238409 kinds of building codes and regulations) and my eyeballs are going to fall off my face.  So, without further ado... here are a few of my favorite designs.

 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 .

(how cool would #2 be on silk??)