The daydreams my mind favors wandering to are ideas for new prints and patterns. I think it’s the meditative repetition of making and looking at them that soothes me.
Almost every crafter is a supplies hoarder. My personal weakness is shopping for new arts and crafts supplies that I’ve never tried before. I was in FullyBooked High Street a few weeks ago to plan for my workshops there this August and September, and I had a chance to browse the lower ground level where all the art supplies are. My favourite purchase is a set of Lyra watercolor pencils.
I can’t believe it’s only now that I’m trying out watercolor pencils! Where the heck have I been?! They’re so much fun to play with! I colored my design lightly using the sides of the pencils (not the tip!), layering the colors over each other, and then I used a filbert brush to dump lots of water onto the design.
The colors spread with ease. I scanned this watercolor doodle and made a repeat pattern, and then had it printed on fabric for the 3rd Pattern Design Crafternoon. 🙂
Watercolored Rainbow Houndstooth on Chiffon
Last Tuesday evening, I taught a class how to make hand-drawn patterns. It’s always nice to pull away from the computer screen and do something by hand. This exactly the reason why I love organizing workshops. 🙂
The kit included a set of Sai Brush Pens, a paintbrush for blending the brush pens (for watercolored effect!), two pigment pens, and my hand-draw pattern design zine, all over a printed paper placemat.
Look at the amazing patterns and fabric that the students made, printed by Adamant Eve.
On the second workshop day, we did a fabric swatch swap, and sewed some crafts. I brought my sewing machine, and the students took turns sewing. Some chose to sew by hand!
Tricia’s pattern on fabric, sewn into a large totebag with leather straps
I sewed my own chiffon fabric and made a top! This is far from perfect, but it’s wearable! 😛
Sign up here if you would like to be part of the mailing list for the next Pattern Design workshop