The UPS man knows something is up.

We go way back.  He has been my delivery guy for over 8 years.  A few weeks ago, I opened the door and he said “do you knit?”  I think he was getting curious about all of these big boxes from Andover Fabrics.  Isn’t it funny when guys think knitting and sewing are the same thing?

Lately, this is what he’s been bringing me — giant rolls of paper.

I haven’t really shared any previews of the fabric line here since I think we are still quite a long ways off from having actual printed fabric.  Also, since this is my first time out of the gate, I barely know what’s going on.  I know other designers have talked about getting strike offs from the mill and finding swatches of fabric to represent each color, etc.  However, I am still on step 1 which I didn’t even realize was an actual step: getting the artwork finalized before it goes to the mill.

I think this is probably taking longer than expected because I’m new and may have made a few rookie mistakes when I set up my files.  However, this line is also a bit special.  Some of the fabrics are designed with a few specific projects in mind, so it requires a little bit of extra math and fussing around with the layout to get it all just right.  When I get really impatient, I think about the people who will be sewing with the fabrics and how I sincerely want them to have a good experience.  So I am becoming very good friends with my ruler.

I don’t know if all of the companies do it this way, but I sent in my artwork to the fabric company on disc along with print outs to show the correct colors.  My husband and I invested in a nice poster printer when I started down this path, and after a lot of tinkering around, I have finally figured out how to get it to print the colors I see on my screen.  Then the fabric company takes the artwork and gets it ready for the mill.  They print it out on their giant printers and send it to me to make sure the colors still look correct.  When we’re all happy, the artwork goes off to the mill — and then I think we move to the strike off phase.  Whew! It takes a while, huh?

I think after Fall Quilt Market, there may be some actual sneak peaks to show — but then again, what do I know?  We’ll have to plan something really special around here to celebrate.  So far, it feels very much like I might have just made this all up in my head, and it’s not really happening.  Except of course that the UPS guy keeps showing up.

Lately, I’ve noticed quite a few fabric designers sharing some insights into their artistic process.  I’m not sure if it’s the time of year (with Spring Market in May) or what – but I am certainly not complaining.  These windows into other people’s techniques are always fascinating.

Here are some great links:

• Betz White: great post, “how do you doodle?”

• Tula Pink: so, so beautiful, check out these glimpses into her workspace
  • Designing Fabric: Plume
  • Designing a Feather
  • Designing Fabric: Neptune

• Jenean Morrison: creating intricate geometric designs in Illustrator (Be sure to check out her post for links to even more designers sharing their process.)

• Jona of Fabritopia: how she creates sewing patterns in Illustrator

• Pat Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics

And of course, True Up is still the best resource out there for round-ups of designer interviews, links to tutorials, etc.  This one from Heather Ross is an oldie but a goodie.