Goodbye and Hello!

Goodbye to my dear blog Make it Digital but Hello to The People's Print ! Follow on blogger, Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and inspiration,ideas, workshops and E-books on DIY digital textile design for you to share and wear!
With a new website coming ....................... soon! 

Join our Face Book page for the latest news on digital textiles, sustainable fashion and textile  design.

A Paintbrush Floral

I have been designing some fresh new tutorials for The People's Print workshop The Great British Floral starting in two weeks at the V&A. Inspired by florals and Chelsea Flower Show. The People's Print provide guidance and inspiration to design, print fabric to make your own garments. Were using DIY Couture patterns, Rosie Martins new step by step publication due to come out the end of May, very exciting, watch this space!

The Great British Floral

The People's Print - The Great British Floral workshop - the V&A Museum 

We show you how to create beautiful florals ready to print - ready to wear!

The People's Print

I'm three years old!

Make It Digital Textiles is three years old this month! it's been an amazing resource for my own research and hopefully yours into the fantastic world of digital textiles. So I am taking a well deserved rest to develop some new projects. The creation of new tutorials for The Great British Floral Workshop that The People's Print run in May at the V&A as part of the British Design season, if you can't make it you will be able to buy our Great British Floral e-book in June with step by step tutorials to create and make your own digital floral prints. In the meantime you can follow our preparation, progress and production via our People's print blog and our don't forget to join our Facebook page to get news and notifications on digital textiles!
Make It Digital Textiles will be back in June with all the news and latest works from the degree shows Melanie x
... oh and a Happy Easter!

Slow Grow - Consumer Centered Design

Lidwwij Edelkoorts recent article Handmade ‘When Design and Craft meet’ examines our changing world of design. How design has evolved from function to décor, through to innovation and finally global branding. Now we find ourselves drowning in a world of stuff, and an over saturated world of design. It presents the question ‘what is the role of the designer today’?

‘Today, we experience a need for reflection and we feel a need to rethink the (non)sense of design’ (Edelkoorts)

Globalisation has brought about uniformity and boredom of product and brand. We now long and seek for an individual and community identity, localised product and craft. I address this in my recent project 'Slow Grow' with the aim of enabling the wearer (Mary) to be central to the design process. In this case it was Mary, an old age pensioner who is passionate about her allotment in Fulham which in turn contributes to her wellbeing and happiness, the flowers she grows become a print for her own shirt to wear.

Surely this is ‘consumer curated design’? For me this is the future of design, to work and create together local design identities by sharing skills. 

The People's Print explores consumer centered design through digital print at their next workshop at the V&A ‘The Great British Floral’ to create your own unique floral ready to print and ready to wear.

The People’s Print is a unique platform that explores and tests new textile ideas through collaboration, participatory design, slow & fast, new and old techniques and process’s. It is the voice of change that Edelkoort speaks about.

Melanie Bowles - The People's Print

The Great British Floral

Spring is here! and The People's Print is preparing for our May workshop at the V&A The Great British Floral as part of the British Design season, check our inspiration page on Pinterest. Learn how to design a Great British Floral print ready to print onto fabric.

Left over shirt

I have just finished a major project with a large fashion brand, the project explored DIY design methods through digital print. To conclude the project I used the left over marks to create a shirt.

Milleneufcentquatrevingquatre

Amelie Charroin and Marie Colin-Madan are the design duo for the artistic label Milleneufcentquatrevingquatre based in the beautiful French Alps near Lyon their work reflects their natural surroundings in scale, beauty, surrealism and mystic creating a new textile aesthetic in a historical textile environment.

Facebook!

Your welcome to join The People's Print Facebook page for the current news on Digital Print and textile stories and other links!

Mary Mary

Mary Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow? 

'I wanted to use waves of colour in this collection-but taken from things you use in everyday life" Mary Katrantzou A/W12

off to the pound shop we go! 

I'm a tumblring

I'm a Tumblring

The very perfect Dot.

So after spending a week in Paris at PV and Indigo, Print 'ALoud' continues with strength. Surrounded by oversized, digital mashed up pattern I began to panic, everything was so big, so brash, so competitive, so fast, so churned out, so excessive. I love the language of pattern but this year I was confused, I felt claustrophobic. At last Kathy and I found sanctury amongst the hand rendered designs, they had soul, they had craft as well as drawn towards the finely re-designed vintage, they had history, they had design and with the finest motif it deemed almost impossible to print but digital print had allowed this.

Our college stand looked lovely, we had compliments, it looked cool, beautiful colour, very refined, it had soul, a special spirit and of course we sold to the best. An American buyer came up 'show us your best Polka dot' oh no! we had forgotten the humble polka dot! That made me think how hard it would be to do a perfect dot without looking generic.

Then this weekend Kathy and I went to visit our friend Claudia Catzeflis at London Fashion Week, Somerset House, amongst her beautiful, beautiful collection my eye rested upon her polka dot. It was modest, quiet, gentle, it was perfect. Claudia said she preferred her dot screen printed, I understood this but disagreed, she had maintained that in the quality of the design. The digital print had dusted the surface of the fabric, it was so light it might have blown away, I was lucky I caught it, just in time, I could breath again.

Claudia Catzeflis

Ready to Share - Ready to Print - Ready to Wear

The first ever co-designed Swatch book initiated by The People's Print who have developed a unique system and toolbox for a group of people to create a shared swatch book. Through a democratic voting system the group 'Born to be Wild' have produced a collection of digitally printed designs to which they have group ownership of and exclusive rights to use at any time. The swatch book pioneers a new methodology for digital textile print identity development, community generation, cultural and social identity and entrepreneurship. 

For more information on The People's Print future's vision click here.

Spoonflower.com

I have recently been working on a commission with a large fashion brand and exploring methods of DIY digital textile design and print on demand. To print our fabric we choose Spoonflower in the US a thriving and pioneering digital print bureau aimed towards the individual who want to enjoy designing and printing small quantities of fabric at a very reasonable price with no minimum order. Spoonflower has developed an easy online system to upload your designs and create your own personal library to refer to. Using a limited range of fabrics with the focus on cottons they manage to keep the cost down to make it an affordable option. As well as providing its customers with a lively creative online community, weekly competitions and a democratic voting system. My twelve designs were turned around and back to me within 10 days making it all the more exciting.
Spoonflower is a key contributer to the new wave in digital textile crafting, power to the people!
Spoonflower