When I was thinking about my entry for Spoonflower’s Festive Animals design challenge, my mind kept returning to a quick diary sketch I did back in 2020. I had looked out the window and spotted a woman walking a greyhound – nothing unusual, except the dog was wearing a ridiculously long holiday hat that flopped jauntily as it trotted along. It amused me so much that I sketched it right then and there.
I’m not sure I’d still remember that moment if I hadn’t drawn it, but I’m so glad I did because that’s where this whole festive dog fabric design began. Once I had the greyhound down, I couldn’t stop. I started imagining a whole cast of whimsical Christmas dogs getting into mischief with wreaths, sleds, presents, and Christmas lights.
Of course, I had to include my sweet Cloud Dog too. She’s peacefully sleeping with some candy canes. I miss her so much. Including her in the design felt like a small way to bring her into the season with me again. As a Samoyed, she loved winter the most and her sweet sleeping pose reminds me of her later years curled up at my feet as I sketched.
To color the design, I used the same pastel holiday color palette from my Nutcracker fabric designs – peppermint pink, mint green, and pops of holiday red. I scattered snowflakes to create a soft winter background to balance the chaos and cuteness of the dogs.
I sketched all the dogs in Procreate then vectorized them in Affinity Designer. The greyhound in the hat was first but by the end, I had a whole pack of cheerful dogs ready to take over a gift wrap roll or a holiday quilting project.
This design is now available in my Spoonflower shop and I think it would be perfect for:
Christmas quilts for dog lovers
Whimsical holiday throw pillows
Cozy fleece throw blankets
Reusable eco friendly gift wrap or bags for pet lovers
Whatever you’re dreaming up, I hope these pups bring you some holiday joy too!
I’ve had an idea rattling around in my brain for over a year involving nutcrackers. I can see the story I want to tell in my mind but I’m not sure of the full story yet. I sat down to sketch some nutcrackers to see if it would spark some ideas.
While I’m not quite there for the full story, I decided that those nutcrackers needed to come to life. Add in a twist on the traditional Christmas color scheme with some peppermint pink and mint green and let the magic begin! These modern pink nutcracker fabric designs are perfect for holiday makes.
I created a variety of layouts with the nutcrackers so that you have options for any project that’s dancing like sugar plums in your head – whether you’re planning a Christmas quilt, a festive table runner, or some cozy holiday sewing projects.
I started sketching with some references to traditional nutcrackers. My favorite way of sketching (and honestly final drawing) is to lay down a spot of color and add playful line work to bring the sketch to life. It’s how I infuse charm into all my whimsical holiday fabric designs.
I redid the original sketches in Affinity Designer and the first design begged to have the nutcrackers at attention in horizontal lines. This makes it a strong choice for quilt sashing, holiday quilt backing, or even seasonal fabric borders.
The second layout is a tossed design, which would be fun for Christmas accessories, quilt blocks, home decor, or pajamas. This layout will save you money since you don’t have to try to match anything up or think about the direction of the fabric – ideal for efficient fabric cutting and DIY gift sewing.
The last layout is vertical with some fun added peppermint stripes, which would also work well for vertical sashing, holiday table runners, or Christmas quilt backs. It’s one of those versatile holiday prints that can do a little bit of everything.
Which layout would bring a bit of holiday magic to your project? Whether you’re a modern quilter or just love unique Christmas fabrics, I’d love to hear how you’d use these nutcracker prints. If you’d like any of them in different colors or scale, let me know by using my color/scale request form.
Also follow the blog to see the coordinating designs that will be coming soon. Think matching blenders, festive coordinates, and lots of quilt-worthy Christmas fabric to round out the collection!
If you’re looking for bold, playful fabric for hair accessories, I have a fun project to share! I recently ordered several patterns from my Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun collection on Spoonflower’s Modern Jersey fabric. Wow, the colors are so vibrant and punchy! Perfect for Halloween or a pop of color any time of year!
This was my very first time working with stretchy knit fabric and between the bold color and stretchy softness, I’m sold! It’s ideal for DIY scrunchies, headbands, or other cute hair accessories.
Now I’ve got a stack of handmade scrunchies featuring adorable retro ghosts, fun candies, and all kinds of Halloween whimsy and I love it! They’d make fun gifts, Halloween gift bag treats, or adorable accessories.
If you’re looking for fun fabric for scrunchies or you’d like to explore some spooky cute Halloween prints for your next project (Spoonflower offers a wide variety of fabric choices), you can check out my Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun fabric collection in my Spoonflower shop!
Putting together a fabric collection is like creating the perfect mix tape – I want everything to flow together creating an overall vibe, so nothing feels jarring or out of place. Just like a good playlist, I’ve loved curating this Halloween quilting fabric collection for quilters who love bold color, retro charm, and a little fun.
It started with this quick sketch on paper inspired by Spoonflower’s Retro Halloween design challenge. The moment the ghosties with cassette players appeared on the page, I was smitten! That first pattern came together quickly and set the tone for the entire cute Halloween fabric collection.
I sprinkled in some 80s inspired notebook doodles of hearts, lightning bolts, and music notes. This became its own low volume fabric print, perfect for breaking up bolder patterns in a quilt. I created a Sawtooth Star quilt block template in Affinity Designer to see how the scale and layout would work together from a quilting perspective.
Then the candy took over! You’ll find Halloween candy fabric prints with horizontal lines of wrapped sweets and a diagonal candy corn print fabric that just felt right with my chosen palette. I played around with layouts to keep the collection feeling dynamic and fun for quilters who love variety in their projects.
I sketched out some common Halloween treat shapes and tried to wrangle them into a pleasing pattern.
Just like Halloween candy, not everything was to my taste and so it got tossed. A few patterns were too busy but the creation process led to some joyful surprises in the end. I created a polka dot candy inspired fabric with those classic round trick or treats finds (whether fruity, chocolatey, or chalky disappointment flavored) and lollipop fabric was a must have addition.
I thought I was finished until the cassette player and headphone print demanded to join the fun. They’re bold, bright, and bring all the nostalgic vibes. Of course, this inspiration hit right after I ordered my Fill A Yard. (Those hot pink headphones on black would’ve been mine in a heartbeat!)
There might still be a tossed candy print or two in the works because the idea is haunting me. But for now, I’m thrilled with how this playful Halloween fabric line came together with modern quilters in mind.
If you’re on the hunt for unique Halloween quilting fabric or want to add some spooky cute retro flair to your next project, I hope this collection brings you as much joy as it brought me to design!
Modern quilting is all about clean lines, bold color, and the kind of fabric that makes people say, “Where did you get that?!”
Sadly for our budgets though, quilting isn’t always the cheapest hobby. Enter Spoonflower! It’s like the Etsy (well, Etsy before it was taken over by all the weird drop shipping shops) of fabric designed by indie artists (like me!) who create a wide variety of prints so whatever you’re looking for, you’ll probably find it.
With all these tempting prints and fabric options, your cart can quickly add up. Don’t worry though! I’m here to offer some suggestions on how to choose the perfect Spoonflower fabric for your next modern quilt and save money in the process.
Fabric Types for Quilting: Spoonflower 101
Before we really dive in, let’s talk about the goods. Spoonflower offers 30 different fabric types but we’ll dive into the five that they recommend for quilting: ✪Petal Signature Cotton®– soft, easy to work with, and lowest cost of all the options, shows off color more vividly
✪Cotton Poplin– lighter weight than the Petal Signature Cotton®, less shrinkage, more muted color, more structured
✪ Organic Cotton Sateen – wider, sateen weave for a more luxe appearance and feel, great for something fancier, more expensive
✪ Wide Cotton Sateen – like the Organic Cotton Sateen but a whopping 116 inches (9.6 feet), perfect for quilt backs, saving you the time piecing together a backing
✪ Minky – great for cuddly baby quilts, napped fluffy finish, 100% polyester
✪ You can search through all designs available by typing what you are looking for into the search bar or by using the new image search feature by uploading a photo and using that to find similar designs if you saw something that caught your eye somewhere.
✪ The most choose your own adventure choice! You can use the filters on the left side to help you narrow down your options. You’ll want to start by choosing fabric if you haven’t already. You can also go ahead and choose your fabric type if you already have one in mind.
From here you can sort by: ✪ best selling (obvious!) ✪ best match (if you entered a search, this might give you closer results) ✪ most favorited (designs that have a high amount of hearts) ✪ newest (the freshest designs on the site)
You can also filter by topic. Clicking on the topic will open more detailed filters so Animals could lead to Pets which could lead to Dogs, Cats, Hamsters, and more.
You can also filter by Style or Color.
✪ You can shop by designer. If you found one you love, check their links or search for their name and sort by Best Match for the best result.
Money Saving Magic: Quilting on a Budget
Yes, Spoonflower is pricier than JoAnn Fabric (R.I.P.) but with these tips, you can make amazing quilts and save some money.
✪ Check the scale of the design that caught your eye by clicking the design and looking at the photo with the ruler included around the edges (highlighted purple below). A design may look amazing but a main motif the size of a cat may not be what you want for your project. If it’s not the right scale, you can click the designer’s name to go to their shop (shown by the pink arrow on the right of the photo below). They may have the design in a different scale already available or a way to contact them for scale changes in their shop bio.
✪ Buy a swatch or fat quarter first to make sure you love the color and scale before you commit if you’re going to use one or two prints for a whole quilt. Doing this is also suggested if you’re looking to pair Spoonflower prints with existing fabric in your stash.
✪ My biggest money saving tip: Fill A Yard! There are two reasons for this: ✪ You can use the Fill A Yard option to help you decide if the prints you picked will work well together before you buy them! (whether you buy the fill a yard or not)
✪ If you want to buy small amounts of many prints, this will save you the most money vs buying a bunch of swatches or fat quarters.
Often designers will create collections of designs that will work together in the same color palette.
Sometimes this isn’t the case though, sometimes it’s just a way to group designs by subject so you don’t have to go through all the designs in their shop looking for something but you’ll know at a glance which type it is.
Option 2: You can add designs that you like to your own collection
Instead of adding to cart, click Save to Collection (shown by the pink arrow). You can create different collections for different projects if you want.
Now that you have your collection, open it and click on Start Designing at the top. Choose your template. If you’re just testing a couple designs, you can choose a smaller split. If you want to buy prints on Petal Signature Cotton® or Cotton Poplin, pick the 1 yard with up to 42 designs. For the Organic Cotton Sateen, you can pick the 2 yard options with 12 or 48 designs. For Minky, you can pick the 2 yards with 48 designs.
Then you’ll click on the design that you want on the right and then click a box on the template to the left to fill it with that design. If you change your mind, just select a new design and click on the box that you’d like to refill.
Each box on the 1 yard with up to 42 designs is 6 inches by 6 inches.
Each box on the 2 yard with up to 12 designs is 8 inches by 8 inches.
Each box on the 2 yard with up to 48 designs is approximately 9 inches by 9 inches.
Arrange them to your liking and see how the prints you chose play together. Then you can either add to cart or go back to the home page to abandon your Fill A Yard test project.
You can do this at any time and add it to your cart while you wait for a sale. Know that you have time to think about your choices. Another sale will come along shortly so try not to pressure yourself to decide quickly. Bookmark any artist you love if you’re using their collection just in case. Buy what you need for your project, since it’s eco-friendly print to order, patterns you love today will still be there later. No FOMO here!
Quilt Like You Mean It
Modern quilting is about fun and fearless choices and Spoonflower is full of them! With some planning, editing, and sale stalking, you can create the quilt of your dreams without the credit card nightmares!
SuperFox Studio 