Digital Fabric Design: Tea Towels

Class Description: Designing and printing your own fabric is really a game changer and made possible by sophisticated printing processes from places such as spoonflower.com. Make your projects truly personal by including family memorabilia, children’s art – or your own.

This course is for anyone who wants to have something unique. You don’t need to be an artist or a computer genius (or even know how to sew)! What you do need is a laptop computer and a software program called Affinity Photo. This full-fledged photo editing program is a one-time buy (online subscription-based Photoshop) for $50 and available at https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/. If you already own Photoshop, you can use that program as well.

We will meet for two 3-hour sessions and there will be homework between sessions. You will learn how to create a file, scan images, make different pattern repeats, change colors and sizes, and many more skills to enable you to produce a beautiful design. At the end of the second session, you will have a file ready to send to Spoonflower to print. This class is also for creatives who work in paper who want to be able to manipulate their images.

Finally, we’ll have an optional and free third session where we show our final creations and sew up the tea towels. The time and date for this session will be determined by the participants near the end of the second class.

Student supply list: Laptop computer with Affinity Photo or Photoshop loaded. Photoshop Elements will not work for this class.

Number of hours for class: 6 hours total. First session, March 19 and second April 15 – both from 5:30 – 8:30

Class Level:  Fascination – These classes will introduce you to a new skill, concept or technique and are open to all levels. The student may, however, be required to have a basic skill or have taken a certification class. For example, for a flat-pattern drafting class one need not know anything about flat-pattern drafting but should have a basic understanding of the sewing machine. Any prerequisites will be listed in the class description.

Instructor: Cecelia Harris

Instructor Bio: Why I sew: When I think of all the reasons I sew – saving money, getting a good fit, not being limited to what’s in the store, being conscious of how my clothing is produced – the reason above all is that I can be unique. I know that when I choose my own pattern and pair it with a fabric, I will be creating a garment that no one else has. I can also create home goods that are as individual as I am. In a day and age where uniformity is difficult to avoid, creating my own sewn garments is a way to express my voice.