Hello, today’s post is how to design your own fabric using Spoonflower. Never heard of it? I’ll spill the tea on this amazing site. Turning a photo into fabric with the click of a mouse.
Designing your own fabric with Spoonflower is an exciting way to bring your creative visions to life. Whether you’re a seasoned designer or a crafting enthusiast, Spoonflower’s user-friendly platform allows you to transform your ideas into custom fabric, perfect for quilting, home décor, or any DIY project. I’ll share my recent experience with Spoonflower as a first time user who wanted to design my own fabric.

Spoonflower is an online marketplace and community that specializes in custom, on-demand fabric, wallpaper, and home décor. Founded in 2008, the platform allows users to upload their own designs or choose from thousands of independent artists’ designs to create unique, personalized products.
With just a few steps, you can upload your designs, choose from various fabric types, and order your personalized creation. This guide will walk you through the process, from conceptualizing your design to seeing it printed and ready for your next project. So the next time you have a special project or want to use your child’s artwork in a quilt, you know where to go. Get ready to unleash your creativity and make something truly unique!
Make sure you check this out!
After you read this post, make sure you also check out How To Learn How To Quilt: Beginner Quilting Guide. It’s jam packed with even more information, links and resources that are so helpful when you’re first learning. It also has a section with free quilt patterns that are great for beginners. So make sure you check this out, seriously don’t forget!
Grab a copy of my Quilt Planning Journal, filled with graph paper and note pages to help you design 4 quilts or sewing projects! You can jot down ideas, sketch mock ups of quilts, record cutting dimensions and finished quilt size. Pin in fabric swatches, photos of your finished quilts and enjoy your creative process! Click the bar below.
Why try Spoonflower?
Recently, I was commissioned to make a college quilt for my niece Luca. I made this quilt below, Big Stars twin size quilt pattern featuring the 8 point star block. Now a college quilt isn’t really a true college quilt unless the name of the school is on it somewhere. Right? Just using the school colors isn’t going to be enough. By the way, gold is not a fun color to work with. I was always doubting myself and my gold fabric selections wondering if it wasn’t really orange or bronze.

So I’m trying everything to get the school name or logo onto this quilt while making sure the pattern and quilting were in my comfortable skill range. You really have to think that far ahead to make sure you can pull it off. More so if you are actually getting paid to do it.
What I tried first
Here are 3 things I tried before stumbling onto Spoonflower:
- Letter quilt block templates – my first thought was to spell out the school’s name with quilt blocks made of pieced letters. Too time consuming, couldn’t find a good font for the templates on Etsy.
- School logo – downloaded the school mascot with logo to try to piece it into a quilt block. Determined that was not a good idea based on my skills.
- Amazon – bought school items to try to use in quilt blocks on the quilt top or backing. Got a banner and flag but it was polyester and poor quality. Bought cotton t-shirts with school logo in 3 different colors and sizes to make a cheater block or use on the backing. Too small, didn’t look the same quality as the quilt top.
- Spoonflower – read an article about a gal who had her child’s artwork turned into fabric. It was really scribble from a toddler and turned into fabric for a child’s quilt. And that’s where my journey starts.
Hello Spoonflower
I stumbled across this wonderful resource recently and wanted to share it with you. There was so much research that went into making Luca’s quilt. For the life of me, I can’t remember what blog had this article. It was just a sentence really mentioning Spoonflower and not the main focus of the post.
Maybe you have heard of Spoonflower but never knew you could make and print your own fabric. This comes in really handy when you are designing a quilt or making a custom quilt for a client, friend or yourself and can’t find the fabric you need. You can do this all online and it takes about 2 weeks from the time you submit your order until you receive it. No to shabby!

Step-by-Step Instructions for Spoonflower
Create Spoonflower account
Log into the Spoonflower website and join for free. It’s important to create a free account so that you can save your designs once you have uploaded them. You can review your order history and sell your work and earn a commission if interested.
Upload design
After you register, click “Artist Corner” on the menu bar and select “Upload a Design”. You can upload any JPG or PNG file under 40MB. You can upload cell phone pictures, scanned items or images off the web and upload into Canva for editing. Please note that if you download an image from the web that has a copyright, you can only use that for personal use and not for resale.
Remove background or erase items on your photo with Canva’s Magic Eraser and/or Magic Background. Most importantly, you want to resize your image into a smaller file. Then save and download file in PNG format onto your computer. You can use Canva’s free version or pay for a subscription.
Go back to Spoonflower and upload that file. To easily find your downloaded photos on your computer, open “File Explorer” on your computer, go to “This PC” and click downloads. Verify your edited photos from Canva are there and upload into Spoonflower.

Edit scale and repeat
Next step is to name your design, save as “Private” or “For Sale” and edit the file. You will edit the scale and repeat function, then save design when you are satisfied. You can also edit this anytime you want in your design library once registered. It’s important to note that you will need to edit the scale and repeat for the “Fabric” and “Wallpaper” only. The scale and repeat you save for “Fabric” will be the same scale and repeat used in all the home décor items. The “Wallpaper” is the only item that doesn’t use the fabric stats.
Design Your Own Fabric
What is Spoonflower?
Spoonflower’s community of designers and shoppers is central to their business. Many of the designers who use Spoonflower to create products also use it to sell their artwork, making Spoonflower the world’s largest marketplace of surface designs. Behind every design is an independent artist from around the world who earns royalties on every item purchased.
Spoonflower also has a blog that offers DIY tutorials, inspiration, small business tips, and information about launching a Spoonflower shop.
What you can do
- Custom Fabric: Users can print their own designs or choose from a vast selection of patterns created by other artists on a variety of fabrics.
- Wallpaper: Similar to their fabric offerings, Spoonflower provides custom wallpaper options, including peel-and-stick and traditional wallpaper.
- Home Décor: They offer a range of home décor items, such as throw pillows, curtains, and table linens, all customizable with the user’s chosen design.

Who would benefit?
- Quilters and Sewists: Quilters can find or create unique fabric patterns that match their creative vision, ensuring that their quilts are truly one-of-a-kind.
- Interior Designers: Professionals and DIYers alike can use Spoonflower to create custom décor that perfectly fits their design schemes.
- Artists and Designers: Independent designers can sell their patterns on Spoonflower, earning commissions whenever someone purchases a product featuring their design.
- Crafters and Hobbyists: Anyone involved in crafting or DIY projects can benefit from Spoonflower’s vast library of designs and customizable options.
Why Use Spoonflower?
- Customization: Spoonflower offers a level of customization that is hard to find elsewhere. Whether you want a specific color, pattern, or material, you can create it or find it on Spoonflower.
- Support for Independent Artists: By purchasing from Spoonflower, users support independent designers, which adds value and uniqueness to their projects.
- Quality and Variety: Spoonflower offers a wide range of high-quality fabrics, wallpapers, and home décor items, making it a one-stop-shop for personalized home and craft projects.
- Community and Inspiration: Spoonflower has a strong community of designers and users who share ideas, collaborate, and inspire each other.
For a quilter, Spoonflower is a fantastic resource for sourcing unique fabrics that can turn a quilt from ordinary to extraordinary. It’s also a great platform to experiment with designing your own fabric patterns, offering endless possibilities for creativity.

Spoonflower Cons
Here were the downsides to using Spoonflower as a quilter. The price, sample swatch and delivery time.
Price – Fabric isn’t cheap, for the petal cotton fabric you will pay $20/yard. That’s quite the sticker shock coming from someone who loves to shop the discount bins at her local fabric store!
Sample swatch – When you use a logo, it’s hard to see if the scaling and color will match your quilt top. Now you can buy a fabric swatch for $5 but that would have meant doubling my delivery time. Delivery time for them to print the swatch and send. Another delivery time for my actual order once I liked the swatch.
Delivery time – It takes up to 10 business days for them to print the fabric based on your design. The start of those 10 days may be the day after you placed your order. Plus the standard shipping time and it’s a little over 2 weeks to get your order. You can pay extra for expedited shipping if in a jam.
Because I had a deadline for this quilt order, I skipped the swatch and took a leap of faith and placed my order. Scared the entire time that the 4 yards or $80 fabric would match the gold on the quilt top. I’m pleased to say it did and was so over the moon happy with this order. The fabric was really nice, didn’t smell of heavy dyes or anything. Just quality custom fabric to complete the college quilt order.
Other posts you may be interested in checking out:
How to design a quilt and make your own pattern
How to shop for quilt fabric like a pro!
Sew Nikki Free Resources
Quilt Tutorials
How to Design a Quilt and Make Your Own Pattern
Straight Line Machine Quilting Patterns for Beginners
How to Quilt on a Regular Sewing Machine
Best Fabric for Quilting: How to Shop Like a Pro!
Beginner Spray Basting Tutorial
How to Sew a Quilt Together – Quilting for Beginners
How to Sew Quilt Squares Together
Joining Quilt Binding Ends for Beginners
How to Cut Fabric for Quilting- Easy and Accurate
How Wide to Cut Quilt Binding & Make Easy Strips
Pieced Quilt Backing Ideas – Super Simple Backs
How to Select Quilt Backing Fabric for Your Quilt Top
Where to Find FREE Ruby Star Society Quilt Patterns
Design Your Own Fabric – BEGINNER SUPPLIES
Here are some quilting tools and supplies I recommend. I make a small commission if you purchase through the links, this helps to support this free content. For more info, check out Supplies for Beginners (Best Tools To Start).
Rotary Mat Cutting Mat (Self-Healing Mat)
28 mm Rotary Cutter Replacement Blades
45 mm Rotary Cutter with Sharp Blade (start with this one)
45 mm Rotary Cutter Replacement Blades (start with this one)
60 mm Rotary Cutter Replacement Blades
4.5″ Square Ruler for half square triangles
12.5″ Square Ruler for blocks
Sewing Machine Beginner (see my about me page for more info on sewing machines for beginners to the one I use today).
SAVE THIS PIN FOR LATER!

This post contains ads and affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. While the ads may seem annoying, it helps keep this blog going. See my full disclosure here.
ABOUT SEW NIKKI
If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! My name is Nikki. I’m a weekend quilter, have a super small sewing space and taught myself how to sew and quilt by watching YouTube videos! Just print this post for the free pattern. My blog has How-To’s, Free Patterns and Pattern Reviews. Read more about me here.
As a quilter hired to make custom quilts, Spoonflower allowed me to make my own fabric when I couldn’t find it for sale. It allowed me to make a real custom quilt, something that would not have been possible if I had to find fabric online. This is a fantastic resource for memory quilts or keepsake quilts.
Follow me on social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) so you get notifications when new patterns and tutorials are posted.
Want to learn how to crochet? Check out this post, How to Learn How to Crochet – Guide for Beginners.
Sew, quilt, crochet and repeat!
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