greenolive

feeling tribal

the tribal trend is hot

It seems we were onto something when designing and launching our Tribal Range of screenprinted fabrics. Etsy has just released a Tribal inspired Gift Guide and included our Zanzibar design. 

I discovered the Tribal gift guide and our inclusion in it by accident late last night while trawling through Etsy – I was so excited I almost woke mr greenolive up to tell him. But I thought better of it.

As a designer I'd always been drawn to the primitive and graphic nature of tribal and African patterns. Their simplicity and repetition gave them great energy. I love them! It seems it took a little while for everyone else to catch on. 

Now Tribal is hot and receiving some Etsy love.

This is an Etsy Treasury I curated earlier this month – maybe it inspired the Etsy Admin team?

During August the Zanzibar design was featured in a members vote for their favourite fabric promotion. Read the blog post. Our design made the finals and now appears in an Etsy banner promoting the members vote feature. I saw it on the front page and nearly fell off my chair in excitement! 

Maybe now is the time we should take the leap into yardage? What colours would you like to see Zanzibar printed in? I'm thinking hot spicy Moroccan colours...

drool worthy on bondville

our profile on bondville

Screen shot of the post on the bondville blog.

I "followed" Step from bondville on twitter the other day, and thought I should email her about greenolive textiles. Just in case she'd like to do a post about our textiles.

While I worded the "perfect" introductory email in my head, she sent me a message about doing a post on us. Easy. She made it so easy. And true to her word the post went up almost immediately.

We joined the drool-worthy design list, there is some great design featured, you should have a look.

So, pop over to bondville to read the post, and don't forget to follow Steph on twitter. And why not buy some fabric while your at it? It's drool-worthy.

through the eyes of others

Photos of fabrics from the Tribal Range by Theresa. Reproduced with permission.

I love seeing your photos of your greenolive textiles.

Each of us photographs things through the filter of our own aesthetic, and each time I see one of your photos I rediscover our textile designs. Falling in love with them a bit more. Let me explain...

You know when you used to like a boy/jacket/shoes/handbag but weren't quite sure if they were cool/good/well designed, but once your friend said they were cool/good/well designed then you let out a sigh of relief?

Well that's how I feel. Relieved. Reassured. And I begin to see the designs and colours through new eyes. Your eyes.

Nora's eyes.

Kirsten's eyes.

How do you see them? And why not check out the flickr group for greenolive textiles if you want to see more.

excitement and trepidation

feeling both at once

 

Urban Type printed black on red linen. One colourway you can't miss!

I approach the Show - just now 3 sleeps away - with large doses of excitement and trepidation.

Excitement because, well, its exciting.

My first big show. 30,000+ people. Being in the Incubator, a small group of indie crafters and designers all being lovelingly supported by the Living Creatively mob. You can almost feel the love, they really want us to do well. Launching the new ranges of greenolive textiles. Because I'm enjoying being creative again, remembering the energy and joy that brings. And, I wonder why on earth I gave that all up in late 2000 to switch from being a full-time graphic designer to a full-time manager. (Oh, yeah, I remember now, to get paid more and climb the corporate ladder. It aint worth it people.) Because we could sell out people - imagine that?

Trepidation.

Well trepidation because of some of the same reasons above. Plus the reverse of some of the reasons above. My first big show with 30,000+ people. Maybe they won't like my stuff. We might not sell anything. We may have just wasted the cash from our combined tax returns for the last two years. Alternatively, it could be a huge success. We could sell out. Real Living, Inside Out and Home Beautiful might want to do features on me, sorry, us, and the fabo new textile designs. Because life as I know it might change. I might have to give up work to design and print all day and fill the orders.

Whatever happens its been loads of fun developing the designs, sourcing suppliers, printing the fabrics, working with mr greenolive - and now I just have to sit back, let go and trust that things will be ok. Fine even.

and the lucky winners are...

yes, winners, plural

The My Bike design from the Kids Range – printed white on royal blue linen.

Yes, you read that right. Winners. Plural.

I was so chuffed by the volume of comments that I decided to choose more than one winner. In fact three winners.

And the winners are:

French Knots gets two not-quite-fat quarters from the Kids Range 

Anna gets a bits and pieces pack (remnants) from the Kids Range

Sue gets one not-quite-fat quarter from the Kids Range.

The Flutterby design from the Kids Range – printed white on hot pink linen.

I'm not sure if I told you the story behind this range...both designs are taken from original illustrations that I drew when I was 4 and three-quarters years old. My clever mum kept the drawings and now I have them. 

Watch out for more designs in the future...

Oh, if you were one of the lucky three, email me (see link in right side bar) with your details – name and postal address and the greenolive textiles will be on their way. Promise to send me a photo of what you made.

PS: If you weren't one of the three winners, don't forget that you can buy greenolive not-quite-fat quarters at my stand in the Incubator at the Stitches and Craft Show, 11 to 15 March. I wouldn't dawdle if I were you, we just might sell out. (We hope!)

thank you & an SOS

The "Urban Type" design, all ready to be printed this weekend.

I was completely overwhelmed by all your comments and suggestions about what you would make from a greenolive textiles not-quite-fat quarter.

It was great to see some familiar faces and lots of new faces courtesy of the blog post from CurlyPops.

There are lots of great ideas – things I hadn't thought of – and feedback on the designs and the range was very positive. So thank you all very much. And, I hope some of you who visited my blog for the first time might come back every now and then.

Since you all liked the kids range so much, I thought I should tell you that both the Flutterby and My Bike designs will be printed on colours other than white. Here's a sneak peek at the other 100% linen basecloths we'll be printing on. I can't wait to show you photos on the final prints!

100% linen in white, hot pink, red, baby blue and big boy blue – all the colours in the Kids Range.

Oh, a winner. I haven't forgotten. I've decided to choose three winners, and will do this over the weekend. So make sure you pop back on Monday to see if you were lucky. I hope you are!

I'm sure you are wondering about the photo at the start of this post...well its the finished "Urban Type" design, exposed onto a screen and ready to print. It was the first design I did for greenolive textiles and I think it's my favourite. I have a real thing for typography, especially the old wooden type blocks that were used for printing many years ago. We'll be printing "Urban Type" this weekend in red, grey, black and silver inks on a range of basecloths. Yummy!!

An SOS

Angela from the Stitches & Craft Show emailed yesterday with an SOS. I'm hoping some of you might be able to help her out. 

She needs volunteers for the Craft Bar, a brand new development at this year's show. Her volunteers have unvolunteered themselves leaving her with a craft bar with no crafters!

The Craft Bar is a fun, free place where crafters can go and have fun with papercraft, sewing, knitting or embroidery. There are several crafty dishes on the menu, all you have to do is chose one. 

The volunteers (that's you) will be at the Craft Bar showing people how to do so some of the stitching projects.

As a volunteer, here's what's involved:

• working at the show for free, each day from 8.30am to 5pm

• free entry to the show

• lots of fun, the chance to meet people and share your passion for crafting

• small perks (not sure what this entails, but its sure to be great!)

So if you are crafty, have free time during the days the Show is on, and you would like to help out, contact Angela: angela.gualtieri[at]livingcreatively.com.au 

I sure hope you can, the craft bars sound like a great idea – I might even pop in to learn how to embroider – that's one of the few crafty bugs that hasn't bitten me yet.

calling all sewers

what would you make from your greenolive not-quite-fat quarter?

A close up of the Flutterby design from the Kids range, printed in red on 100% white linen.

If you were lucky enough to get your hands on a greenolive textiles not-quite-fat quarter, what would you make?

I say not-quite-fat quarter because these original hand-printed designs measure 35 x 45 cm, a smidge less than a traditional fat quarter (35 x45 cm = 13.7 x 17.7 inches for those of you who aren't metric).

I'm thinking softies, tote bags, cushions, small quilts, notebook covers, zippered purses...

A close up of the My bike design from the Kids range, printed in blue on 100% white linen.

What would you make?

Leave a comment with your suggestions and you'll go into the draw to win a greenolive textiles not-quite-fat quarter of your very own so you can make whatever you want.

PS: if you want to get your hands onto some of this fabric from the Kids Range or fabric from the other two ranges, come and visit me at the Stitches & Craft Show, in Melbourne, 11 to 15 March. If you aren't a local, I'll also be selling online (probably via madeit.com or my website.)

a little help from my friends

also known as market research!

I took my "mood boards" - a bit of a descriptive stretch, but let's call them mood boards shall we? - to work to get some feedback on the fabric designs I'm launching at the Stitches and Craft Show in mid-March.

We know I love them, but I'm biased aren't I? I wanted to find out what others thought, people who are not so obsessed with design and craft as I am. 

Well I'm very pleased to say that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Ranges good. Designs lovely. The stories behind the designs interesting, endearing even. The colours great - but I'd also like that in dark blue please.

Three yummy mummies, two gen X, one gen Y and a token make - all demographics covered (sorry guys to reduce you to a demographic!)

So I'm feeling more confident about the launch of greenolive textiles. It seems the three ranges (yes, three) cover most tastes and demographics – even the blokes! Each ranges has a theme which carries through the designs, basecloths and colourways. They coordinated, but not in a quilty way, and I think that coordination is something that has been missing from local printed fabrics up to now.

More photos of the fabrics and the behind the scenes printing over the next week or so. I know you are waiting with baited breath!!

we've been busy!

very, very busy!!

One of the test prints we printed over the weekend. This design is from the tribal range – doesn't have a name yet....

Busy is an understatement. In between listening to the bushfire alerts on the local radio, checking the CFA incident website, and actually evacuating twice over the weekend, we managed to squeeze in a spot of screenprinting. About time too – the Stitches and Craft Show is just over three weeks away!

I'm still in design mode – and like a real designer I'm leaving things to the last minute. The designs are still not fully formed, but I have a good feel for the direction I want to go in. 

This one may look familiar to some of you, I showed you an early sketch in this blog post. And I haven't come up with a name – the names are the hardest part!

This inspiration for this range is Out of Africa mets big game hunter on safari. The range is quite strong and graphic, the designs have a primitive, earthy feel. They will be printed in rich brown and black on sand and brown linen. Yep, 100% linen. 

Both designs need some refinement, they feel a bit too big and not quite in proportion at the moment. We are madly tweaking behind the scenes in Illustrator. The original designs were done by hand, but this won't cut it when it comes to doing the screens.

All we've got to do now is refine the designs, order the yummy linen fabric, get the screens exposed, do the printing, sort out the packaging and then we'll be all ready to SELL OUT at the Show. (Finger's crossed!)

So what do you reckon? You like? What about 100% linen – yummy right? And, what about those names?

Give me some feedback, suggest a name, promise to buy them – leave me a comment with all or any of these and go into the draw to win one of each design in the colour of your choice!

PS – lots more pictures of the before, during and after of the screenprinting adventures of the flickr site.

PPS – just in case you are wondering – "we" means mr greenolive and I. We've decided the move into textile design means that he can be more hands-on with greenolive. It's much easier to get him to screenprint that it is to knit, sew or crochet. His official title is production manager. Mine is crazy uptight designer.

flutter-by

only 27 sleeps til the Stitches & Craft show!

I'm quickly running out of time – the days are fluttering by until the Stitches & Craft Show, 11 to 15 March.

I've got a huge to-to list and it looks something like this...

> sort out the fabric designs

> organise the screens

> source the base cloth fabrics

> organise the screenprinting

> design greenolive's corporate identity

> organise printing or business cards, swing tags, packaging

> photograph new designs for website, media kit and general promotion

> redesign the website

> write weekly blog posts about my preparations for the Show

> sort out the stall layout and signage

> decide on stall design, furniture, styling

> finalise pricing: retail and wholesale

> develop two projects sheets for Living Creatively website

> decide if I want to run any workshops

> anything else I have forgotten.

Oh, and don't forget to go to work every day!

Just in case you are wondering, the flutter-by (butterfly) has something to do with a range of kids fabrics I'm working on for the Show...interested?