Contests always challenge me and push me towards creating something new. I’ve been a beta tester for Spoonflower since July last year but I was consistently scared off by the high prices despite the lure of having fabric printed from my own designs. I finally created my first Spoonflower design because of their Doll Panels Fabric of the Week Contest which sounded like a very unique and cool use of custom printed fabric and it was the perfect motivation for me to transfer my love of making plushies to fabric design!

Presenting, my first Ninja Beans fabric panel design! They are based off of my handmade Ninja Bean plushies that have been sold out but I’ve been making more of over the weekend!

This design repeats once so two of each Ninja Bean fits on a yard of fabric which you can preview here. The pointy gray shapes are for the ties for the Ninja Bean’s bandanna and the pink rectangle is for sewing a bow for the lady Ninja Bean’s obi in the back. I’m really excited about this design that I spent all last week crafting. Wish I had more time to work on the design and patterns and I haven’t had the chance to order a yard of it yet before the contest was due today so I hope the colors print well without too much distortion. Generally, most people have expressed their satisfaction with their Spoonflower fabrics so I’m excited to give them a try! I’m also anxious and curious to see the other 77 entries in the contest! I don’t expect to win but I really wanted to give fabric panel design a shot and having a deadline really helped motivate me. So many doll panel possibilities! I already have more ideas spinning in my head!

I had a productive weekend too making over 30 new Ninja Beans with all new fabrics! I will be posting them for sale soon. Here’s a work in progress shot: