My-kat custom Ikat

This fun discovery began with a frustrating mail delivery of the wrong

fabric swatches and an even more frustrating trip to a local fabric shop.

I found a great chinoiserie toile on bark colored linen for the curtain to cover my sliding glass door.

They had a yard less than I need in stock and it was discontinued.

The store discounts decorator fabric and mostly does not list the manufacturer, even in their files so I was unable to try to hunt some on my own.

I noticed a Chinese import plate hanging on the wall at home and thought," I want that, but grayer and browner".

Long story-short, I found Spoonflower.com, a site that lets you upload an image file and create your own fabric.

photo of spoon-mirror repeat

It kept be very busy figuring out tweaks of photos, paintings and color.

If this sounds like fun to you get a babysitter and order pizza, whatever it takes to keep things going at your house because it sucks you in and you may not come up for air for days.

The basic repeat option is generally boring with most images.

The mirror repeat option is often the most interesting and how I made the first pattern above.

This one is a detail of a painting and it turned out resembling tie-dye.

Detail from the same painting with a half-drop repeat.

Its fun but I wouldn't fork out any money for this one.

If I liked it but wanted the flowers to be red, that can be done but it takes time.

The colors can also be simplified too. Again, lots of time.

This silhouette worked beautifully in several iterations.

As you can see, the mirror repeat adds decidedly different feel.

I took a photo of the detail on an antique mirror and made this one.

I took a detail of this painting and created this...

I actually like it but I can't think of anywhere to use it.

Maybe a fun pillow.

I had plenty of duds in this experiment that is one reason this little website swallowed me whole.

I  may be able to manage a few Christmas presents out of my creations but my sliding glass door is still bare.