The Easiest Way To Get The Perfect Color Solid Fabric For Your Project
Y’all know of my love for Spoonflower, right? I’ve created my own floral wallpaper for the studio and had it printed at Spoonflower…
I had that same floral design printed on fabric for the back entry of the studio…
I created my own wallpaper design for the studio half bathroom and had it printed by Spoonflower (but it isn’t installed yet)…
And I’ve also purchased other people’s designs from Spoonflower, like the wallpaper I bought to install in the hallway bathroom…
I’ll be working on that bathroom as soon as I’m finished in the studio, so stay tuned to see that wallpaper installed in there.
This is not a sponsored post or anything like that. I just really like Spoonflower. I’ve always liked the quality of their products, and I love the fact that they allow creative people to create their own custom designs for wallpaper and fabric. And I think their prices are reasonable, especially since they have sales regularly.
While I think most people think of Spoonflower for printed designs, I think people overlook Spoonflower for one of its best uses. You can use Spoonflower to create your own solid color fabric! There’s absolutely no need to spend hours online searching for the perfect shade of solid green fabric, order tons of samples, wait for those samples to arrive, and perhaps repeat that process over and over in search of that perfect shade when you can simply create your own! That’s precisely how I plan to get just the right shade of green performance velvet for the desk chair in my studio. It’s so easy!
First, you’ll want to order one of their color maps. I’ve had mine for probably two years now, and I refer to it regularly.
Then use that color map to find the perfect color for your project.
In my case, I’m trying to find a green that will be vibrant on its own, while also coordinating with the green on the walls of the back entry, as well as the curtain/mural print.
I really like these colors on their own, but they’re too bright for the wall.
So I decided that something like this might be a better starting point. Each color has a hex code printed on it, and that’s the code you’ll need for the next step.
You can use just about any photo editing software to create your solid color fabric, but I used Canva for this demonstration since there’s a free version. On the Canva home page, I selected Poster just because it’s the largest option.
And when it brought up a new poster project screen, I clicked this multi-colored square to change the background color.
That brought up this section on the left, and I clicked this first box with the “+” sign on it.
And that brought up a box where you can type in that six-digit code from the color you selected on the Spoonflower color map. It’ll automatically change the background color on the poster to the color you input. (I ended up using a different color from the one I selected and circled above.)
If you want to edit the color a bit, you can click on this little dot and move it around until the color looks like you want it. Just be aware that the print color may be slightly different from what you see on your screen.
Once you have the color like you want it, click the “Share” button on the top right…
And then click the “download” button. You can accept the default settings and continue downloading.
Once you’ve downloaded your file to your computer, head over to the Spoonflower website and set up an account (if you don’t already have one). Once you’re logged in, you’ll go to your account and click the “Upload A Design” button to get to this screen…
Select the file from your computer, confirm that you’re not violating anyone else’s copyright, and then upload the design.
Once it’s uploaded, it will take you to this screen where you can see your solid color fabric swatch, and then you can choose the fabric you want (I’m using performance velvet for upholstery), and the size/amount you want. When you’re in Canva, you might want to make several slight edits to your color and save each edit separately, and then upload each edited color to Spoonflower. That way, you can order a test swatch of each one before ordering the final fabric for your project.
This way, you’re guaranteed to get the exact color you want, and you can choose from many different types of fabric to suit your project. This is so much easier than spending hours searching website after website for that perfect shade of solid fabric and ordering a ton of swatches in hopes that one of them might work. This way, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a color that will work.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
This is SUCH a helpful post both for navigating Canva and Spoonflower. Saving this for sure! Thank you for sharing your ideas as well as the instructions.
Good Idea! Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing.
This is so fascinating. I’m curious about your study paper and fabric. Did you draw your own design? I’m interested in creating a few vintage-inspired designs.
Your study needs to have a reveal party. It’s noteworthy.
Way to go!!!
Oh Wow…This is such a helpful post. I never knew some of this, and I have a project I have been wanting to do, but can’t find the right color/type fabric. This would solve it all! Thank you…Thank You! I also love some prints, but never knew I could just order it, and even tweak colors. Of course this may be too technologically challenging for me, but I could try. Thank you.
Good idea! Thanks.
Kristi, is the solid color printed on the fabric or woven? Do you have to consider “edges” or will the color be stretched to fit the area? I was recalling when you had your floral design, there was some shifting or rotating to eliminate those “edges” of the design. I’m getting some ideas on how to design or redesign some of my previous work with your instructions! Your tutorials are always so clear!
It’s printed, and it will come with white edges on it just like my floral fabric had. I believe the edges are not included in the measurements given on the website. So if it says it’s 54-inch fabric, that will be the printed area, not including the white edges. I can’t guarantee that, but I’m almost certain that’s how it works.
That’s amazing! Love this idea!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I cannot tell you how many times I have done exactly what you said takes so much time, and you end up with tons of swatches. If I ever need to make a patchwork quilt, I can raid my swatch box and be off and running. Thanks again for always taking the time to show us how you do all the amazing things you do, most folks out here on the blogosphere today like to keep all the secrets to themselves and do a lot of smoke and mirrors with their projects, not you, I love that you show us everything, warts and all. You’re the best!
I’m confused … did you do this custom green digitally — which could be way off the sample they send — because the Spoonflower color map that has the real life fabric color didn’t have a green you liked?
Thank you for clarifying.
Yes, that’s correct. And I plan to so several of them, and the order samples to pick the perfect one. But the color map got me headed in the right direction. I chose one of the colors (not the one I had originally circled), and then dragged that little circle on the Canva background screen to edit the color.
Thank you for this!!!! I am needing some specialized fabric soon, and I never thought of the cava option. I have used it for other things, but never thought about using it like this.
I really love the eggplant velvet chair version. you only have the two doors in eggplant so i don’t think it would look like you used to too much everywhere in the room.
She’s painting the work table legs in the eggplant as well. I think it was in yesterday’s post, maybe…but that’s why she said she isn’t doing the chair in eggplant as well.
Oh she also mentioned the cat hair on eggplant showing too much.
Dang, girl, you’re so good on the computer! And I’ve wanted a sofa we have recovered but I wouldn’t know where to begin, given I don’t have mad sewing skills. I can’t wait to see your newly covered chair and all the rest!
Thank you for this demo! I am making a quilt that I cannot match a solid color too. Im going to try Spoonflower now.
Thank you so much for this!
So interesting and useful! Thank you!