Customer Spotlight: Buckle Me Baby - Print designs for PJs

Over the years we worked with a couple of trailblazers but when we got an email from Dahlia explaining what kind of product she created we got so excited to jump in and create some prints for her.  

Her story all began while raising her three kids and struggling to get them into their car seats during the colder season. With their coats to be too puffy they were not safe to keep on. But those cold rides were no fun for her kids either. Safety shouldn’t be a struggle, and she created the perfect coat for kids that could be kept on safely in those car seats. From 2016 to 2020 she developed her product got it tested and approved. And in 2020 she appeared on Shark Tank giving her that boost to keep going and create some real magic.

We love her Buckle Me Baby Coats, and we are so honored to be part of her creative journey. It’s where solving a problem and making something easier truly is a form of art. My designer hearts sure loves what she makes! If only all products put on this planet made this much sense. In her shop she also has other pieces of clothing for little ones and for her Pyjama Collection she used some Little Smilemakers print designs we really want to show you. We love the finished pieces. They turned out cute right?

Dahlia licensed our designs non-eclusively but she does have an extended license with exclusivity to her branch. With the Premium license you can use our ready-made designs and keep them unique to your company without breaking the bank. Need some prints for your products too? You can find more info about using our designs and our licensing options on our website.

Finished work: New Rainbows & Sprinkles leggings for fitness, running, climbing and Netflix & chill

For a couple of years we’ve been working together with Lucy who’s the owner of Rainbows & Sprinkles, based in the UK. This year I’ve also been working from the home and asked her to send me some of the new pieces she licensed. A package arrived this months with a bunch of fun leggings.

Have you been working from home too? I bet you are also wearing a lot more leggings than high heals this year right? When Covid kicked in we move the studio and we’ve been working from home ever since. So no need to dress up for a meeting. I catch myself in leggings all day every day, I have to admit, it’s pretty comfy. I am used to working from home, but this year we all needed some more comfy pieces in our closet. These leggings are great to chill in but as a boulder girl I also took them to the climbing gym. Finding proper leggings can be so hard. Especially to work out in; not many are squat proof! I am such a fan of these, they are thick enough to not be see-though in extreme stretch situations. And soft enough to wear on the sofa for some chill and Netflix. But they are also very breathable. Is that a word? They are great for a sweaty, more intense work out too. So this time I am showing you our leopard print. But there are many more to choose from. Check the Rainbows & Sprinkles website for all prints & sizes and, did you know you can also get these prints in baby, toddles and kids clothes? Happy matching!

Licensing print designs
If you like to license our prints for your business too please send us a message. We license print designs all over the world and we love to welcome new collabs.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 July 2019

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of designs, or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or if you check Instagram for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives that use our fabrics have small home-based businesses and sell their projects online and tag us via Instagram. But there are also some bigger fish out they're using our Spoonflower designs for their business. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Germany, the United States, UK, and Canada. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. We selected some breezy summer creations; summer dresses, baby rompers, skirts and more. Take a look and see if there is something for you too. Have a look and enjoy our July selection.

1 // KRZA
I can’t believe we didn’t feature Krystle's creations on our blog before! She’s been making girls accessories and fashion for years and has been a loyal customer of ours ever since we started selling our designs through Spoonflower. This summer she added a bunch of new Little Smilemakers designs to her shop like the jellyfish and panther print we featured here. We love her light and clean photography that reflects her style and creations perfectly. We love how she mixes texture and soft tones. A proper eye for pretty! And, if you love what you’re seeing, face it… how can you not?… Krystle also opened a brand new side business with home accessories! Enough reasons to give her a little shout out this month. Take a look at her shop and enjoy!

2 // Harlz & Haven
Socks, headbands, scrunchies, swaddles. Emma has the perfect newborn and baby shower gifts in her small online shop. Like lots of our mommy customers, Emma was frustrated and couldn’t find what she was looking for when she became a mom, affordable, on trend quality pieces. So she decided to create her own kids' accessories. This month we featured her handmade pink grid headbands made in mommy & girls sizes. Such an adorable image right? We’re so lucky to have so many cute things pop up on our feed every month! Take a look at Emma’s website for all fun items she has to offer.





3 // Bitty Bambu
Looking for some breezy summer dresses for your little girl? We found our watercolor palm leaves in the new Bitty Bambu Summer Collection. Taryn creates romantic kids fashion inspired by Hawaiian nature. We love these Indian summer vibes! Take a look at the shop to find more cute dresses!

4 // Thea Fashion for Kids
This German clothing boutique has a soft spot for clean Scandinavian designs. We stumbled upon their creations on Instagram and we are totally hooked ever since. Our ice cream, train, and abstract bubble mint prints were used for the 2018 summer collection. And this year our Sunny Day design was added to the collection. Time to show the new creations! Thea offers adorable kids items, t-shirts, dungarees, sun hats and lot’s more. So if you are based in Germany take a look in her shop.

5 // Olli the Cocker
Who of you has a little furry bestie? If you have one of these furry friends you know how hard it is to find cute on-trend puppy accessories. The past few years we’ve been working together with a bunch of online pet stores and our Spoonflower fabric keeps popping up on cute creations like this Happy Birthday bandana. This woofwear bandana is not for sale anymore. But we have some cute collars and haresses available at Poppy + Ted and Pawsome Paws has some cute bandanas and other accessories as well. Wanna make your own bandana? Check our Spoonflower shop for all prints and choose your fave! You can find all prints in there features in this months Made With post.

New Work // Pablo & Co // Dog accessories

Early this year we received a message from Loren, CEO of Pablo & Co. She was looking for some cool new prints to license for her dog accessory brand. For the new season, she was looking for some cool and quirky designs for dog raincoats, leashes, bandanas, and harnesses. So much to choose from!

For the new collection, our Memphis Banana design and Ziggy Zag print made the cut. We licensed these prints to Pablo & Co with a non-exclusive license. Designs featured here can also be purchased via our Spoonflower fabric shop. If you'd like to create some stuff for your pup you can! We’ve been creating more and more designs for puppy brands the past two years and somehow we seem to be growing our fan base in the furry world. We just loved what Loren created with our designs. The full range of dog items: bow ties, collars, bandana’s and more are now available in her shop where her furry friend Pablo does most of the modeling. These images are so adorable! Cannot get enough of them.

If you are looking for some high-quality dog stuff, do take a look in this Australia based webshop. Maybe there’s something fun in there for your pup loving friend for Christmas as she just released the seasonal collection too. Enjoy!

These designs were licensed non-exclusively and are still available to license for your own brand. Want to know more about licensing, please send us a quick message. Or you can purchase the Memphis Banana or Ziggy Zag prints on fabric via Spoonflower.

Sources of inspiration // Bouldering // New free climbing inspired art, home decor and fashion items

As some of you might know already I have been struggling with fibromyalgia for as long as I can remember. As a kids I was pretty competitive, I loved sports, and I loved pushing my body. Winning that medal! I used to do gymnastics but when I was a teen my knees and ankles, my wrists, all got in the way of performing on a high level. Eventually I stopped all together and for a few years I didn’t so anything.

8 years ago I met my friend Ashni who is also a singer, you might know her from her number 1 hit single Wanna be close. She’s pretty popular at the moment, anyway where was I? Oh yes, my friend Ashni also worked as a dance instructor and during her classes I got back to moving again, enjoying a workout, without struggling as much with my own limits. Dancing became my way to unload and relax. I still love to dance, but unfortunately when my friend decided to focus on her music career I never found anyone so full of life and other dance classes just weren’t as awesome as I was used to.

Finding a new passion
Because I really need to keep my muscles strong due to my fibromyalgia I joined the gym. Oh my lord how much I dreaded to go there. There is absolutely no part of my that get’s excited doing these kinds of work outs. Staying fit is a struggle when you’re doing something you don’t like to I quit and thankfully right after that, a met an awesome dude person who introduced me to climbing. I always thought climbing would be way to heavy for my joints, but after a few tries I noticed it was much more a full body work out that just killing my hands. So I decided to give climbing a go.

I live in a pretty flat country so outdoor rock climbing is not much of an option. And I have to admit the boulders in the climbing gym are way easier on my hands, so climbing indoors has it’s perks. I have been climbing for a few months now and every time I leave the climbing gym I am energized. And my god, it has been a while I found something new that get’s me excited. So as you can imagine there are quite some new bouldering inspired new designs coming up.



Bouldering accessories
I started with some geometric prints, patterns for fabric and wallpaper created in Illustrator. But I also love the abstract shapes and colorful boulders so I decided to create a new series of photographic designs that are available on wall art, home decor like pillows and blankets, tech items like laptop sleeves and iPhone cases like the ones featured. And some really cool fashion pieces and accessories. I love the Society6 leggings. They are comfy, perfect for lazy nights on the couch but the fabric is strong enough to use for bouldering too! Yesssss perfect for bouldering those bouldering leggings. How awesome is that!

Check all bouldering items in our Society6 shop and let me know which ones you like best so we can make even more cool bouldering products. We would love a collab with a climbing gear brand. So if you have any connection please reach out!

New Work // Maxomorra Fall Collection 2018

This week new Maxomorra prints for their fall collection were launched. The new Plus Collection contains a range of on trend illustrated print designs. We license our prints to this Swedish organic kids clothing company for two years now and as you expect from us: the new collection contains fun, minimal and colorful new Little Smilemakers prints.

We already launched over 10 design the past two years and we especially loved the past two spring and summer designs. They have been a hit! And even though it is a hot summer day here in the studio, it is time to release some new fall designs. Time for new prints!

We can already show you these two hand drawn original Little Smilemakers designs. Our sweet bunny print, which has been a hot seller at Spoonflower for the past three years, and what do you think of this new vintage car design? Inspired by Maaike's own Fiat, she's a little nutty for that one. How much fun to see this cool vintage style car illustration on the new Maxomorra range! Curious to see the rest of the fall collection? Stay tuned if you are an animal lover. There is still more to come! Super excited to see all reactions on these first two designs. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Sources of inspiration // Living at Sea

My home is located only a 10 minute bike ride from the beach. During the warmer season I love cycling through the dunes and stare at the sunset. It is such an amazing way to finish the day. Get some fresh air and clear my mind. During these warm days I notice my creations get influenced by the re-found calm. My designs get a little more minimal, soft and clear. I love this time of the year and I would love to live in a climate where visiting the beach on flip flops would be a possibility all year long. But for now I will just soak up the sun and try to store some energy for the colder season.

I love living close to the beach and therefore love to work with customers who make products for the ocean. Splash About, LSea Swimwear, Bambino Mio... We have licensed to numerous swimwear companies and love seeing our designs used for beachwear and sun protecting kids items. Batoko, Little Mermaids, Quinn & Belle, are a few companies we collab with. But we have a lot’s of sea themed prints still available. Maybe something for your business?

The sea has been a great influence for me ever since I moved to this city 10 years ago. The city is packed and busy and the beach offers a great ease on crazy days. I even created a -beach- series, soft abstract prints influences by the sea and the life around the beach, parasols, waves, seagulls. The collection is named ‘Miami.’ A little more catchy that naming the prints after this small Dutch city The Hague. These prints are great for woman’s fashion and accessories.

Two years ago we also created our ‘Ocean Life’ series. A fun range of prints for kids. With sea turtles, fish, sea horses and shells. Dedicated to the colorful imagination of your little one. We are still in love with our octopus print. Which one do you like most?

All prints shown here are available on fabric and wallpaper in our Spoonflower shop. The Miami prints and Ocean Life series are available for licensing. If you would like to use one of the prints featured here or any other designs you see in our feed just reach out and send us a quick message.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 3 March 2018

We love sharing your creations on our blog and social media feeds. Every month we make a selection of finished creations made by our Spoonflower customers. Our hearts make a little jump for joy every time our studio gets tagged in your posts too.

Most of the creations we see pop up are made by small home based businesses selling their projects via places like Etsy and they share and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from the United States, New Zealand and from the beautiful Paris. For this months March post we selected three shops run by moms. A little extra attentions for these three ladies!

1 // Ty Mom Studio
Charlene is based in Paris and has a great eye for thinking in collections. Her fabric choices have a steady ‘feel.’ She has a fun collection of on trend gender neutral fabrics and she is working on a big collection for her webshop launch. Even though her webshop is not quite open yet, we wanted to share some of her cute pineapple and cacti leggings and those gender neutral rompers with you. For now you will have to try and have a little more patience until she opens up her shop you can follow her on Instagram. I already have my eye on these cool cacti leggings. Click here is you want to follow this brand new small business.



2 // Bean Sprout Store
We love everything Hiedee creates. Her style is quirky and clean and she makes fun kids accessories such as book bags, hair ties and what do you think about these mustard cloud hats? She works together with Krystle Photography and together this New Zealand team of power ladies take it up a notch when it comes to small business marketing. Her photographs are amazing and make Hiedees creations pop! Take a look at her shop and see all new gender neutral creations made with our new spring fabric. Click here to take a look in her shop.

3 // Woodbean
Lisa is mom of 5 so you can imagine she has a lot on her plate with those tiny humans running around. Even so she makes time to build her business. Her style is comfy and cool. We love how she mixes prints and uni colors, these combinations make all her products one of a kind. Lisa has used some of our abstract designs in the past and for this months post we wanted to share her cool purple baby shirt where she mixes two of our most recent abstract designs. Her shop is currently closed for a bit while she is moving house. But stay in the loop and follow her Instagram account to see what she’s up to. So you can order one of her fashionable pieces as soon as she opens up her shop again mid-April. Follor her on Instagram here.

Most of our Spoonflower fabric gets purchased by mom’s who love to make something cute for their little one. But some of them take things to a whole other level and open up their own handmade shop with the most wonderful creations. So inspiring! We would love to give all of you hard working mommies a little shout out but we cannot share all your wonderful creations, unfortunately. If you would like to be featured in one of our Monthly ‘Made With’ posts. Just reach out and send us your fabric creations!

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 January 2018

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Australia, Slovenia, Ukraine, USA and The Netherlands. This month we selected a whole bunch of hot selling fabrics, turned into beautiful items. We have some cool hedgehogs, kawaii prints and trendy abstracts. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our January top 5.

1 // Hiskarija Notebooks
Hiskarija is a Slovenian brand that creates hand-made notebooks for kids and colorful recipe paper goods. Each item is carefully chosen, functionally designed and manufactured with plenty of love in an eco-friendly manner. Wanna get your hands on one of these fun notebooks for your little ones new school year? Check out the website and select your fav prints for the new season. They have some cool Little Smilemakers penguins, hedgehogs and a few abstracts to choose from. Hope you like them as much as we do!
https://www.hiskarija.si/sl/



2 // Lucie June
This Australian based shop makes vibrant girls clothing, focusing on whimsical individuality, designed to be beautiful and practical for the start of life as a little lady. We love Lucie June and their handmade rompers. And wanted to give them a little extra attention with the summer season Down Under these are great additions to your little ones summer wardrobe. We love our watercolor cacti print and our monochrome geometric design on their handmade pieces. We call it stylish bohemian. Curious about the rest of their collection? Take a look on their website.

3 // Tiny Little Cactus
You might have seen the Tiny Little Cactus booties here on the blog. Krista has launched her new range of doll house items this month. Under the name of Dollhouse Bandits she created tiny furniture for your little ones dollhouse. She also made matching bedding and accessories for those tiny little rooms. Check her website for her fun kawaii and abstract collection of fashionable doll bedding.

4 // Ripka Store
Oksana is based in Kiev and creates adorable sleep suits and baby rompers she sells via her Etsy shop. Her eye for clean monochromes make this shop stylish and trendy. Perfect to browse around! For this months “Made With” post we selected one of her monochrome creations: our hot selling hedgehog fabric. This print has been turned into notebooks, baby nappies, bedding, socks, but this sleep suit, so adorable! We wish her all the best with her fun shop.

5 // Mila Mea Handmade
We were contacted by Debbie through Spoonflower where she send us some links of her new burb cloths creations. Deppie has been a loyal customer of our fabrics and offers tons of Little Smilemakers prints in her Etsy shop. Looking for a cute new born present? She has lot's of fun combo's. Colorful, abstract, monochromes, enough to find something suitable. Check our her online store.

Top 5 Hot Sellers // Love inspired fabric for Valentine’s Day

We are half-way January and blue Monday has come and gone so it is time to focus on the year’s best holiday: Valentine’s Day is around the corner an our loooooove sales are going well. I think everyone is excited to spread some love and we see some new cool Love themes come up in our trend overview. So here is a little top 5 of this years most trending Valentine themed designs on fabric. And of course love is always an option, so no need to limit the use of these designs to one day of the year.

1 // Lollipop Love
This prints was inspired by the naive pop culture trend. We see food and candy pins pop up in fashion and we love these retro style illustrations influence new fashion collections. This designs is a simple illustration of heart shapes lollipops combined with black dots making the design fresh and quirky. Perfect for Valentine. https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/7177070

2 // Monochrome Love Typography
We adore monochromes and this style is still growing strong. A simple black and white print, you cannot go wrong. Small hearts with hand drawn love typography. A cool combo making this print on trend and very useful for gender neutral creations. Create some cool fashion pieces or use this print as wallpaper for your home. I’d love to see this design used in a baby nursery. So cool! https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/6093977

3 // Textured Hearts
This design has been around for a little while. The mint and peach combo is still trending after three years. The textured hearts are matching our inky texture collection. A collection of designs that have been licensed throughout Europe, United Stated and Australia. But it is also available on fabric and wallpaper via Spoonflower. So if you are looking for a more contemporary love themed design, this one might be just what you’ve been looking for. https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/5163891



4 // XOXO Sweet hearts
The monochrome nursery is very popular. And this soft pink xoxo design is perfect for your little girls bedroom and wardrobe. A raw abstract ink print with xoxo and heart shapes. The designs is a basic repeat with minimal shapes making it perfect as a secondary design or for large scale use like curtains and wallpaper. Curious to see some finished results with this one! https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/4867777

5 // Love Hearts
Black and whites with a hint of color are it this year. And this design is perfect for both boys and girls. For your little one or for your own fashion items or home textiles. The pattern is made with hand drawn heart shapes and the random placed shapes make this print playful yet stylish due to it’s color use. You can never go wrong with a strong basic black and white. https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/4845697

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 December 2017

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.  

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from the US, Australia and India. This month we selected a whole bunch of winter and seasonal inspired fabrics, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected some cute tote bags, leggings and soft sole shoes. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our December top 5 selection. 

1 // Daily Objects 
Next to phone accessories, laptop cases and notebooks, Daily Objects now also launched a new collection of tote bags and pouches in different sizes with beautiful high quality leather detailing. We love those new totes! They make a perfect gift for Christmas. In Holland they have banned plastic bags, a cool shopper is a must. They also added some cool home decor to their range of products. Our prints are now also available on pillows. Oh yes and of course Daily Objects offers world wide shipping on their products too. Click here for their collection.

2 // Le Petit Bouton 
Lisa Gillies a young mum and the owner of Le Petit Bouton. Like many new mums, she was madly searching for items for her little girl that were unique, on trend, and made with beautiful fabric and she was getting frustrated at not being able to find exactly what she wanted. That is why she decided to start her fun shop, stocking gorgeous little girls hair clips, hair ties and headbands using beautiful designer fabrics and organic knits. Our little reindeer girls have also been added to her webshop for this holiday season. Her products are perfect for special occasions, party favors, birthdays, baby showers, new arrivals, school, stocking fillers...the list goes on! Baby skyler is modeling her fun products. Such a cute little girl! Take a look at her shop if you want to get your hands on one. 

3 // Olive the Things 
For our seasonal ‘Made with’ post we selected a cute reindeer sweater. One our our personal favorites for this jolly season. This Utah based shop offers a great selection of soft sweaters, hoodies, shorts and other cool kids items. of you are looking for some cozy pieces for your little one, this is the place. take a look at their Etsy shop and check all fun mix & match pieces.



4 // Hazel & Holly 
We love these cute Origami Santa leggings. Perfect leggings for the holiday season right? And suitable for both boys and girls. This Washington based shop offers handmade kids clothes has a wonderful collection of seasonal fashion for kids. We have created some new Christmas themes that were selected for her new range. Leggings, skirts, beanies. Check them all in her Etsy shop.

5 // Little Pitterpat 
Every month a new set of soft soles pops up in our feed. Little Pitterpat has been using our designs for over two years now and we keep loving the way our fabrics are turned into the most adorable baby and toddler shoes. These soft soles baby shoes are made by hand in Sharies studio in Montana. For this months 'Made with' post we selected their Grizzly Bear Ski Slope print. One of our fave designs suitable for both boys and girls and we know how handy those gender neutral items can be. Looking for a baby shower gift? These cute shoes make a great present. So take a look into her shop if you want to have a pair of these. She has over 500 different items, yes lot's of different prints as well, to choose from. 

SOAPBOX // Column // Cotton Mafia

With her Dutch roots complaining is in her genes. Every month she writes a little piece about things that keeps her busy. Things that make her wanna scream “Nooooooooooo”



While I am preparing to close up the studio and finishing up all work to end the year I am daydreaming about this year’s holiday destination. Christmas and New Year’s are the perfect time of the year to travel if you are a small business owner like me and I love traveling to Asia, it is warm, the food is delicious, the people are welcoming and it is rich of culture, that gives me a great boost of inspiration.

Black Friday mayhem
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming and going I have been shocked to see the immense craziness involved with buying. Consumerism is something I am guilty of as well, but I do not like spending money on unnecessary things. I consider the source before buying anything new and it frustrated me how non-transparent brands and their products are. I want to buy something honest but the past year, building up a fabric production for the studio, I learned the cotton industry is shady business.

Cheap countries
Last year I visit Cambodia and traveled around the country. Going from one place to another I noticed an enormous amount of trucks passing our car coming from the other side. I asked my guide where these trucks stashed with woman and children was coming from. “From the Chinese clothing factory.” he said. And I watched these trucks pass us for half an hour. I started counting half way through and counted over 60 trucks. Carrying people, at least 30 people per truck. My guide told me about the Chinese companies relocating into Cambodia and subcontract for large fashion brands like Zara, H&M. After witnessing this I felt physically ill. The amount of people necessary to make cheap clothes in the poorest and most desperate corners of the world.

The Certified Cotton fairy tale
Most companies I work for are certified. Source their cotton from American cotton fields but the problem with cotton and therefore the fashion industry is that there is so much money involved. getting certified is simply applying and paying for the certificate. From there it is easy to outsource to cheaper factories, leading towards higher profit and low prices for consumers that love to shop in mass production shops like Ikea, Action or Primark.

When I started Little Smilemakers Shop my mission was to produce eco conscious fabric. Sourced, manufactured and printed in proper conditions. While starting up the production I noticed how naive I was, asking questions always led me to a dead end: “We can not tell you where the cotton knit manufacturer is located”. While hiring a print factory they told us they were certified, but they outsourced the printing. When I asked OEKOTEX and GOTS, two leading certifying companies, how this could then still be a certified, checked and approved process they told me they had never heard of this issue before. Leading me to believe these certifications don’t mean anything. Companies pay for the certificate. The main factory is checked and approved but all sub contractors are off the grid. I am a critical one, I don’t want to step into something so very shady and support this exploitation.

The conscious mindset
Because I am traveling to Asia again, not for the cheap prices, I wanted to get this off my chest. Whenever I travel I see the impact the, mostly Western consumerism has on these beautiful countries. With Zara in the news, factory workers sewing in labels crying for help, this is such a relevant topic directly related to my own business. I hope for the next year things within the textile industry will get more transparent leading to honest work. I hope there will be more awareness and saving money won’t be a priority over humanity much longer. Check your labels, buy local and if you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Especially in the upcoming weeks leading to Christmas. Care a little.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // September 2017

We love to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from the UK, United States, Holland and Australia. This month we selected a our top 5 Spoonflower creations, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those cacti swim suits? There was so much to choose from! This is our top 5 September selection.

Wild Child Headbands
Headbands are so handy during those warm summer days, to keep your hair our of you face while doing chores, warm your ears in winter. They come in handy in lot’s of situations and Wild Child has them for all seasons. Beautiful and practical. Wild Child is located in Florida and they do not only sell fun head accessories but they also have some cool jewelry in their shop. We love their fun and stylish photography too. New designs are coming up, but we already wanted to share this dreamcatcher headband with you. Check their website for more fun designs.

Lucie June
This Australian based shop makes vibrant girls clothing, focusing on whimsical individuality, designed to be beautiful and practical for the start of life as a little lady. We love Lucie June and their handmade rompers. And wanted to give them a little extra attention with the warmer season coming up Down Under these are great additions to your little ones spring/summer wardrobe. We love our watercolor cacti print on their handmade pieces. We call it stylish bohemian. Curious about the rest of their collection? Tale a look on their website.



Bean Sprout
Bean Sprout must be one of our favorite webshops using our Spoonflower fabric. Hiedee has a great eye for unique and bespoke designs and we love her style and gorgeous clean photography. Bean Sprout has a pretty big collection of Little Smilemakers fabrics, all turned into the most adorable baby and kids fashion accessories like baby bibs, book bags, summer hats and nappy wallets. For this months post we selected our abstract rain drops print that was turned into a cool boy bib. For this months Made With post we selected one of our favorites: the bunny bookbag. Wanna see more? Take a look into her gorgeous shop for all wonderful handmade creations.

Wildflowers
Early this year Samantha reached out to license some of our prints for her new Wildflowers collection. This September our Sew Happy print was released and their new fall collection was launched. We love how her colorful bohemian style is a great mix and match of patterns and just wanted to share some of the new items in her collection. For the new collection she selected two of our designs. The Sew Happy design that is available on skirts and dresses and our Poppy Flower. Curious to see more? Check their website for the entire collection and stay up to date and follow their blog.

Mistral Home
We love to see our designs in the home. Most of our fabric is being used for clothing and accessories so we wanted to shed a little extra light on this new range of bedding available via Mistral Home. Our Feathers and Reindeer Love were used for their new collection of bedding that is now available in stores in Holland and Belgium. Wanna see more of their items, check out their website.

New collab // Wildflowers Clothing // Colorful bohemian girls fashion // Fall 2017 collection

Early this year Samantha reached out to license some of our prints for her new Wildflowers collection. This September our Sew Happy print is released and their new fall collection was launched. We love how her colorful bohemian style is a great mix and match of patterns and just wanted to share some of the new items in her collection.

For the new collection she selected two of our designs. And one of these two hold a special place for Sam and has a fun back story. And as you might know we love to tell stories. It was inspired by this place Denise and Sam used to work together, late at night and early in the morning. It was when they knew they’d be alone, left to our devices. They could design in silence or laugh their butts off from the nonsense earlier in the day. They could fight over ‘the good scissors and hide bolts of fabric from each other – because they HAD to use it first. They would build little “maps” of designs to show the local seamstress where each print should be sewn.

While they never really sewed together, they spent a lot of time with all the elements that create a piece of clothing. From the first time Sam held “the good scissors,” she knew she had to be a part of the process of making clothes—in any capacity. And when she saw our Little Smilemakers, she knew it had to be a part of her first collection. And we are so happy to be part of this process.



“For months, each style has been dressed on mannequins, pinned and trimmed until the fit is just right – and at the photoshoot all that hard work pays off. Seeing that first twirl, jump, or skip across a field is like crossing the finish line to me.”

The print is a reminder of where Sam came from, where she truly learned to mix and match colors, playfully add trims and buttons that never really seemed to go together; to create something original and so pleasing to the eye. A reminder of those long mornings and late nights the seamstress print on the Sew Happy Top is a special piece of our Wildflowers story. if you are curious about the rest of this new girls collection take a look at their website. if you purchase a Wildflower item you also support Seeds of Hope. By supporting their Education fund, you will be able to empower children all over the world with the educational tools they need to end the vicious cycle of poverty and rise above their deplorable living conditions. A great thing to support!

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // August 2017

We love to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from the UK, United States, New Zealand and Australia. This month we selected a our top 5 Spoonflower creations, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those cacti swim suits? There was so much to choose from! This is our top 5 August selection.

Batoko
The cactus swimsuit is one of Batoko’s hot selling pieces and has been available in their shop for over a year already. They just keep on producing them and they keep running out of these quirky summer beauties. We love this fabulous swimsuit and they now also sell tiny versions for your little ones. And we keep getting cute images showing babies wearing our cacti swimsuit. So cute! So mommy daughter mix and match! Our best selling cactus print is now available again over at Batoko. Wanna look fabulous on the beach? Get yours in the Batoko shop!

Bean Sprout
Bean Sprout must be one of our favorite webshops using our Spoonflower fabric. Hiedee has a great eye for unique and bespoke designs and we love her style and gorgeous clean photography. Bean Sprout has a pretty big collection of Little Smilemakers fabrics, all turned into the most adorable baby and kids fashion accessories like baby bibs, book bags, summer hats and nappy wallets. For this months post we selected our bunny print that was turned into a fun book bag, and we selected some hair ties made from all different left over fabric she uses for her products. Wanna see more? Take a look into her gorgeous shop for all wonderful handmade creations.



Handmade by Monica
Monica’s business is located in London and she currently has a day job to keep up with the rent. However crafting is her passion and she hopes to make it a full-time pursuit one day. She turned a spare room into her workspace. She loves creating unique bunting designs that are quirky, colorful and perfect as a gift or for parties, to brighten up your home. Monica is a big fan of and heavily influenced by all things bright, cute, quirky and fun. With an interest in Japanese culture (Kawaii in particular!) since she was a child. For this months “Made with” we selected her colorful squirrel creation made with our retro animals fabric from Spoonflower. Curious to see more? Check out her fun shop over at Etsy.

Hiku Designs
Aga Wells is a British mum of two and creates modern baby, kids and interior accessories, such as baby bandana bibs, super soft baby blankets, natural wood teethers, fabric toys, kids cushions and luxurious baby gift sets. As a mum, she understands that baby products must not only be super cute but they also need to be practical and safe. Her designs are finished with great care and attention to detail, ensuring that each item will last through many squeezes, cuddles and washes. For this monthly post we selected our ice cream cones, one of many Little Smilemakers designs in her shop. Wanna take a look and see more? Visit her webshop.

Howl and Hound
Our fabric has been used for all sorts of things but seeing these cool dog bandana’s really made our day. We love a stylish pup! And this pet accessory boutique based in Brooklyn, New York made some cool ice-cream bandana's. Looking for some cool pieces to add to your doggies wardrobe? Check out the Howl and Hound webshop.

New Collection // Maxomorra // Fall & Winter '17

Founded in 2008, Maxomorra is a children’s clothing brand from Sweden. Their clothes are characterized by functional design with playful colors and patterns, produced using ecologically and socially responsible textile processes.

The new Autumn Winter ’17 Plus Collection is a new design project, risen from their curiosity to explore Maxomorra outside the box. The new Plus collection contains eight prints in a limited selection of styles, all made by Little Smilemakers Studio. With a few extra details to the prints and a brand new and beautiful color palette. To create complete outfits, there is also a small basic collection with solid colored jersey and velour available. As always, pick your favorites, mix and match, and go out and be fabulous. There are t-shirts, leggings, hats and so much more to choose from. But have some patience, the collection will be released for autumn and isn’t in shops just yet.

Conscious
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed through a collaboration by leading standard setters with the aim of defining requirements that are recognized worldwide and that ensure the organic status of textiles from harvesting raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labelling in order to provide credible assurance to the consumer.
Maxomorra has been using GOTS certified cotton since 2008 and is a GOTS certified brand since 2011. So if you are looking for some new conscious baby and kids items to fill your shop with contact Maxomorra and ask for their new Autumn Winter Plus collection. Here are three of the designs that will be available next fall.

New Collection available // Karla Cola Australia

A few months ago we licensed some of our monochrome designs to Karla who owns a fashion label in Adelaide, Australia. She creates beautiful, vibrant, unique original accessories as well as clothing pieces for woman. And we are so much in love with her tiny boutique we wanted to give her a little shout out.

Karla has a serious eye for style and her shop is filled with wonderful retro style fabric. Large organic shapes, popping colours and basic monochromes set the tone. All mixed with exquisite accessories, making her creations bold and unique. She mixes class and color with confidence and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of our prints in her future collections. I sure love what she has made with our designs so far; tunics, dresses and headscarfs. if you are curious to see all of her fashion pieces click on the link to her shop.

Shop Karla Cola Designs

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Memphis Style // July 2017

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Russia, The Netherlands and the United States. This month we selected a our top 3 Memphis products, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those baby booties? There was so much to choose from! We have selected some cute baby shoes, shirts, leotards. And we have a link to our Society6 shop, if you would like to add some Memphis to your home. This is our top 3 July selection.

1 // Tiny Little Cactus - Adorable Baby Booties
Krista visit our shop in The Hague to get her hands on some of our Memphis fabric. She became a fan of our designs and a week later she ordered a whole lot more of our fabric via Spoonflower. When we asked her to tag us in her social media posts, because we are curious what peeps make from our fabric, the most wonderful items popped up. We love anything cute and love this local webshop filled with crafty stuff and everything Kawaii. For this months “Made with” we selected her adorable little baby booties in our trending white Memphis print. Soft sole shoes, perfect for your little ones tiny feet. Seriously, things don’t get much cuter than this! We love these fresh colorful booties, but if you prefer our darker Memphis designs: She also has the black Memphis designs available in her shop. If you are looking for some baby shoes or if you are a big Kawaii fan like we are check our her website. Such a perfect new born or baby shower gift!



2 // Mami’s Little Muse - Baby & Toddler fashion
We haven been following this shop for a couple of years already. Isis is one of our regular customers and has made some cute fashion items for little ones over the years. For this month’s post we selected some of her newest rompers and leotards made with our Memphis fabric. We love how she mixes and matches colors and prints. Isis started her little shop after giving birth to her preemie daughter. She could not find any clothes to fit her tiny new born baby girl. Her little muse Kaili inspired her to start dreaming about sewing a whole wardrobe full of clothing for her. And her husband, sensing her determination, came home one day carrying a brand new sewing machine. With all it bells and whistles, it wasn’t long before Isis preemie was the most stylish kid in town with a dressed overflowing with handmade outfits in all the colors of the rainbow. Now she has expanded her collection by adding cool boy designs too. her shop is fresh, fun and colorful. And her items all have a little something special. if you are curious just take a look into her Etsy shop.

3 // LU Kids - Cool boys and girls
Our Memphis designs haven been travelling all over the globe and even in Russia you can find a cool range of kids wear. LU Kids offers trendy fashion items and accessories. This Moscow based shop offers shirts, pants, shoes, everything for your little ones wardrobe. But they have also reated some cool accessories. Shoes, hats, backpacks. An entire series of back to school Memphis prints is released this fall. For this new collection LU Kids has used organic cotton and eco-friendly printing, water-based inks on natural and synthetic fiber textiles. No additional chemicals are used in the printing or preparation process. That is something we just love to hear! Many of our customers are choosing a more conscious approach so we really wanted to list them in our top 3 this month.
Curious about their new stuff? Visit their webshop.

Home decoration & Accessories
We usually only feature handmade items and licensed products in our monthly Made With post. Because this month is a little different that our usual posts we also wanted to add a link to our Society6 shop. Where you can find fashion accessories, bedding, and als sorts of fun items to decorate your home with. If you want to add a little Memphis to your home. Go take a look. We have a whole bunch of other designs to choose from too.

Woohoo! // Yay! // Celebrating 5 years of Little Smilemakers fabric on Spoonflower

This year we are celebrating our fifth anniversary this year over at Spoonflower. We opened up our Spoonflower shop back in 2012 when Spoonflower was only a new bee in the digital on demand printing business. There was so much to do and so many themes were not covered yet. We started making designs just for Spoonflower since the fabric industry was pretty old school and it was hard to find some colorful, fun and on trend designs. And while we were licensing to fabric printers, the designs they would pick were not really our own faves. We had so much stuff we wanted to put on fabric!

A great platform for Artists
For us working with Spoonflower was a great step of getting back in controle of our designs. We had been selling our prints over at Shutterstock but there was more and more misuse. Fabric popping up with our designs everywhere, but without paying for the proper license. It was way to easy to get your hands on the original vector files and do whatever. With Spoonflower we felt our designs were safe, our files were never shared with third parties and this way we could rely on the fact we would be properly compensated for each and every sale. In the beginning sales were pretty slow but after a year or so our designs got picked up. After starting our with our more colorful prints. Our plus signs, feathers, triangles and other geometric prints became hot sellers and we started to upload more designs ahead of the trend. Our 10 year old pineapple print suddenly took off and was lucky enough to catch the trend wave. If was fun to see how some of our older surface designs were suddenly selling like crazy when the trend kicked in.

Let's print color
Back in those first years, digital printing was all new and exciting for fabric designers, there were no color limitations so we could go nuts on color. Instead of designing fabric in the usual 5 colors we could add watercolors, use a rainbow of colors, shades, anything seemed possible. But of course after that first crazy exciting omg-we-need-more-color rush we toned down our prints a little bit. With a background in graphic design and typography I was looking for a more clean balance. Reducing colors and shapes lead to our very recognizable Scandinavian range. I always loved designing on a crisp white background and we were lucky this trend picked up immediately. Our woodland animals and geometric prints have been going strong ever since and the past two years we have been focussing more on adding more abstracts and raw detailed prints to our shop. Prints we love to see in our homes and fashion ourselves.



Researching & insight
Spoonflower has been a great way to built our portfolio, test the market, monetize our designs, get insight about what works where, since they sell and ship world wide. having that insight is very important. With all that information we know what works where and we can advise and coach our clients in their design signature for their brands. But what we love most of all is to see what our fabric is used for. We see new creations pop up on our Facebook page and Instagram every day and it is so much fun to see people from all over the globe enjoy working around our themes and color schemes. Making wonderful creations, kids fashion and accessories, totes, sports stuff, home decoration, pet accessories, you name it, we’ve seen it and we love it!

Links & Credits
For this post we have used some finished items from our long term supporters. Bean Sprout, Pistol and Arrow, Lucie June Boutique and Hen House Apparel. We just love their beautiful range of products using some of our all time best-sellers: Black and White Hedgehogs, Little Lions, The grid, Pineapple Arrows and of course our fave Bunny design. If you have some cool creations to shop yourself, please send us your finished items!

We’ll keep continuing expanding our portfolio, adding new designs and new color schemes every week. Our portfolio has over 3400 designs up for sale on fabric and wallpaper. Spoonflower has been a great platform for designers and creatives and we are proud to have over 2200 people following our work and with over 138.632 favorites received so far we would like to thank each and every one of our customers who has even ordered one of our designs. Thank you so much for your support and your awesome creations, sweet comments and requests. Let’s continue this journey!

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // April 2017

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing. 
 
If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Australia, UK, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA. This month we selected a whole bunch of pink fabric designs, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those baby booties? There was so much to choose from! We have selected some cute baby shoes, leggings, baby bibs and a cute little teepee romper. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our top 5 April selection.

Little Living
This fun children’s clothing shop based in the UK specializes in fun, comfortable apparel handmade with love for your little ones. They sell all of our favorite prints this season. Our featured pink teepee's, clouds and bunnies are up in their Etsy shop. All items are made with soft jersey fabric. Little Living. Perfect for your little ones soft baby skin. Wanna see the entire collection? Check out the shop on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlelivingshop

Tiny Little Cactus
Krista visit our shop in The Hague to get her hands on some of our Memphis fabric. She became a fan of our designs and a week later she ordered a whole lot more of our fabric via Spoonflower. When we asked her to tag us in her social media posts, because we are curious what peeps make from our fabric, the most wonderful items popped up. We love anything cute and love this local webshop filled with crafty stuff and everything Kawaii. For this months “Made with” we selected her adorable little baby booties in our abstract pink dashes print. Soft sole shoes, perfect for your little ones tiny feet. Seriously, things don’t get much cuter than this! If you are looking for some baby shoes or if you are a big Kawaii fan like we are check our her website. Such a perfect new born or baby shower gift!
https://tinylittlecactus.com



Quinn & Belle
When you're looking for something modern, fun, stylish and cute, Quinn & Belle has you covered. From handmade, one-of-a-kind items to unique tees & dresses, we truly are the one-stop shop for modern parents that is sure to keep you smiling. Quinn and Belle is a shop based in Arizona run by a mom of four girls. Creating beautiful clothes that were as unique as each of their little personalities. That's how Quinn & Belle was born. A girl should be two things in life: whomever and whatever she wants! Everything you see in the shop is hand selected and handmade by someone who understands how important it is that your dollars go as far as they can and your little ones look great in the process. For this months post we selected a cute Easter theme that has been a hot seller this spring: our pink bunnies. Take a look into her shop and check out all Little Smilemakers creations.
https://www.quinnandbelle.com

Ollie & Coco
Ollie & Coco is a small company based in Australia and makes adorable baby bandana's and bibs. They just added a big selection of Little Smilemakers prints to their shop. We love designing on a clear white background and clearly we are a good fit. We love seeing so many of our designs pop up in their shop so for this months post we selected their pink blush leopard. But there are so many more to choose from. We have counted over more than 20 Little Smilemakers designs so far so eat your heart out! Wanna get your hands on one of these cool new bibs? Check out their cool webshop!
https://www.ollieandcoco.com

Bean Sprout
Bean Sprout must be one of our favorite webshops using our Spoonflower fabric. Hiedee has a great eye for unique and bespoke designs and we love her style and gorgeous photography. Bean Sprout has a pretty big collection of Little Smilemakers fabrics, all turned into the most adorable baby and kids fashion accessories like baby bibs, book bags, summer hats and nappy wallets. For this months pink theme we selected our bow ties, bunnies and one of their abstracts with pink and white brush strokes on pink. Curious? Take a look into her gorgeous shop for more wonderful handmade creations.
https://www.beansproutstore.co.nz