Happy International Women's Day

It's International Woman's Day today and we wanted to add a little something to our blog honoring women. We get to work with so many trailblazers, progressive and inspiring women all over the globe. And we want to show a little appreciation to all our sisters out there! 

There's still a lot we need to stand up for. And with the elections coming up end of March we want to speak up and share our thoughts on woman's rights. We've been lucky growing up in a country like The netherlands where being a woman is not life threatening. We are generally safe and we are privileged. We still have our battles to fight. But we want to send out a message to all woman who are not as priviledged. Born in a country where they are supressed. By others, by religion. By their government. Their boss. Struggling to be who they are. We see you. We accept you. We love you. And we support you. In any shape or form. Together we stand strong. Women support women.

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.

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 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!

Fabric Feature Friday // Handmade doll clothes // by I can’t dance Sweden

A few weeks ago we were tagged by Jenny on Instagram. She had just finished a cute pink sweater made with our Hemmers/Itex panda fabric. But not just a regular sweater, Jenny makes doll clothes. Oh yes googly eyes!

We fell in love with her panda creations immediately and wanted to write a little something about her and her small creative business. Jenny is based in Sweden and has been creating doll related items for over 8 years. She makes doll clothes but also designs dolls herself which she draws, prints via Spoonflower and then tuns into stuffed fluffy creations. She designs fabric, jewelry and all sort of other fun items. This girl is truly creative by heart. And we love her whimsical and joyful style.

If you want to create some cool doll clothes yourself? Check out our fabric available at Spoonflower. Most of our designs can be scaled down so if you need another scale of a specific design just send us a quick message via our Spoonflower account. If you are curious about what Jenny is up to? Follow @icantdance on Instagram or check out her Etsy shop to find these cute doll dresses and sweaters.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // November 2015

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. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via Etsy. 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 and United States. This is our new November selection. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too.

Fresh summer themed pram liners
Poopadoo is a small shop based in Western Australia run by Cathy. She offers handmade pram liners and accessories like knot headbands for girls. Our coffee to go print and our new summer ice cream watercolors are used for her very fresh baby range. So Take a look into her Etsy shop if you are curious.

Geometric triangle leggings
Ollie & Coco is a small starting company from Australia and makes adorable baby bandana's and bibs. They bring you beautiful products made for your little ones, like our geometric triangle range for fashion, nurseries and for the home. Ollie & Coco will also add a new range of products to their cute and fresh collection soon, even more reason to have a little look on their website and follow this fun brand on Instagram.

Dachshund puppy love
We love Charlotte's webtiques fun collection of headbands, bows and hair accessories for babies, kids and adults! She made such a cute little bow with our dachshund puppy fabric. Take a look in the shop if you are interested in some cute baby gifts.



Reindeer girl for the holiday season
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, with beautiful fabric and 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 hairclips, hairties 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 favours, birthdays, baby showers, new arrivals, school, stocking fillers...the list goes on! Baby skyler is modelling her fun products. Such a cute little girl! Take a look at her shop if you want to get your hands on one.

Splash About // New outdoor collection for kids // Raincoats, capes and stomp suits // Rainy day fashion

When I was a little girl I grew up in a little town in Holland. And as good Dutch parents teach you; we go anywhere on our bike no matter what kind of weather. I loved the bike trips me and my friend made during our summer break. We would cycle around for hours and hours until we got thirsty. The warm breeze, the lush country side. It is a great place to grow up, a place where you can let your kids play within a 10km radius, carefree. It was safe and easy. But then fall came, with it's crazy stormy days, bright lights and of course the cold rain.

Every Dutch kid has been brought up to go through whatever weather, on a bike. I have been wearing raincoats and... yes pants too for as long as I can remember. I never liked those sad colored things though, since they only came in sad gray, dark blue and black colors. Oh yes, and there was a great pink, I call the 80's shade. But my mum was too much of a feminine to let me have a pink raincoat. You can imagine how excited I got when I got to make a new outdoors collection (25 years later). Finally we were able to make this wet rainy world a little better, at least during stormy weather, rain and of course snow. Yes, we cycle through snow… We can do anything on a bike. Carry extra people, moving house. So this collection is very welcome.



Splash About makes wetsuits, baby and toddles swimsuits and lot's more water-related fashion for kids. Their swimwear protects little ones from nasty sun burns but now they have also launched a outdoor range. For this collection of raincoats stomp suits and capes we have made a cute girls and boys print. Some cool quirky dinosaurs and colorful Russian dolls.

Take a look into the Splash About webshop and check out our new designs. It will only take a matter of time before we will stumble upon one of these during a rainy day here in Holland. They sure bright up a gray fall and winter day!

Summer beach trend : welcome back to the printed swimsuit // Cactus swimwear for Batoko

Shopping for swim wear can be a struggle especially finding a two piece bikini that needs to fit top and bottom and also flatter. Yeah no, I am not a big fan of shopping but I really hate shopping for beach wear. So I am very happy to see the swimsuit made a real come back this year. Celebrities like Beyoncé and Doutzen Kroes all have been spotted in one piece swim wear this summer. So make it a little easy for yourself and embrace the trend. There are lot's of fun designs to choose from. And we have one over at Batoko. A cactus swimsuit you really need to get your hands on!

The girl in the image above is the very talented Australian based DJ Tiger Lilly. We are very happy to see her in one of our fun creations. She looks awesome with this cactus & mermaid hair combo, doesn't she? The photo was made by Melbourne photographer Shevin Dissanayake. Follow this photographer via Instagram @shevindphoto.

Yuka is a LA blogger and is wearing this cute desert theme with some crazy cool sunglasses to coachella. We love the color scheme of this photo. Follow her on Instagram @yukasaur and check her fashionable blog for daily fashion inspiration.



We love how companies are exited to use our designs and always tag us in their posts. Kudo's for all amazing peeps creating such joyful things with Little Smilemakers designs, fabrics, wallpaper and paper goods. Your tags and credits are very much appreciated. So again: Thank you to all creators and followers. If you ever stumble upon one of our designs. Please tag us @littlesmilemakers!

Knippie Magazine June // Rainbow Love fabric summer dress

One of our Spoonflower customers sent in this adorable photo of a girl in her little summer dress made with Little Smilemakers Studio fabric. The final result was selected for Knippie's June issue.

Knippie is a Dutch DIY Magazine in which you can find sewing tips and tricks, new trends and fun fashion patterns for your little ones. For this new June summer issue the Rainbow dress made by one of our customers was selected as part of the "rainbow children" photo shoot. It has been a while since we were featured in a Dutch Magazine. Fun to see our designs a little closer to home too.

Want to make this dress for your little girls yourself? Check out the Knippie website and order a copy. If you would like to use this Rainbow Love fabric for one of your sewing projects you can take a look in our Little Smilemakers Spoonflower shop and order your piece. This design in available in three different scales. Don't forget to send us your creations once your done! We are curious what you create with this dreamy fabric.

> New retro fabric & wallpaper collection for kids | Spoonflower fall / winter collection

This past month we have been working on a new collection fabric and wallpaper. Over a hundered Little Smilemaker Studio designs are now for sale on fabric, wallpaper and gift wrapping paper. A large series of abstract retro designs, christmas and holiday themes, hipster illustrations and of course new stuff for little peeps, so crafty mommy, be aware! What do you think of the new kids and baby nursery collection?

CHECK OUT ALL FABRIC & WALLPAPER HERE!