We have been working for Spoonflower for over 4 years now and we expanded our online fabric on demand shop to 2000+ designs. Each month we upload new designs and color schemes and as our fabric shop grows so does Spoonflower.
But over the course of 4 years a lot more has happened. Spoonflower started producing in Germany now and they have improved their quality over time. The fabrics, the prints, the colors. We are very excited to see how Spoonflower has matured with us. We are very happy to get the opportunity to sell our designs on demand through such a wonderful company.
Every single working day we start with thanking each and very one of our customers for their purchase, we answer their questions and help them further. We noticed a lot of our Spoonflower customers have some questions in common. And since a lot has happened within the company we will explain a few things in this post. Hopefully we can clarify some things and make your future purchase at Spoonflower a great experience. These are a few of our customers most frequently asked questions and comments.
Can I use Little Smilemakers fabric for commercial products?
Sure you can! We started working with Spoonflower because we wanted to fill in the gap, there was not a whole lot to choose from in fabric and wallpaper designs, a lot has changed since then. Every possible theme is represented and there are thousands and thousands of designs to choose from made by talented artist all over the world. We always try to stay ahead of the trend and love to see how our fabric is used in new collections every season. One question we keep getting is: "Can we use Little Smilemakers fabric for our business?" Spoonflower has a royalty based pay out towards designers, with each little piece of fabric that gets sold the designers benefit directly. We love to see people use Spoonflower fabric for their small businesses. We allow commercial usage and love to see all these incredible products made by our customers. Just make sure to tag us in your Etsy shop, Instagram and on your Facebook Pages.
What fabric should I choose for my project?
Spoonflower offers a wide range of fabrics. There are some eco friendly ones for conscious peeps. There are stretchy fabrics, different weights. So much to choose from! Most of our designs are most vibrant on Modern jersey. It is also our best selling fabric type. Lot's of leggings, t-shirts, rompers and other kids and baby products are made with the Modern jersey. If you are looking for a stretchy comfy and soft fabric for clothes this is a great option. This fabric would be similar to the EU tricot.
The plain cottons are a little more raw. They are less soft compared to the jersey/tricot and the designs printed on rawer materials are a little less vibrant in color. If you'd like to use a cotton or a heavier textile like canvas it is useful to know larger scaled prints look better than small scaled ones. On these raw materials there is a little more loss in detail. Same goes for the minky. Keep in mind this fabric is very fuzzy and details might not look as sharp as you've imagined after checking the design on screen. The minky is a great fabric for blankets and soft home textiles, canvas and heavy cotton are great for projects that need a heavier fabric such as bags, soft sole shoes. Silk is wonderful for a scarf of blouse. Whatever you want to create, every design can be used on different fabric. I always recommend ordering a sample swatch. Spoonflower also has a little swatch book with all available fabric. Might be handy if you are a serious sewer.
Can I get this design in a larger scale?
Some of our designs have different scales. We tend to upload different scales once designs get popular or sometimes even become hot sellers. But if you need another scale of any other designs we have up in our shop you can send us a message and we will be happy to scale a design, make them smaller, or larger, whatever you need. We can also rotate the design. In most cases new scales are available in the shop within 24 hours so just send us your requests, we are happy to help!
Can I get a discount?
Of course everyone want to pay less. Spoonflower is not the cheapest website to purchase fabric from but it is an honest one. Every sale benefits the artist so keep in mind while we make your small business possible, we artists also need to eat. You might be able to find cheaper fabric somewhere but you will never find as many talented designers and such a great and gorgeous range of designs anywhere else. For small business owners Spoonflower now offers bulk discount and you can also update your account to Spoonflower Pro. Pro is a premium service for small business owners, frequent orderers, and anyone else who loves Spoonflower. For more information check out the Spoonflower website.
How to avoid import tax?
Spoonflower is based in the US but as of April this year they also opened up a factory in Berlin, germany. Good news for our European customers. They are still in the process of making this a smooth process though, they just started! If you'd like to stay away from import tax you might want to check your countries custom rates. The weight, the size of the package, it differs from country to country. But if you are based in a EU country, things got a whole lot cheaper as of this month.
I love your designs but don't like Spoonflowers quality.
As I mentioned before, some designs print, and look, better on some certain fabrics. Spoonflower prints with a water based paint which is better for our environment, it also means the print might not be as rich as you'd like. Have you ordered an organic cotton and are you not happy about the quality? Know that raw materials like the organic fabrics are less smooth, a print on this surface will loose some detail and will fade a little sooner than when printed on other fabric types like the Cotton Knit, Satin and Modern Jersey. Their thread is more smooth so easier to print detailing, smaller scales and it also has more color dept. If you do want to stick with the organic range try putting the fabric in vinegar to fixate the colors before washing. An old granny trick but it helps! Wanna have a bright, high quality fabric without color fading for fashion and home textiles? Use the Modern Jersey or Cotton Knit.
Can you check when my order will be shipped?
We frequently get questions like these. Spoonflower produces in Germany and in the US. All designs that are up for sale are made by artists that are based all over the world. Designers don't take part in the production process. All order related questions can be send to Spoonflower directly. So if you have questions about the fabrics, shipping, costs etc. just send a message to help@spoonflower.com. If you have any design related questions you can ask your designer through their Spoonflower profile page.
How can I upload my finished project image?
Looking at all these finished projects makes us so happy! But uploading a finished project image is a little difficult. Spoonflower does not allow an image to be uploaded directly to our design page. Instead it has to be uploaded to Flickr, or on a blog or other webpage first. You can copy and paste the URL link to the Spoonflower design page and select the right image. They have a really good word for this in Dutch, the English language really need: omslachtig. If you keep having trouble uploading, just send us an email with your images and we will upload them into our profile.
Well, I hope this will help some of you. If you have any further questions that are design & Spoonflower related. Just send us a message on our Spoonflower page. Have fun and keep posting your finished designs!
