Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // September 2016

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 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 Hawaii, Utah, Latvia and Australia. This month we selected a whole bunch of fun minty pastel fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected a cool mermaid romper, some teepee items, cactus fashion and some cute new born leggings with our hot selling feathers. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our September selection.

Sew Modern Tots
This small Hawaii business sells some fun kids items. We love Hilary’s mermaid creations! And we love seeing new photo’s pop up on our Instagram timeline. With lo’s of water, so fresh and breezy! And because every girl needs a fun romper like this we had to feature this one piece for our September post. But the mermaids are not the only Little Smilemakers designs she has for sale in her shop. So if you are looking for some cool creations with our ice cream watercolors or texture cactus fabric, take a look in her shop!



Little beans Baby Shop
Stephanie is a Utah based mom of four and creates wonderful pieces of fashion for kids when she is not busy with those cute red heads of hers. She runs a small Etsy shop where she sells her fun collection of kids clothes. For this months feature we selected the most adorable cactus hoodie. I bet the red head in the photo is part of the family somehow! We also selected a cute new born set made from our teepee fabric. If you want to see more fun creations check out her shop!

Rainbow Arrows designs
We are so happy to see all these new customers all the way in Australia, unfortunately we do not offer any good wholesale prices and Spoonflower can be pretty pricy so we would like to thank all of our customers ordering our fabric from other parts of the world. Rainbow Arrows is a handmade business based in Australia. This small shop sells sweet and stylish baby accessories. We are featuring their teepee bibs but there are more Little Smilemakers prints available: our trending black and white grids and our watercolor blue blossom design are also available. Of course she has lot’s more to choose from so take a look and keep track of what’s new!

Wuf Kids
This Latvian shop has some cool things to offer. We love their range of leggings and we adore their fun little fabic crowns. So clever! But theu have lot’s more cute tems to choose from. And lot’s of Little Smilemakers designs! Triangles, flamingo’s, teepees, ice cream cones, grizzly bears, and our minty feathers of course. I bet we forgot to mention some other designs but take a look at their Facebook page and see them all!

Madkouch Boutik // Inky Texture Cactus // Boys summer collection

I remember drawing my first cactus for a gardening calendar I made years ago. That same cactus became a hot selling print two years ago when suddenly the cactus was 'picked up.' It took a while! Trends come and go but after a few years the cactus is still going strong. Our cactus prints are, together with our pineapples, our hot selling designs on fabric.

We have made several designs, western themed, with skulls and botanical elements. But our plain and simple cactus prints sell best. This winter we made a new range of exclusive designs. To offer our business partners more unique prints. We created the inky texture collection. With hot air balloons, clouds, tulips, apples, feathers and other trendy themes.

Our inky texture cactus design was licensed to Madkouch Boutik, a small eco friendly business in France creating gorgeous colorful kids clothes. We have licensed some other designs to Madkouch before but this cactus range has such beautiful photography, such a pleasure to share this collection on the Little Smilemakers blog. We always love to see what our fabrics are used for and we are very pleased with the result. If you are looking to expand your little boys wardrobe take a look on the website. Madkouch has some beautiful baby, toddler and kids products such as leggings, rompers, t-shirts and headbands all made with eco fabric.

If you are interested in licensing one of our Inky Texture designs? Or one of our other surface pattern designs, just contact our studio and we will give you more info about licensing and availability. Just send us a message.

Fabric Feature Friday // All Things Owls

Little Smilemakers Studio sells around 2000 designs on fabric all over the world. From Spoonflower to Robert Kaufman and small online fabric shops in Europe our fabric travels fast. Every first Friday of each month we feature one of our fabric customers. From small start up businesses in home decor to stay at home mommies who create cute little fashion for there kids. Some just pop out.

This Friday we would like to share this great little shop: All things owls. With their signature handmade owl decorators, Australian designed children's sleep wear and carefully selected range of children's decor this place is a delight to shop for some gift items.

A little over a year ago we stumbled upon this shop on Instagram. We have lot's of followers that tag us in their creations but also tag us in hand made projects created by others when they recognize our designs. We especially love the adorable collection of owls and blankets. All Things Owls has been working with Little Smilemakers fabric for over a year now and time after time we are proud to see they create such gorgeous items with our fabric. Hopefully there is a lot more to come!

Want to get your hands on one of these? Check All Things Owls online shop.

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!

Arrow and Indians Cactus theme // Most popular boys fabric // Spring 2015

For a while we have been focusing on more gender neutral and boy designs. There is a fun trend going on in the sewing mommy world. We are so happy to see so many adorable large scales patterns on onesies and baby leggings. It is a trend that has started a year ago and we get so many requests for fun boys patterns that is was about time to post a little something about our most popular prints and designs for boys here in the Little Smilemakers blog.

Half of our work is trend watching and researching designs all over the world. One of our biggest inspirations is are tropical economies. Like Brazil and India. Countries that get influenced by there blooming economies. Prints are amazingly lush, colorful and green. And even though green has been one of the most difficult colors to sell in fabric, home decor and print, we see those exotic colors and natural themes finally influencing European countries too.

But there is another trend going on which has been something to work with. There is much more demand for gender neutral themes. Costumers are still very conscious about making and creating new but efficient products. Like onesies and baby leggings for both boys and girls. We will still add new gender neutral designs to our collection. But with summer ahead prepare for more popping colors too.

Usually we are ahead of the trend and it is always fun to see a theme finally take off after years of maturing. That is what happened with this year's fabric hot sellers too.
All through the winter we have sold an amazing amount of geometric and woodland themes. All indian summer themes were very popular. Customers in Australia were all falling for our summer pineapple designs. But our most popular print for boys this year is definitely the woodland animals and cactus theme. It is a design that was made a few years ago and matured over time with new details and color scheme's. We are happy to see this print take off. The designs featured here can all be ordered via Spoonflower. Check out all boy themes in our Little Smilemakers fabric shop.

Top 5 travel inspired fabric // Hand drawn illustrated surface pattern designs // Spoonflower

It is time to talk about fabric. Sales are going very well this season and since there is so much to choose from I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some fabric themes, current trends or hot sellers now and then. Winter is around the corner and more and more people stay in and start their crafty projects. I notice I make more hand drawn based illustrations during the cold winter months when I have more time to stay in and have enough peace to sit down and experiment with materials; pencils, brushes, paint. So this is a great time to do a little piece about the hand drawn fabrics.

I love hand drawings. Whenever I travel I carry a little sketchbook in which I make visual notes and doodles. Back in the studio I collect all these moments and convert them into new designs. I love making surface patterns that are digital roots but I do enjoy sketching by hand too. Using pencils or paint. I love the diversity while constructing new designs. This time I would like to show some hand drawn hot sellers. And of course there is always a little story behind the image with mentioning.



1 // Creepy insects and beetles - Indonesia
I had never seen so many insects, bugs and little creatures before traveling to Indonesia, which is until this day the filthiest place I traveled so far. I love the diversity of nature, plants and animals. And I don't mind some creepy visitors in my bedroom now and then. I am cool with that but a cockroach in my bed and then in my face while sleeping, that was a creepy experience though. After my trip I made a series of designs with spiders, bugs, beetles and other little creatures cause they are simply beautiful. I love them. Not in my bed though.

2 // Old timers - Cuba
There is no other place like Cuba. It is simply breathtaking. Walking through the Havana streets it feels like having a little stroll through history. The architecture, cobblestone streets, music and the amazing amount of old timer cars will make you feel part of the 50's. I also made some other designs that were inspired by my trip to Cuba. All music and vintage objects themes.

3 // Peacock feathers - India
The Peacock feathers fabric is one of my Indian themed Hotsellers. I made this design with Indian ink and dry brushed to give it a little raw edge. The peacock is a symbol for beauty and integrity. And is also national symbol of India. I saw this gracious animal during my trip through one of India's national parks and it became one of my favorite animals ever since. They are simply breath taking. So gorgeous and elegant.

4 // Sweet pineapple picking - Costa Rica
Costa Rica made me fall in love with the amazing force of nature. The country has an great variety of species, plants, fruits. During a jungle walk I took a little break, sat down and ate a pineapple. Here in Holland you can get pineapples but I never ate one with such intense flavor. Oh dear! Pineapples please!

5 // Cactus garden - Spain
I am such a sucker for Botanical Garden's. Where ever I go I always try to visit a botanical garden, forest or park during my travels. I love to see the different plants and colors of nature but in those botanical gardens you can see a version of that. It was all planted and designed by people so these gardens can be really tacky or kitch. The Cacti garden design turned out to be a great hit in fabric. It was inspired by numerous trips to spain. I love the quirkiness of the shape. Happy to see this plant is making a comeback in interiors all around the world.



If you are curious about other Little Smilemakers fabrics, hand drawn or digital art or would like to buy one of the top 5 hot sellers from this list visit the Spoonflower shop and pick your fave.