World's Largest Collection of Re-Imagined Feedsack Patterns - 28 Vector Repeats for Sale

I'm just putting that statement out there because I can't believe anyone else would do it!

TracyMillerDesigns

Valentine's Day - Vintage Reimagined

This time I expressed my passion for vectorizing vintage images on an old Valentine.

I may have over-designed my version, seen in the lower of the two images below, but I wanted something bright and bold.

 Mission accomplished.

Antique Seed Catalog Cover

From my archives of collected images, I chose a Burpee's Seed Catalog cover to "vectorize."

Working on this is how I spent many hours of my Christmas time off.

Old Vintage Fashion Plates

For recreation, I design all kinds of things just for fun, knowing they likely will never be a product.

I recently came across some fashion plates from the early 1900's that were fairly high res, AND in the public domain, I downloaded several dozens of them. (You never know when they might figure into a design project.)

But, they also fed right into my ongoing search to find things to apply my repeating patterns to. So, I opened a fashion plate in Photoshop, extracted the black outline, copy and pasted it into Ai, and used Live Trace on it. Live Trace almost always needs quite a bit of cleanup to get rid of its distinctive weirdness, and this time was no exception.

But when I was done, I filled in all the negative spaces, and viola! 

Here are two samples of the 5 I did, showing the before and after.

The Research is In!

Just for fun ...

Just For Fun

I did another vectorizing of an old ad today, inserting my own designs in the dress, hat and butterflies. Today was all about designing for recreational purposes only. And it WAS fun!

I had planned on creating some snappy text, but since I've been spending a lot of time recently giving myself pep-talks, this seemed appropriate.

Another 18th Century Redo

This design had another large flower, but I changed the design by just using the one. I included the smaller bouquet, but fudged it a lot to make it different from the original.

The leaves took forever!

More Scrapbook Papers

I pulled together some of my existing designs for this fun new collection.  For sale in my Etsy shop.

Television Ad - Vivid Vision?

I love this Vivid Vision ad that's in black and white! Or sepid rather than black, really. 

Not exactly vivid.

I did my own version, keeping the same off whites and off blacks.

Opposites Attract - Tropical Designs

Winter is full of bright snow, indoor coziness, cold walks ... and dreaming of warm sunshine.

Maybe it's not a coincidence that I was attracted to recreate a vintage tropical barkcloth from the 40s.  If the warmth isn't outside right now, it can be in my imagination.

Pantone 18-1438 Marsala - Color of the Year 2015

Pantone 18-1438 was announced a little while ago, and when it was, designers quickly begin looking for ways to use it, for color palettes in which it works well.

Marsala is a fun one, defies being pigeon-holed. It's neutral enough for home decor and muted enough not to clash with most skin colors.

I like it as shown here with Pantone 14-5714, a color that Pantone included in its 2015 forecast.

Oh, and as you see, I've vectorized another advertisement, this time an old Palmolive soap ad.

Another Old Advertisement

I can't help it.

Issuu

It's been around for awhile, but I've only just discovered it. Issuu, a digital publishing platform.

I spend spare time each day perusing Pinterest and continue to make great discoveries there, some that have even furthered my career. Now Issuu has become, for me, a new go-to for exploring the worlds of design, diy and art.

I'm amazed at what's available there! It was the perfect platform for my make-your-own Trick-or-Treat bag using your own fabric, or the pre-printed panel that will soon be available on Modern Yardage.

Currently, I'm creating a lookbook especially to publish on Issuu, and it has truly been a labor of love.

In other news ... are you hungry for a vegan breakfast?

Colorblast June 2015 by Design Options

I was featured this very dynamic slide show by Design Options. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll across.

It's a long story, but I actually came to Kim Designs via Design Options, a fortuitous meeting! Kim has been instrumental as my agent for making design sales for me.

Today's image is a design done recently, and likely will become part of a collection called "Parlor."

I've been busy this last week or so working on new designs for Needlepaint, which is always a lot of fun.

Oh, and I've FINALLY redone my website. It looks pretty much the same but I was able to get out from under an old and vulnerable Joomla website. Wonderful!

My Interview with Make It In Design

In week that otherwise saw me designing like crazy - designs no one has seen yet - my interview with Make It In Design has been posted.

Rugs

Sometimes I spend a whole day formatting my patterns into rectangles, sometimes with a border. Viola! A rug or doormat.

I've sold several, so I keep creating!

New Year's Resolution(s)

I have three main resolutions. 

My first resolution is to continue practicing living in the moment, to give my full attention to whatever I'm doing NOW.

My second is to create more totally original designs without relying so much on inspiration from existing work.

The third resolution is to continue practicing this: When I perceive a future event that fills me with apprehension, I shall stop, take a deep breath, and be calm. Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know I am God."

I'm not religious at all, but that verse speaks to me.

Another thing that speaks to me (how is that for a segue?) is still vector grunge effects. I've acquired some high res textures recently, have Live Traced them and made repeats from them.

Applied over another repeat of the same size and viola!

Product Sighting - in My Livingroom

It always a treat to see your design on a finished product.

In the past several months I've been converting my designs to needlepoint grids for Needlepaint.com , work that I have become addicted to.

They do fantastic work creating custom canvases for pillows, Christmas stockings, belts and even dog collars.

Look at the finished pillow they created for me from my original design! Gorgeous!

Retro Icon Art

It's very trendy now, or rather WAS trendy a bit ago, creating images of retro items. As with most things it doesn't take long for us designer/artists to see something and then want to try our hand at it.

This was my take on the style, done a year ago.

It's very cool, if I do say so myself.

Scandinavian Pattern - Sort of

Here's a case where I got started on something and soon realized that it wasn't going to be a pattern that had much chance of selling. It's not something I would wear as a garment myself, nor would it fit into my decor.

And yet I pressed on with it until it was finished and then tweaked the colors until I exclaimed, "Oh, that's cute." 

Anyway, my next patterns will have the market place in mind.