Spoonflower Help Center

What file types can I upload to Spoonflower?

Acceptable file formats are JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, SVG, AI, and EPS, and the file must be less than 40 MB. Vector files (AI, SVG, or EPS) are converted to PNG format during the upload process at a size chosen by you.

What resolution should I upload?

Spoonflower produces a good quality print at our minimum resolution of 150 dots per inch. When you upload your file, we give you a preview at 150 dpi regardless of the resolution saved in your file. If you want your design printed at a higher resolution, open your design in the fabric previewer and click the 'edit this' link next to 'design size' on the lower right corner of the page. If you know the DPI you want, simply type it in and click the 'change DPI' button to see a preview of your design at the new scale. You can use the yellow rulers on the sides of the previewer to get a visual picture of the number of inches your design will cover at your chosen scale, but this data (for example: 1.62in x 1.6in, 169 pixels/inch) is also stated inside the 'edit size' box. Alternatively, you can simply click the 'smaller' and 'bigger' buttons and stop when it looks right.

To get your design to print at the size you want, your file just has to have the right number of dots. As an example, if you want a final image with no repeats that fills one yard of quilting weight fabric (42 inches by 36 inches), we just need to do the math: 42 inches * 150 dots per inch is 6300 dots. 36 inches * 150 = 5400 dots. These 'dots' are often called 'pixels', which is just a geeky shortening of the phrase 'picture elements'. So a short way to say this is 6300x5400 pixels. Doing the same math for a fat quarter yields 3150x2700 pixels. An 8"x8" swatch is 1200x1200 pixels.

If your file has too many dots, don't worry. You can upload it to Spoonflower and then click the 'edit this' link next to 'design size' on the lower right corner of the fabric previewer. Then simply click the 'smaller' button and compare your design to the rulers on the sides of the preview pane. Stop when it gets to the number of inches you want.

If your file doesn't have enough pixels and you really want a particular size, you need to make a new file! Here's how:

If the image is a digital photograph, your best bet is to find out what resolution your camera is, and re-take the image with a higher resolution camera. As a rule of thumb, a 3 megapixel camera will nicely fill an 8"x8" swatch, and a 10 megapixel camera will create enough dots to fill an 18"x21" fat quarter. A full yard requires 40 megapixels, which at this point is only available in very high end professional cameras.

If your image is a scan of original artwork or a photograph that you still have in your possession, then re-scanning it at a higher resolution will solve your problem. Typically scanners have a range of scanning resolutions starting at 150 dpi and escalating to 300, 600, 1200, and 2400. As a rule of thumb, a standard sheet of paper in landscape (11"x8.5") scanned at 300 dpi will fill a fat quarter. The same sheet scanned at 600 dpi will fill a yard.

How will my design repeat?

Once you upload your design to Spoonflower, you can choose to either center it on a piece of fabric or use our software to create a repeat. A basic repeat just creates tiles of your design straight up and down, while a half-drop or half-brick staggers the tiles vertically or horizontally.

Centered: Your design can be centered on fabric or wall decals. We will not alter the size or dimensions of the design. If the size of the design does not match the size of product, the space around the edge of the design will be left unprinted.

Basic Repeat: We will tile your design from the lower left corner up and to the right to fill the available space of your order. If you upload an image larger than the area then we will crop it back towards the lower left corner (e.g. the top and/or right sides will be cropped). The design will not be stretched or changed in its dimensions. The preview will clearly illustrate the repeat. If you are ordering a swatch sized piece for a large design, you might consider reducing the size of the design to fit into the swatch.

Half-Drop Repeat: This is like the basic repeat, except the design is repeated with a half-step vertically as you move to the right. Again, the preview will illustrate this.

Half-Brick Repeat: This is also a staggered repeat, but the design shifts half-step horizontally to the right as you move upwards... like bricks, hence the name.

Mirror Repeat: This layout tool creates designs without obvious seams by mirroring your original design so that it folds out into four sections with every edge pixel identical to its immediate neighbor. Try it out on photographs and scanned designs that have irregular edges that will not repeat smoothly and may otherwise give you obvious tiling effect.

The preview allows you to toggle back and forth between the layout options in real time, so if you're having a hard time picturing what these look like, don't worry. Try it out on any image and just play around.

How can I make sure my fabric is the color I want?

With the water-based pigments we use, you can achieve millions of beautiful colors. Because of our digital process, your prints will be consistent from order to order and there are no caps on how many colors you can use. For the best results, please use RGB or LAB color spaces from the beginning of the design process to the end. We can accept CMYK, but your file will be converted to LAB before printing. Colors display differently monitor to monitor and print differently depending on the printer. Ordering a test swatch before yardage will ensure that you receive the colors you want.

You can expect to see slightly different results from the different weights of fabric, for example, Upholstery Weight Twill is the heaviest fabric, so it can hold more pigment, than the Voile which is our lightest. Same for silk, if we were to use the same amount of pigment for the Twill as we do for the Crepe de Chine, all the colors would bleed into each other. We have reduced the amount of pigment that is printed on the Crepe de Chine with out reducing the color vibrancy, but expect to see slightly different colors and some bleed in the darkest colors.

Spoonflower has created tools to help designers manage color:

The Spoonflower Color Guide

Using the Spoonflower Color Changer with the Color Guide

To use the color changer, upload your digital file to Spoonflower and select 'change colors' from either the actions menu under each design in your design library or from the drop down menu when you have your design open in the fabric previewer. Note that whenever you use the Color Changer, a new design is created; your original source design will remain unchanged. You can manage color in three steps:

Simplify your colors: In order to change the colors in a design, the color changer translates the original image into at most 24 different colors. When you first use the color changer, it will automatically simplify your design to a palette of colors based on what it finds in your design, you can fine tune this by clicking 'Advanced Color Options' and resetting the number of colors (options are 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, and 24 colors). A preview of the smaller color version of your design will appear on the right. Please be aware that for large designs or photographs this can take a a minute to load.

Select a new color: Once you've reduced the colors in your design, select the color you want to change. The left side of the Color Changer will turn into a clickable palette that corresponds exactly to the colors on the Color Guide. Referring to the Color Guide, select the new color you want and find that color on the color palette. Note that the color guide has hex codes on it below each color chip. Holding your mouse over each color on the color palette will reveal its hex code. Click on the new color you want.

Apply the color to your design: Once you've selected the new color, press the 'change' button. The Color Changer will replace each pixel containing the old color with a pixel containing the new one. Note that this is also an intensive process and will take longer for larger designs. A preview of the design with the color change will appear on the right. You can change as many colors as you like, repeating the color selection and application process until you are happy with the final result. At any point, you can go back to the starting point and re-work your color changes by selecting 'revert'. After each color change, you can also choose to give your revised design a new name and save it.

General Tips for Color

Black stripes on a dark-grey background are a bad idea (or forest green stripes on an emerald green background). Dark colors that are similar to each other may blend together without enough contrast. More generally, highly saturated dark colors used in large, solid areas don't have the visual impact they do in the digital version of your design. A picture of a nebula, for example, is not likely to print especially well using our process. We can print black fabric, but keep in mind that to do so our printers have to spray tiny droplets of black ink all over the surface of white fabric to create the black. It's not nearly as effective as dying fabric black. We only print on white fabric (there are no white inks), so there's no way to start with dark fabric and create a lighter colored design on top of it.

Good contrasts on fine details print well. The resolution possible with digital printing on textiles is actually better than screen-printed textiles, so you can do amazing work with details in your designs as long as the contrast is good. Dark colors work well as foreground and detail elements, although they may render somewhat lighter than they do on your monitor.

If you're not sure how something is going to look, it's a good idea to order a swatch or a fat quarter before purchasing yardage. There are lots of fancy tools for managing color, but in the end the only way to judge color on fabric is by holding a physical sample in your hands. Most people are happy with how their designs turn out, but testing first is a really good idea, and essential if getting the colors just so is intrinsic to your goal.

Spoonflower delivers a fabric printing service that is automated from start to finish. That means that we print whatever you upload without changing your file in any way or trying to guess what you might have wanted. We don't tweak files or try to match specific colors you specify. Color matching and every other part of printing is handled by our software. This makes Spoonflower really useful for a couple of reasons: 1) It makes custom fabric fast and affordable (when it used to be rare and expensive), and 2) It puts full control of the process of creating custom printed textiles in your hands. But... it also means that we're not looking at every file and trying to prevent mistakes from happening. If there's an accidental line of blank pixels in your file and you order the design without noticing the line, that's the way it's going to print. If the colors from your monitor don't translate to the fabric the way you expect, there's no way for us to let you know beforehand. We always do our best to make sure our customers are happy, but we also do our best to be as transparent as possible about the limitations, as well as the advantages, of using our process. We are glad you are here and we want to make everything about our community and our product fun and satisfying. If you ever have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to email help@spoonflower.com to ask.

Can you tell me more about color?

Color can be described in so many different ways, that scientists in order to understand how humans perceive color, in the early half of the 20th Century, began a system of describing colors by numbers. The first area of color scientist delved into was the RGB color space, where millions of colors are described by three color light sources. RGB is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue. Televisions, computer monitors, digital cameras, and scanners all use RGB to describe color from source to source. Hex codes are a short hand version of RGB for use in the development of websites.

The CMYK color space is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black. Newspapers, magazines, and your desktop printer use this space to describe color for print.

The LAB color space, unlike the RGB and CMYK color models, is designed to approximate human vision. LAB color space was developed in the early 30’s. This color space describes all the color visible by the human eye and was developed to be used independently of computer and print devices for reference to other color spaces. The L in lab refers to Lightness, A is the red to green spectrum, and B is the yellow to blue spectrum.

Currently Spoonflower accepts 4 different color spaces, RGB, LAB, CMYK, and Index, but in reality we only use two. Our software that transforms your design into a snazzy piece of fabric can accept LAB files and RGB. If your design uses a different color space, we will automatically convert your design to the correct color space before printing.

So the question you are probably asking at this point is which color space should I use? Which one is better? We personally recommend the RGB color space as it is excellent at making beautiful color prints. However, you can use whatever color space with which you are most comfortable. We highly suggest selecting one space and sticking with it. For the Color Guide, we chose to use RGB because of its inherent universal qualities. For example, if you were to make a beautiful 4 yard banner, as a tif it would be too big to upload to our site, so to compress it as a jpeg to fit the file requirements, you would have to select either RGB or CMYK as your color settings instead of LAB. This could pose some problems if you had tested all your colors in the LAB color space, as some colors could change slightly in hue or vibrancy.

Much of this is great news for our designers who use Illustrator as their design tool of choice as it will reduce time in front of the computer and increase your time loving your products. With our ability to upload vector images, you can upload an RGB AI file with the confidence of knowing your colors will be consistent and not have to convert from color space to color space and use multiple softwares to get there.

Spoonflower uses a VERY different way of interpreting color than your basic desktop printer, the large format printer at your local sign shop, or any print service provider. These printers usually use ICC profiles which is great when needing your photographs for your art show to the be the same from print shop to print shop and general printing, but these profiles do not have as large of a gamut of color as we have with our type of profiles. We use a proprietary profile that works only with our software. That is why several books on textile printing suggest running a test chart of colors, to see how the each print service provider interprets the colors in your file.

When creating a new profile, our software creates over 10,000 chips of color to be read by a spectrophotometer. Each chip is a percentage of our 8 different inks. After being printed, the spectrophotometer reads each tile and assigns each splash of pigment a LAB color value. When read and interpreted, the software creates a gamut of known color, by knowing what thousands of colors the printer can print accurately. This is why some colors shift dramatically and others do not. When some colors fall outside the gamut of known color our pigments are capable of, the software picks the closest color it can print, which might not be very close in value or hue to what you want or see on your computer screen.

So if you have 3 colors in your design, our software analyzes those colors and prints as close to the value you selected as the pigment allows. The colors are mathematically converted from their original color number to LAB, if they aren’t already, then converts to percentages of pigment. The process is identical every time you send the same file because of this system. This is the magic of digital textile printing, and why Color Guides, and various color charts of different sizes are so important to color work.

Some colors do not convert to the same color in different color spaces. The color numbers have different mathematical equations to get from one color space to another, so multiple conversions are not always the best, especially if you haven’t turned dithering off in Photoshop, which will add new bits of color to your designs when you convert from one color space to another. By sticking to one color space during tests to final print, or for one overall collection, you are guaranteed your colors will be true and consistent from print to print and design to design.

Why should I test my design before ordering yardage?

Colors can look very different on fabric than they do on your computer monitor. Light goes through and bounces off of color on fabric. Colored light comes out of a screen. Fabric has gossamer qualities: its 3-D and it folds and drapes, but screens don't. Fundamentally different!

Our digital printers and pigment inks often print saturated colors and true blacks lighter than you might expect. You may need to test different saturation levels or modify your design.

Your chosen colors might "shift" to colors you weren't expecting if they are out-of-gamut for our printers.

Because our fabrics have different white points, colors will shift brighter or darker based on your fabric choice.

Test swatches are cheap and fast.

There's simply no substitute for determining how a design will print than having the design printed!

What design tools do you recommend?

Professional designers frequently use Photoshop or Illustrator to create or prepare their designs. They might start with a scan of a painting or drawing or they might compose the image in the program itself. The pros also use special plugins for Photoshop, but Spoonflower is not just for pros, so...

There are a number of free programs available for creating and manipulating images:

Inkscape - Vector Drawing.

Paint.NET - Photoshop-like program.

Gimp - Another Photoshop-like program.

Art Rage - Realistic art painting, oils, chalk, etc. (an earlier version is offered for free).

LineTracer - Converts scanned sketches to .eps vector format.

WinTopo - Raster to vector converter newer, more robust than LineTracer.

What other surface design resources can you send me to?

Here is a small sampling of websites and books we've used ourselves, but a quick web search will bring up many more design program tutorials and videos.

Websites:

Vectortuts Beginners Guide - A beginners guide to preparing a basic vector file for digital textile printing using Illustrator and Photoshop.

Vectortuts Directory - A directory of many many Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials.

Computer Arts - A directory of Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials.

Cottage Industrialist - How to create seamless repeats.

Vectips - Illustrator tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Vandelay Design - Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials.

Books:

Photoshop for Photographers - Available in all Photoshop versions

Digital Textile Design

Videos:

Spoonflower Videos on Youtube

How do I place an order?

1. Create A Design

A fabric design can be a digital photograph, a scan of some artwork, or a design created in a graphics program such as Photoshop or Illustrator. The key element is that it has to be a piece of artwork in digital format. We can't scan or photograph your design for you.

2. Upload Your Design To Spoonflower

Acceptable file formats are JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, SVG, AI, and EPS, and the file must be less than 40 MB. Vector files (AI, SVG, or EPS) are converted to PNG format during the upload process at a size chosen by you. Your design is always private unless you choose to make it public.

3. Select Fabric, Size and Layout

In the preview you see after uploading a design, you can choose a repeat style as well as the particular fabric you want to purchase and the amount. The previewer will let you try any combination of layout, size and fabric and will show you how your design will look with the selected option. The rulers on the edges of the preview are accurate in regards to the size your images will appear on fabric. An edit size link on the lower right column will allow you to make your design smaller, but you cannot make a small design larger (increasing the size would destroy the resolution of your image resulting in blurry or pixelated fabric). Through the layout options, you can choose to center the design, put it into basic repeat by tiling it straight up and down, or create half-drop or half-brick repeats that stagger the design throughout the fabric area.

We have a variety of fabrics, and you can choose to order any amount from a single 8-inch by 8-inch swatch to significant yardage. Orders over 20 yards of a single design qualify for a bulk discount, but only if the design is your own. For bulk order inquiries, please email us at help@spoonflower.com.

4. Check Out

Swatches are $5, with yards varying from $18 to $38. We accept major credit cards and Paypal, and we offer inexpensive domestic and international shipping options starting at $1. The custom shipping estimate for your order isnshown in your shopping cart.

How long does it take to process my order?

This is the number of days our operations require to print, fix, cut, pack, and place your order in the post. If you're in a hurry, Spoonflower has a rush service with short turnaround and expedited shipping methods. See below!

Can you change my design or a design I found in the Marketplace?

There are many options for customizing your own fabric by creating your own or working with a designer. We don't have any graphic designers on staff, but we'd be happy to answer some of your questions to the best of our ability. Check out the Creating Custom Fabric section to learn more. If you don't want to create a design yourself, graphic designers in your area or art students at your local colleges and universities would be great sources of expertise. Don't forget, lots of awesome designs have been created using scanned images made by hand or with photographs.

The designs in the Marketplace belong to Spoonflower users just like you. All users retain the rights to their designs so we cannot make changes to them. If you would like a design slightly different, send a message to the designer through their profile page. Most designers would be happy to answer your requests.

What fabrics can I order?

*NEW* Kona® Cotton: Premium Quilting Weight: $18/yd ($16.20 with designer discount)

100% cotton fabric with a soft hand, easy to sew

• 42" wide printable area (107 cm)
• 4.5 oz per square yard
• 60 x 60 threads per inch
• Appropriate for quilting, appliqué, shirting, dresses, children's clothing, and home decor
• Estimated shrinkage 2%
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

See more on the Kona® Cotton page

This fabric is temporarily out of stock, but will be available soon.

* NEW * Cotton Poplin: $20/yard ($18 with designer discount)

100% cotton fabric, now available for a limited time only

• 42" wide printable area (107 cm)
• 3.7 oz per square yard
• Appropriate for quilting, shirting, skirts, dresses, pajamas, home decor
• Estimated shrinkage 3%
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Cotton Voile: $24/yard ($21.60 with designer discount)

100% cotton voile, combed, delicate, silky texture.
Please note that this fabric replaces cotton lawn, which was discontinued on 11/30/2010.

• 54" wide printable area (142 cm)
• 1.4 oz per square yard
• Thread count: 70x70, yarns 60/1 x 60/1
• Semi-transparent, gauzy
• Appropriate for dresses, blouses, lingerie, scarves and handkerchiefs.
• Estimated shrinkage 3%
• Dry clean or hand wash gently, warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent. Air-dry.

Cotton Silk: $27/yard ($24.30 with designer discount)

55% cotton / 45% silk fabric with a soft sheen on the printed side

• 40" wide printable area (102 cm)
• 2.4 oz per square yard
• Natural white, printed on one side
• Luxurious hand and drape of silk, benefits of cotton
• Appropriate for dresses, blouses, pajamas, lingerie, lining, quilting, home decor accents
• Estimated shrinkage 2%
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Linen-Cotton Canvas: $27/yard ($24.30 with designer discount)

Sophisticated light-weight canvas woven from 55% linen and 45% combed cotton.

• 54" wide printable area (137 cm)
• 6.2 oz per square yard
• Natural white (we have observed that material may appear slightly cream-colored prior to washing)
• Appropriate for table cloths, tea-towels, dresses, bags, pillows
• Estimated shrinkage minimal.
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Organic Cotton Interlock Knit: $27/yard ($24.30 with designer discount)

100% organic cotton. Very soft, natural off-white knit perfect for t-shirts, dresses, baby clothes and more.

• 56" wide printable area (142 cm)
• 5.6 oz per square yard
• Interlock knit stretches along the crosswise grain about 25%
• Estimated shrinkage: 6% length, 4% width
• Certified organic cotton by Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS)
• Produced in the USA
• Appropriate for many kinds of children and adult apparel items
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Organic Cotton Sateen: $27/yard ($24.30 with designer discount)

100% organic cotton sateen, glossy finish, white

• 56" wide printable area (142cm)
• 3.8 oz per square yard, 230 Thread Count
• Certified organic cotton by Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS)
• Peroxided white [note that prior to 3/25/10 we printed on natural rather than white]
• Glossy finish, soft hand
• Appropriate for clothing, pillows
• Estimated shrinkage 3%
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Upholstery Weight Cotton Twill: $32/yard ($28.80 with designer discount)

Sturdy 100% cotton twill with an optic white finish.

• 58" printable width (145 cm)
• 7.2 oz per square yard, 108x56 thread count
• Appropriate for upholstery, home decorating, pants, tote bags, banners, coats and jackets, window draperies, tablecloths, place mats, etc.
• Estimated shrinkage 4%
• Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

Silk Crepe de Chine: $38/yard ($34.20 pr/yd with designer discount)

100% silk with a delicate, semi-sheer texture

• 42" wide printable area (107 cm)
• 16mm, 2.2 oz per square yard
• Semi-sheer, drapes beautifully
• Appropriate for dresses, blouses, pajamas, lingerie, lining (print is on one side only)
• Estimated shrinkage 3%
• Please note that the texture of the silk means that printing will not always be 'on grain', and dark colors may bleed very slightly along the edges of design elements
• For best results, dry clean only

Have a Spoonflower fabric sample pack sent to you today!

Each Sample booklet contains a 4" x 4" swatch of each of the fabrics listed above.

The price is a nominal $1.00 for the booklet, and shipping is free.

Can I get a discount on bulk orders?

Orders placed with your own designs automatically receive a designer discount of 10%. Orders of 20 yards or more of the same design receive an additional 10% on top of the designer discount, but only if the design is your own.

What is the status of my order?

Your complete order history can be accessed by clicking the link labeled 'your account' on the upper right corner of all Spoonflower pages and then clicking the 'orders' tab. Orders have two statuses: 'processing' and 'shipped'. If you have an order in status 'processing', when you click through to the receipt you will also see our best estimate of when your order will ship in the lower right hand corner.

Can I change or cancel an order?

Once an order has been placed, we would be happy to change your shipping address or shipping method. Because of our automated process some changes are not possible, but we are happy to help in the creation of a replacement order. Please email us at help@spoonflower.com.

Can I return or exchange my fabric?

If for any reason you are unhappy with your fabric, please email us at help@spoonflower.com.

How does your standard shipping work?

Our shipping prices are calculated by adding up the weight of your fabric order, not by yardage. The easiest way to calculate shipping is to add your desired fabric to your cart, select your country and click Update. For instance, a fat quarter of Quilting Weight Cotton is $1 domestically and $2 internationally. One yard of Quilting Weight Cotton shipped to the US is $3 and internationally is $7.

Domestic Shipping. To keep prices reasonable, we've chosen to use the US Postal Service. All regular domestic orders are shipped USPS First Class or Priority depending on the weight. Large orders (over $250) are shipped FedEx Ground insured and a tracking number is provided to you. You will receive an email when your order is shipped explaining how it was shipped.

International Shipping. All regular international orders are shipped via an international mail service that uses your country's postal system for delivery. This shipping method does not include tracking. Large orders (over $250 or over 4 pounds) are shipped FedEx International Economy insured and a tracking number is provided to you. You will receive an email when your order is shipped explaining how it was shipped. International orders may be subject to duties and taxes which are outside of our control. It is our experience that orders shipped through a tracked method are more likely to incur fees.

What is Guaranteed delivery?

This is a hybrid of our standard and rush services - we guarantee a delivery date and we use a tracked shipping method (a FedEx 2 day service to the United States or via FedEx International Priority internationally), but we do not charge you for rushing the printing process.

Any order placed with our 'guaranteed delivery date' service will be printed, fixed, cut, packed, and placed into the post in time to arrive on or before the guarantee date that is set out in the shopping cart and displayed on your order receipt.

Domestic Shipping. To keep prices reasonable, we've chosen a 2 day service from FedEx which may be ground or air depending on the package destination. This service will not deliver on Saturdays or Sundays. NOTE! FedEx can not deliver to PO/APO/DPO/FPO addresses, so if you select this service, please make sure your address is a home or business.

International Shipping. We've selected the FedEx International Priority service to carry international guarantee orders. This service covers 160 countries and delivers in less than 5 business days. International orders may be subject to duties and taxes which are outside of our control. It is our experience that orders shipped through a tracked method are more likely to incur fees.

Price. The actual price for this service is based on the total weight of your order. Shipping prices are always calculated in your cart before purchase. For an exact price, add your desired fabric to your cart, select your country and click Update.

How does Rush Service work?

Orders placed by noon will be shipped out the following day via a FedEx 2 day service to the United States or via FedEx International Priority internationally. The result: your order can be delivered most places on the planet in less than a week.

Any order placed with a 'rush' delivery method by noon EST (UTC - 5 hours) will be printed, fixed, cut, packed, and placed into the post on the following day. If your order misses the noon cut off by a minute or an hour, or even a few hours, we'll still do our best to get it in the post the following day, but no guarantees. Please note that Friday orders won't go into the post until Monday.

NOTE! Orders for over 10 yards of fabric will require an extra 48 hours of processing time.

Domestic Shipping. To keep prices reasonable, we've chosen a 2 day service from FedEx which may be ground or air depending on the package destination. This service will not deliver on Saturdays or Sundays. NOTE! FedEx can not deliver to PO/APO/DPO/FPO addresses, so if you select this service, please make sure your address is a home or business.

International Shipping. We've selected the FedEx International Priority service to carry international rush orders. This service covers 160 countries and delivers in less than 5 business days. International orders may be subject to duties and taxes which are outside of our control. It is our experience that orders shipped through a tracked method are more likely to incur fees.

Price. The actual rush shipping price is based on the total weight of your fabric. Below is a general guide:

1 yard and under: $25 US, $30 internationally

3 yards and under: $48.

12 yards and under: $95.

Shipping prices are always calculated in your cart before purchase. For an exact price, add your desired fabric to your cart, select your country and click Update.

Happy rushing!

How can I sell my designs in the Spoonflower Marketplace?

Before You Start

You can only sell fabric on Spoonflower once you have uploaded designs. If you are curious about that process, you can start here.

Overview Of Selling

The Spoonflower Marketplace lets you sell fabric with your original designs and earn 10% of the sale price for fat quarters and yardage of your fabric purchased by other people.

Any design you make available for sale must first have been proofed by you. "Proofing" simply means that you have to have ordered the design you want to sell as a swatch (or in any other amount). Once proofed, making a design available for sale is as simple as choosing your preview and adding descriptive information.

When someone purchases your fabric, you'll be notified in the 'recent activity' news items on your personal home page, the page you see when you log in to Spoonflower. Spoonflower prints the fabric, ships it to the buyer, and takes care of any customer service questions the buyer may have. One month after the purchase -- to allow time for the fabric to arrive and to make sure the buyer is a happy customer -- your earnings will appear as 'Spoondollars' in your account. Spoondollars can be used towards Spoonflower purchases or be redeemed via Paypal per the section of our terms of service titled 'Marketplace Seller Agreement '.

1. Order Proofs and Upload Revisions

Any fabric you have ordered qualifies as a proof of that design. If you have already ordered fabric of the designs you want to sell and you are happy with how they look, you can skip ahead to step 3. If you've worked with printed fabric before, you know that the colors you see on your computer screen come out differently when printed on fabric. Checking color, image resolution and repeat size are all important parts of the proofing process. Before a shopper buys your design you will want to make sure the product represents your vision in a way that satisfies you.

Once you receive your fabric, if you need to tweak some aspect of your design you can do so and then upload the revision. We do not require that you order a second proof. You can upload a revised file at any time, even after your design is available for sale. Your revised design will retain all its original comments, favorites, and order history.

Here's how to upload a revision:

a) Go to your design library and click on the design.

b) Go to the 'actions' menu above your design preview and click 'upload revision'.

c) A form will appear with an upload prompt. Browse to your file, and then click the 'upload revision' button.

Note: Uploading a revision will replace the original design file in your account. Spoonflower makes a press-ready copy of the design file each time a design is ordered. Orders placed from the moment you upload a revision forward will be printed from the new file. Orders that were already in processing when you uploaded the revision will NOT be printed from your revised file. Once you place an order the only way to change the file that will be printed is to write to help@spoonflower.com and request that the order be cancelled, then to start over.

2. Make Your Designs Available For Sale

Once you've received your proofs, reviewed colors and layout, and feel happy with the result, you can make each design available for sale.

Here's how:

a) Navigate to your design.

b) Note the repeat style and size (dpi) that appear; this is how your design will appear to Marketplace browsers. You can update these and save your changes by clicking 'Save this view'.

c) Write a description of the fabric.

d) Choose up to two categories.

e) Add keywords separated by commas. Keywords are a great way to 'categorize' a design into a category not listed, like 'hedgehogs' or 'Halloween'. Keywords are one of the main ways that a design is found through search, both on Spoonflower and through Google and other search engines, so it is in your best interest to think about how fabric shoppers might find your design. Remember that your keywords are displayed and using too many will make your fabric listing cluttered. As a general rule, do not use more than five keywords.

f) Click the 'Edit Status' link below your design. Check the box next to the phrase 'I would like to sell this design to the public.'

g) Click on the 'Update' button.

3. Get Notified When Fabric Sells

You will automatically receive a notification on your home page (the page you see after you log in to Spoonflower) under 'recent activity' whenever one of your fabrics sells. If it sells to a registered Spoonflower member, the notification will show the design that sold and a message like, 'ColorCat purchased fabric with this design about 1 day ago. Send a thank you?' The thank you link opens up a message box where you can write and send a quick thank you note through the Spoonflower message system if you'd like to do so.

4. Earn a 10% Spoondollar Commission On Fabric Sold With Your Designs

On sales of your fabrics that larger than a swatch you earn a 10% commission. You can view the details of your Spoondollar commissions by clicking on 'your account' at the top right of any Spoonflower page, and then clicking on the 'Spoondollars' tab. Your Spoondollar earnings become available in your account one month after the transaction date to allow for any issues or returns associated with the order to be finalized.

Why no commission on swatches? Swatches are intended to be samples. If Kim -- for example -- wants to cover a chair with your fabric, she really needs to order a swatch to see if the colors are going to match her sewing room before she orders the three or four yards she needs to cover a chair. In other words, swatches are a sales tool, a way of getting someone a sample so they can see the quality of your design and our fabric printing. Sometimes we may discount swatches, or even make them free, in order to give lots of people a chance to try out our fabrics -- yours and Spoonflower's. Our general philosophy is to treat swatches as a marketing expense for both of us.

5. Spend Spoondollars On Spoonflower

If you would like to use your Spoondollar balance as credit against a purchase, simply place items in your shopping cart. When you are in your shopping cart, you will see a green box at the top of the page informing you of your available balance and enabling you to apply some or all of it to your purchase.

6. Redeem Spoondollars Into Your Paypal Account

If you want to receive your Spoondollar balance as a payment, you can supply your Paypal account information to us by clicking on 'your account' at the top right of the screen, and then clicking on the 'Spoondollars' tab. Once a month, we will pay the balance into your account as long as the amount is above $20.

Thanks for participating in the Spoonflower marketplace. Good luck!

If I want a bunch of swatches, how can I get them at a reduced price?

A Swatch Sampler is like an old-fashioned contact sheet; it puts an 8"x8" swatch of each design in a collection onto a single piece of fabric. A sampler for a collection of 1-5 designs is $12, 6-15 designs is $20, and up to 30 is $35. Two useful things to know about samplers:

At as little as ~$1.20 per swatch, this is the most cost effective way to order swatches at Spoonflower.

Swatches ordered on samplers meet the pre-swatching requirement for selling designs in the Spoonflower Marketplace.

To order one, all you have to do is put the designs you want on your sampler into a single collection. Here's how:

1. Go to your design library.

2. In the upper left hand corner there is a drop down box labeled 'View' where you can select which groups of designs you want to bring up. Select the option 'Create a new collection'. If you've never done this before, you can learn more about collections here.

3. Give your collection a name and some categories, and save it.

4. When you're back in the design library, there will be a drop-down box under each design where you can add it to your new collection.

5. Go to the 'View' box on the upper left and click the name of your new collection. Double-check that all the designs you want in your sampler are in this collection. On the upper right is a button 'order sampler'. Press the button and check out.

Can I assemble my designs into collections?

Why put designs in collections?

Fabric designs often share a visual theme or design element. Spoonflower collections are a facility that allows a designer to assemble their designs into collections for two purposes: to make navigating your design library faster and more intuitive, and to order a 'swatch sampler', a swatch of every design in a collection at a reduced price. In addition, when anyone browses to a design that is part of a collection, the teaser images they will see immediately to the left of that design will be the most popular other designs from the same collection, along with a link to the collection page. This is a way to spread the popularity of a single design across an entire family of designs, and a way for you to control the presentation of your work in the marketplace.

Creating a collection

Creating, organizing, and filtering designs in collections is all done from your Designs page. Start by going to Designs, clicking on the 'View' drop down menu and selecting 'Create a new collection'. Enter a name, a description, and select one or two categories and press 'Create'. You may create as many collections as you like, keeping in mind that a collection can contain a maximum of 30 designs, and a design can be placed into only one collection.

Organizing your designs

When you get back to your designs page, each design will have a new drop-down menu just below its name entitled 'Collection:'. Adding a design to a collection is just a matter of selecting the collection from this menu. Wait a couple seconds, and a 'done!' message will come up next to the design. If you want to view a collection, select the name of that collection from the 'View' menu at the top of the page.

About swatch samplers

Once you've organized designs into a collection, you can order a batch of swatches for all the designs in a collection in a single 'swatch sampler'. A sampler for a collection of 1-5 designs is $12, 6-15 designs is $20, and 16-30 designs is $35. Two useful things to know about samplers:

At as little as ~$1.20 per swatch, this is the most cost effective way to order swatches at Spoonflower.

Swatches ordered on samplers meet the pre-swatching requirement for selling designs in the Spoonflower marketplace.

Ordering a sampler

To order a swatch sampler, select a collection from the 'View' menu. Click the 'Order sampler' button on the upper right corner of the page, and the sampler will be placed into your shopping cart. Check out, and your part is done. We will print an 8-inch square swatch of each of your designs onto a single piece of quilting weight fabric and ship it to you.

How do I get paid for selling my designs?

You have two options for redeeming the Spoondollars you earn for selling your designs: using them as credit against a purchase or receiving them as a PayPal payment.

If you would like to use your Spoondollar balance as credit against a purchase, simply place items in your shopping cart. When you are in your shopping cart, you will see a green box at the top of the page informing you of your available balance and enabling you to apply some or all of it to your purchase.

If you want to receive your Spoondollar balance as a payment, you can supply your Paypal account information to us by clicking on 'your account' at the top right of the screen, and then clicking on the 'Spoondollars' tab. Once a month, we will pay the balance into your account as long as the amount is above $20.

How are designs ranked and how can I bring more attention to my designs in the Marketplace?

Designs on Spoonflower are sorted in three different ways:

Classics displays designs in order of popularity. Popularity is a combination of views, favorites, purchases, available fabric and project images, comments received, and overall designer popularity.

New displays designs most recently made available for sale.

Freshtastic is a combination of the new-ness of the design as well as its popularity. If a design is very popular, but older than a couple months, it will appear farther down the list. This sort allows you to discover new, great designs in the marketplace.

In addition, there are three top 100 lists on the shop home page:

Recent Trends shows popular designs that are relatively new. This list is a good way to catch up on fun, new designs in the shop that everyone in the community is excited about.

Hot Sellers is comprised of marketplace purchases. These are designs that are flying off our printers as you view them! It's a great way to see what marketplace shoppers are purchasing.

Fabric of the Week is the last week's contest sorted by the number of votes. Not only is this a great way to see last week's contest entries in one place, you can also check out the contest results.

If you want to give your designs more exposure, here are a few quick steps that can make a big difference:

Release new designs often so that you consistently have material showing up on the first few pages of the 'new' and 'freshtastic' sort options. These pages turn over quickly so if one of your designs is consistently available to shoppers looking for new designs, you may end up catching their eye!

Leave thoughtful comments for designers' work you admire, favorite their designs and add them to your connections. Spoonflower is a great community and the more you participate, the more people will encounter you and your designs and will often return the favor.

Another way to increase exposure for your designs is to upload 'fabric' and 'project' images. Fabric images are photographs of the printed fabric. Project images are photographs of the fabric made into finished fabric items - a skirt, toy or quilt, for example. These photographs show up on the fabric page as well as in the quick view and are a great way to show someone the printed fabric as a lovely finished good.

In the marketplace you can shop via fabric and project photographs. Designs without fabric or project images will not show up in this view. Designs with at least one fabric or project image will have more exposure.

Tag and categorize designs well. Place designs in meaningful categories and use tags that accurately describe your design. With accurate tags, the shop is easy and pleasant to navigate. Tags that are too generic, such as red or flower, make your design become lost in the shuffle. Tags are too specific or obscure such as zinnia or pivot. A good tag is not overused and not overly specific.

Imagine who might try to find your design and the words they may use to search for it, how the design might be used and how it was created. Try searching with tags you are considering to see if you get too many results or not enough.

Enter contests. Contests are huge part of each week at Spoonflower. Top finishers typically dominate the front page of the shop, appear in all three of the lists, and get exposure from several outlets, including the weekly email.

How does copyright work when I upload my designs to Spoonflower?

We value the copyright of all images. Any image that is uploaded to Spoonflower is automatically saved as Private and the owner retains all rights to the design. To make your design available for others to see or purchase, you must change your settings from Private to Public or For Sale. You can find more information about copyright in our terms of service.

How should I wash the fabrics I order?

Washing Instructions:

Please use phosphate-free detergents!

Quilting Weight Cotton: Wash on delicate setting, warm or cool.

Cotton Voile: Hand wash gently, warm or cool. Air-dry.

Silk Crepe de Chine: For best results, dry clean only.

All other fabrics: Machine wash warm or cool.

Where can I learn more about the contests and how to enter?

Every week, Spoonflower holds a contest based on a theme. Everyone is welcome to enter. You can find more information on the Contests page. Information on how to enter can be found here.

Can I visit Spoonflower and see how my fabrics are made?

We would love to show you around our facilities! Please contact us at help@spoonflower.com to set up an appointment.

I have a question about my order.

Your complete order history can be accessed by clicking the link labeled 'your account' on the upper right corner of all Spoonflower pages and then clicking the 'orders' tab. Orders have two statuses: 'processing' and 'shipped'. If you have an order in status 'processing', when you click through to the receipt you will also see our best estimate of when your order will ship in the lower right hand corner.

Contact Us About an Order