Episode 71 Beneath the Western Skies with Gracey Larson

November 29, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Carina welcomes fellow Riley Blake designer Gracey Larson onto the show to talk about her new fabric line “Beneath the Western Skies.”

Carina and Gracey talk about the creation of the line and the patterns in it. To see actual fabric samples, please visit this episode on youtube at www.youtube.com/carinagardner.

You can find Gracey Larson on instagram at @burlapandblossompatterns and at her site https://www.burlapandblossompatterns.com.

__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 66 Quilting Retreat Insider Scoop with Jill Finley

November 17, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Today Carina is talking with fellow Riley Blake designer Jill Finley! Jill hosts wonderful quilting retreats for women.

Jill talks about these events, sewing, and the details of her wonderful retreats.

You can find Jill at www.jillilystudio.com and on Instagram at @jillilystudio. Pre-order her book at https://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/Jillily-Studio-Quilted-Hugs-Book.

__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 62 The Crazy Way I got A Fabric Contract

November 8, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Ever wondered how new designers typically get a contract with a fabric manufacturer? On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina tells the hilarious story of how she did everything wrong in getting her first fabric contract.

What she tells us provides a lot of insight into how you can do it the right way to win your first fabric contract.
__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 55 Primrose Hill with Melanie Collette

October 22, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Melanie Collette is a fellow Riley Blake Designer and we talk about her background as well as her new line Primrose Hill.

Find out more about Melanie at https://www.hellomellydesigns.com/.

Find out more at http://www.carinagardner.com

Want to become a designer? Check out Carina’s next Design Bootcamp at http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp.

Episode 51 Get Your Holiday Crafting and Quilting Gifts Done Now

October 13, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Do you like to give your friends and loved ones crafty creations for birthdays and holidays? On today’s episode of Make + Design,

Originally published in October 2021, Carina talks about how to map out and plan your projects so that you get them done before the holiday you need them for! Carina loves the holidays and loves getting ready for them with lots of pretty creations! Tune in to see how she structures her holiday season!

__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 50 Stardust and Christmas Fabric with Bev McCullough

October 11, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Fellow Riley Blake designer Bev McCullough joins Carina for some insights on her recent fabric collection.

To see some of the samples Carina and Bev talk about in this episode, please visit Carina’s youtube channel at www.youtube.com/carinagarder.

Learn more about Bev and her new book at instagram at @flamingotoes.
__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Bev McCullough is an expert seamstress who began designing her own clothes as a teenager. She’s also a blogger who loves to share her work at https://flamingotoes.com/. Bev also designs fabric for Riley Blake Designs, has authored books on embroidery and jewelry making (available on Amazon) and can be found on instagram at flamingotoes.

Episode 48 How She Designs Fabric with Amanda Niederhauser

October 6, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Have you ever wondered how a fabric designer approaches creating a new fabric collection? Today Carina talks with fellow Riley Blake designer Amanda Niederhauser about her process for designing a new line.

Her daughter Ella is involved in the process and they make a great team! Amanda also talks about her love of cats and cat fabric. Settle in for this fun and insightful conversation about fabric and cats!

__________

Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY

__________

About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Amanda Niederhauser is a quilter, a fabric designer for Riley Blake, and an author. You can find her work in the following places:

Instagram: jedicraftgirl

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JediCraftGirl (patterns)

Episode 34 How Design Process Can Get You Through The Hard Times with Jeanie Dickinson

September 3, 2021 by Carina Gardner

On today’s episode of the Make + Design Podcast, Jeanie Dickinson returns as Carina’s guest star to talk to us about how process can get you through the hard times as a designer. Jeanie likes to think about art as creativity and creativity soothed her soul during various tough periods in her life. Jeanie tells us about a time that the scrapbooking she owned burned down.

On top of that, her home was in the back of the scrapbooking store so she lost everything. Jeanie had to be rescued by the firemen and was extremely traumatized by the event. Art gave Jeanie an outlet that allowed her to process what she went through so that she could heal. On top of art, learning a new skill–in Jeanie’s case it was digital design–helped Jeanie to move on from her trauma. Carina and Jeanie have known each other for a long time and Carina has always been impressed by Jeanie’s drive to level up her talent. Jeanie gives great insight into ways that consistent effort over time leads to big results. You’ll want to check this one out on YouTube because Jeanie shows us some of her creations and explains her creative process. She gives us some great nuggets of wisdom about what she’s learned through the adversity she’s faced!

__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp
Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/

About Today’s Guest
Jeanie Dickinson is an artist, a designer, and a businesswoman. You can find Jeanie’s blog (with links to all of her art!) here: https://jeaniesdesigns.blogspot.com/

Episode 30 How Long Does It Take To Design A Fabric Collection?

August 25, 2021 by Carina Gardner

On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina answers a question that she gets a lot: “How long does it take to design a fabric collection?” Carina talks through the difference between fabric lines that take a long time and lines that come more quickly.

Her current fabric collection project, which is set to release in late 2022 or early 2023, is one that has taken a long time because she has specific things she wants the collection to do. Carina’s process begins with setting aside blocks of time so that she can figure out the color scheme and what the theme for the collection will be. Carina typically starts with the master or the secondary design for the collection. Starting with the secondary gives her two things: first, she doesn’t have to make the secondary as colorful, which gives her more options down the road, and, second, the secondary design doesn’t have to be as detailed as the master. The master is always very detailed and very specific, so it can limit choices later in the design process.

On her current line, Carina gave herself an overnight hotel stay so that she could filter out every other distraction. It took her about 14 hours of work to get the secondary and the master done. Then she set it aside for a week. After getting back to it, she *hated* the master. It was off in terms of look, feel, and overall vibe. For the next week, she worked on the fabric line. On Monday she made a very detailed, two-layer demasque. Then she spent a couple of days mapping out the rest of it and changing the colors. She actually did the master last at the end of the day. For Carina, this entire fabric line took about ten days. On her first fabric collection, this process took months.

Carina finds that it’s important not to get too attached to a certain design. Sometimes the client sees it and wants something different. Sometimes what you’ve designed doesn’t quite fit the current project and you have to modify it. Every design experience, even the rejected ones, are a learning experience.

__________
Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY
__________

**About Carina Gardner:**
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 29 Building a Quilt Book Proposal with Amanda Niederhauser

August 23, 2021 by Carina Gardner

Amanda Niederhauser returns as our guest star on today’s episode of the Make + Design Podcast. She and Carina take a look at Amanda’s quilting book, “Playful Precut Quilts,” and take a deep dive into what Amanda did to get the book published. Playful Precut Quilts is a “how to” book that gives step-by-step instructions on how to make quilts with pre-cut fabrics. You’ll want to check out the YouTube video on this one so that you can see Amanda’s beautiful book!