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Knepp uses Spoonflower to promo SpellBound Books

Marilyn Knepp's Spellbound tote made with Knepp's unique fabric
created at design-your-own-fabric site, Spoonflower. (Front panel shown)

Ann Arbor quilt artist Marilyn Knepp shared her latest project -- a totebag promoting her daughter's tech firm, SpellBound Books -- with fellow members of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild on Jan. 16, 2016. Knepp used features of the SpellBound logo to create an original fabric from the design-your-own-fabric website, Spoonflower. She also created a coordinating, striped fabric for the totebag.

 Knepp said:
This was my first foray into Spoonflowering and now I can think of many reasons why I'll be making more -- even though I am not a fabric designer. In addition to admiring my bag, I hope your readers will look at the Spellbound website (address conveniently highlighted on the tote bag), and consider Spellbound's Indiegogo Campaign to fund a pilot project at Mott Hospital.
Reverse side of Marilyn Knepp's Spellbound totebag with Spellbound URL. Knepp created fabric panels
 using Spellbound publicity materials on the Spoonflower design-your-own-fabric website.


SpellBound's pilot project with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor allows contributors to donate SpellBound books to Mott and to support SpellBound's goal as reported on their website:
With the SpellBound mobile app, paper books become an interactive experience. Hold a smartphone to the pages of a book like a camera and watch characters leap from the pages in 3D, listen to the story as it is read aloud, and touch words on the paper page to hear definitions. We have reimagined reading using augmented reality technology, making a sixteenth century technology fun and engaging for twenty-first century kids.
Christina York and Marjarie Knepp, SpellBound Books
Knepp made the tote for her daughter to use on SpellBound business calls. She said:
It has been a really exciting year for them; they first pitched the idea of this app in late November 2014 and won the Detroit Global Startup competition. Since then, they've started the business, developed the app, signed up a few authors and have a pilot project with a publisher and the Mott project underway.  
When they call on authors, publishers, or potential customers or display at a job fair or trade convention, they carry a lot of books and devices. They needed a good-size, sturdy tote bag for the purpose. I had never made a bag of any type but I wanted to make the perfect bag for them -- one that would entice conversations as they travel, and possibly encourage people who see them to find out more about the company and its product. I knew that their logos would be the perfect designs. 
I modified an Amy Butler pattern for the bag. The pattern is called the "Reversible Everyday Shopper" and is included in her book Amy Butler's Style Stitches. I made a test bag before ordering because I wanted to be sure that I knew how much of each fabric I would need, and also to be able to correctly place the panel design on the yardage. 
The original bag was way too big and I did not think that the attachment of the handles was sturdy enough. I modified the pattern by taking 4" off the bottom of the front/back/sides.  I also decided that I would make longer handles and sew them on the full length of the bag to make certain that the stress would be distributed rather than just having them sewn into the top seam.
Stylish and strong -- what could be better! Thanks, Marilyn, for sharing your work with us.

 UPDATE March 20, 2016: See Marilyn Knepp's own account of her Spoonflower experience on the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild weblog at http://www.gaaqg.com/spoonflowering/.

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