where it all began, and the fairy bread print that started everything

People ask me how The Colour Collab began, and the honest answer is it started with sprinkles. A print of fairy bread. The most Aussie, nostalgic, slightly ridiculous thing, and it changed everything. 🇦🇺

Let me tell you the story properly.

a print, a punt, and a whole lot of sprinkles

Back in 2020 I designed a fairy bread print. I wasn’t sure anyone would love it the way I did. It was bright and silly and so completely tied to being a kid at an Aussie birthday party that I half expected it to just be a fun little one off.

It sold over 500m of fabric in that one design.

Five hundred metres. Of fairy bread. I remember watching the orders come in and thinking, oh. People want this. People want colour and nostalgia and a print that makes them feel something. That was the moment the whole idea clicked.

from one print to a signature collection

That fairy bread print grew into Aussie Nostalgia, which is still the heart of the brand. Iced vovos, sprinkle biscuits, aussie-mite, all the bits and bobs that take you straight back to a school canteen or a Sunday picnic.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one who got teary happy over a lolly shop memory printed on fabric. There’s a whole community of makers who feel it too. That connection is the thing I never expected and now treasure most. 💕

why it became The Colour Collab

For a while it was Teggun Ashleigh Fabrics. Just me and my prints. But the more I made, the more I met other rad artists making bright, bold, joyful work, and I wanted to bring them in.

So in November 2025 the brand became The Colour Collab. The name says it. Where colour, craft and community collide. It opened the door to collaborating with other colourful artists, which is honestly my favourite part of all of this now. Collabs are our jam.

still the same heart

The brand’s grown a fair bit since that first batch of sprinkles. More prints, more bases, more artists, a whole TCC community. But the heart hasn’t budged. It’s still about colour, joy, nostalgia, and helping makers reconnect with creativity and themselves.

That’s the bit I’ll never let go of.

If you’ve been here since the early fairy bread days, thank you, truly. If you’re new, welcome, come have a browse and join The Colour Collab Club. I’d love to have you. 🫶🏻