Happy Monday!
Today I'm focused on inspiration.
Where do you find your inspiration? Many of us now look at what other quilters have made for ideas on what to sew next. Recently I have been revisiting some old websites that I used to frequent when the internet was young. It feels...nostalgic and kind of comforting to do patterns I haven't done for a long time.
Although I have many projects in the pipeline, I just felt like revisiting an old pattern and decided to make a Roman Stripe Quilt. I have lots of strips to use up and a piece of backing that is too small for a quilt but large enough to give me the needed triangles. My inspiration for this piece has an additional source. I wanted to use up some colors that were bright, cheerful and spring-like. The candy colored log cabin quilt seemed like a good choice.
But inspiration can come from other areas. I was watching The Band Wagon, a movie from 1953. I was awaiting my favorite scene in the movie (Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse twirl together in "Dancing in the Dark"). And then I noticed a skirt Nanette Fabray was wearing:
Colored version--it's gingham!
Sometimes a photo just grabs you. I was reading an article called "Philly's Hidden Gems" and saw this photo from the Clay Studio in Philly:
It's the wall in the background that caught my eye. Mugs or cups with a black background and a wide border of white around each piece. Now I have made a number of tea cup related quilts but this photo made me wonder if I needed to do another one. Maybe coffee mugs because that is my choice of beverage? It's so modern and fresh looking!
For some projects, the fabric itself is my main inspiration. On both of these quilts, I just fell in love with the print and wanted to feature the fabrics predominately:
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Where do you find inspiration for your quilts?
Have a safe and happy day!
Design ideas are all over the place! I am inspired by non-quilting things like pebbles on the beach or berries on a branch but I'm not a sketcher so I don't translate those to fabric. I have hundreds of quilt books and magazines and tear-outs from magazines as well as the wealth of the internet for ideas.
ReplyDeleteI am frequently inspired by others' quilts. Maybe too frequently as my recent DrEaMI projects will attest! I also let the fabric tell me what it needs to be. I keep an inspiration wall in my studio where I put orphans and think about what I can do with them as I am stitching on other projects.
ReplyDeleteI think the internet influences me a lot. I don't necessarily copy what I see or participate in a bunch of "Sew Alongs" but the information ruminates and ideas come out of it. I am strongly influenced by fabric trends which I've tried to tame with minimal success. I've got a pile of Tilda fabric without a project in mind and I have a FQ stack of Jeanne Horton fabric waiting for the right idea. I love love love CW era fabrics.
ReplyDeleteInspiration: Fabric, quilt blocks, patterns, books, magazines, internet (Instagram, Pinterest, Blogs, etc.), other art of all types, nature……
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