I very rarely preplan my compositions. Instead, the designs emerge as I am working directly with the fabric at my design wall.
On a rare occasion I’ll sketch out an idea on paper. This usually happens during meetings at work when my mind is wandering. Most of those drawings end up pasted into my sketchbook and rarely, if ever, turn into an actual completed artwork. I view them more as design exercises than patterns for new artwork.
At times I also make fabric sketches. It’s all fine and good doodling an idea in pencil and paper but cutting fabric is quite a bit different than drawing withe a pencil.
Fabric sketches allow me to understand what my ideas might look like larger and they help me work through the construction process. What shapes to cut, what order to sew the shapes together. It’s not always easy or straightforward to figure out.
I rarely finish my fabric sketches into actual quilts as their purpose is not a completed product but just a quick try at a new idea.
Open Spaces
The above sketches (and the ones at the top of this post) are about the size of a piece of notebook paper (maybe 8″ x 12″). They were made 2 years ago.
One of the things I was thinking about during these sketches was leaving more open space in my work.
I tend to fill up all available space with lines. These sketches were working through some ideas I had about not doing that.
I have not yet followed through on many of these ideas but while hunting around in my studio the other day I came across them. And I remembered – ah ha! I want to do that.
They will eventually show up in some finished work.
Markings
The sketch above was made a few days before making the first composition in my Markings series.
I had been sketching with paper and pencil and had become enamored with the cross hatching. And the beauty of the hand drawn line.
I wondered if I could recreate that in fabric. No amount of paper and pencil sketching could answer that question – I needed to see it in fabric to see if it would work.
This quick sketch was the result of that effort.
Sometimes it takes a few tries at making a fabric sketch to get a good handle on my thoughts. But for the Markings series this one sketch was it.
One quick fabric sketch and I was sure I had and idea I wanted to explore. The fabric lines absolutely captured the beauty of the hand drawn line I had in mind.