The Creative Process Continues . . .

Notebook Series: #16

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes; art is knowing which ones to keep."

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams

Now comes the second phase in the process of creating my next large quilt (please see my post of April 24 for the beginning steps).  At this point, the techniques still involve the precision of Mr. Left Brain, but Mr. Right Brain knows his turn is coming, so the two halves cooperate nicely with each other and I move along fairly quickly.

• I now place fusible interfacing (I prefer Pellon Lightweight Shirtailor) over each motif in the cartoon and trace the outlines in ink.  I draw dots on the interfacing, rather than a solid line, for two reasons: (1) dots are less likely to show along the edge of the fused piece after it's appliquéd in place, and (2)  if I were drawing a continuous line, the pen would drag along the interfacing and distort the image.
• All of the interfacing shapes are cut out, leaving about a quarter-inch allowance around each one.
• I tape the master pattern to a glass door; I then tape my background fabric (also interfaced) over the pattern and trace the position of the motifs onto the background with a Clover white marking pen.
•  I pin the background fabric to my design board and pin the interfacing shapes in their approximate places. 

• Now the fun begins: the pieces of fabric show up for their audition.  Believe me, they all get a lot of time on the stage before I decide whether or not to send them to Hollywood (waaay too much "American Idol" lately . . .).  When I feel fairly certain of my choices, then, and only then, do the scissors make an appearance (I'm so stingy with my fabric that I hate to cut it and have to discard it -- but nothing is ever set in stone, so I do have a lot of orphaned shapes when I'm done).

More to come in a future post.  In the meantime, enjoy this wonderful weekend as we officially welcome summer.