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Picking Fabrics for Quilts
Once an idea is generated the marbled, dyed and painted fabrics are selected. Usually some have already collected during the design stage. The rest are picked at the beginning allowing for change along the way. On rare occasion, I have picked all the fabrics at the start.
The fabrics sit in piles, visible in the studio and studied over several days. In fact fabric sits around from the beginning of the process until the top is completed. This requires several weeks of working around my palette of fabrics. When I had cats this was their favorite time because there were lots of new sleeping places! Border fabric(s) are not decided until the center has been put together. Depending on the quilt, choosing and ironing fabrics can be a time consuming process.
Fabric selection is fun, exciting, exacting and requires focus. Choices are made on the intuitive level and logic only enters in when the color palette is limited. Time is suspended sorting through the stacks, narrowing choices or switching direction. Sometimes I can remember a marbled fabric from ten years ago and search for it to include in a quilt. Or use the last remaining scrap of a fabric which had appeared in several quilts. And I always allow for change along the way and sometimes even take out the piece of fabric that started the process. |
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Log Cabin Blues showing the many different marble fabrics used to create this marble quilt
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