In a previous post I talked about the improvisational approach I took to create a quilt from two silk scarves I bought while on vacation in Kauai.
That previous post showed some of the different layouts I’d tried–b
oth on the computer and on my design wall–for all the pieces I’d sewn together. The picture on the right shows nearly the final design. Just a few more pieces were added for the final quilt.
The completed quilt top is pictured below. Continue reading
Each week Spoonflower sponsors a fabric design contest using different themes. (Spoonflower is an on-demand fabric printing company where you can upload your own designs and have them printed on fabric. You can also look at other people’s designs and buy those on fabric. It’s quite fun and addicting to design fabrics.)
The most recent contest was to design a Hawaiian Cheater Quilt. A Hawaiian Quilt traditionally is a radially symmetrical applique pattern, often in a botanical design using strong colors on a white background. Here’s an example from the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Continue reading
Last fall my husband and I spent a fabulous week on Kauai–seeing the sites, snorkeling, golfing, soaring in ultralights (that’s me in the back
)…
One day we went to see all the art galleries in Hanapepe and stumbled into The Art of Marbling Gallery which features marbled sarongs and scarves by Becky Wold and amazing wood bowls by Rob Bader. My husband, the woodworker, was captivated by the turned bowls while I loved the scarves. When Becky heard I was a quilter, she brought out a couple of scarf “seconds” which didn’t meet her standards. I bought them, knowing they’d make a great quilt with memories of Kauai. Here are the scarves–they really remind me of the waves in Kauai. Continue reading
Sometimes when creating a design (fabric or otherwise) it’s helpful to work with a fixed palette of colors. The inspiration for a color palette can come from anywhere, and I find that photos are often a great source of color palettes. In this post, I’ll show how to quickly create a color palette (called a color table in Photoshop) from a photo. You can then use the color palette to create your own designs.
This post compliments a couple of my previous posts where I talked about how to color-reduce a photo in Photoshop Elements, and then how to generate a Color Table from the color-reduced photo and use the color table to create coordinating designs. Continue reading
Color On Cloth 