Inspired by fabric? Then what?

Recently, I was asked the question "Are you ever inspired by a piece of fabric and where do you go from there?"

This led me to think further. Where do I go? How does a drop dead fabric turn into a completed project.

Some fabrics need to "hang" around for a while. I do mean this literally. I hang the fabric on my design wall until ideas start to pop into my head.  There are days when this happens quickly. There are other times when months go by before the inspiration comes.

I loved this hand dyed scarf and added silk yarn and leaves to it. Then what? Would I really wear it as a scarf? So, it waited.

Often, my "diva fabric" starts its journey by gathering all its friends. This, of course, means pulling fabrics out of my stash that coordinate or complement my inspirational fabric.

The pile of fabric friends may start out large or pulled in one direction but not all fabrics may become part of the final trip.

My scarf was not impressed with these so called "friends", 

rejected them, and sought other companions.

Yes, we got off to a rocky start.

 The group of "friendly fabrics" may be small but as I go along new friends are added.

These new fabric friends seems more to her taste.

There have even been cases where the "friendlies" went on the trip without the "diva". The inspirational fabric was just that, an inspiration for a quilt.

In this case, she was not to be left behind and adored herself royally. 

After all, she was the "diva".

The journey from fabric to completed project is always interesting. It may be a straight road or it may be a curving path with hills and valleys along the way.

Social Climbers

Sharon V. Rotz

What direction does your path take?

Linked to Off the Wall Friday