Overcoming Artist Block

One of the hazards of working with donated, repurposed fabric swatches is that sometimes you just don't have enough for the project you have in mind.  That happened to me earlier this week and at that point I felt like I'd hit a wall.

I'd finished another Free Lace scarf and was ready to get going on another jacket.  I remembered some fabric that I'd received in my last batch of donations that I really liked and wanted to work with.  I knew there wasn't a lot, but I hoped I'd be able to find some other fabrics that would work well with it.  I proceeded to dig through almost all the fabric that I had but I couldn't find anything of the right weight, color and texture.  I was so disappointed, that I just couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do.  It took a while for me to climb out of the box I'd created for myself and move on.

Once again I was grateful for my large fabric stash.  I realized that in order to pick up my spirits again I just needed to start on something.  I knew that if I could just find any coordinating fabrics that constituted enough for a jacket and started to put them together, the creative ideas would come.  Thankfully, that truism--Just Start Something--worked for me again.

I found a set of fabrics of similar weight and brown, gold and beige colors all with linear patterns--plaids, stripes, and boxes--that I thought I could work with.  I started putting strips together and then started couching threads over the top to pull it all together.  I started with a sparkly copper & brown thread similar to the main colors in the fabrics.  Then I found another heavier "yarn" that helped bring out the blue in the stripe.  As is usual for me, I wasn't too sure of my selections until I got fairly well into the process.  Luckily, once I got a large section done and was able to step back and look at it as a whole, I started to relax.  

I think I'll call this one Crazy Brown Study.  I think it looks much better "in person" than in my picture.  I'll let you know how it comes along.

Finally just to put closure on my last post, here's a picture of the completed Free Lace scarf with the silk cocoon flowers.  It definitely has the delicate lacey look I was envisioning when I started.