Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

I wouldn’t kid about needing fabric now, would I?  And, actually, I did. 

I’ve been working on my barn quilt, and decided that the sky needed something.  I liked the patterns near the top, but I thought the mottled fabrics at the horizon were a little boring.  But, I didn’t have more  patterned fabrics that were in the right colors and values.

Click any image to enlarge

So, I HAD to go shopping!  (Hee-hee.)  Since I wanted more patterned pieces for the sky, I decided maybe I needed them for other colorways, as well.  I set off for the store with the goal of buying things with noticeable patterns.  Fabrics that I might not typically buy.  And this is what I came home with.

I’m pretty delighted with them.  I think I can use several of the blues (and greens and yellows?) in the sky, right away.  And maybe some reds in the barn.  If only I had owned that brown and black check when I was painting tree fabrics.  It would have been perfect without any additional effort.  Plus, I’ve got a few plaids and other fabrics.  These are the fabrics that are a) difficult to use, until b) you need a really specific something and then you’re oh so glad you own them!

You may have noticed the fabrics in the right stack.  They’re not especially patterned, except for the front one.  No, these meet another goal:  to buy light fabrics every so often.  It’s so easy to be seduced by the saturated colors of medium values, and overlook these needed pieces.  So, every now and then I buy them “just because.” 

And the striated one in the front didn’t meet either criteria.  I just bought it because I loved it.  A girl is allowed to do that isn’t she?

How do you decide what fabrics to buy?  Do you always buy for a particular project, or do you have a stash that’s built up for whatever you might need?  Do you ever buy fabrics purposely outside the range of your normal taste?  Or very light ones?  Rather dull, grayed ones, etc.?

Ellen Lindner