How to Jump Start Creativity—From a Fabric Collage Point of View

What do you do when you get creatively stuck? Or find yourself in a rut? Where do you get inspiration?

When you’re staring at a blank canvas (or in the case of fabric collage, bare foundation fabric) what gets you started? There’s so many ideas, so many subjects, so much fabric to choose from—how do you narrow it all down?

I’m asking you these questions because I get asked these questions from my students, blog readers, and just a couple days ago, from an attendee at my new Thursday Night from My Studio Live! presentation.

Recently I needed to jumpstart my own creativity. Tom and I had put in a few hard months of concentrating on the “business” end of the business: four new online offerings, only one of which had been planned before the pandemic stopped the world in its tracks.

During a previous Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentation, I began an improvisational fish collage using only scraps of fabric, working on it a little more the following morning. I chose to use it as a demonstration for working with scraps and working in a more intuitive way, without overthinking a project. I had so much fun with that demo, and it served as reminder how freeing fabric collage can be. I realized that I was in my own rut with overthinking what my next big project would be. The little improv fish inspired me to try out some more similar exercises—just playing with fabric—the only goal being to have some fun.

After our first four week series of Thursday Night presentations that ended in April, I took two full weeks off to play with these improv ideas. I wanted to use the same format as the demo: just dump out some fabric scraps and see what happens. I know I’m not alone in getting caught up with thinking too hard about a project, to the point of never starting it. It’s easier to tell my students to “just put something down,” “just start.” It’s harder to remember to tell myself that.

But then it was my two weeks of studio time and I just started “doing.”

Here’s what I did. I set up three pinning boards with six “canvases” of foundation fabric, scrap-pieced (glued) of course, and gathered a few clear plastic containers of collected scraps of pretty fabrics. All I knew was that I wanted to do improvisational faces, and I stared at the wall wondering when the Muse would arrive.

In the meantime, I went into the kitchen to make some coffee and a “vintage” metal cabinet we have tucked in a corner caught my eye.

On the cabinet is a few lines of poetry created from those magnetic word kits. A few months ago I had pulled out words and some came together into weird little poems that kinda made sense. Now, I took a pocket notebook and wrote each “refrigerator poem” onto a different page.

I took my little flip book and my cuppa back into my studio and sat in front of those foundation fabrics again. In a sketchbook I drew some rectangles, stared at the words, then started sketching and writing ideas that each poem brought to mind. I ended up with four quick and simple drawings. The one that inspired me the most was of a flower looking at the sky. I had a start.

I picked a vertically pieced foundation fabric—that would fit the shape of a sunflower—and drew guidelines for my flower face directly onto the fabric. There’s a lot of freedom putting a face on a flower, it’s not like it has to be any particular person’s face, or any particular color.

I started placing fabrics pieces on the nose, looking for printed designs in my scrap fabrics that resembled the flare of a nostril. I found it in a red batik, then carried the color up the nose and into the brows. In other words, I didn’t have to think about the color the face would be, I just had to find the shape I wanted, regardless of color. I found some flower prints whose centers looked like eyes, and a couple petals for upper lips.

From then on I was looking for curves in my fabric scraps that fit the outside edges of the flower face. Searching for shapes in my scraps, not thinking about it too much. If I liked the look well enough, I pinned them in place, like dabs of paint filling in my drawn areas.

Within a few days of studio week one, the sky gazing sunflower was done. That was the other benefit of this particular refrigerator poem prompt, it contained the words “sky” and “earth,” giving me a background idea at the same time.

I had planned on continuing with another simple and poetic face in week two. I especially liked the idea of what direction the “green pesto” poem might take me—maybe I was kinda hungry right then and thinking of dinner, which led me to think of evening, which led to a moon—similar to the one as a project in my Serendipity Quilts book and also offered as a pattern on my website. A moon that was satisfied after a “succulent” pasta meal.

So on my second Monday of play-time, I was back in front of the blank foundation fabrics with my morning coffee. The word “succulent” also reminded me I had some succulent (plant) themed fabrics that I had bought for my son Sam, who likes succulent houseplants… where were those fabrics anyway…? One thought (and fabric) led to another and the next thing I knew I was still going to do a moon, but the face would be Sam’s, in blues. By noon I had Sam posing for me, but I didn’t tell him exactly why.

You see, when Sam was three years old, a photo of him inspired me to create “Samuelsaurus Rex.” At age 13, a photo of him in John Lennon-like sunglasses inspired “Peace, Love, Tie Dye, Save the Whales.” That’s when I decided that every 10 years I’d make a portrait of him. I had recently mused with Sam about his upcoming 23rd birthday quilt, but neither of us had any ideas—no photo had spoken to me recently. Instead, the creative spark turned out to be the fridge magnets.

I wouldn’t call this an improv face, and it’s not scrap fabric oriented, and there’s no pesto in sight, but the Muse hit for a second week in a row and I was going with it. I think that the week of playtime with the sunflower face, loosened up my brain enough for Sam’s blue moon face to come to mind. Three days later on Sam’s actual birthday, I was able to show him a mostly completed first draft of his face—and he loved it.

The creativity prompts of the word magnets, reminded me of a couple other creativity boosts that I’ve written about in past blog posts—Bird by Bird by Anne Lammot and Creative Strength Training prompts by Jane Dunnewold.

You can read more by clicking on the links, but here’s an excerpt from my “Bird by Bird” blog post:

During my classes I often read selections from “Bird by Bird.” Especially for beginners, creating a fabric collage quilt can be intimidating. Students often have little or no formal training in art. Translating the vision they have in their heads to fabric and thread can be a steep climb up an icy slope. They need both tools and encouragement to reach the peak. I give them the tools—Lamott helps me give them encouragement.

And from my “Summer in Maine” post:

Each card gives either action or writing prompts and suggests exercises that got me working with media that I hadn’t picked up in years. These cards aren’t about a finished project—I just took an hour a day working quickly in a sketch book—it’s about stretching your brain. The cards took me out of my fabric collage box, and in turn, I found myself thinking more creatively in both my work and everyday life. Thanks Jane!

I just checked and Jane’s prompt cards are sold out, but her book, “Creative Strength Training: Prompts, Exercises and Personal Stories for Encouraging Artistic Genius,” sounds like a perfectly acceptable substitute.

When I’m working in my studio, I often choose to listen to audio books, which I stared doing again these last couple weeks. I have a few favorites that deal with creativity and how to get yourself motivated and inspired. I find that every time I listen to one of these books I get something a little different out of them. I’m going to list a few in case you’re interested in checking them out for yourself:

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

And the afore-mentioned Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

The time spent in my studio with the improv and moon faces, inspired me to set up the second series of four Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentations. Series Two deals with faces and will give guidelines for an understanding of how faces are constructed, and how to approach them from a fabric collage point of view.

The first in this new series, the Improv Faces presentation, is now available as a recording for $5.

Over the next 3 weeks of Thursday Night in My Studio Live!, I’ll be adding to that introduction with concentrations on nose, eyes, and mouth. For up-to-date information visit on the front page of my website. Recordings will be available on each Saturday after a Thursday presentation.

And finally, my inspiration is still running high for Sam’s moon face portrait, and I’ll be continuing to work on it, so stay tuned for updates.