Design Inspiration, Fiber Postcards 02-02-12

I'm sure that anyone who creates anything original is asked how they get their ideas.  I always feel that they come to me out of thin air, but my brain knows that the inspiration can come from just about anywhere.  I have tried to track down the source of that initial spark and a few times I have been able to do so quickly, but most of the time I don't know - it just appears inside my head.  When I teach a class I always try to give students an idea where they can seek inspiration when they are first starting to do original design.  Postcards provide an opportunity to try a great many designs within a limited format and the making of the card is not going to take months, as a quilt might. 

One place a novice might begin is to look at fabric designs and cut out pieces to compose in a new way on the postcard.  This fabric is several years old and was designed by Ruth B. McDowell and her daughter Leah.  It makes a charming baby quilt and came in several colorways. 

This bunny jumping out of a top hat is cute and is within the size restriction of 4" x 6", but I don't like the fact that he is tipping over!

So, I have cut him out of the background and will fuse him to a different background.  Since the color contrast between the bunny and the hat is so stark I will have to try a number of fabrics to find one that works. The dark line between his ears is a shadow since the motif has not yet been fused down.

Here is an overall small pattern - the color works, but I think the pattern is too busy.  I'll keep looking.

Here is another possibility from the same fabric.  I fused a rectangle of Wonder-Under to the yardage in the correct place so that I didn't have to worry about off grain stretching when I cut out the postcard shape. 

 

If I am deciding to use a preprinted fabric design I sometimes cut a window template 4" x 6" to see how it is going to work.  As you see, the motif I am looking at is a little smaller than the postcard size, I will have to put a narrow border around the card or throw exactitude out the window and use it this way.  If our quilting background is traditional it is sometimes difficult to let go the strictures we have learned when making patchwork fit together.