Retraining Your Quilting Brain
Posted by Liz Aneloski on Aug 24th 2017
A thought-provoking excerpt from Modern Quilt Magic by Victoria Findlay Wolfe:
I find that we are trained to look at what is in front of us but get stuck because our brain tells us something different. We have our preconceived ideas about what we like and what we don’t.
I often hear people say in class, “Oh, I don’t like orange,” or, “I don’t like brown.” But that might be just what their quilt needs! If you take the time to retrain your eye to look at the colors in front of you and how they react to the entire collection of fabrics you’ve chosen—as well as looking inside each individual color in a print—you may find that orange or brown are there and will work great in your quilt! Often, that orange might just have the brightness you need to perk up your quilt, or that brown may have the right amount of depth needed to add movement to your project.
Remember to look with your eyes and not with your head. Avoid saying, “I don’t think it will look good.” Cut the fabric, lay it out, and look at it. Put your layout up on a wall to look at it and take photos of it. Step back to look at your work. I guarantee it doesn’t look the same as it does in your brain! Then make your decision.
Think positively. Look closely. Quilting is fun!
