how to design a quilt – step 3

  • design
Reviewing your work is a critical step in developing your design skills.

Welcome to the How to Design a Quilt Series.

This is an ongoing series about all the phases of designing a quilt. I talk about quilts here because I am a quilt maker. But you can apply this design process to any medium you like – painting, drawing, embroidery, whatever your jam is.

In this journal entry,  we’ll cover the third stage of designing a quilt – reviewing an idea. This design process is based on my working system that I have honed over many years as a designer and quilter. And it consistently produces an effective design and is a proven way to get not only an idea for a quilt design, but a unique idea for a quilt design.

getting started

You’ve got a great idea for your next quilt. But how can you really be sure that your design really is awesome? That it will stop the scroll and get people interested in your work. Can you confidently say yes, this is a design I want to share with the world?

 

This journal post is part of a series on how to design a quilt. So far in this series on how to design a quilt, we’ve looked at how to use the key of iteration to really get to the heart of our design idea. We have also developed an understanding of what the design elements are.

 

And now that we have a framework for looking at our work, let’s go deeper again and use these design elements to look at our designs and really refine them so we can confidently share our creativity with the world.

 

Take a look at the video (or keep reading if you prefer) and we’ll recap the elements of design and then we’ll jump right into 20 questions to ask yourself when refining your design.

 

watch the video to get all the details

a quick recap

Let’s recap the elements of design: they are colour, line, value, shape/form, texture and space.

Check out the video I did which goes deeper on each of these if you’d like some more info.

 

Now that we have this toolset, how can we use it to really elevate our design and come up with your best design yet.

 

I’m going to propose a series of questions here that act as prompts for you to evaluate your design so that can be confident in taking it forward. This idea should be the one you worked on through iteration and something you want to take further, into the making stage.

 

So, you want to be thinking about or holding that design in your hand, have it in front of you. At this stage you might even have drawn it a bit bigger, with more details, or you might have digitized it and have been playing with it and tweaking it.

 

I’m going to break down these 20 questions into themes based on design element. This is a series of questions you can consider anytime when looking at your design. Skip over the ones that don’t apply to your work.  

how to use these questions

Depending on the complexity of your design, some of these questions might not apply. Choose the ones that make sense.  Don’t forget to leave me a comment below on which question resonated with you the most.

 

So, when should I be asking these questions?

I know you’re thinking this might seem a bit like overkill for a simple quilt block design. I’m not suggesting you need to go through this process for every design. But asking and answering these questions about your work will help you develop a real sense for what it is you are trying to design.

 

It’s not just about bang it out in the fastest way possible. This consideration and reflection on your work is such an important part of developing your design skills and creating the best designs you can. After all you want to design something great, right? Not just another quilt…

 

Reviewing and thinking about what you have designed is a critical step in developing your design skills and improving your design eye. It really is one of the best ways to grow as a designer.

 

 

check out the 'how to design a quilt' series

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