GETTING INTO THE IMPROV MINDSET |
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The best place to start when diving into an improv project is getting in an improv mindset. But what does that mean? Simply put – it’s about abandoning the ‘quilty rules’ and tuning into your creative instincts. This is about letting go of any preconceived notions of what improv should be and just letting loose and having some fun! Here are some guidelines to help get you in the spirit of improv: - Do some stretching beforehand. Yes, stretching! Super simple but being physically limber also tends to free up your mind. You want a nice calm flow for improv. Try literally shaking off your anxieties before you start!
- Don’t overthink things. Sometimes it can be tempting to second guess ourselves. Try and resist that urge and just do what feels natural to you. There’s no right or wrong here!
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FABRIC REQUIREMENT GUIDELINES |
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Improv quilting is a great way to incorporate sustainability in your creative practice. It’s one of our favourite ways to make great use of the fabric remnants we already have on hand and challenges us to maximize our fiber dollars. Plus, having to work with what you have is a challenge in of itself to come up with creative possibilities. In past years, we’ve suggested a prescribed 5-color palette fabric pull for this QAL. This year, we’ve decided to think beyond off-the-bolt and dive into our scrap bins, and we’d love for you to join us! Since we’re working without a pattern, the following fabric requirements are meant as a guide to help you with your fabric pull. We’re aiming to make a 6.5” block size every day, but this is open to interpretation: they can be smaller, larger, or a mix. We’ve brainstormed 3 different fabric options for you to consider: - Go scrappy: this is our plan too! We bet you’ve got a ton of scraps and fabric already sitting in your stash. We encourage you to see their potential. Use the Fabric Scrap Guidelines to help with your pull.
- Use Yardage: use the Fabric Yardage Guidelines to plan your fabric pull.
- Buy a pre-made de-stashed bundle: we’ve partnered with FeelGood Fibers and their awesome de-stashers to help you find a fun bundle that meets the 30-Days of Improv QAL fabric requirements. Shop pre-made bundles here.
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Fabric Scrap Guidelines There's lots of opportunity just waiting to be discovered in your scrap bin! If you want to go scrappy, here are some options to consider: - 2 yards of background fabric + 1 yard worth of fabric scraps
- 1 yard of background fabric + a series of fat quarters
- 2 yards of background scraps in similar colours/tones/values + 1 yard worth of contrasting scraps.
- Pull scraps in only 1 or 2 colours/shades/values amounting to 3 yards.
- Dream up your own mix! There are no rules here, just dive into your scrap stash and pull some yardage, a half yard and a bunch of scraps and see what you can come up with!
Fabric Yardage Guidelines The following amount of fabric is more than enough to see you through making a generous wall hanging, with probably enough leftover for an improv backing (in case you want to hold off picking up a backing): - Fabric A – 1 yard
- Fabric B – ½ yard
- Fabric C – ½ yard
- Fabric D – ½ yard
- Fabric E – ½ yard
- Backing & Binding – 2 yards
FeelGood Fibers’ Bundles A fun new option this year is shopping custom up-cycled bundles curated by some Sewlebrities and de-stashers over on FeelGood Fibers! These one-of-a-kind bundles are packed and ready to head to your home for your improv play! |
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Picking fabric can be the best of times or the worst of times. To help make this a fun experience, here are some top fabric selection tips: Pick up to five different fabrics. Even if you're going scrappy, consider limiting the number of colours you feature in your fabric pull to 5. To add more diversity, consider adding similar colours in different values and tones. This will help keep the overall feel of your colourway cohesive. The fabric requirements listed above are intended as guidelines and are the amounts both of us are using in our projects. To help keep you from feeling overwhelmed we recommend not exceeding five different colours. Fabrics can be: - Prints only;
- Solids only; or
- A combination of prints and solids.
If you decide to use prints, we suggest avoiding large focal prints or florals as their motifs tend to get lost in smaller improv designs. When it comes to selecting colours, here are some things to think about: - What’s your favourite colour? What colours haven’t you paired that with? Use this as an opportunity to explore how your favourite colour plays with others.
- What’s a colour you’ve never played with? This can be a fun time to try something new and see where it leads.
- Consider the colour value. By incorporating a mix of light, medium and dark colour values ensure there’s enough contrast and dimension in your fabric pull. Lighter fabrics have an airy and open effect, while darker values are more grounding.
- Start with your backing fabric! You can then pull colours that are featured in that print to build your colourway from. An easy way to do this is by looking at the selvage as some fabrics identify what colors are used in the print with tiny swatches.
- Play up the warm and cool tones. Warm colours (also called advancing colours) tend to pop, while cool colours (also referred to as receding colours) draw your eye in. You can mix both warm and cool or focus on just one to see what effect it can have.
You can also have fun by mixing several of the above elements. |
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Here’s an example from Shannon: My improv journey started with scraps, and I love that playing with remnants is a new approach being added to the #30DaysOfImprovQAL. What’s super fun about working with scraps is that it gives me the opportunity to revisit fabrics I’ve already played with but explore them with a new approach. Normally, I’m not done with a colour combo after I’ve played with it, and challenging myself to see it from new angles is always exciting. For this pull, I decided to switch it up and start the pull based on what yardage I had on hand. I sifted through my stock and came across that deep orange. I don't know what it is about orange, but it always seems to be beckoning me to play! To keep it fresh, I opted to add in that raspberry-esque purple. It was feeling very bold and richly hued. To help balance that out, I pulled in these pink shades to keep it light and fun. The colours are all within the warm-toned family and vary in value, which should give me lots of opportunity for contrast play. The second element that helped me finalize my fabric pull was thinking ahead to my thread options. What? Considering your thread already? Yup, it's never too early to think about all the different elements you want to sneak into your improv play! One of the internal barometers I rely on for narrowing down my fabric pulls is whether I’m fired up to start cutting and I’m super fired up about these! |
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Here’s an example from Amanda: For this year's 30 Days of Improv QAL, I want to work on skinny strip piecing, creating outlines of shapes and the like. To support this visual idea, I really want my fabrics to focus on making those lines pop, so I have been diving into my scrap bin to pull all the bright colors from recent projects, supplemented with some off-white yardage from my stash to act as the background. I'm excited to dive into year three of the QAL with this personal challenge in mind (plus, with all these brights on hand, I know that if I get frustrated with all the tiny piecing and need a break that I'll be able to still have fun!) |
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The fun is just getting started with lots of cool prizes planned: be sure to check out the #30DaysofImprovQAL hashtag to connect with fellow quilters and get in on the improv fun! Until next week, |
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