Creativity can come from all kinds of different places. We can be inspired by the world around us, projects we see on social media, local and global world events, the seasons of the year, and so much more.
But have you ever thought about how YOU can be an inspiration for other quilters and sewists?
Although we often quilt and sew as solo fabric artists, we should also harness the power of sharing our work with others.
Think about the impact that a quilt designer or other artist has had on your life by sharing their own works, perhaps as a source for inspiration. Can you now return the favor to another quilter by sharing your own work?
There are at least three different ways you can help inspire other quilters; sharing your finished work, sharing your process, and sharing things that inspire you as an artist. Let’s take a closer look at each opportunity for sharing below.
Share your finished work
Share your finished works with the world! This is the fairly “traditional” way that quilters share their projects.
You can share your finished work by:
- Posting pictures of your completed quilt or sewing project to your personal social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
- Sharing pictures in online sewing and quilting communities. Many of these communities are free to join, and they often have designated days for sharing finished projects. (Join our free Facebook group where we share our finishes every Friday!)
- Participate in Show and Tell at your local quilt guild or sewing circle. Most guilds have time set aside during their meetings for this exact purpose!
A few tips for sharing:
- When sharing online, always try to include the name of the pattern and the pattern designer.
- Give credit to anyone who helped you complete a project, such as the longarm quilter who did the quilting for you.
- If posting pictures online, consider adding a watermark to each photo to help ensure you get the credit you deserve if the image is shared. Use a free program like Canva to make this easy.
- Remember that once you post an image online, it’s on the internet forever. Even if you delete the image from one site or platform, it’s likely still going to exist on other pages on the internet.
Share your process
Sharing your finished project is great, but it’s also fun to share the process as you sew along.
We know that quilting and sewing can be a messy hobby that looks complicated to others who don’t know how to sew. Sharing your process as you work can help demonstrate that we all go through that same messy period before we get to a finished product.
Ideas for progress pictures include:
- Fabric selection
- Cut out pieces before you sew them together
- An “action” shot of the fabric being sewn on your sewing machine or by hand
- A close-up shot of the details of the quilting
- The perfect points you made on a single block
- The back of a finished block or flimsy
- A series of photos as you sew each row of blocks togehter
Share what inspires you
Don’t limit your sharing simply to sewing and quilting projects, but also consider sharing things that inspire your fiber artistry.
Pretty much anything can be a source of inspiration for our quilting and sewing. Help spread inspiration to others by sharing the things that you personally found inspirational, as you never know what might help another quilter who is struggling on her own!
Inspiration sharing ideas:
- Quilts or other sewing projects made by others (don’t forget to include the artist’s name plus any information you have about the quilt or pattern itself).
- Images from daily life that make you think of quilting (tile and parquet floors always look like quilts to me!)
- Pictures that revolve around a theme, such as a specific color, pattern, or texture.
- Quilting quotes (check out our Facebook page where we share a quilting quote each Wednesday)
How else do you inspire other quilters?
We’d love to hear how you share your quilting and sewing to inspire other! Share your thoughts by commenting below!
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