6 Creative Journaling Strategies for Quilting

As a quilter, do you incorporate creative journaling into your creative practices? Maybe you already use a sketchbook or a journal as part of your creative habits. But, are you getting the most out of your creative journaling time?

I believe that we all are creative and we all can design. If we have the right tools. Using a journal or a sketchbook is a huge must as a growing creative.

In this post, I’m going to share 6 strategies you can use for creative journaling in quilting. These strategies will help grow your skillset and help master your creative mindset.

6 Ways to Maximize Creative Journaling: 

• Brain Dump 
• Brainstorm
• Idea Exploration 
• Skill Improvement 
• Catalog of Finishes 
• Inspiration 

Brain Dump

The first strategy you can implement for creative journaling in quilting is a brain dump. A brain dump is where you write everything down that’s on your mind. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. 

A brain dump exercise is extremely helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed or if you don’t know what to do first. If you find yourself awakened at 2:00 AM with something you forgot to do, you might find a brain dump useful. While not necessarily a creative tool, a brain dump will clear your head, which will make room for creativity. 

A brain dump, can be used as a creative tool if you find yourself with a burst of creative ideas. When you find yourself in a creative burst it’s better to record everything in the brain dump. Afterwards, you can go back through and evaluate what you want to work on.

Personally, I love my brain dumps! I start every week with a new brain dump in my bullet journal, which is what I use for my planner and calendar. Then I write out my schedule for the week.

Brainstorming

And then the second strategy to use in your creative journaling is as a brainstorm. In a brainstorm you’re following a specific creative prompt (e.g. modern triangles) and recording ideas without editing or critiquing. Then once you’ve got your brainstorm completed, you can go back and start evaluating which designs work better for fabric and which are just really for paper. 

This is an example of one of my brainstorms around Modern Triangles. This particular brainstorm happened over the course of weeks, but some brainstorms can be short lived, e.g. 10 minutes.

A brainstorm is similar to a brain dump in that you are journaling and sketching without critique, but a brainstorm is different in that you follow a specific design prompt. You’re generating ideas around a topic. 

Idea Exploration

The third way to use your sketchbook would be to explore an idea on paper. Here you’re evaluating whether that awesome idea you have in your head would work in a quilt.

In the above sketch, I wanted to create a star quilt using a log cabin or a braid construction. I had the idea in my head, and used the sketch to explore the idea and to evaluate if it would be possible to create. Unfortunately, not all ideas work! And this is one example. Sometimes you’ll have that idea and once you move it to paper, you realize that it’s not going to work the way that you had planned.

Sometimes ideas work. And sometimes they don’t work. Use the exploration strategy to answer the question, “Will this idea work?”

Skill Improvement

The fourth way you can use your creative journaling time is to improve a skill. In 2017, I designed a fabric line, Panache, for Robert Kaufman.

I knew I wanted to try fabric design, but my drawing skills, they weren’t where I wanted them to be. So what I did was to spend a few moments every day working on my sketching skills. 

If you want to improve a skill, all you need to do is spend 20-30 minutes every day for a few months working on that skill. You will be amazed at how just a little bit of time every day can really help move your skillset forward. All it takes is a little discipline (that’s a story for another blog post, eh?!)

Catalog of Finishes

The fifth strategy we can use for creative journaling in quilting is to create a record of what you’ve finished. Record your finishes with important details such as:

• Start and Finish Date
• Pattern Name & Designer Name
• Fabrics & Materials
• Who is it for? And what occasion?
• Pattern modifications
• Block & Quilt size
• Picture

This is something I don’t do, but Sandy Otto in the Quilting In Color Facebook Group, shared this great idea. It’s something that I would love to implement in my own creative journaling habits because it’s important to see our progress. 

As you know, as creatives, sometimes we get down on ourselves. If we create a record of what we’ve already done, we can look back and reflect on how much progress we’ve made. Sometimes just by reflecting back on our progress we can find encouragement.

Inspiration

Speaking of looking back, as you fill your journals and sketchbooks you are essentially creating a catalog of ideas. That’s great right? But! Don’t forget to look back through your journals to remember your best ideas.

As creatives, sometimes we get stuck in our creative ruts, right? Or we don’t know what to work on next. Or we lose our sewing mojo. Well, the solution might be to go back through your journals and get inspired by your past self. There’s gold in those sketchbooks! 

So I remember designing this quilt and I forgot about it. And actually… I cut out the orange peels too. I’ll have to check my WIP pile! Ha!

The take home message, look to your own journals and sketchbooks for inspiration!

Closing

I believe that we all are creative and we all can design. If we have the right tools. Using a journal or a sketchbook is a huge must as a growing creative. In this post we’ve covered 6 strategies you can use for creative journaling in quilting.

6 Ways to Maximize Creative Journaling: 

• Brain Dump 
• Brainstorm
• Idea Exploration 
• Skill Improvement 
• Catalog of Finishes 
• Inspiration 

There’s so much more to journaling than writing or drawing. Think strategically about how you’re using your journaling time. Are you implementing these strategies already?

WANT MORE?

I believe that we all are creative and we all can design. Using a journal or a sketchbook is a must as a creative. If you’re interested in working with me, check out my programs. Whether you are interested in designing your quilts or you want to make one of my signature modern triangle quilts, I’ve got many fun options for you to explore!

• Try your hand at making modern triangles with this free sample.
• Buy one of my books – Modern Triangle Quilts or Modern Rainbow Quilts.
• Make a BOM Quilt – Rainbow Triangles, Stargazer, Solstice.
• Join the Make Modern Triangles program waitlist.
• Ready to learn more about design? Join the Design Improv with Triangles workshop waitlist.
• Find your True Colors inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. Join the waitlist.