So true how the craftblog world inflates the demand. I think craftbloggers are also the first to know so it puts us way ahead of the game. Only now are the central PA quilters seeking and using Amy Butler fabrics when I knew about them after they had shortly come out (years?). I did buy just a few fat quarters of the Denyse Schmidt/Heather Ross fabrics, but they will definitly be mixed with many other great fabrics.

Lovely choices.

In regards to the last paragraph--

Not only is it a blogging phenom, but also a regional and demographic one. So many 'super quilters' could give a flying fig about this stuff that gets our hearts a flutter. I love what these lines and patterns allow us to do-- think and match for ourselves in colours that are inspiring and unique.

oh yeah, totally inflated. I don't know how many times I need to learn that lesson. even now, with blogging and finding so many people with similar tastes, what I'm looking for in stores is not what john q. public wants. I'm always amazed at the hancock fabrics that they're not full of great reproductions and cool mod prints and then I look around at the people eating up fleece by the cartfull and a-ha!

I think following a pattern has great merit. what about the plain spoken. seems so simple but coming up with it on your own would be quite a feat and require a lot of math (not fun). I love having the yardage all worked out for me. just picking out the colors was a huge challenge in and of itself and a great learning experience.

and I think maybe I'm not getting the loose improvisational vibe from ds anyway. her work seems very controlled and exacting to me.

I'm all the way over here in Norway, and, for all I know, maybe only ten people in this country has ever heard of Denyse Schmidt.
It's true that the blog world may give us a biased impression of what's really out there, but that's fine with me. I love having found this world and all the wonderful things in it. As for great designers and their lines, I think there is always a paradox between the great example of the artist and the sometimes conforming merhandise that follows. That said- I love both the DS patterns and her fabrics.

I really enjoyed reading this post, it got me thinking about the pattern vs. original design question. I enjoy doing both, and for different reasons. When I'm feeling creative, making my own stuff up seems so fun, but following a pattern is a much more meditative and peaceful kind of crafting for me. Great Blog! zoe.

I was super excited about the new D.S. patterns, super duper excited. But, the anticipation grew until it came time to buy some. Do I really want these? Will they be everywhere in a matter of months? Not that it matters so much, but will I be completely tired of them? Its funny that my thought process went that way, it surprised me. (I ordered them anyway, because I really like them still.) I think its why I love to use so much thrifted fabric. Its a small amount, I try to make it count, then move on to the next one.

I for one am thankful for good patterns from talented people. There are times I appreciate a certain amount of work done for me in the pattern dept.. Then I can focus on the creative/color choosing/concept part. And I always learn something, always.

Thanks as always for opening up an interesting discussion.

wow kim... such a great post w/ meaty meaty ideas....

i'm not a quilter [i want to be!!] so.... not sure if my thoughts are really relavent, but that's never stopped me before....

i think there is definitely an aesthetic that "we" all seem to like - and hence we all gravitate toward each other's blogs and similar things.... [that's why our swaps are so fun]. i DEFINITELY think that it's not the "norm" in aesthetics though. and that people will be buying fleece with bacon and eggs on it till the cows come home.

i really have no idea how pervasive the DSQ look is or isn't... from an outsider perspective i'd rather be looking at those types of patterns than many of the quilting patterns that i have seen.... and i think there is definitely something to be said for "just" following a pattern. i think everytime you make something [following directions] your body/hands/mind absorb something. you then free up space to take that knowledge to some other place, you know? i'm constantly harping on my students to go ahead and copy what they like. in the end they'll turn it around to something that is totally theirs....

does that make any sense?? now i'm blabbering, but thanks for making me think!

Great post, and I fully understand where you're coming from. What I didn't say in my own post is that I enlarged the pattern pieces for one of the quilts in the book and transfered them to oaktag, bought fabric for the quilt in a very similar palette to the one in the book, and THEN decided I should try making my own quilt without a pattern, so perhaps the one from the book will happen anyway, after all... How is your quilt coming along?

Well, if you take my guild as typical**... I've never even heard anybody MENTION Denyse Schmidt at the guild. And I know that when I was carting The Modern Quilt Workshop around at the retreat last fall, nobody seemed to have heard of that, either. (As for me, I had looked at the Funquilts website before, and admired the quilts, but I didn't know a thing about the book - or the Quilt Along - until KarenD told me.) I will be interested to see how popular the Flea Market fabric line is.

Somebody mentioned Amy Butler, and she is another matter completely. Her fabrics are wildly popular around here, and have been ever since they first came out. I think her lines on the whole are less "edgy" than Denyse's, though.

As far as patterns go, I tend not to use them much - but then, my mother had already been quilting seriously for several years before I started, and I had picked up a lot from her and I think I had a comfort level way above most beginning quilters. I made up a pattern for my first quilt, even (nothing fancy, it was a 9-patch). It was color that I wasn't comfortable with, in the beginning, and it took me a long time to really understand enough about color theory to know what it was that was making me uncomfortable. For one thing, while I never wanted my quilts to match too much, I had to get over the fear of having something clash. Can you put a spring green with an olive green? Now I would... a few years ago, possibly not.

**My guild is probably NOT typical, truly. We meet right across the street from the Johnson Space Center, so that should tell you something right there. Suburban, but extremely well-educated suburban, older but not particularly tradition-bound, some work in high-powered jobs and others stay home and their husbands have the high-powered jobs - and this guild puts out some of the most fabulous traditional quilts you'll see anywhere. (Art quilters are a minority there, but a welcome one - to my knowledge there's no rift between the two as I've heard of other places.)

Great post, Kim! Made me think about a lot of things. I really appreciate patterns, I'm not exact enough with my math skills to make my own (yet), but I tend to want to go way around the bend from the patterns with colors.

definitely thought provoking... I tend to alternate working on a "follow the pattern" project with a make-it-up-as-I-go project - that way, I figure I'll have some (hopefully) guaranteed successes, while also trying to stretch myself a bit. I definitely agree with the inflated blog world enthusiasm... even here in a supposedly progressive and "fashion-forward" state, people are still buying the ratty stuff!

Funny that you should post about this now! I found your site looking for info on Austin quilt shops because a family friend has offered to make me a quilt. She suggested that I find a kit I liked, since she lives far away and can't help me pick things out.

Let me tell you - the DSQ and similar looks are FAR FAR away from being so popular that you can buy a kit for them, that is for sure. I have found nothing that I would be willing to pay for and to have someone spend that sort of time on. I'll be figuring this out on my own after all.

Well - not totally on my own! Thanks to your list I found Ginger's (right by my house) and I feel sure they will be very helpful. In fact, after two visits I've already finished my first quilt top and bought fabric for more, much less the one that will be made for me!

the orange mrs. march! i have been looking at that fabric for months, and of course when i finally went to go purchase it -- all gone. if you ever want to trade, i would be so happy if you could spare a scrap or small square of it.

although, after the initial sadness of missing out on it, i went over to kitty-craft and placed an order. so thanks for lighting a fire under me!

i want to comment on the rest of your post when my brain is more awake.

I meant to comment the other day when I first read your post, and I'm kind of glad that I waited until now to do it.

This afternoon I stopped into the tiny quilt shop in town to browse and ask if they knew if they'd be carring the DS fabric line. The store caters to the mostly traditional, (and in my opinion, has farily bland fabric on the whole) but occasionally has more interesting stock. Honestly, I was somewhat surprised when the woman who I asked said she had "thought that she had heard of that line." She then went on to put me in my place that "you can't get this fabric though--it's not for sale yet." Okay, I'm also used to this in fabric stores; salespeople often seem to treat me as though I have no idea what I'm doing. When I told her that I had seen the fabric for sale online she immediatly jumped in and told me that they don't do any of their business online. Okay, whatever.

I think what really struck me during the conversation is how so many quilters that I've met outside of the blogging community seem to be so closed off to new ideas and concepts in quilting. I'm excited by people like Denyse Schmidt, and Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle because to me, they obviously love the art of quilting but they're not afraid to mess it up a little bit. I'm inspired by the idea that I can take something that women have been doing for centuries, and possibly create something with it that no one has even though to do before. But at this point, since I've really only been quilting for a few years I need somewhere to start.

So I guess what I'm getting at in this rambling comment is that I don't feel guilty making my own DS quilts pretty much directly from the patterns, or using particular fabric. I still feel as though I'm trying to take a step in right direction to be more improvisational, and creative with my work.

Great post - and many interesting, thought-provoking comments. I hope it comes across that I am hugely positive about DS, but feel that it's great to see somthing of the individual maker in a quilt.

My family has a quilt shop in Australia and over the past 8 years they've been in business I've noticed a big change here. Although 75% of the quilters through the door/shopping with us at quilt shows are looking for the very traditional (and in my opinion pretty boring) ranges of fabric, there that other 25% of mostly 20-40 year old quilters that are demanding something different. And that percentage will grow as this group become the 'established' quilters I think.

We stock Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Heather Ross, Sis Boom etc. and we've got the Flea Market Fancy and Field Study ranges on order (plus DS book & stationary and KF books...). But, we still get plenty of Bali Batiks, Red Hat Lady fabrics, panels of every description and more traditional fabrics. What's important is having that mix so as not to alienate the 'established' quilters or the younger ones (like me - I'm 28).

So, rather than saying that these trends are just prevalent in the blogging world - I see it as more of a generational thing and the balance will naturally shift to us over time. Hope my ramblings made sense to someone out there! And thanks for the great blog!!!

OK--I just have to weigh in on this. It kills me to read that people are questioning the "value" of making a quilt from someone else's pattern. When we started our business we had this attitude that unless you designed it yourself it wasn't worth making because it wasn't really yours. We were never going to do a pattern book because in some way we thought we'd be selling out.

Then we started teaching and we started listening to our students who said things like, "I'm a neurologist. I don't want to be a designer. Just give me a pattern." or "I always design my own quilts but I've got a baby shower Saturday and I just need to crank it out." or "This is my first quilt. How am I supposed to figure out how to design something when I haven't even got the technical stuff down yet?" And we realized that the expectations we had were really unreasonable. It's not about whether or not you're using a pattern or not. It's about whether the making of it brings you joy.

It's a scary world out there. We need more joy. If using a pattern is unsatisfying don't use one. But we have been totally inspired and amazed by the direction people have taken our patterns.

And we need to remember the words of Martha Graham:

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you." Amen.

Um, I'm scared to comment because although I'm not a quilter I've been following this conversation quietly for the past couple of weeks and through the blogs. I design a lot of stuff when I have to, or when I'm motivated to, but "making stuff" for me has always been about happiness -- half the time I don't have a clue who is designing the fabrics or patterns I find myself drawn to, because I'm mostly just in my own little "Alicia World" when I'm dreaming. Sometimes I'll get a bunch of stuff home and then I'll go, "Oh -- look, it's all by so-and-so," or whatever. And it doesn't bother me either way -- if I like it, I'll get it, even if I'm following a pattern, even if I'm not. And, believe me, when I find a pattern I like for something I want for myself, I'm completely overjoyed to follow it completely, because that means I can let the part of my brain that is often "inventing" things recharge, and relax, and rest. I often find that the imposed limits that a pattern (or a set of criteria, even)impose can elicit some of the most creative results.

For me, this is a full-on case of to each his/her own. You find what you need in order to take pleasure in the creative journey, and if that means complete originality and reinvention or step-by-step guidance, it's all good. No?

Thanks for this post. I'm making my first quilt right now--the Flock of Triangles in (you guessed it) orange and white. I too had been following this conversation through the crafty blogs and was starting to feel like I was somehow cheating by going with the DS pattern and palette. You're reminding me that that is a perfectly valid thing to do--and can (but doesn't necessarily have to) serve as a platform for someday moving into my own designs!

Hi

I finally hooked up with Amy Butler and posted a sneak peak of her new line...plus she is a guest blogger on my site...Thought you would like to check it out...
Gina
www.quilterbuzz.com