inspiration from outsider art, knitting, and
Asian and A frican influences. N ew patterns
are often inspired by the most simple, every-
day item s-w ords, colors or m otifs. R ecent-
ly, a delicate blue-and-white design on a
paper napkin at a bar m itzvah spoke to Du-
braw sky, w ho brought the napkin home to
sit quietly until it emerges in her w ork.
“I’ve always been interested in taking a
traditional pattern and distorting it, blow -
ing it up into something else. I’m a very
improvisational quiltmaker—I really like
sew ing things together and seeing w hat
emerges. I let it take its ow n form and
reveal itself to m e.”
H er creativity has led to a full-time
business that occupies her six days a week,
and provides a good part o f her income. Still in
Austin, she has a husband and tw o daughters.
T h e biggest daily challenge she faces is
h ow to best divide her time betw een the
multiple processes that go into her quilts.
W h ile she w ould like to spend some days
doing nothing but sew ing, other days only
creating fabrics, the reality is that almost
every day is divided among different tasks.
U ltim ately, she feels she is most productive
doing a bit o f everything each day.
D ubraw sky shares her revelations in her
second book,
Fresh Q uilting: Fearless Color,
D esign, and Inspiration
(Interw eave Press,
$27), to be released D ecem ber 7. T h e book
includes 20 contem porary designs for quilts
as w ell as for scarves, curtains and other
accessories for the home. T h e focus is on
projects that anyone can m ake, from simple
to more involved patterns, w hile encourag-
ing the reader’s ow n innovation and sense
o f adventure.
“I like the process o f discovery,” D u -
braw sky says. “I don’t especially care for
seeing the finished product in my mind’s
eye before I’ve finished the project. Y o u
don’t know exactly w hat’s going to happen,
and I’m O K w ith that. I don’t even
w ant
to
know ; w hat I love are the possibilities.”
+
Shelley Seale is a freelance w riter in A u stin ,
t x .
Dubrawsky is open to a
wide variety of tools to
make patterns; likewise,
in her books and kits,
she urges artists to find
their own way.
C r u c ia l T e d h n iq u e s
D U B R A W SK Y U SE S T W O M E T H -
ods to create her fabrics: batik
and shibori. W ith the batik meth-
od, D ubrawsky uses all manner
o f household item s-potato mash-
ers, wooden block letters, callig-
raphy brushes, cardboard and
just about any kind o f vegetable—
to place the w ax on the fabric.
Once the pattern is laid w ith
w ax, the entire piece is over-dyed
and left to dry. Then it’s boiled to
remove the w ax, leaving the un-
Sh ib o ri
dyed pattern where the w ax pro-
tected the fabric.
T h e Japanese itajime shibori
technique is a shape-resist meth-
od. T h e original method uses
wooden blocks, but Dubrawsky
compresses plexiglass shapes
onto the fabric to block the
dye, creating patterns such as
squares within squares.
M ost o f D ubrawsky’s pat-
terns are multi-colored, involving
multiple dye processes to lay
additional colors inside the
shapes created using shibori
or batik. T his is done by over-
dyeing one color on top o f anoth-
er for new hues and intensity,
and by discharging or bleaching
to remove color for a more
complex design.
D ubrawsky shares her meth-
ods in her first book,
Color Tour
Cloth: A Q uitter's G uide to Dyeing
and Patterning Fabric
(Lark
Books).
046 american craft dec/jan n
