Old Tip I still use -"Cuttin' Up"

By accident I ran across a old tip which I just saved for my new  tip file.  It so happens I use this tip all the time mostly for button painting..  some times a subject does not suit itself to a round button shape and sometime changing an image makes it more interesting... Here are two examples... A rooster in full strut  is not conducive to a small circular shape but if I make a copy and a reverse copy and cut them up I can fiddle with position. By lowering the tail and reversing the head, it is much better for a round shape..

 The same is true for a quail in this position...a strong diagonal which heads right off the block or button.   By reversing the head, it is more interesting composition.

If you liked playing with paper dolls this tip is right up your alley...  Below is the original post five years ago and a complex design achieved by cutting up an image... one of my favorite blocks...

Tip on Adapting A design to your Space

- posted 3/13/2012

Wendy's blocks arrived and she has asked for a peacock theme and her block is six inches square...  I wanted to do a whole peacock which really lends itself to a rectangular space such as at the left...

I had already gathered lots of peacock images a couple years ago when I was working on my challenge block so it was easy to go to that file for inspiration.

Usually when you see peacocks in a square format,  they are either in a "tails up" position or are very stylized such as art nouveau or Jacobean.. 

I had some criteria in mind... First for materials I have a rather rustic gold cording that I hope to use for this block and so the design has to accommodate that.  I want to focus more on the tail than the rest of the bird and it has to fit in a square....

Something such as this is leaning towards what I am thinking...  The tail is bold and simple enough for cording but I am not crazy about the general design.... so I get out my scissors and print several copies of the image and cut it into puzzle pieces... and start playing around...

I'll cut out the head and neck, the body, and the tail and start arranging them and rearranging them until I see something  that brings a spark and will fit in a square format...

Something like this....  I use paper cut outs a LOT in my crazy quilt work.... most often when I am testing the size of design...

So if you have a design you like but it is not the right shape, rather than spend a lot of time with pencil and eraser......cut it up and arrange it to please you.

Using this method this is the final design to fit in a six inch square
















and here is the final block....