Are you right brain dominant or left brain dominant? Right brain-ers are more creative, rhythmic, holistic thinking, intuition-based folk, while left brain-ers are the strategic, mathematical, logistical fact checkers who crave order.
Well, personally, I hate that question because I could never really tell which side I associate more with. It depends on the day. Claiming one as dominant for me always felt like a betrayal of my other half. In my eyes, it’s all about balance. Any situation will benefit from being looked at through the scope of both perspectives.
My best subjects in school were always math and art. Complete contradictions. I loved the rigidity of a math equation which had one answer and one answer only. It was satisfying to have a definite conclusion. On the other hand, or should I say brain, I enjoyed starting an art piece with no end game in mind but rather seeing where the creative juices lead me.
One of my favorite hobbies is quilting. It’s 50% creativity, 50% math & planning. You can’t really just start stitching 2 pieces of fabric together, it’s not going to end well. Half the process of making a quilt is in the prep work; creating a design, figuring out the overall size, figuring out the measurements to ensure it fits together properly – not forgetting to account for the seams. Once that’s all down on paper, you have to figure out how to maximize your pieces of fabric to get the most out of it – and let no scrap go to waste! You must pay attention to the direction of the fabric. Is the pattern on your fabric directional? Does your fabric have a stretch on the bias (diagonal)? All these considerations will affect your construction.
Once all the planning & prep work is done, its time to sew. The logistics have been figured out so let the right brain take over and enjoy the process. Along the way, I find that I swap out colors, mix up blocks and let the design speak for itself in the way it manifests.
These photos show a quilt that I first designed on some graph paper. My goal was to use scraps of fabric that I had lying around for years and fit it together in a way that felt intentional. I had various sizes of fabrics and had to make sure the design I came up with could be done with the sizes I had. I ended up with a simple Aztec design.
Here is a photo of where my design all started as a simple conceptual sketch with some (probably questionable) math on the side. Truth be told, I enjoy the logistical planning just as much as the design process and I couldn’t do one without the other. I guess, in conclusion, I am both born to solve AND born to create.
Liana Hutcheon, Sales & Design