Susan Garrity was introduced to quilting by her husband’s grandmother. Starting with traditional quilting, Susan now explores a variety of textile art techniques to create her body of work.
How long have you been quilting and designing? How did you get started?
I grew up sewing, mainly clothing and had a tailoring business for a while. In 1976, I met my husband’s grandmother who traveled from Italy at the age of 18 to be with her husband (and never returned home or saw her family in Italy again – can you imagine?). She was a quilter, one of her sons-in-law was a machinist and he made her templates from metal, which I am very lucky to have now. That was when I knew I wanted to be a quilter.
She, like most quilters back then, using whatever fabrics that they had, remade used clothing into quilts. We lived in England when our children were young, and our 5-year-old son really wanted a quilt using the tiny soldiers from a Laura Ashley fabric. That was my first quilt. Like many, I started with traditional quilts and explored from there.
When was the first time that you remember realizing that you are a creative person?
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Good question…I have always been a curious person. The phrase “what if” is popular in quilting, but that is what got me started making what I call my two-layer silk quilts.
I printed one image on silk organza (with a lowered opacity), which is the top image. The second image, which is related to the top image, is printed on silk charmeuse, is heavily quilted. Then I add the top image and quilt lightly. The borders are added, quilted, and finished. For me, that was the realization that I was a creative person. From there, I wondered how the quilts would change if a light was behind the center image, and then I started adding frames.
Fall Aspen Leaves
That lead me into using my images to create my own fabrics which I printed and used around the center. This picture has an LED light behind the center section.
Tell us more about your evolution from traditional quilts to art quilts. How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?
In using Photoshop so much I got interested in trying different filters. The image below shows one flower, printed nine times, each time using a different filter. Once quilted, I added beads just for fun.
From the two-layer silk quilts, I took my images and using several design programs, started to design fabric from an image. I first did this with small individual pieces.
I took a table runner into our local fabric store to find a backing, and two ladies who were shopping there insisted on buying the panel I made. It was a simple piece with moose – I had pictures several walking down our street, then designed a border from those images…then added lighted wreaths, scarves, and hats to the animals.
What was simply meant to be a table runner for our guild Holiday exchange, was the start of a local business with a friend, called Kits by Susannie. We used our own images to design fabric and sold them as kits (either printed as an entire piece, or with borders and blocks that were sewn to the center panel).
About the same time, I realized when I start a new project, I am anxious to get started – reading directions simply frustrates me as I just want to sew. The best way to avoid this is to design your own patterns.
I love challenges and enter them frequently. This allows me to have a theme, yet no set pattern.
When I started designing my own patterns, I think the switch from traditional to art quilts was natural. I didn’t use blocks; the designs were more overall and leaned toward art quilts. Now, I am more willing to take a chance on an idea that may fail, when earlier, I avoided those options.
What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?
At heart I am a piecer, I have made fused pieces, appliqued pieces, and collage pieces. But I am happiest when the entire quilt is pieced.
Another one of my more successful quilts is a paper pieced, wedge style design. This design was created on my iPad and drafted full size on Swedish tracing paper. I used the Inktense pencils to find a color combination that I loved.
I made this quilt, Radiance, for the first time simply to see if it would work. The pattern requires a hand finish on two spots in every other wedge, simply so the seams nest together. Small point, but now everything is pieced together.
Then I spent hundreds of hours in Photoshop drawing the 1-pixel lines for each seam. Then came the arrows indicating which way the seams would go, and the numbers for each piece within each section, and on and on.
I wish I had kept track of the numbers of layers I had…The full-size pattern is printed professionally and is quite easy to follow. But I had no idea how much time would go into this pattern.
Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
We live in a beautiful place, so many of my quilts are inspired by what I see around me. When drafting a new pattern, I find myself being drawn to geometrics, and if the actual visual idea doesn’t work with a geometric thought, I will use the colors in the quilt.
I like paper piecing for the exactness it provides, but not all designs can be paper pieced.
One of my favorite quilts is simply snowflakes (I love snow, which is a good thing given where we live). Each snowflake was cut from paper just like we all did in grade school, then cut from fabric, the raw edges folded under and appliquéd to the hand dyed background. I used metallic and holographic threads to recreate the glitter I see when snow falls.
When I find no new ideas pop into my head, I will think of one shape, and start with that. Currently I am working with triangles.
I remember looking out a window and seeing the ski tracks down the mountain. Lircles (lines and circles) was the quilt design from that sight.
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
Humm, I want to say planner, but that may not be completely accurate. It seems with most quilts I design, they are planned, but at some point, I have to improvise or I decide I want change the plan. Perhaps my planning wasn’t perfect? But it gives me the chance to add a little something that I will remember about that quilt.
When is your most productive creative time?
I used to be a morning person, but now find I enjoy afternoons more. I can spend from 6 to 9 hours a day in my studio, but that frequently includes time at my computer.
Simply being in my creative space calms me and encourages me to try new things. Some of my best ideas have come to me during the middle of the night.
Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?
Oh, I was hoping this question didn’t come up!
I like to think of myself as a finisher…but I have maybe 20 unfinished projects. Several years ago, I made a rule that I had to finish 3 UFOs before I could start something new. It lasted the entire year, and I got a lot of UFOs out of my closet. But that wasn’t my most creative year.
I have also given myself permission to give away projects that I no longer want to finish, which has helped tremendously when counting my UFOs.
Describe your creative space.
I am so very lucky! Six or seven years ago we decided to remodel our home.
And I got a studio – a large, well lit, amazing studio. I have almost always sewn in our bedroom (wherever we lived), and gotten a lot done. However, now I have my first design wall (an entire wall!), fabric storage that is incredible, a 6’ x 4’ cutting table at my perfect height, two machine spaces, a long arm, two pressing stations, AND a closet for more supplies.
My desk and computer are in my studio along with my printers I use to print fabric. I overlook a pond and golf course with a south facing wall and west facing wall filled with windows. Beyond amazing.
I worked with my cabinet makers to design a fabric storage system. After determining the weight of 1 cubic foot of fabric, the cabinet maker could change the design so there was no contact with the floor when pulled my storage drawers out.
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
My first instinct was to say no, but in thinking about it, my most successful pieces were first developed in a sketchbook.
I think a sketchbook allows you to try different lines in a pattern and then compare them easily from page to page. I am a big fan of Derwent Inktense pencils and always use them to color in sketches, adding a touch of water to make the colors bloom.
For me, color makes all the difference as you are drafting a pattern. Which is why when I believe I have the pattern finalized, I print 10 – 12 copies (at 8 ½” x 11”) and then color.
Lines and Circles was done in an online (zoom) class with Irene Roderick.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I start a new project as soon as I get excited about it. Sometimes that leaves a partial project on the design wall. Fortunately, I have enough space for two or three projects to be up, depending on the size.
Actively, I only work on one, once I get my mind headed in one direction (i.ie. one project) I keep it there. There are some periods where I don’t have a new idea pop into my head and that is when I try to finish those projects left dangling.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
Swarovski Crystals sponsored an art quilt challenge several years ago and the art quilt had to be an original design inspired by music. I woke up one morning and drew the design. I don’t know where it came from, other than I was working on a series of quilts that used wedges.
The keyboard and piano were pieced in along with about 20 different pieces of white fabrics.
Interesting note: I made this piece with a friend, I simply cut apart the pattern that I drafted on Swedish tracing paper, gave her the odd number wedges and I took the even ones. Went together like a charm, despite using different machines.
The fabric for the swirl was one piece of a gradated fabric – we had the patterns labeled as the colors and the whites, so everything matched when sewn together.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
My favorite part of the design process is selecting the colors to use – there are so many options. And the placement of those colors can completely change the pattern look.
Frequently if I feel like I am struggling selecting the colors and placement, I will put the project away and try again later. That can be frustrating, but it happens, and I have to tell myself it will come, just at a later time. When I force it to happen, I am never as happy with my choices.
The challenging part of design is knowing when you have a complete package…I lean towards details, very small quilting and small pieces. Realizing a design is complete, and telling myself “no, it doesn’t need more detail in the piecing”, is always a challenge.
On the other hand, occassionally (well, really, it’s rare) I will start a project with no thought about the end product. I started cutting strips of blues that I liked and those ended up in a quilt called “moons over bars” that was juried into several shows.
How does your environment influence your creativity?
That’s an interesting question. If I consider my environment what I am surrounded with at the time, then it influences my creativity immensely.
When I am traveling with friends to a class, quilt show or retreat, my creativity feed can off of them. We can throw out ideas for hours – the trick is remembering them or writing them down or drawing ideas that appeal to me.
I found I can’t force creativity to appear, whether in a quiet time I have planned or in small groups. Creativity shows up when it wants to, you just must be ready.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
Early in my work I jumped around a lot, always wanting to try new things. And today, when I feel myself slowing down a bit in ideas, I jump back into trying something new.
Whether it’s new to me or new to the quilting world, makes no difference. It gets me excited to see what will come of these efforts. I also find looking back at earlier work can motivate me…I see a detail that could be changed, improved, or drawn out and I want to try to do that.
Do you critique your own work? What is your process?
I found it difficult to honestly critique my own work. Because I had an idea of what it should look like, it doesn’t allow me to make sweeping changes, even if needed.
Good critique groups are rare and hard to find. You need a balance of opinions from people you really trust. The people you ask to critique your work need to be a variety of types – if very close to your way to thinking, you may not get any fresh ideas. If too different, you may not willingly accept their critique.
And the ability to suggest change(s) to someone’s work is a learned skill. Trust is everything. I have a small group of really good friends that I share work with and trust.
What traits, if any, do you think that creative people have as compared to people who are not creative?
My family consists of my husband, our son, and our daughter, and me (now expanded with spouses and children). Three of the four of my immediate family are engineers…I am the only one in my right mind. (As you can imagine, they were not fond of hearing this statement of fact. 😊 ). I believe the difference is our approach to problems, and there is no one correct approach… It is possible my approach would go way out on a limb while theirs would be the most direct. But I find more options out there on that limb, and it is much more fun!
How have other people supported or inspired you?
I love to take classes and have found many people who have inspired and encouraged me. Hilde Morin, Irene Roderick, and Ricky Tims are just a few I have found wonderful. They are most gracious in sharing their knowledge, encouraging students to try new avenues, and providing inspiration.
Where can people see your work?
www.susangarrityartquilts.com (hasn’t been updated in a while, but I hope to get to that sooner rather than later.) And, you can find my patterns on my website and kits at www.kitsbysusannie.com.
Interview posted April 2024
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