Other artists choose to use recognizable imagery of one style or another. Any approach to patterning can work, but it must make sense to me and the parts must hang together. The relationship can be a visual one of contrast - sharp shapes against soft edged shapes, complimentary colors playing against each other in vivid combinations. The relationship can also be psychological, and this is work I find most exciting. For example, Combining imagery from Asia with abstract shapes printed against a topographical map of an area begins to tell a story that is as interesting to a viewer as any painting.
Contrast is an essential key to producing exciting cloth.
Contrast happens in many ways, including contrast of color, contrast of shape, contrast of texture - shiny foil against a matte silk background for example. Contrast of size plays a big role in keeping a surface interesting. Planning contrast and considering it's possibilities is one of the most entertaining and challenging parts of creating art cloth. Whether analytical, steady and deliberate, or freeform, serendipitous and experimental, the work I respond to first has the maker in it, inextricably and forever. There are many artists approaching their work in this way.