Scrap Quilting ABC's: Authenticity--Part 3 of 3

Okay, one more post in this series and then I'll shut up and go back to my regular posting! This is the part about scrap quilting that is very difficult for me to put into words. Most people will tell you that color usage and value are the most important components in scrap quilts. I'm convinced that there's a third equally important component: authenticity. All I can say for sure is this: we recognize it when we see it. It's the part of your quilt that shines forth as genuinely YOU.

Let me give you some examples. All of these quilters have a distinct style and most of it has to do with how they put the details of fabric and color together. When you see their quilts anywhere on the web, you think, 'oh, that's so and so's quilt'. Go have a look at: Molly Flanders, nifty quilts, Quilts By Cheri, blue elephant stitches, and Humble Quilts just to name a few. They have learned to be authentic!

Even from the beginning I realized that there were fabrics that appealed to me more than others, such as plaids. For me, they sort of exemplify the utility and a certain timelessness apparent in antique make-do quilts {my favorite style above all else}. After reading Roberta Hortons 'Plaids and Stripes' book, I rushed to add to my plaid collection. After gathering enough fabrics, I was able to make the quilt below--90 sawtooth star blocks made completely out of plaid fabrics! What an exhilarating finish! And then I realized that making quilts completely from plaid fabrics wasn't really 'me'. It was fun, really interesting and I learned a lot about working with directionals. It just wasn't the whole picture of who I wanted to be as a quilt maker.

My Plaid Stars quilt. LOVE the plaids but
there's too many of them together in one place!

The specifics of the fabrics you use in every single quilt are telling a story, hopefully your story! Take a moment to consider what 'feeling' you want to convey with your scrap quilting. Are you brash and bold? Subtle and blendy? Sweet and heartfelt? Sneaky and unexpected? Whimsical? Adventurous? Playful? 

These are all things that can be communicated through the total package of how you put your quilts together. In part one, I addressed color placement and color families. Think about how colors such as pinks and reds can convey sweetness, passion, power or even rage. Unexpected color combinations can be whimsical, unexpected, or perhaps make your quilt appear vintage . In part two I talked about how value changes can help in creating light spots, energy, motion, even sparkle in your quilts. Learn to let your discriminating eye take advantage of value to say something in your quilts. Does your quilt reflect happiness? Rigid formality? Does it make you want to go on a picnic or curl up with a book?

In this quilt, I chose to use a light colored plaid in the background because
it reminds me of a well worn shirt. I wanted the quilt to feel comfortable and
well loved. I used browns to ensure that the quilt isn't pretentious even though
it has a more complicated pattern.The reds have a bit of 'cherry' in them so
they won't have that contemporary look that often feels reserved.
The warmer red brings it down to earth, making it more inviting and cozy. 

Letting your unique self be on display through scrap quilting may seem kind of crazy at first. Think about it this way. Nobody will ever be able to put fabric and color together quite like you do! Why not celebrate that? Take that fabric 'love' that is compelling you to be a quilter and enjoy the freedom of expressing yourself in a totally unique and genuine way!

A really easy way to further develop your personal style in a quilt is through the details of the fabric print itself. Have you ever purposely made a quilt for a man and thought about how to make it more masculine? Made sure not to use any flower prints? There are ways to combine prints that emphasize personality.

All the light colored fabrics in this quilt were chosen because they have a
very soft look. I wanted the prints to be very sweet, light and almost
romantic when paired with the reds. Not cheesy romantic, but like a quilt
you would want to curl up with in at a vacation home somewhere off by
yourself, maybe have a bit of a cry and have everything feel better.

If you're not already, start making a conscious effort to buy small pieces of fabric you love or that pull on your heartstrings. Bring them home and mix them into your stash. Whenever you're in the mood to make a scrap quilt, go to your stash first and start pulling a large selection of fabric. Don't immediately run down to the quilt store to buy more of a certain color. There's probably something in your stash that could work if you only put your mind to it. The fabric in your stash is more YOU at the moment than a brand new piece from the store. I'm not sure why that is, but trust me, your fabrics often need to come home and live with the rest of the family for awhile before they settle in properly!

These fabrics are mostly reproduction style prints or plaids that reminded of
those gorgeous mums we see in the fall. All the lovely summer color
 is dying back and then there's these beautiful pops of color, saying
'look at me!' Color doesn't have to be extravagant to be beautiful. The
creamy white remind me of those pretty, frosty fall mornings.

After you pull some fabrics that look and feel good together, fold them into neat stacks of color families and value. Stack them up and let them simmer for awhile. Then drag them back out for another play. This gives your subconscious, your instincts and that wonderfully artistic eye of yours time to decide what's missing, what needs to be emphasized, the color that could best be the sparkle, or if a certain color will look better in a different style print or hue.

In the geese block, I kept coming back to the idea that some of the fabrics
needed to be more 'aggressive' than others, whether in color or in print.
Finally I just quit fighting the idea and went with it. If the geese want to
squabble a little for dominance, who am I to argue?

For some of us, this time to simmer or marinate is an important fine-tuning step that helps everything gel or 'click' into place. It make us take the time to ensure that color, fabric, and print combination feel comfortable and right. I've heard some people call it 'curating', but for me, it's more about giving the fabrics time to talk. Are the fabrics squabbling like little kids or are they high fiving each other wanting to move on to the good stuff? Only you have the answer to that question! Don't rush through the process every single time. Some quilts take longer than others to germinate, much less to bloom.

These fabrics were pulled out of my scrap bin, but I dug deep
in order to get the feel that I wanted: cheerful, friendly and
somewhat whimsical. This basket ended up feeling very fun and
playful to me, mostly because of the combination of prints and color.

Remember, not all of our quilts are going to the be exact same colors or evoke the same response. For one thing, we are moody creatures. I'm not always in the mood to make a cheerful quilt and I doubt you are either! And too, I rarely ever actually put a name to the feelings I'm trying to convey at the start of building the fabrics and quilt ideas. There is just a feeling in my gut that says, 'No, not that fabric' or 'Yes! That fabric is perfect.' And then, after all the fabric is pulled together and I'm cutting it or sewing it, {sometimes hand quilting it if I'm slow to understand}, the actual 'feeling' of the quilt starts sinking in and I'm delighted by the story it's telling me.

Every time I work on these log cabin blocks, I feel so much emotion. The fabrics
are very soft in color, but the prints have a lot of energy. That contradiction
is extremely compelling to me and I'm so eager to see where this quilt is taking me,
what story of mine it wants to tell!

Be aware that our friends and family are not always completely comfortable with the story we are {sometimes inadvertently} telling through our quilt making. They get accustomed to a certain distinctive style that we have developed and perhaps it feels easy and happy to them. Then we change, grow, stretch ourselves a bit and suddenly we are making a quilt that makes them feel uncomfortable for some unfathomable reason! Perhaps it's darker and moodier or maybe it's not that at all. It could be a bright, graphic and modern look that is making them squirm. Don't worry about what others think! If you're making what feels good and right to you, they will quickly catch up and realize that the new style is just another side of you. In fact, it's probably been there all along and you're just finally getting around to giving it a proper voice.

These fabrics were put together in a formulaic way for a QAL
I did with some friends--same quilt, different outcome sort of thing.
It feels like a quilt that would be taken to the lake when it's 100 degrees
outside. The only problem is, I would be the girl hugging the shade, applying
my fourth application of sunscreen and whining about the heat. It's
entirely too cheerful and shallow in depth to feel like a proper ME quilt!

Because of the open and free-sharing ways of the internet especially, we can all be guilty of getting caught up in trying to put fabrics and colors together in a way that isn't truly us, not down deep where it matters. Quilting to please or impress is a no-win situation because we will eventually lose our joy in the process and feel a disconnect to what we are making. The very fact that scrap quilting involves using lots of different pieces of fabrics, gives us the ability to have a greater amount of detail, layers, depth, plus authenticity in our quilts.

Don't ever be afraid to 'be genuine' no matter how awkward it might feel initially. The quilts that we get the most pleasure out of {even if they end up being given away}, are the ones that have us embedded in every little part of them. And too, interest is interest! I'd rather have five people standing in front of my quilt at the local quilt show discussing why they don't like it, than one hundred people file past with just one quick, little disinterested glance. If there is something so very compelling about my quilt that actually people stop and look at it, then I've got to be doing something right!

Scrap Quilting ABC's: Can't Ignore Value--Part 2 of 3

*Long post alert!! We often read about value when it comes to quilt-making. Value, value, value. That's because value changes are the underlying movement, energy and sparkle in a great quilt. Without it, scrap quilts can look incredibly boring, even if they involve 100 different fabrics. But what does the word 'value' really mean to us? The American Heritage dictionary has this to say: Value is the relative darkness or lightness of a color. And there we go, getting queasy about dealing with color again!

According to the people who make and sell fabric, quilters everywhere are overwhelming drawn to medium value fabrics first. Statistics agree, especially when the minutia of finished quilts are put into the equation. We LOVE our medium value fabrics!

Okay. So tell us what a medium value fabric actually is! Ah.., but that's subjective. Let's try a little exercise just to clarify what I mean. Pick out a printed fabric that has at least three different colors in it. This will be the focus fabric just to get you started! Next, choose {from your abundant stash} one fabric in each of the dominant colors present in that particular printed fabric. Don't spend a lot of time dithering over the details, just grab and go.

See what I've started with below? One blue, one green, one pink and one orange fabric on top of my focus fabric. Very pretty, but a maybe bit flat looking. A beginning quilter would probably be satisfied with these choices enough to get started with the quilt, but we know better don't we?

The first pick fabrics.

Let's assume that those first picks are all medium value fabrics. That's what the statistics say we all do instinctively! As for me and my choices, they are absolutely correct. If I can add any fabric that is lighter or any fabric that is darker {within those same color families}, then I did indeed start with a medium value fabric. It's really just that simple when it comes to defining the value of a color.

Okay. That's easy. What's next? The number one thing they don't tell us about in this theory, is that our medium value fabrics don't have to stay a medium value fabric in our quilts. Huh? Here's the thing. If the 'relative' darkness or 'relative' lightness of a color determines the value, then we absolutely have the ability to choose to make those first picks our light fabrics OR dark fabrics OR even have them remain the medium fabrics. WE DECIDE. Value definition is completely relative to what those fabrics are laying alongside! We don't need a fancy, schmancy color theory book to determine the value range within our own quilts!

So let's play some more and I'll show you exactly what I mean. Add at least two more fabrics to each of your initial colors, consciously going lighter than your first picks.

First fabric picks with 2 or more lighter fabrics added.

Okay, now we get adventurous! Add two more fabrics going even lighter than the previous two fabrics. Trust me, you can totally do this! Even if you have to use fabrics that are almost a white-blue or a white-pink etc., you can definitely go lighter! Every single color can go so very light that from a distance it will look practically white! Whether or not you already have those colors in your stash is another matter altogether. Are you struggling? Finding a hole in your stash? The first time I did this specific exercise, I was amazed at how lacking my stash was in the lighter ranges.

Now, look at the fabrics below with their added four or five fabrics. You have consciously made your initial fabric picks the DARK value fabrics in your quilt! Go forth and make, if this is what pleases your discerning eye. Otherwise, let's play some more, shall we?

First pick fabrics with light and even lighter fabrics added.

Going back to the very first color picks, add two more fabrics each in a darker color. And remember, value changes can be a subtle change or a big jump in range. Do what pleases you!

First fabric picks with light, lighter and dark fabrics added.

Now, let's see if we can push the limits even more! Try to add two more fabrics each in an even darker color. Do you have these colors in your stash or have you just found another hole? Most people will buy a few darker fabrics or a few lighter colors, but not the entire range. Would that be you? If it is, no worries, you just discovered more justification for buying new fabric!

Looking below at my blues, you can see that dark colors can get so dark as to be almost a black. Since this is possible for every color, I could actually expand on the {darker} value with my greens, pinks and oranges if I chose to. It's also important to note that if I took away all the lighter fabric additions, those first fabric picks would end up being my light value colors in the quilt!

See how easy this value thing is? Sometimes we want to play on one end of the color spectrum or the other, not necessarily the entire range. That's perfectly okay. Movement and energy are created by any value change. The specifics of that change are entirely up to you!

First fabrics with light, lighter, dark and darker fabrics added.

So now we see how adding light fabrics and dark fabrics alongside almost any fabric we own can generate a value change. That's important to recognize and cultivate {in scrap quilting especially} because of the infinite amounts of fabrics used. Very good things {movement, energy, areas of light and yes, spark!} unquestionably happen when value changes are fully explored in our quilts.

Adding a sparkle to our quilts is easy with value change too. It usually involves using a 'brighter' version of one of our lights, mediums or darks. This can be any color, but certain colors traditionally act better as a 'spark' than others. Saturated or intense shades of pink, yellow and red are wonderfully sparky colors, but don't discount using a bit of white or a very light hue of any color for that spark as well.

The mantra for any successful scrap quilt should be this: Lights, Brights, Mediums and Darks. Use some of each in every single quilt you make! And remember, using combinations of similar valued hues, whether they be light, mediums or darks, will result in a very comparable {read 'calm'} look.

Value changes in different areas of the quilt make it more lively.

Some examples of value change to look at: In the previous picture, there is a very evident value change in the middle of the quilt {three colors} and also the first basket border {one color}. This makes for a lively and engaging quilt. The outside border; however, reads calmer. That's because the fabrics have a similar value to each other even though they are busy fabrics. In this quilt, I would have to say that the red fabrics act as the somewhat obvious 'spark'.

In the quilt below, there is value change in both the blue and the cream fabrics. The very darkest blues and the whiter creams draw the eye directly in, making the two toned quilt a bit more interesting. This will probably be used as the foundation for some applique work, but who says backgrounds can't be interesting too?

Even a two-color quilt can have value changes.

In the quilt below, there is minor value change in both the greens and the coral-pinks used in the 9-patch blocks, making the eye follow the changes at the edges of the quilt.The use of a solid fabric in the background keeps that area calm and grounded. At the inner flying geese border, I used a lot of value change to create maximum movement and interest. As the geese border the center of the quilt, it helps draw the eye inward and then upward. Even if a quilt is made in colors we personally don't appreciate {my daughter says the goldy fabric I used is ugly}, a good value change is very difficult for our eye to ignore! The very light pink, almost white, flying geese act as a sparky part in the quilt.

This is a picture of a quilt folded so you can see both border edges!
Value change can be anywhere in a quilt.

The red/pink/gold quilt below is a made out of very simple blocks. For this quilt, it seemed better to have value changes happening throughout the quilt. This allowed for fabrics to shine in unexpected combinations and a bit of unpredictability to take place. The pinks naturally act as a lovely spark.

Dutch Comfort has a lot of motion because of value change...

Happy Flowers {below} has a lot of value changes in the blooms. By keeping the background of the blocks and the stems and leaves constant, the blooms get the maximum amount of interest. Using pinks, reds, very light colors and also saturated blues, there is a lot of spark going on in the quilt, probably why I call it a happy quilt!

Obvious value change in Happy Flowers!

Don't forget that there is opportunity for value change anywhere in a quilt. The setting triangles below have such an extreme change in value that they compete with the baskets for attention. This makes for an interesting fade-in and fade-out effect that keeps the eye roving around the quilt for far longer than if all the setting triangles were cut from the same fabric. This is a very fun technique to use with these more mellow colors. It can make blendy fabrics look much more interesting than they actually are!

An interesting effect caused by value change in the setting triangles.

In the quilt below, there are 1008 little squares. I cut each color and fabric based on an actual number percentage! Value changes are fascinating when they happen in unequal proportions instead of absolute repeats. As you can see, there are less red/pink squares represented than say, the blues and a only a few darker colors to contrast very nicely with the larger number of medium and lights. Even though the pattern is very simple, there is a lot of movement going on in this particular quilt because of value change! We should never make the mistake of thinking there should be equal numbers of anything in a scrap quilt. The eye and mind are much more likely to keep finding interest when things don't 'match' precisely instead of thinking 'how pretty' and moving on.

Unequal proportions of color and value often equal interest!

Finding the range of value that is more personal and YOU is just a matter of practice. Learning to recognize the weaknesses and holes in our stash {and making an effort to build up that stash} helps tremendously to eventually make those lively and engaging quilts we drool over. Remember the mantra of lights, brights, mediums and darks and your quilt-making will be stretched far beyond what you are currently accustomed to, I promise.

Part 3 will be about developing our style through the details. I sort of feel like I'm preaching to the choir so please bear with me if any of these Scrap Quilting posts are old hat to you! If you missed the first post, Scrap Quilting ABC's: Color Placement--Part 1 of 3 is here.

Scrap Quilting ABC's: Color Placement--Part 1 of 3

I've been having a few thoughts about the basics of scrap quilting lately. I'm not talking about the scrap attack style of quilts made straight from the scrap bin, but those that include little pieces of lots and lots of different fabrics wherever they may originate from. Making a scrap quilt can be one of the easiest ways to make an interesting quilt. Because of the endless variation in fabric, it should almost instantly engage the eye and/or mind, right? Not so fast! It will only do so if it also has energy, friction, personality and perhaps a unique combination of fabrics. I believe there are some basics {or ABC's} that can help in accomplishing that specific goal.

Let's start with the basic formula of a successful scrap quilt. The first part of this series is all about Color Placement. In order for a scrap quilt to escape being completely chaotic, there needs to be some cohesiveness in the design elements. This is usually done through a formula of sorts. The easiest way to plan out a winning formula is to pick out a relatively simple pattern and then color placement is decided upon based on the components of that specific design. Judy Hooworth and Margaret Rolfe wrote a book years ago called 'Spectacular Scraps' that very clearly explains this idea as it pertains to scrap quilting. I encourage everyone who is the least bit hesitant to experiment with scrap quilting {and color} to explore this wonderful book.

From the Spectacular Scraps book

Simply put, in the book they say that scrap quilting opens the door very wide to expanding the range of hues, value and prints that can be used in a single quilt. Lots of fabrics used equals lots of opportunities for variation! They encourage quilters to experiment with this idea by using a basic 4-patch unit made up of half-square triangles. Each 4-patch is then applied a simple color placement 'formula' of perhaps blues and reds or other contrasting colors. Within those contrasting colors, you would use a large variety of hues, values and prints, thus establishing a color 'family'. Since the color placement always remains a firm constant throughout the 4-patch repeats in the quilt, there is a definite pattern formed regardless of variation in large or small prints, darks or lights used and on and on and on.

Showing simple ways to change the layout of
repeats of the same 4-patch unit

Playing with this theory years ago when I was starting to quilt, helped to clarify some absolutes about my own personal boundaries as it relates to color. And yes, how wide a range I could comfortably expand a color family has definitely changed throughout the years, no doubt about it. But it was the idea of delineating color placement in a quilt and then going crazy within those boundaries that ultimately gave me the confidence to expand my rather narrow view about which fabric belongs aside another in a quilt. Experimenting within the boundaries of a 'formula' allows us the freedom to be creative without as much risk of failure!

How wide a range can your particular personality handle before you decide enough is enough? I personally struggle with using very bright, clear colors, pale hues and large conversation prints, but I learned how to successfully incorporate at least a little bit of those into my color families, making for much more engaging quilts. If I would have stuck to the blendy, blendy fabrics and all the mellow colors I tend to gravitate towards, my quilts would never have grown beyond the flat and boring quilts I initially turned out.

Color is uniquely capable of holding its place in a formula, no matter the details.  Sometimes you can push the range of hues, value, prints in a color family to a point where there will be some fading in and out and some unexpected combinations. Push the boundaries as far as you dare. Then go farther just to see what happens! When the color placement theory breaks down for you personally, then you will have a line that is very clear in your mind and you'll be a lot more apt to trust your own instincts. Don't you rely on those very same instincts already? How about trying to fine tune them a bit?

A sample quilt from the book that I made a long time ago....

This theory easily transcends itself to other patterns and designs such as this basket quilt below. I once had someone ask me how I DECIDE where to mix the fabrics up in my quilts. It's called a controlled scrappy look and pre-determining the formula is key for all of us. You select the area in the quilt that needs to be scrappy and set your boundaries, whatever they may be. Then you play!

I selected a range of browns, greens, pinks and orangey pinks and assigned them a place in the formula--the baskets and the triangles inside. I didn't get too adventurous within the range of colors, but I did add a little more interest to the quilt just  by using more than a single piece of green, brown, pink, or orange-pink fabric per place; ie, block, in the formula. Then I pushed the boundaries a bit more within the background pieces--a place where I could more easily appreciate some obvious variation!

Seeing color hold it's place in the basket quilt

The repetition of putting the proper color (however you personally interpret that color) in a predetermined place in your quilt creates a pattern that the eye easily recognizes. Simply put, the color will hold its place because of the the consistency of the repeat. When the fabrics are varied in range, there becomes a sort of movement in the quilt as the eye will naturally follow the changes in value and hue etc. We've all heard that a 'one-glance' quilt is boring. The eye finds nothing of interest and has seen all it wants to in one glance. When the eye keeps moving around the quilt, that's a success! The eye is too fascinated with what it sees to stop looking!

The fabrics with a little more interest, but still holding their place...

How much variation we allow in the fabric details is ultimately up to us. Sometimes we want a border or section of our quilt to read calmer than the rest. This is easily managed by selecting colors and prints that read in a similar fashion such as small prints with small prints or tomato reds with tomatoes reds. This is where most people feel comfortable, not allowing the extremes in the range of hues, value and print. Newsflash! This can also read 'flat' or boring. I've done it myself. Still do sometimes when I'm being too cautious!

Using similar hues for the baskets....

If you increase the range in your entire color family, the eye doesn't hardly know when to stop looking. Take my Happy Flower quilt. The color placement for the flower blooms is a very simple formula: blue on the bottom, pink/reds in the middle and yellow on the top. By changing the value from flower to flower {within that specific color placement}, the quilt is not nearly as calm as say, the previous red basket border. Both are clearly 'scrappy', but one has more blatant interest. I'll talk more about value in Part 2 as it obviously has its place in our quilts too. Mostly I just wanted to point out that the color placement in Happy Flowers remains very constant!

Mixing things up, but every block with the exact same color placement....

So much fun! You, and you alone, get to decide how lively your quilt will be! By fine tuning your instincts {through practice, practice, practice}, you will slowly learn how to add depth and interest to all of your quilts--exactly when and where you decide to.

Changing up the color placement formula in the blocks....

The thing to remember about using a color placement type formula in your quilts is this: you're always in charge of the details. There are NO RULES! In the quilt above, I decided that every block background would be blue. The blue color family I established includes light blues, medium blues, dark blues, solid blues, plus small print blues and larger print blues. Also, note that there are blues that are more of a sky blue mixed with blues that are almost a green blue--that's a variation in hue. Don't be afraid to push those invisible boundaries in your mind!

Did you notice? In the quilt above and below, I also expanded a color family other than just within one color range such as the blue. In the quilt above, I determined that the block parts would have a color family made up of reds, pinks, greens and blacks. In the quilt below, the star tips are either green, brown or black. Who says a color family has to be made up of only one color? It's perfectly okay to make up your own.

By picking and choosing the areas you where you widen {or narrow} the range in color placement, you can make sure that specific areas read fairly uniformly or else have a bit more pizazz . If you could get a closer look at the quilt below, you would start noticing that the yellow backgrounds really are made up of different fabrics after all, even though they read very similar in this picture. This creates layers of interest in your quilt. Interest from far away and up close too. A good scrap quilt should always have layers of details to keep the mind fully engaged in exploring the differences.

Color placement for scraps can happen anywhere in a quilt, even a border.....

And another example below. I know this is a long post, but it's good to see color placement theory in action! All I did for this energetic quilt was this: Block backgrounds are only greys and blacks. The block parts; however, have an expanded family of pinks and purples with orange {making sure to use different hues}, an increased range in value throughout those parts, and also more play in the print size. The color placement remains constant throughout even though it's not immediately obvious at first glance.

Pushing the boundaries of the color family in the formula.....

This effect simply couldn't happen by only using a handful of fabrics or using the older, more traditional style of creating scrap quilts using the 'Lights' and 'Darks' method. Remember, there are always successes AND failures. If you start small and use simple patterns initially, confidence will quickly be gained just through action and experience. Play, explore and expand what you already know. And don't be afraid to push the limits within a color family. It really does work.

The next Scrap Quilting post will delve into the topic of value. I know, it's all relative.*wink