Possible duplicate post
When putting away hand dyed fabrics, I noticed that my least favorites, the dark muted pieces, actually looked pretty good together. I decided to make a quilt with them, and to include a few accents of lighter colors. I was headed for a quilting retreat, so I packed up my potential fabrics to see what I could come up with.
First, I wanted to get the color palette right. I threw all possibilities up on my portable design wall and easel combo.
Not bad, but I could see that some of these colors would need to be used in smaller amounts. See the next photo for modifications. Note that I scaled back a few of the brightest colors. (Ignore the blue tape.)
I spent quite a bit of time getting happy with the palette. Then, I started joining fabrics in pairs. Next, I altered each pair in some way. Maybe I added a skinny line, a skewed alignment, or a curved seam. I call this process”slicing and dicing.”
I continued adding alterations, trying to make each unit interesting. Other than making sure I mixed up the colors well, I didn’t think about composition, shapes, or joining. Once I was home, I assembled units into larger sections.
Finally, it was time to think about composition, size, and shape. I spread out units to see what I had. I was happy with the level of energy and interest, but I didn’t want a horizontal quilt. I knew I’d need to make additional units for the top and bottom, and to fill in some other places. No more random “slicing and dicing.” I was now designing “with intent.”
Watch for my progress in the next post.
Ellen Lindner
