But It Looked Good In-Progress
Have you ever made a quilt that you liked more as you worked on it than after it was nicely finished? I’ve done this enough times that I’ve finally learned how to deal with it. The issue is one of composition and proportion, and it’s especially dramatic with small pieces.
When creating a collage, I work at making the composition well balanced. However, this is tricky since some of what I’m seeing will soon be invisible. It will be lost either in trimming or in finishing of the edges. Once that extra fabric is missing, I may find that the proportions of my quilt are off.
Here’s an example. I like the balance of this little in-progress quilt. I especially like the placement of the bright accent fabrics.
Click any image for a larger view
But, once it’s finished to only 5″ x 7″, it will look more like this:
Hmm. Now that fuscia fabric seems too close to the edge. I’ll need to move it to the left. When I do so, other things may need to be adjusted, as well.
To gauge this sort of thing, I use a simple paper frame with an opening that’s 5 x 7. A very useful trick, don’t you think?
Ellen Lindner
Hi Ellen! I met you & took your workshop two winters ago in Port St. Lucie. I loved your work because I do landscapes too. My suggestion on this is to consider moving the fuschia where it isn’t right at the middle vertically. Maybe down a little so that one of the accents is in the bottom half? Love these colors!
Hi Carolyn, and thanks for commenting.
I did end up shifting the fuschia piece to the left, but not up or down. I decided that I needed to let the quilted versions of these be a little “off”, so I’d have empty spots for the hand stitching.
I’ve just completed the hand stitching on #6 and it really brought it to life. Very exciting!