It may have been Molly's persuasion, but there are a lot of requests for low volume fabric for the fabric giveaway (see January 1 post). And I've got a lot of lights, neutrals and low volume fabric, but if the winner asks for low volume I will to know that we are talking about the same thing. And of course, "low volume" or "neutral" is quite relative to the quilt that is being made.
First, I will want to know the range of hue...for example, Bonnie Hunter calls a fabric neutral if its range is anywhere from white to brown paper bag. And if the quilt is super scrappy, that can work. But throwing a beige in a mass of white is going to look downright dirty. In the range shown above, the white on white fabric is the fourth from the left. The fabrics on the right head toward brown and the fabrics to the left of it head toward gray. So the question I will ask is how far gray, how far tan or just white.
The next question is how busy. The fabric on the far left is a white on white fabric. I tend to make blocks with small pieces and would favor the fabrics that are fourth and fifth from the left. If you have large pieces, the second from the left might work as low volume. And off course the choice also depends on what they will contrast with.
The black and white fabrics in this log cabin are one inch strips (finishing at 1/2 inch). For the most part, these are strictly white on white fabric, and black with dark gray. And thank you for noticing that I finished two more blocks today (a blue and a red).
6 comments:
Whites, ivory, no browns, and a bit of a print is fine. Neutrals, low volume need to let the bright colors shine. I find the browns and grays usually best get paired with Civil War type color fabrics. Love the new blue and red. We get so hamuch gray in Buffalo (like today and yesterday and yesterday...) that I love color that is pure and pops.
whites, ivory, small prints are great. . . I've even been s t r e t c h I n g myself to go a little more in the direction of the the fabrics on the right in the lower photo. The jury is out if I like those or not. . . .
So close to done!
(I'm now quietly jumping up and down)
I used to do more tans but find myself really preferring white, snow, and just minimally off into very light grey or off-white. All of those tan print backgrounds from my early quilting days don't seem to play as well with my current fabric loves!
I'm out of step (or not paying attention?) because purples and greens are what I would most enjoy. Loving the way the aqua and yellow sparkle in your log cabin!
Ceci
When I say neutral, I am meaning neutral low volume. I don't do a lot of white, so anything from off white up to beige is my plan. I fell in love with a neutral disapearing 9 patch flimsy I found at a thrift store for $3, but didn't have the money on my to buy it. Now I have to recreate it to get it out of my head lol.
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