Neutral fabrics can make other fabrics "play nice" together.
As you may have noticed, black is my favorite "neutral." These hand-dyed fabrics would be WAY too bright side-by-side for my taste, so I separated them with bands of black.
This is the horizontal version of the very easy "Stained Glass Lasagna" quilt. For directions, click here.
For more photos of quilts that use black as a "neutralizer," click here.
This is the horizontal version of the very easy "Stained Glass Lasagna" quilt. For directions, click here.
For more photos of quilts that use black as a "neutralizer," click here.
"Neutralizing" with cream or muslin
(This page is under construction.)
Cream/muslin or white are probably the most common "neutralizers." Because they're so light, most fabrics except pastels will read as darks when they're placed side by side. This allows good contrast in the quilt without a lot of sorting. (No more, "Is this a medium or a dark?")
The quilt to the left is a Churn Dash quilt from my friend Nancy, who made it for a male hospice patient. It's done in Civil War fabrics, and the background is unbleached muslin. From Nancy:
"Here's the quilt I made for a male hospice patient. The blocks are CW
churn dashes on unbleached muslin. I tied it. I loved this quilt
and like thinking that it is keeping a sick man warm."
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Cream/muslin or white are probably the most common "neutralizers." Because they're so light, most fabrics except pastels will read as darks when they're placed side by side. This allows good contrast in the quilt without a lot of sorting. (No more, "Is this a medium or a dark?")
The quilt to the left is a Churn Dash quilt from my friend Nancy, who made it for a male hospice patient. It's done in Civil War fabrics, and the background is unbleached muslin. From Nancy:
"Here's the quilt I made for a male hospice patient. The blocks are CW
churn dashes on unbleached muslin. I tied it. I loved this quilt
and like thinking that it is keeping a sick man warm."
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Neutralizing with Colors You May Not Have Considered
"Neutralizing" with Navy
This lovely quilt was made by Stephanie Driel. She does a couple of things here that make a lot of very different fabrics look good together.
First, she uses navy blue as her "neutral." Using one single fabric in every half-square triangle in a quilt like this is a great way to make a lot of other fabrics fit in the same quilt, and navy goes with essentially anything. (Because navy is a darker fabric, it pairs best with lights and mediums, like these, which give enough contrast to let the pattern shine through.)
And second, she groups her triangles by color, and uses a color wheel-type strategy to arrange her triangle sets. Notice how the upper right of the quilt has fabrics with reddish tones, and how she groups the warmer colors together. Then she moves into the cooler colors before ending with a sparkle of yellow in the bottom left. (It looks like there's also dark-light grouping that gives a bit of a color-wash effect.)
This color-grouping strategy can be effective in a lot of different patterns.
Gorgeous quilt, Stephanie!
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First, she uses navy blue as her "neutral." Using one single fabric in every half-square triangle in a quilt like this is a great way to make a lot of other fabrics fit in the same quilt, and navy goes with essentially anything. (Because navy is a darker fabric, it pairs best with lights and mediums, like these, which give enough contrast to let the pattern shine through.)
And second, she groups her triangles by color, and uses a color wheel-type strategy to arrange her triangle sets. Notice how the upper right of the quilt has fabrics with reddish tones, and how she groups the warmer colors together. Then she moves into the cooler colors before ending with a sparkle of yellow in the bottom left. (It looks like there's also dark-light grouping that gives a bit of a color-wash effect.)
This color-grouping strategy can be effective in a lot of different patterns.
Gorgeous quilt, Stephanie!
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Neutralizing with Green and Black Sashings
The flower blocks for this top were also very, very bright. (The photo doesn't even come close to capturing how bright they really are. What can I say? I like bright. But the brightness isn't quite as harsh in real life as it is in the photo.) I used green and black to neutralize and calm them a bit.
Green, especially dark green, can be a good neutral color because your eyes are used to seeing it in nature with other colors. (Think flower leaves and stems.)
I'm checking with the person who gave me the idea for the flower blocks to see if she'd mind if I included the flower pattern on this site. Stay tuned.
Green, especially dark green, can be a good neutral color because your eyes are used to seeing it in nature with other colors. (Think flower leaves and stems.)
I'm checking with the person who gave me the idea for the flower blocks to see if she'd mind if I included the flower pattern on this site. Stay tuned.
