Using Big Prints

Do you use big prints? Or do they make you wonder? I am curious about what stops quilters from acquiring the big, bold, beautiful prints in lieu of small blender prints.

Ever since the early days, I have gravitated to the fabrics that appeal to my imagination. They get the story started and from there all kinds of ideas are born. This old circus print by Alexander Henry demanded that I make circus tent blocks to bring the concept of the circus to life. I was driving in the car thinking about it and the triangles came to mind. I couldn't wait to get busy making it.

 

This large floral print by Denyse Schmidt begged to be cut into circles to accentuate the roses and to use the light and dark fabrics for the points of th sunburst block.

 

Today we have lots of large prints that are great for dramatic borders. They bring whimsy and drama to the quilts. There is an excitement in large prints that says...Look at ME! I am here....I am confident, I like what I like!!!

Big prints like my birds from A Wandering Mind can be used as feature prints in big blocks and then accentuated with smaller shapes in the surrounding sashing strips. The sashing strips are a great place for the stashes of blenders and small prints were we only need color to make the statement. Having said that, large prints cut up scatter the color palette throughout the quilt begins us to connect the dots.

The sashing can be pieced or just strips of blenders that accent the detail colors of the prints.

When talking about fabric I have to mention plaids..of course. Look how this plaid like fabric picks up the colors in the bird print....yummy. That is what I love!

Here is another choice that is perfect. It is small but adds bits of light and air to the bird while still working the fabric.

Have a look at your stash. This year in my workshops the most consistent observation I made of fabric stashes was that they were full of tone on tone prints. It is a good idea to look for what you don't normally buy to make what you have already collected work for you. Let the fabric do the work and you will make great quilts!

So tell me, if you're reading this...do you want to activate your stash with some big prints a little bit more now? K

 

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Comments

[Tarnia Hodges]

My LQS has shifted in the last week, and has had a clean out of what they decided were unlovable fabrics. They are big prints, in old fashioned prints. Your post has me thinking I need to take another look at them. At $5/m it would be a pity to pass them by.

[Pam]

I do have a few big prints in my stash and were I to use them, I would do just as you say: cut them big to preserve the image and then build around it with smaller pieces . . . I just have done that yet!

[Sally Ickes]

Will have to re-think fabrics I was going to weed out...Thanks for this timely post.

[Jenn R]

When I first started quilting I loved large prints. I bought them then didn't know how to use them in a quilt. A year later, I started making bags and thought this is a great way to use those large prints. Then I found a Material Obsession book and went "aha". So exciting to see them used in quilts and it gave me the confidence to use them.

[Amy L]

It just so happens that I have a yard of that Alexander Henry circus print percolating in my stash. It may have to bubble to the top after the current quilt, which uses an older piece of large Disney princesses, is finished. The princesses are framed and surrounded by vintage, ditsy florals. Thanks for the encouragement to love big prints.

[Jan]

I've definitely started considering more large prints recently!

[Suzanne]

I do love the big bold fabrics. I am just timid about pairing them up with other fabrics. Thanks for the little push

[Susannah]

Great post. I have the opposite problem. If my stash was a party it would be filled with all the loud people:) You should do an online course or dvd on using these big prints!

[nellie]

I love this post!

When I started stashing fabric, I gravitated toward loud and bold prints. Then I realized, I had a lot of volume and needed to tamp it down with some lower key prints and started collecting those. Now, I just have too much fabric. ;)

Seeing your quilts (particularly the circus one!) has gotten the gears turning again on how to better use the big prints that I love so much! Thank you for the beautiful insights, Kathy!

[Peggy Holt]

This is precisely why I love your work. No one is that bold around here, so consequently the shops don't carry the types of fabrics that I so long for.

Big and bold....my kind of launching pad! And the busier, the better.

A great and succinct argument for using beautifully large print fabrics.

[Angela Atkins]

My "I can't breathe, I have to buy this" fabric purchases tend to be large print fabrics. I have a yard on my design wall now of French Bull's Mosaica that I got at Quiltcon. Digging through my books to figure how to keep it intact--and yours have been most inspirational. A great chance to be creative and try some new things!

[Lynninwa]

I love large prints, having said that I have about an equal amount of large prints and testures. I do need to get some more medium prints with white in them. Kaffe Fassett is a favorite of mine.

[bricolos du lundi]

I like the way you put together these big scales with geometric fabric .. a real inspiration .