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9/7/21

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part VII: Texture

Texture is such a fun element in quilting.  You use this all the time, often without really giving it intentional thought!  Texture is the either visual or physical feeling of a space, and obviously is very important in quilting since we can have it both ways.  Texture can be implied visually through the use of line, color and value, like we see in landscape fabrics.  

Think about all the wonderful woodgrain fabrics.  Or the tweed prints where you just swear it looks like it should feel...tweedy...but when you touch it, it doesn't (which is just how convincing that visual texture is).  But then we have flannel. Minky. Wool. Silk.  All of those give very different visual and physical textures.  

We often hear very strong opinions about mixing fibers and textures in a quilt and sure, there are considerations to be made when mixing fibers, but to this day we have yet to have the Quilt Police rappel from the ceiling and cite us for mixing fibers!  Can you applique cotton onto wool, or vice versa?  YES!  What about tossing a flannel into an otherwise regular cotton patchwork? Absolutely!  Just be mindful of stretch and shrink, as those aspects do differ between fibers.  

One of the places we see this most is in crazy quilts.  There's ribbon, a huge range of fabrics, embroidery, beads - you name it, it's probably been in a crazy quilt.  Raw edge applique provides more texture than a blanket stitch. There's so much more!  Below are just a few examples:





Would you ever mix textures in your quilts?  Why or why not?  Let us know in the comments below!


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