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!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part VI: Form

Form and Shape are close, close buddies and often find themselves overlapping.  Form is the physical, three dimensional shape of the piece, or the effect of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. Where to the eye a basketball is a circle, to the hand it is a sphere. That's really the basic differentiation.  

MC Escher was a master of using Shape and Form together in the same piece visually.  You see the shape of the arms on the paper, but the hands have taken three-dimensional Form.  

Form takes Shape a step further and determines size and function too.  For a quilt, it is a very important thing to consider - does it need to be large enough to fit a California King bed, or is it just meant to hang on the wall? How much loft do you want to your batting? Are there any three dimensional additions to your quilt, changing it's Form - buttons, ribbons, Trapunto, folding? Do you want certain blocks to jump out that the observer, appearing three dimensional?

A tumbling Block quilt is a great example of visual form, and Art quilts are famous for incorporating three-dimensional forms to the work.  Here's some good examples of Form in quilts:

Have you ever made an art quilt with 3D components?  What would you use to give your quilt and added layer of Form?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part V: Shape

This week is short and sweet and all about Shape.  Shape defines the visual delineations of an object, and is determined by line or color. A shape is always two dimensional, and can either be geometric (with straight sides) or organic (with curved or irregular sides). To the eye, the outline of a basketball is a circle, the outline of a door is a rectangle, and the outline of a leaf is a variable, organic shape that is characterized only by that species of plant. 

Quilters use shape when deciding how they want their quilt to look - do they want their quilt square, rectangular, octagonal, square with rounded corners, circular, rectangular with scalloped edges? Shape is very closely related to, and often dictates, Form (which we'll look at next time in more detail!). One of the most common ways we see this is with scallops.   

But one of the fun things we can do is disrupt the shape - this is one of my favorite examples:

We can also create shape within a quilt by messing with our seams and lines to trick the eye into seeing shapes which aren't actually there.  A great example of this is the traditional Storm at Sea setup.  See how it looks like there's curves in there?  There's not! It's all straight lines at angles which trick the eye into thinking there's curves.  

How to do you like to play with shape in your quilts? Have you ever tried a scallop or beveled finish?  Share in the comments below!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part IV: Line

Line is an element that seems like a no brainer, but is a powerful player when it comes to the looks and feel of our quilts.  It provides the delineation between two spaces, either with an intentional line (like a coloring book outline) or an implied line (say, the line created between two differently colored spaces), and what gives shapes their definition.  Many quilts use straight seams, and those seams create lots of lines within the project that when viewed as a whole are more or less lost in the overall pattern or design.  But when Line is used with intent, it can create all kinds of cool effects.

Let's keep in mind too, that lines don't have to be created by the seam itself.  Line can be found in applique, in the fabric print, technique, and in the placement of color.  At it's very core, embroidery is line work.  Add a little embroidery to your quilt and you're using line for effect. Curved or circular piecing is another beautiful incorporation of Line that gives a piece a unique sense of flow and movement. And let us not forget our trusty, striped fabrics!  

Use a stripe to interrupt more organic shapes, or likewise, add some curved lines to interrupt otherwise linear patterns.  Use more curves to give a sense of flow.  Sharp, straight lines create a crispness and can look super modern.  Think about your quilting - a loose meander versus straight line stitching give two completely different looks - and at it' core, top quilting is simply continuous line drawing.  

Here are some great examples where Line is the main attraction in the quilt:

How do you see yourself incorporating Line in new ways in your quilts?  Do you find yourself more drawn to clean, linear lines or more more organic, shapely lines?  Tell us in the comments below!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part III: Value

We've talked color to death, but Value is an important counterpart to Color and without it even the wisest use of color and placement can make a project fall flat.

Value describes the lightness or darkness of a color and how it interacts in a piece. This is where you find shades, tints and tones.  You can have a wide array of values in a single color, which is why Value is such an important thing to consider. 

Value creates highlights and lowlights.  If your quilt shows a wide range of values, it will be more dynamic and exhibit a greater sense of depth and contrast.  Limit your values and your quilt will blend more and be more static - static sounds like a bad thing, but it doesn't have to be if you're going for a softer look!

One of the tricky things about Value is that at a certain point, values can be difficult to differentiate because they are just. so. close.  So what do you do about that?  Sure, they make those spiffy red lensed specs, but what if you don't have those?  If you have a smartphone, you can see value in the palm of your hand!  Take a picture of the fabrics you are struggling with, but set your camera to greyscale (or, take the picture and use a greyscale filter). If you don't have a smartphone, take the picture and ask a friend to help you convert it to greyscale. Look how much better it helps you see those lights and darks!

 And here's an example using one of those red filters:

Check out how effective the use of Value can be in a quilt - from lots of values to few!

What's your favorite value range to work in?  Let us know in the comments below!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part II: Color

 This week's Element is a familiar one...Color!  But in our Color Theory series we talked abut the kinds of color, and color choice considerations, but it's more than that.  

Where you choose to place your colors can make a word of difference.  Sometimes, finding a 100% exact color match in a print you're working with is far easier said than done...especially if it's an unusual or older palette.  If you find a "close enough" match, sometimes placing it some distance away from the focus is all it takes to trick the eye into seeing a match overall (even if it's not perfect).

Color is also a good tool to accomplish some of the other elements and principles.  Want to move the eye around? Throw in some yellow.  Want to evoke feelings of calmness and tranquility?  Focus on cooler colors.  Do you want to draw attention to a certain feature?  Use a complementary color to make that feature pop.  

Here are some beautiful examples of using color with purpose:

What's your favorite way to use color?  Add your comment below!

The Elements of Art (in Quilting!) Part I: Space

So over the last several weeks, we've talked about the different basic aspects of Color Theory.  Hopefully you've found something helpful, but we're not done yet! 

Let's not forget, quilting is art.  And the Elements and Principles of Art apply to quilting just as with any other medium.  So buckle up, we're taking another journey into the Elements of Art! First up? Space!

Space is exactly what it sounds like - it is the area earmarked for a purpose. It includes foreground, middle ground and background of a composition.  

In quilting it is mainly observed as the areas in between the focus components of a pattern or in the pattern of the fabric. This is where your eye comes to rest from the other colors and patterns. Positive space constitutes the focus pieces, and negative spaces contain the "nothingness," the spaces aside from any focus component. It can be a powerful tool to play the other elements up or down as you need to.  

One of the styles were space is really used to effect is in modern quilting, especially in the more arty quilts.  Space can create secondary designs, allow the primary design to flow, show off a special print you couldn't bear to cut, or give you a place to really show off intricate quilting.  Quilts with lots of negative space tend to stay on the side of minimalism, and have a more calm, sterile look then something with less space.  Here are a few good examples:

Alternatively, sometimes space is severely restricted from a quilt to give a totally different look.  This is frequently seen in scrappy style quilts where the busy-ness and lack of negative space is what makes the quilt shine!  Quilts with less negative space tend to be on one side of the spectrum or the other - low volume and blendy, or dynamic and full of energy - regardless of the color palette.  Here's a couple good examples:

Which look do you prefer - more, or less space? Share in the comments below!