Category: Sunday sketch

Sunday sketch #368

I’ve had my eye out for ages for neon/fluorescent pink quilting fabric. I know there are a few prints out there with neon/fluorescent pink elements (think Cotton & Steel and Tula Pink prints), but I’m after a solid. I think there was a manufacturer that did one awhile back, but it doesn’t seem to be available anymore. And from what I could find online, cotton’s not the best substrate for neon/fluorescent dyes. I think the dyeing process is fairly toxic, and the dyes fade quickly. Maybe that’s why they’re not more common?

Anyway, I was recently in my local quilt shop, GJ’s Discount Fabrics, which has a huge range of quilting cottons but also fabrics for dance costumes. Think nylon and spandex and sequins and sparkly bits. They also have neon fabrics, and lots of them. I couldn’t resist – I bought some neon/fluorescent pink nylon, and some woven fusible interfacing that I’m hoping I can adhere to the nylon to de-stretch-ify it so I can sew with it as if it’s a quilting cotton. I have no idea if it’ll work, but it’ll be a fun experiment!

The next thing I need to do is come up with a quilt design. How to use such a bright pink fabric to its full effect? I’m thinking I need to set it against a dark fabric, but beyond that, I’m a bit stumped. Anyway, this all led to some new designs featuring my go-to star, the eight-pointed star. I’ve made them small so they’re little pops of colour against a dark background.

These are actually square blocks in a standard layout (not on point). Each block is made up of 9 small stars, and I’ve just coloured in the stars on the diagonals. Some of the squares are filled using larger versions of the same stars.

And then some of the larger stars can fit a smaller star within them. Cute!

Lots of options!

I’m not sure any of these are the right design for my neon pink fabric. And I’m also not sure how small I could make an eight-pointed star and still be happy with it (in terms of precision). That’s something else I need to practice.

Whatever design I end up trying with my neon fabric, I’ll let you know how I get on!

 

Sunday sketch #367

I don’t have a favourite quilt block (I don’t really do favourites), but I do love a good eight-pointed star. (Basically a nine-patch where each pair of pointy bits fits into one square; contrast that with a sawtooth star, which is essentially a 16-patch where each pair of pointy bits takes up two squares). Here I’ve shortened the pointy bits so they’re half-way between a sawtooth star and an eight-pointed star.

That’s so it fits into the centre of another block, which the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman calls the ‘rising sun’, wheel of luck’ or ‘wheel of fortune’ block. I’ve tiled the new block (which doesn’t have a name I can find, but I’m sure it has one) in a 4 × 4 layout and coloured each one differently.

If I add sashing, you can see each block a bit more clearly (but I prefer the layout without sashing).

There are enough elements in this block to mean that a simple palette of only three colours can still produce 16 unique colourings (at least!). Obviously with a larger palette, you’d have even more colouring options.

Here’s an alternating layout of the two versions I like the most.

And a layout of the two versions that probably have the simplest colouring. I like the big squares that are created in the spaces between the blocks.

I love how much designs can change through simple tweaks to colour placement or colour choice. And I particularly love how a single block can look so different depending on how you colour each element. I played with that concept in Sunday sketch #310, and it’s something that I’ll keep exploring.

This approach (and this week’s sketch) is not necessarily ‘modern’ (although if I tweaked the grid work and introduced some negative space, it probably could be), but I find it very useful (and fun) as a design exercise. You should try it!

Sunday sketch #366

This week’s designs are the last in a series that were prompted by Tara Glastonbury’s ‘design from a brief’ challenge, which she’s doing this year on her blog and in her column for Make Modern magazine. Check it out if you haven’t already – it’s a fun way to play with quilt designs and cultivate more creativity.

The basic block in this week’s design is the same as last week’s, with one minor tweak. Can you spot it?

In two diagonally opposite corners, I’ve added a new curve that cuts into the full circle there. In the version above, those new curves create the centres of the flowers; the other corners of the block create those interstitial stars.

I removed some blocks in the version above, so you could see them a bit more clearly. Here’s the version with the block tiled across the full design. It’s a bit busy for me, but I still kinda like it!

A two-colour palette is possible, but then you get those areas where the interstitial stars are a checkerboard colouring, which I don’t like.

Or the design can be rotated so that the interstitial stars are all one colour, and it’s the flower centres that are checkerboard-coloured. I don’t mind this version, actually! It’s busy, but energetic and fun.

Here’s the three-colour version again, but where the flowers have petals of two colours.

There are enough elements in this design to provide a lot of colour play. You could use a ton of colour (it could get kinda psychedelic) or stick to a smaller palette. And like last week, the construction would just require a lot of half-circles and quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units).

I love a good flower design – they always make me happy!