sewbizgirl

re: POST 26... MeadowMist this is a beautiful quilt. In this case the neutral background provides the contrast, so it works to have mostly medium value fabrics for the "darks" against that background. Love the way you arranged the double rectangle blocks.

Wintersewer

I AGREE with Dunster!!

Wintersewer

AZ Jane, I LOVE your quilt!! IMHO, a quilt with just 2 or 3 colors is not attractive AT ALL. Just goes to prove, "Different strokes for different folks." That's what makes this world so wonderful!

Wintersewer

Great ideas Prism, thank you.

[Prism99;7459116]On a slightly different note, if it were me trying to use up a lot of small scraps, I would opt for something easier than the pattern you posted. It's a lot of working cutting scraps into 2-7/8" squares. If you cut them 3" for this technique and plan on cutting the finished triangles down to size (which makes for more accuracy), again this is a lot of work and a lot of time.

For your next scrappy quilt to use up fabric, you might want to opt for something that would be faster and less demanding in terms of accuracy. This would allow you to get to the buying-more-fabric stage faster!

Here are some things I might do. Piece small, uncut scraps together to get bigger pieces of pieced fabric from which I could then cut bigger pieces to piece together into a quilt. For triangles, for example, you could do 12" blocks made up of a light pieced triangle and a dark pieced triangle (made with the same technique you are using). You could cut any shapes you want out of your created fabric.

I just think you are making it awfully hard on yourself by choosing a pattern that starts out with such small pieces, as it will take a long time to make the quilt. Of course, I am looking at it primarily from the point of view of using up enough of the scraps quickly to be able to buy fabric again. This is mainly because, knowing myself, I would get bogged down with cutting, piecing, pressing and assembling so darn many small pieces! If you can see your way to creating larger pieces of fabric from your small pieces *before* cutting, I think you would see a quilt come together much faster.[/QUOTE]

Dodie

I absolutely love scrappy quilts I also love making them one of the classes from the late great Mary Ellen made us put strips in a paper bag we had to sew what we drew and if anyone peeked she blindfolded them not only was it one of the most fun classes that I ever went to but there was some very nice quilts that came out of that class wish I knew how to post pictures I would show you some but I am sure if you go to google and search scrappy quilts or on pinterest you will find lots have fun

tropit

Oh...that's a good idea for picking the color choices to use in a quilt. If someone is color challenged, then they should just go to the pros that create commercial packaging. Those people have gone through a long learning process in school and their professional careers to know what looks good together...it's their job.

~ C

Just Jan

I agree with WinterSewer and Prism. If you plan to make many half square triangles, I strongly suggest you invest in an EASY ANGLE ruler, and if you don't already have a June Tailor Shape Cut I strongly recommend purchasing that, too. Not a day goes by that I don't use mine. You can quickly and accurately cut squares, strips and square up HST and even completed blocks. My Shape Cut in my sewing rooms and my coffee pot in my kitchen are two must haves that I can't live without!

Just Jan

Yes, that's a good idea for picking colors for a regular quilt, but not for a scrappy. The only guide lines for a true scrappy is to use as much variety of prints/solids and colors as possible, and be sure to use high contrast fabrics; Unless you want to make a controlled scrappy by limiting the amount of colors- but you still need a variety of prints/solids with high contrast.

RST

I'll respectfully disagree that you *NEED* to have a variety of prints and solids and sizes of prints to have a successful scrappy quilt. Even the degree of contrast can be negotiable. You do need different values to achieve some pattern, but those values do not have to be super high contrast -- it does help to have the amount of contrast somewhat consistent throughout, though. So you can run into trouble if you have some blocks where the contrast is jet black vs. snow white, and then other blocks in the same quilt are cream vs. tan. You can pull off a scrappy quilt with lower contrasts if you are careful and controlled about keeping the range of values very purposeful. Taking a photo of the blocks on a design wall and then looking at them in grayscale is a quick and easy way to check how well you're doing.

I think that the rule that the smaller your pieces, the more inclusive you can be for a successful scrappy quilt is probably the best guiding principal. If you only see an inch or two of the fabric, chances are it can work as long as you are able to scatter the more compelling colors or patterns relatively evenly throughout. For me, vivid reds, yellows and some oranges are almost always going to need some careful placement. Sometimes a neon or bright grass green acts the same way too.