Can a scrappy quilt be too scrappy?
 

Hi!

I've vowed to not buy any more fabric until I use up a good portion of my small scraps and this is hard because I love buying fabric :D. I found the attached pattern which I really like and I've already cut up enough squares to go to the next step (though it seems to barely have made a dent in my stash). I hope I'm attaching it right, this is my first post.

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/conte..._Web_Bonus.pdf

A couple years ago I made a scrappy quilt and quite honestly, it ended up looking like mud soup. I'm a fairly new quilter and am afraid of this happening again. I'm thinking this pattern will be better because there is a good contrast between dark and light and the sashing should unify and separate and things - both of these were absent in my other scrappy quilt.

Are there any rules in scrappy quilts as to what to use and not to use? I've pulled the 30's repro fabrics as they seemed to clash and didn't quite fit. Most of my other fabrics are rather traditional (as in not modern or real bright), civil war repro, forest colors, some blues some purples. I don't want to make the mistake again of having too much. The lights are a mixture of mostly white, beige, light yellow and a small number of other lights thrown in.

Thanks!

There are no rules! That is a very pretty pattern and I think it would look great in a variety of prints, in lights and darks. Personally, I like to mix scraps with muslin or tone on tone prints so they don't look so busy to me. I guess that means I'm more of a controlled scrappy kind of person. Using a solid sashing also helps tone them down a little.

One of my first quilts was totally scrappy and looked horrible until I put 2 borders on it which unified it. It was amazing the difference it made.

I think sashing or borders could make all the difference in your quilt too.

Just my thoughts on the "too scrappy" issue, if you make a scrappy quilt and find it looking like mud soup, a nice duvet cover will keep it nicely and keep all that work from going unused. I can't imagine that any quilt is not worthy of being used with all the work that goes into making it, the scrappy quilts that my granny made would probably also look like mud soup, but I'd be proud to wrap myself in one of them today!

I think sometimes a scrap quilt can look muddy if there is a wide variety of colors/tones. If you keep to one, like earth tones, or pastels or brights it will look wonderful. This particular pattern that you have chosen looks very good to use just about any color if you were to use one dark color (like black) on the one half of the HST.
Like Katier825 said, you can always tone down with a muslin or tone on tone.
Have fun!

I think "too scrappy" has a lot to do with your personal preferences. I made a mystery quilt last year going really scrappy and it was too scrappy in my opinion. This year I've started some scrappy quilts but toned it down. I kept colors within a certain range, deciding one quilt will be brights and another will be happy colors but with more of a subtle greyed value. I have learned that I like scrappy but controlled scrappy. I like to keep the colors in my neutral prints also in the same color range.

I think this pattern will look great with any collection of scraps. The important thing is the light/dark contrast, and as you can see in the close-up in the link, even that is subject to the occasional exception. If the pieces are small enough (and in this case they are) you can throw any type of fabric into a scrap quilt, including batiks, 30's fabrics, children's fabrics, even solids. When I do scrappy log cabins I don't worry at all about what fabrics I'm using. Afterward, the variety in color and fabric type makes the quilt more interesting (IMHO).

I think honestly that with the lighter ecru being used as top half of the HSTs, that you will not run into any problem. If you use your Civil War Repro and colors similar to them, you will be OK. Obviously, I wouldn't mix any screaming brights into the mix.

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*** No, I love scrappy quilts.
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If things get too muddy make sure that you have light, medium, and dark in the mix. Too muddy probably means all mediums in the same range. Without the pops of light and the drops into dark, the eye doesn't read the difference.