Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Designing Quilts

Last time, I showed some layout options for the Fourth Rail quilt.  Most of my readers and I liked the first option. That one required me to make additional blocks. So I played with the first option, turning all the blocks around so that what was out is in and what was in is out.


I had a hard time seeing it the whole pattern, even with a picture, and realize that I need to make sure there is lots of contrast in the blocks in the center and the corners so the design is easier to see. I might have placed some of the blocks incorrectly, I'm not sure. The center is supposed to be "light" with rings around it.


Then Tanya said something about a spiral, which sounded really interesting, so I laid out the blocks again, this time in a spiral pattern. It doesn't really look like a spiral (unless I make additional blocks which round out the corners).  I think this is the same layout as I showed before, except for the center, but I really like this better, and I will not have to make any more blocks. To me, it looks like a three rail fence with a dark sashing.  I was hoping to be able to join these blocks without a design wall, but I think I will need to plan it out more to make sure there is enough contrast and the colors are balanced.

What do you think? Are the corners okay as is, or do you think I should make "light" rails with dark corners so the turns show better? Then they would look like concentric circles.

I am going to try seeing what it looks like when the darks in the corners are oriented next to other darks. That will make the corners bolder, but may show the spiral. Stay tuned!


In other news, I sewed some ATC holder rows together, and I am so tickled at the secondary pattern that is created! I think this will make a striking quilt even without any ATCs in them. (The dark shadows make it look badly sewn, but I just haven't pressed it yet.)


Here it looks with some ATCs in them. Looks good to me! Most of these cards have a vertical layout, but I am planning horizontal for this quilt.

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3 comments:

Joyful Quilter said...

Have you tried changing your rail photos to black and white to see what shows up? Love how the ATC holder quilt is coming along; what a fun way to display your ATCs.

Allie said...

I think I really need to make a scrappy rail quilt, lol, I'm loving yours. Really like the secondary pattern in your second quilt!

Robin said...

I would just leave the corners alone. They look great. In the second picture my eye gravitates to all the orange polka dot on the left side. This is a fun quilt. (I had to go through six verifications to prove I wasn't a robot - I must not be very good at finding traffic lights - ha!)