64 McCall’s Quilting September/October 2016

When I started making quilts 30 years ago, I usually chose off-white for back-grounds. That’s what I was seeing in books, magazines and patterns. Fabric choices were limited in those days, and a very light neutral was easy to come by. A creamy color became my back-ground of choice by default.

Over time I noticed that the quilts I liked best used more interesting fab-rics as backgrounds. As fabric choices increased, quilters put more color and texture in their “negative space,” anoth-er way of referring to the background. When used successfully, these more dramatic backgrounds accomplished several things: they helped to highlight the “starring-role” fabrics, they added interest to the design, and they made innumerable quilts more fun to look at.

When I analyze what I like or dislike about a quilt, the background is one of the most important factors. Sometimes the background makes or breaks the whole quilt. So it’s worth learning more about—it’s worth taking the time to ex-periment and find what works for you.

by Diane Volk Harris

part 1Make it Work:

Better Backgrounds

McCallsQuilting.com September/October 2016 McCall’s Quilting 65

Contrast Scale

Spooktacular uses contrast to great effect. The dark purples contrast very little with the black background, but this helps to emphasize the brightness and the higher contrast of the green and orange fabrics. The varying levels of contrast keep your eye moving around the quilt, and that’s exactly what you want.

You can’t select a background without knowing what the starring-role fabrics will be. You must choose them both with contrast in mind.

The size of the print, plaid or stripe on a fabric is called its scale. Scale is always important, but when it comes to selecting a background, it’s critical. How large the scale of a background fabric can be depends on several factors, includ-ing the size of the block. Larger blocks can generally handle prints in a larger scale. Smaller blocks usually need prints in a smaller scale.

Small-scale fabrics make great backgrounds for small blocks, but they can be boring in large patches. Using two small-scale fabrics together may be the least interesting combina-tion of all.

The whole block comes alive when we jazz up the heart with lively fabric in a medium scale.

These photos illustrate contrast, which is what makes a de-sign visible. You must be able to distinguish the background from the rest of the design. The best way to see if you have enough contrast is to stand back. View your project on a ver-tical surface from across the room. Is it showing up enough?

Some variance in contrast is a good thing. I appreciate quilts where some parts have less contrast because it keeps things interesting. But if all of the blocks are low contrast, the design can disappear and often falls flat.

Small-scale fabrics work in small settings like this 4” block.

Small-scale fabrics can be uninteresting in large settings.

Using a medium-scale fabric on a small-scale background is a recipe for success

Spook-tacular, from the Sept/Oct ’15 issue of Quiltmaker

High contrast Medium contrast

Low contrast No contrast

When something is vibrant, it shows life, activity and energy. Perhaps the most important quality of any background fabric is its vibrancy. How lively, active and energetic a background is in relation to the starring role fabrics determines its success. It’s not that a background can never be vibrant; it’s that either the background or the starring role fabric must be less vibrant than its partner, so that one or the other takes center stage.

At first glance, this vibrant fabric wouldn’t make a great background. But when you put a very dark small-scale fabric with it in a 14” block, it’s not bad. Nevertheless, the example on the right shows how a less dramatic backdrop for the dark heart is more successful.

Contrast, scale and vibrancy often overlap, and you must of-ten consider them at the same time. There are no hard and fast rules for what fabrics to use as backgrounds, but evaluat-ing these factors can help you make more successful quilts.

Vibrancy

66 McCall’s Quilting September/October 2016

14” block.

Less drama works more successfully.

The medium-scale print used in this 4” heart block is not ideal as a background. The berry motifs give the impression that the heart is sprouting shapes.

But look at the difference when the same fabrics are used in a 14” block. Now the teal print with berries makes a wonder-ful background.

What about large-scale fabrics for backgrounds? They can be used successfully if they are paired with a small or medium-scale print, but it is difficult to successfully use two large-scale prints together, especially if they both contain many different colors.

4” block.

14” block.

Scale (continued)

Coming in Part 2:Density, direction &pieced backgrounds