Matching or accent binding?

For years I used the same fabric for binding a quilt as I used in the last border.  It was a rule.  I don't know where I heard it or saw it or who came up with it, but it was a rule and I followed it.  Over the last few years I have pretty much thrown that "rule" out the window and started having fun with my binding choices.

Still, this weekend I chose to bind Patchwork Wishes in the same fabric as I used in the border.

Sewing binding on is pretty boring, so my mind tends to wander.  This time it wandered and wondered if there was any pattern to my binding choices. When do I choose matchy-matchy and when do I chose a contrast?  When I choose a contrasting binding, do I choose a reads-as-solid or a print?

I might have taken a small break to scroll through my quilt photos. Here are some trends I found in my quilts, complete with some brand new close-up photos of some bindings.

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Quilts without borders

When the "border" matches the background, or if there is no border, I usually choose a contrasting binding to act as a frame.  

Fabulous Phlox

Rush

Quilts with light borders

When a quilt has a light-colored borders, a darker binding adds a more solid edge to the quilt.  It also will show dirt less than a light binding would.

Boxed Kisses

Sprinkled

Quilts with pieced borders

When there's a lot happening in borders already, as in the case of a pieced border, a contrasting border might be one extra detail too many.  In the two quilts below, I used a matching binding to avoid pulling the eye away from the pretty pieced borders.

Positivity Squared

Prairie Mix

Quilts with prints in the border

I used fabrics that read more solid to corral the prints in the borders of these quilts.

Knotted

Crossings

Notice that Crossings also has a pieced inner border, so obviously the "matching binding when there's a pieced border" above is not a hard and fast rule!

Prints or Stripes for extra interest

Most of my quilts end up with a fairly plain binding, but every now and then the right print comes along to add a little pop.  

Sailing School

Saling School also belongs in the "quilt with no borders" category, but repeating a print from the quilt really kicked the binding up a notch.

Stripes can be stricky.  You need to find a striped print with colors that go really well with the fabrics in your quilt, but if you do, it can be really fun, like the diagonal stripe on Tic Tac Who - puppy version.

Tic Tac Who

A print binding against a solid border can also work.

Focus Squared

Repeating a border accent

Multiple borders with a binding that repeats the fabric from an inner border can emphasize the idea of the border as a frame.  It reminds me of a picture frame with molding.  You can see that in Focus Squared above, as well as in Starlight Plaid below.

Starlight Plaid

Scrappy quilts and other quilts with scrappy bindings

With busy scrappy quilts, I can go either way:  a quiet solid binding to contrast with the busy scrappy center, or a scrappy binding to embrace the scrappiness.

Quilter's scrapbook has a lot going on in the scrappy blocks, as well as the pieced border, so the red binding matching the border avoids adding one more element to the mix.

Quilter's Scrapbook

None of my pictures of scrappy quilts with scrappy bindings really show the binding well enough to illustrate.  My Temperature quilt isn't technically a scrap quilt, but it does have a scrappy look and the scrappy binding repeating all the colors works really well.

Temperature quilt

Temp quilt back - because this is a better picture of the scrappy binding :)

I also like to use up leftover strips if there are some several leftover after making a quilt top with precut 2 1/2" strips.

Star Chips

Matchy-matchy bindings

After all that analysis, you may wonder if I still use matching binding.  I do.  Not very often, but I do.  Genrerally, I'll use binding that matches the border if there's a lot happening visually in the rest of the quilt and I feel it doesn't need to have yet another element stand out.  That was the case for Patchwork Wishes which I bound this weekend.

Patchwork Wishes - pattern release coming soon!

(Patchwork Wishes will get it's very own post soon!  Stay tuned.)

Tell me about your binding choices. Do you have any guidelines you follow?  Do you like your binding to fade into the background or pop with color?  Any favourite successes or some you wish you had chosen differently?

Happpy quilting,

Joanne

PS: You can read about how I machine bind my quilts here.

Where did this scrap come from?

I pulled scraps recently to start testing a new design.  I chose a blue and white color scheme because my blue scrap bins are overflowing and I hoped to make a dent in the blue collection (Spoiler:  This quilt did not make noticeable inroads into the blue scraps.)

A tiny portion of the blue scrap stash

These are most of the bits I chose, and pulling them did lower the level in the blue bin, but then I didn't use up every fabric so the level in the bin went back up again after I had cut everything I needed and put the rest back

Back when I made Quilter's Scrapboook in 2013, with scraps from my first 13 years of quiting, I could remember which fabric each scrap came from. Guess what? I can't remember most of those anymore. It was finish #25, 109 quilts and 12 years ago.  I now have a lot of scraps I can't identify, but I did pretty well with this stack of blues.  There are some I can't quite place.  The bright blue with tiny stars, under fabric #3 above, is driving me nuts.  I feel I should know that one but can't place it at all!

Just for grins and giggles, here's where the ones I identified came from:

1. Snowflake tote bag 2016
2. Simply Snow 2019
3. Hoarfrost 2016
4. Backing from Clear Skies 2013
5. Window valance 2004
6. Blue frosty versions of Geese Across the Table 2019 and Hovering 2022
7. Twist 2008
8. Rush and Side Trails 2023
9. Jelly Bean Stars 2012
10. Which Way North 2015
11. Focus Squared (I think!) 2021
12. Sprinkled (the blue one) 2020
13. Forty-Eight (AKA Seeing Stars) 2014

Here's the scrap I'm most excited about:

I didn't think about it much as I cut up the last of it for this quilt, but as I sewed I let my mind wander.  When I picked up this square, the thought that this just might be the backing from my very first quilt popped into my brain and wouldn't let go.

Can it be?  I've browsed through all my quilt pictures.  (It's not like I had anthing else to do.  Ahem. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)  I can't think of what else it might be from, but it could have been the backing of that first quilt.  I texted my brother, who owns it now, but he's not a fabric guy, so he couldn't say for sure.  The quilt is at his cabin, and he was not at the cabin, so I am still awaiting confirmation. 

All that to say I might have just used up the last bit of my very first fabric scrap, over 25 years later.

If you're curious about my first quilt, pop over to  Leanne's Devoted Quilter blog, where she interviewed me for her "My First Quilt" series.  You can read about why I made it, how I made it, and how I almost kept it.  Here's a peek:

I'd love to hear about your oldest scraps, or really any of your scraps.  Do you find it hard to use up the last piece of something?  Do you remember what project you bought the fabric for? Do you like to think about where you used the fabric in the past, or are you focused on the project at hand?  Let me know in the comments!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Colour Value Mystery Solved: Evening Light

 My Colour Value Mystery Quilt-Along (QAL) wrapped up last Thursday.  Over 1200 quilters signed up to receive the clues.  I don't know how many sewed every week, but I was excited and inspired to see all the different versions taking shape as some chose to share their progress in the Quilting with Canuck Quilter Facebook group. 

The theme of this QAL was how different fabric choices and value placements can affect the design of a quilt.  I made two versions using the same fabric and the same pattern but using the fabrics for different elements in each quilt.  Here's how that worked out.

Evening Light by Canuck Quilter Designs
Traditional version on the left, modern version on the right.

I find it fascinating how my eye is drawn to different parts of the design in each version.  In the version on the left, I see rows of chunky starburst.  In the version on the right, my eye places equal, if not stronger, emphasis on the groupings of four 3D pillars where the blocks meets and the white star seems more delicate.

This design is Evening Light, originally released in 2021.  I have updated the pattern with guidance on choosing fabrics to make the traditional (on the left above) or modern (on the right above).  

I tried to include dual illustrations, showing the appropriate colour values for each version, but that made the pattern cluttered and confusing, so I settled for illustrations showing the values for the modern version.  If you're making the traditional version, use the color/fabric key to help make sure you're using the correct fabric at each step.  You can read more about colour keys here.  If you need help figuring out relative colour values, your might like to view your fabric selections in grayscale.

Have you experimented with swapping color values or otherwise moving them around in a design?  How did it turn out?

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Pattern available as a download in my Etsy shop