How to Buy and Use Low Volume Fabrics
There was a time when if I wanted white in a quilt, I used solid white fabric. I had a selection of favourite whites in my stash, in yardage, so I could choose the best one for my quilt whenever I needed it, and when any of them ran out, I restocked them. These days, I only have the scraps of those white solids in my stash, and I never reach for them. I prefer to use low volume fabrics. I like the interest and the scrappy vibe they give to my quilts. I buy Low Volume fabrics in 2 categories. Read on to discover what I look for in low volume prints, and how I use them.
Low Volume Background Prints
The type of low volume prints I eat through most quickly from my stash are the background prints. These are low volume basics that read as white or cream (known as white on white) or they have a very subtle coloured print. I use these when I want the low volume fabrics to be the background, for applique or for joining shapes between blocks. In my Scrappy Monet Quilt above, I've chosen my most subtle background fabrics so that the flowers can stand out.
When I'm buying Low Volume Backgrounds, I like to get half yard or yard cuts of the prints so that there's space for large background squares, and because I tend to use them up so quickly (you'll notice that I use them in all the types of low volume quilts below). Ruby Star Society's collections are my go-to for these kinds of prints, because they usually have one or two per collection, in a wide variety of florals and geometric styles, in the warm, soft white that I like.
You can see in the quilts below, Good Things are Coming and Flock of Stars, that I have also included the occasional low volume print with a high contrast, or dark print. I like doing this for a bit of interest and movement, but mostly I want the focus to be on the blocks themselves, not the in-between bits.
Note the difference in backgrounds between my Meadowsweet and Laurel Quilts below. With Meadowsweet, I only used white on white prints and the focus in completely on the flowers, and I didn't want the prints to compete with the blue backgrounds. With Laurel, I used a real mix of prints, including some that weren't even white. I love the slightly noisier look, especially because the wreaths are all green and blue. But I do notice that every time I look at it, my eye is drawn to the black and white half circles. If you want the focus to be completely on the colours and blocks in the quilts, make the backgrounds as subtle as possible. If you want a bit more noise and movement, times where you look at the background before the block, throw in a mix of high contrast prints also.
Feature Low Volume Prints
I love having a selection of low volume prints that shine on their own in my stash! That's because I LOVE making entirely low volume quilts. When I make a low volume quilt like my Hexie Harvest below, I dig through my stash and scraps for everything that can be tricky to use in most of my quilts - high contrast prints, large florals, prints that have a white base, but the large or loud or busy design on it means that it doesn't get used for backgrounds. I just love the look of these all together, love that it creates a soft, colourful quilt where I haven't really put much thought into colour placement or palette, LOVE that I get to use tricky prints in my stash that don't get used for other things.
If you're in the habit of buying full fabric collections by various artists, you probably don't need to buy specifically for a project like this. Most of my low volume stash is made up of prints bought in fat quarter bundles made up of other colours. But if it's not, my special favourites tend to be from Rifle Paper Co, Heather Ross, and many of the Art Gallery Fabrics collections. Liberty Fabrics often has many too. Mix these feature prints with your more subtle backgrounds for balance, and so that the feature prints get to shine.
My Rosemallow and Cherish quilts above are perfect for showing off your favourite feature prints in the hexagon centres. For the outside rounds I made use of low volume prints I find tricky to use, many that don't even read as white when you step back from them. For Cherish (right), I also included various pastel colours to give me more options for the border rounds.
My Kindling Quilt, below left, uses the same sized hexagons as my 6" block Cherish above. Keep the hexagon papers and reuse the shapes for a beautiful, simple hexagon quilt! It's perfect for using prints like that tricky-to-use pink stripe or busy florals.
Below, right, in my Bonnie Quilt, I've made use of every feature low volume print in my scraps! I like that using this variety means that I can often see the shapes of the jewels within the flowers. If I'd just used a mix of subtle prints, they'd look more like flower-shaped blobs. I used a louder collection of prints in this quilt than I usually do in 2-colour quilts (read more below), but I didn't mind because my intention was to make beautiful, floral flowers, and the denim background gives subtle definition to the simple pattern, rather than requiring high contrast to show off the pattern of the coloured shapes.
Low volume prints that are somewhere in-between
Speaking of coloured shapes, the final kind of low volume quilt I make is one where I spilt the design into a 2-colour quilt - low volume scrappy and a single colour. Most of the time I make quilts like this, I'm looking for prints that are somewhere between background and feature, prints that provide interest and variety, but don't compete so much with the single colour that you can't see the overall pattern. Most of my low volume stash fits here, so they're not tricky collect. They might still be high contrast, like the black and white prints below, but generally, standing back, they still read as white.
In my Pirouette Quilt below, I used a similar denim colour to my Bonnie Quilt above, but in this quilt, the low volume prints are, in a way, the background. I wanted to make sure the pattern created by the blue was easily made out, so I chose prints that wouldn't compete too much.
Like Pirouette, my Red Sky at Night Quilt, below left, needs the colour to be the feature and the low volume to work as background. I avoided prints that were black or navy and white so that the navy would stand out.
As a rule, if I'm making 2-colour quilts, the type of design determines the type of low volume prints I use. If the pattern is basic and repeated, the prints can be busier. If the pattern in complex or busy, I like to focus on creating a higher contrast between the two colours. The single colour you choose will also determine how dark or busy you want your low volume fabric to be. I used a similar range of prints for my Red Sky at Night and Willoughby Quilts below, and the navy provides way more contrast.
Make your own Low Volume Quilt
I love low volume quilts for their beautiful, subtle palette, the chance to use some of my favourite, pretty florals, and for how easy they are to look great, without having to worry about getting the colours right. Find my collection of low volume quilt designs in the shop below!
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