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Friday, June 17, 2016

Illustrating Low-Volume

When I shared the Crosscut block tutorial recently, one of my followers asked "what are low-volume squares?" - my beginning place for those blocks. I once wondered the same thing. Nowadays they find their way into plenty of my projects, but I thought I would answer the question by showing some of my favorites.

There is quite a variety when it comes to low-volume fabrics, and you might consider me a bit picky about the ones I choose to use. But here's some pulled from my stash:

1. Tone on tone - white, cream, or a mix.

2. Black on white, off-white, or cream - oh yeah.

3. Multi-colors on white, off-white, or cream - not my most-used. Usually I prefer low-volumes with little color, but these I love.

4. Dark blue on cream, pale gray, or white - also good choices.

5. A single color on white, off-white, or cream - also not my most-used, as I tend to stick to neutrals, but these are pretty irresistible.

6. Gray on cream, white, or pale gray - some of my very favorites.

7. Black text on white or cream.

So think white, off-white, or cream tone-on-tones or more likely for me, simple designs - prints, graphics, or texts - on a white, off-white, cream, or light gray background. They can add alot of dimension to a project where you might otherwise use a solid. So now you know!

9 comments:

  1. thanks for your great post! I need to start restocking low volumes. been using them up like crazy!

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  2. When I first started quilting in the 90s they were called background fabrics. I like the term low volume so much better. The low volume Maker fabric by AGF is one of my favorites!

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  3. Great post! It's funny - I consider black on white low volume too, but I think there are others who don't. I tend to use whites, creams, and grays. I was disappointed that many of the Lizzy House low volumes seem to have a blue tinge to them - I was hoping for more white.

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  4. Thanks for taking the time to pull examples. I am a visual kinda gal and this was a very clear explanation for me.

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  5. Thanks for sharing your low volume basics.

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  6. Interesting that I have many of the same fabrics in my stash...except for the colours.

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  7. You have a really nice variety. I see lots of those in my stash as well. :)

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  8. This is a great post, thank you. There are a lot of quilters who are not sure of what exactly low volume is and this post with its descriptions and its pictures really helps.

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  9. You have some beautiful low volume fabrics. I called them background fabrics too...not any more tho. I admit to still being unsure where to use them. Thank goodness for people who take a few minutes to give me some ideas.

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