Do you have a large scale floral print in your #fabricstash that you haven’t figured out what to do with? Or maybe it’s a small, organized polka dot or a more spacious, random polka dot?
Fabrics with a “not medium” scale can be tricky to use well, although often they can add just the spark that a quilt needs, whether with a large scale or a small scale print.
Large scale prints
Large scale prints look very different when cut up into smaller bits. They lose their “scaleness”, and sometimes the cut piece will be a solid color or contain, for example, one or two petals of a larger flower. If this is what you are looking for, then do it. However, if you want to use the large scale fabric in its wholeness, you will need to reconsider how you are using it.
When large scale fabrics are used in bigger pieces, they often overwhelm fabrics that surround them. This may be the desired effect. The quilter needs to decide how much attention she wants to draw to the large print. If the plan is to showcase the fabric, then the quilter should make fabric choices that will recede beside the large print. If she wants to help draw attention also to the area around the large print, the quilter may have to make some bold choices in color, value and pattern to attain move the viewer’s eye out beyond the large scale fabric.
Small scale prints
A small scale print can help focus the viewer’s eye in a certain area by bringing it in to rest on the small scale fabric, or helping to add visual depth when placed next to a medium or large scale print.
Maybe we need a visual here…
I recently finished a wall quilt for an exhibit. It has fabrics in a variety of scales, and they all worked together to give the impression of space and our place in the universe. (OK, that sounds a bit overblown (!), but I wanted to honor the Hubble telescope and the amazing photos of stars and the universe that it has captured.)
And speaking of scale, the universe??!
It's called In the beginning, God created the heavens...
Note the large scale “star explosion” in the center, surrounded by random polka dots with quite a bit of space between them and closely packed polka dots in softer colors. The difference in scale of the two polka dot fabrics helps to give a visual sense of distance and space (yup, pun intended!), especially when juxtaposed with the large scale section. Because the visual depth keeps changing over the quilt, the viewer’s eye wants to move around the quilt, which is a good thing.
One more thing.
I didn’t just look at a couple of fabrics and know they would work. I auditioned a lot of choices and eliminated many.
Often, and especially with scale, it takes a lot of trying before hitting on the right combination of fabrics. It might take time and work, but it is worth it. Spending time choosing fabrics makes all the difference in the outcome of your quilt, and how much you love your quilt when it is finished.
Using fabrics with varying scales, and especially trying to create depth, takes trial and error. Lots of trial and error. Don’t get discouraged, just keep trying until you get the effect you want. Think of it as play, don’t give yourself too short a deadline, and it won’t be so frustrating.
How about you?
How do you work with scale? Or play with scale? Do you have some tricks or tips? Or does fabric scale frustrate you? Let me know in the comments below.
Would you like to join my email list to get more articles like this and hear from me every week or so? Click here to join and receive my free pattern Mirrored Reflections, and read about its story.