Welcome to the final stop on the Quilter’s Negative Space Handbook blog tour! Before we wrap it up, be sure to hop over to Christa Watson at ChristaQuilts, who had to shift her stop from last week. I have so enjoyed seeing all the fabulous designs that have been shared over the last couple of weeks, and if you haven’t, please do go back and check them all out!
By now, you probably know that the book includes 8 different design techniques for you to play with as you think about creating your own quilt designs with negative space, but I wanted to tell you a little bit about the last section of the book, because designing a quilt is only the first step.
This last section includes three chapters:
- Fabric Choices – All about choosing fabrics for your shiny new design! Should you stick with solids? What should you consider if you want to use prints or mix fabrics, particularly in the negative space of your design?
- Making the Quilt – I can’t tell you exactly how to make your quilt design, of course, but this chapter includes tips on how to piece your negative space with the least amount of effort and how to deal with the large pieces of fabric that these designs often require, plus information on calculating the yardage you’ll need and more.
- Quilting Choices – After you’ve pieced your top, the final layer of design you have to consider is the quilting. Whether you’re going to be doing this yourself or not, you’ll want to think about your options—walking foot designs, all-over designs (including pantographs), getting elaborate with a more custom quilting design, even hand quilting. As an example, here are two of the quilts from the book that were quilted in very different ways!
Icy Feathered Star; Photo courtesy C&T Publishing
Every Which Way; photo courtesy C&T Publishing
I wrote this book because I think there’s a shortage of how-to information on quilt design—negative space can seem so overwhelming when you see quilts that use a lot of it, particularly if you are somewhat new to modern quilting or are coming at it with experience putting together blocks in more traditional layouts, and I think breaking it down into more approachable steps can take away a bit of that mystery of how to design a quilt that incorporates negative space. (I shared a little more about how I came up with the idea for this step-by-step approach here, but suffice it to say that I find these ideas help me generate a lot more quilt designs than sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike does!)
Row of Diamonds; Photo courtesy C&T Publishing
So, I’m hoping that, if you’ve been following along, you’re starting to feel like maybe you could use some of these techniques on your favorite quilt blocks, too. If you’d like to know more about negative space and would like to win a copy of the e-book, just enter using the widget below! Giveaway is open until midnight EST on Monday, 3/25.
If you’d like a physical book, you can find signed copies here. Your local quilt shop (please do support them!) can also get it for you, or of course it’s available from C&T Publishing, Amazon, and most other booksellers as well.
If you didn’t get a chance to see all the fabulous designs that were shared, here’s the schedule again, with links to everyone’s post ! Some of these designers may be releasing patterns of their designs in the future, so be sure to follow them if you saw a design you particularly loved!
March 11 – C&T Publishing – blog tour kickoff – @ctpublishing
March 12 – Nicole Neblett – Mama Love Quilts – @mamalovequilts
March 14 – Jessica Caldwell – Desert Bloom Quilting – @desertbloomquilting
March 15 – Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill – Whole Circle Studio – @wholecirclestudio
March 18 – Cassandra Ireland Beaver – The (Not So) Dramatic Life – @cassandra.beaver
March 19 – Yvonne Fuchs – Quilting Jetgirl – @quiltingjetgirl
March 20 – Sarah Ruiz – Saroy – @saroy
March 21 – Sarah Goer – Sarah Goer Quilts – @sarahmgoer
March 22 – Christa Watson – Christa Quilts – @christaquilts
Sylvia Schaefer – Flying Parrot Quilts – tour wrap-up – @flyingparrotquilts
I love the flying swallows block and think it would be a wonderful one to use for this!
I have a copy of your book and it is fantastic! I can’t wait to put some of your suggestions to use.
I would love to try a feathered star or the disintegrating dahlia. great book!
Following this blog hop has opened my eyes and given me so many ideas. Maybe I can do negative space after all! Half square rectangles or circles intrigue me…maybe I’ll try that!
Following along with this book tour has given me so many ideas! Maybe I can do negative space after all! I love half square rectangles and circles, so maybe those would be a good place to start!
I’ve tried to comment several times…not sure if it’s working! One more try and if the other ones worked…sorry for so many comments!!
I’ve been following along with the book tour and have been intrigued and inspired! Maybe I can do negative space! I love half square rectangles and circles, so those just might me where I’d go with it!
I would make a quilt with some stars in it. I love the icy feathered star quilt.
I’d like to try drunkards path with your techniques.
i’d like to try and exploding circle with confetti….
I’m not sure what block I would use. I really like the quilt on the cover of the book and it looks simple enough that I could probably make it. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity.
Churn Dash. Lots of negative space in the center!
I love those light gray arrows in every which way.
Card Trick would be a fun one to play around with.
This is the best design book I’ve read in a long time!!
You have some great ideas in that book. I’ve loved following this blog hop and I’m surely getting this book.
I want to try a quilt design with circles and negative space. I attended your presentation at QuiltCon and really enjoyed it!
I think a churn dash could be a nice starter block. Your book looks very inspiring!
This is new to me, so I think the book would broaden my quilting experiences. I might start with the arrow or the quilt on the cover.
I have been following the blog hop and found very interesting how reading this book made the designs evolve toward more negative space but also more eye catching design.
I am a bit scared by negative space, but I belive this book would change that
Fantastic blog tour, lots of inspiration and Winding Way comes to mind. Designing my own quilt would be such an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for the inspiration.
I love that Icy Feathered Star. You have me thinking about what other stars could work.
I love feathered stars, so I’d like to play around with that and some negative space.
I have really enjoyed the blog hop and the examples of people interacting with the design principles in your book. Using negative space effectively is not something I have actively pursued and I am excited to read your book and try the ideas with some of my previous designs.
Looks like a ‘must have’!
I like the idea of using a log cabin for a negative space quilt!
A New York Beauty would lend itself to this nicely.