Patchwork & Quilting UK – July 2019

FEATURE // more is more

42 British Patchwork & Quilting JULY 2019

Carole Lyles Shaw’s Approach on Maximalism

• Highly saturated, deeply hued, and not necessarily primary
  colours. These fabrics could be solids or they might be
  tone-on-tones like Moda Grunge. There are even exciting
  new batiks on the market that work well.


• Using a high number of colours without getting matchy-
  matchy, but with a rationale in the choices—it’s not simply
  ‘scrappy’.


• Sometimes there is a dominant colour, sometimes not.


• Zingers! I have two types of zingers; one is using a black
  and white print with the saturated colours, another is
  choosing to use an unexpected colour outside of the rest
  of the palette. This approach is used by many graphic
  designers and quilters.


• A mix of complex block designs — with or without exact
  repeats. A non-exact repeat might be varying the blocks by
  playing with scale or altering one line of the block; or, using
  one or two blocks in the quilt but rotating and using colour
  so that the boundaries between the blocks disappear.
  It could also involve making the blocks freeform or with
  improvisational cutting.


• Very bold and large-scale patterns in prints. Lately, I’ve
  been looking at prints with hard edged lines.


• Minimizing negative space.

So if you feel like you might want to venture out of your usual

style and palette and try maximalism, take Rachaeldaisy’s

advice, ‘Sometimes I’ll push myself to break away from favourite

combinations, to try diff erent colour palettes. I’m also not afraid

to throw every colour into a quilt, the more colours and fabrics

the merrier. I guess that’s the trick - don’t be frightened to use

colour, jump in and try diff erent things.’ And Carole’s ‘Who

cares about exact labels? I just work hard to create my work in

a thoughtful and intentional way and get it out into the world!’

CONTACT

Discover more about the quilters mentioned in this article:

@bluemountaindaisy

http://www.bluemountaindaisy.blogspot.com

Rachaeldaisy

@littleislandquilting

Alison Robins

@carole_lylesshaw

Carole Lyles Shaw

http://www.carolelylesshaw.com

‘Sarasota Sunset #3’, Carole Lyles Shaw, 2017. One of her most successful maximalist quilts