When I wrote my blog about the latest trends in December of 2024, I explained that the trend didn't have a real name yet. I called it "library-look", because for quilters the source of inspiration were books. Books to be read in a comfortable chair in a dark library. A lot of variety in titles, a lot of colorful bookcovers,  all united in the library. By now this trend is coming  to a fuller bloom and the  word that I see being used more and more is "maximalism" (The photo is the cover of an exhibition at Vision Gallery in AZ). Maximalism is the opposite of minimalism, the trend we have really left behind but that was so popular during covid. Clean, uncluttered look, as few items as possible,  no distractions, with white as the dominant color. This minimalism has been the leading voice in interior design for quite a while and it has left us. Why? People were getting sick of the cool tones. The ideal picture was a far cry of what any household can keep up with.  A little mess is ok, we need a life! When the fear of infections disappeared, a longing for a comfortable place with your favorite items came up. That was the library. Reading a book in an old chair, surrounded by even more books. Your own choices, your own memories and your own adventures.  We now appreciate again things that make each of us unique. Collectibles, memorabilia, a photo gallery, home made family crafts. The swing has swung. In fabrics, this has lead to two main new elements: We are seeing a much busier palette and also a much darker palette.  Multi and dark, I called my blog in December. 

Maximalism means more is better than less: 

a. More variety in fabric and design. Different materials used together.  Recycling and "up"-sewing. Renewed interest in stripes, plaids, curves and shapes in general.

b. More colors and thus darker (coming from white).  Monochromatic patterns are getting dated. Anything going from dark to light in one color is too  "matchy".

c. Contrast is getting new attention. If white is gone, how do we make contrast? Do we even want contrast? The answer for a maximalist is a clear yes.

The quilting world has become more eclectic than it was a few years ago and designers are starting to show this off. Abundance, bold designs, layering. A little bit of maximalism has been around for a while: the low volume trend encouraged quilters to look for whites with little colorful accents and use as many possible. It has been a real hype and all those different whites were so much better than one piece of the same white. Unless you were a modern quilter and loved 4-5 yards of white for negative space. It makes me smile how nothing in our quilting world is 100%. There are always other options, other ways to look at things and every day were are all exploring the possibilities that our hobby  offers. 

 In general, most quilters love "low volume". It fits our desire to work with little pieces and create something new. It gives appreciation to scraps and above all, it gives us room to make our work more one of a kind.  It is easy to imitate a minimalist as only a few items are used. A maximalist on the other hand gives us much more to see and not everything is always available exactly the same.

Maximalism encourages us to do low volume also in other colors. Instead of one yard of navy, use 4  quarters of different navy. Or, even better, do 10 different navy fabrics. Another option: instead of 1 yard of navy, use 4 different dark colors.  Maximalism doesn't mean that things should be messy. More is better but there still needs to be a balance and that can probably be achieved in different ways.

It is a gliding scale. It is not that every collection is dark and multi colored, but we will see slowly more and more of this.  For instance, there are a lot of prints with tiny little flowers at the moment. The collection may be still light, but the multitude of flowers is saying something. The flowers are more packed than before.  A sample is the new collection Flourish and Bloom by Helen Prior for FreeSpirit fabrics (coming out in March 2026).

It is helpful  to see some real leaders in maximalism. Once you see that, it is easier to understand what is coming. The Spring Quilt H&H Market showed the first true Maximalism fabrics. Anna Maria Textiles is in every way a maximalist. I wrote about her fabrics before. She is a master in creating contrast with many different fabrics. Her collections are bursting with energy and color and the new "Overdressed" collection for 2026 is another signature Anna Maria line.

Hoffman's Bubblelicious  (already in shops) is super busy. It is a collection very digital in feel with almost over the top use of prints.  I don't think it can be more "multi" than this.

Guicy Guice "Enrapture" was the trendiest with a dark and moody collection of flowers, that walked straight out of a library.  He went from Andover to FreeSpirit fabric, which will probably give him more room  to be bold.  The line will come out in November. Freespirit has many designers that are showing the maximalist trend in different colors and styles.  For instance Dragonfly Dance by Sue Penn.

Robert Kaufman is coming out with a collection called  Baroque Bloom, referring to a period in art history where busy and ornamental decorations were the norm.  This collection is scheduled for Januari 2026. These are all very new, new fabrics and it may take a while for many of us to use these.  I promise you, you will grow into it (you can always take just a few elements from a collection). Why? Because fabrics are trend followers. There are other areas that will influence your likes and slowly we are moving along. Fashion and interior design are already multi-colored and also nostalgic with lots of dreamy little prints, called stamp prints. It's the contemporary reproduction.

As a person of color, maximalism speaks to me. I see the joy, the energy and I find it interesting to see how things are being put together. Maximalism tells stories, that are always nice to hear.  Maybe every scrap/collage quilter is a maximalist at heart. At the same time, for me there is also something as "too much of a good is still too much". It can't be just tossed together, I need some structure, some plan. I am curious if we see something there emerging over time. So far, very few of these new fabric designs have been used in truly new patterns. Very, very  carefully, I am seeing the first posts on social media where modern quilters are leaving the solid fabrics behind and are exploring improv with fabrics that have designs. The modern quilters are so connected to solids, it takes courage to explore the possibilities of designs.  Especially stripes seem to be appealing. What I find interesting is not so much what they are making, but the comments that show how emotionally hard it is to not use solids. They are so comfortable with solids and the look solids create ....prints are throwing them in the adventurous deep!