I'm continuing the blog about white I started just before Christmas.

White is at the moment one of the most interesting colors. Why? Because it is moving out as a TRENDY color and it is moving out rather quickly! Of course, there will always be whites, but the color is no longer as important as it recently was. That is the biggest change in the world of color for 2023!  That means that all fabrics in group 1, 2 and 3 are no longer as important as they were a few years ago. Most quilters will not realize this. Most shops will not realize this, even though they should as the number of sales in white will sharply decline compared to the days when white was "in". There was a time that we couldn't have enough low volume fabrics, companies couldn't make it fast enough. Now, there definitely is room for some white fabrics and every shop should have some, but the golden days  of white are over.  For a business, having an outspoken trend of something new is wonderful. Customers don't have it yet and would like to get it. That was the case with low volume a few years ago.....and now we are not having anything like that.. yet.

The importance of the color white is diminishing.  In interior design, white (and light grey) walls have been absolute dominating. White was up to a year ago for kitchens the color of choice. Almost all kitchens became white, and not so much a soft white either. Laboratory white, super clean, minimalized.

Slowly people are getting a little bit bored with all the same white everywhere. For a while, white was seen as bringing order and structure to our busy lives, we have given up on that idea. We are ok to be a little bohemian! Now a much more individualistic approach that showcases the uniqueness of you and your home is gaining momentum. Piecing of art are important, vintage furniture, family heirlooms, something more one of a kind... We are seeing a very strong trend towards color and no longer are all walls getting painted in super light whites. I think the much more enthusiastic response to Viva Magenta being chosen as the color of the year, is telling. I don't think it it so much about magenta itself, as that color is still nothing but an accent. It is the Viva, the boldness of the magenta that is the trend: People are craving color! 

In kitchens, colored cabinets are the hot trend, with especially green and blue as the leading colors. Colors have become more difficult, because if you are not using white or silver gray for walls, which color are you going to use? I have this discussion with some people who are struggling with their choice of color as they approached me for help with paint. (By the way, I don't charge anything for my consulting. If someone feels they have to pay me, I kindly ask to make a donation to the charity of their choice).

The same is happening in quilts: quilts are becoming more colorful and there are 2 reasons for that: The first reason is that fabrics follow the trend in interior design. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter: fabrics follow interior trends. If at one time crazy orange dots would somehow be trendy for homes, you will find fabrics with crazy orange dots. Interior items like walls, furniture, space are the "big" leaders and our fabrics are tiny, they follow.   In my view companies/shops should pay much more attention to the spot/role fabrics take in their environment. Aside from a picnic quilt, most quilts and wall hangings are used inside the house. They make an important and emotional statement in any room for multiple reasons. Because of the colors, because of the use, because of the memories they hold. A quilt is one of the few things we treasure in a world where so much is getting tossed out. A quilt lives on for a long time, very often longer than we ourselves do. When people select fabrics, there are so many personal considerations that play a role, but making a trendy quilt is hardly ever the reason. They select colors because it needs to go in a certain room, colors they love, a theme they want to pick up, not always realizing that all those reasons are trend sensitive. It's for most subconscious. Understanding how interior design trends are getting worked into fabric design is extremely important, because that's how most people choose. It's the psychology of color. For instance, when we look at fabrics for new baby quilts,  the days of light pink for girls and light blue for boys are over and so are the super brights that had no difference between the genders.  There are still fabric companies making those colors, but most nursery colors are now nature inspired colors and themes. So are all the other items to go in the room. If the whole room gets decorated with Pottery Barn or Target colors, most (not all) new parents would prefer a blanket in that style. Some people will not care, some people will use the baby quilt elsewhere so that it can still be a wonderful gift, but the vast majority of people would like a new quilt picking up the colors of everything else in the room. Fabric follows and that is perfectly OK.  Now what is so surprising is that there are so many collections not applying this science. A designer makes a very cute collection in very cute colors, but somehow it is not selling? I could tell you why.

One very important group of quilts are the exception: art quilts. Art quilts tend to not pay attention to their environment, although art quilts too are influenced by trends. The statement is in the piece itself. If the piece doesn't match the interior, that makes it almost better....artists are not known to be matchy, matchy people after all.

The second reason is that the idea of background is disappearing. White has been associated with the background for such a long time. If white disappears, then you can expect a change in the use of backgrounds. And visa versa: if backgrounds are disappearing, whites will be the first victims. What's happening? A couple of things are happening more or less at the same time and together they push into a new direction. 

A word like "negative space", for so long associated with solid white (Group 1) is no longer a modern word. When "negative space" was a hot word, this negative space was used for intense quilting. Usually in one quilting design with wonky lines. Then quilters became better at this and rulers for quilting were becoming more popular. Why would you do the entire quilt in one design, when you can also make different quilting designs on your finished top? Quilting is definitely no longer a way to hold the 3 layers together. Quilting has become an important way to express creativity on top of the functionality. The tremendous growth of long arm machines, You Tube videos, the pandemic, the availability of different threads...so many factors play a role here. Edge to edge quilting is definitely out and considered a quick finish. Great for charity and children, but not for most others.

Trendy quilts have different designs. To make it even more clear: when you want to use your ruler and do different things, what can you still do with all that negative space? Not so much. What you need are areas, sections, where you can show off your quilting style. A modern quilt doesn't have so much negative space, but has sections, which are truly bigger design elements that have room to show off different quilting designs. Not a tiny little flying geese, but a blown up one. These sections have to live in bigger blocks. It's really fascinating to see how big blocks have become! The most modern patterns are easily using blocks that are 16" or more. 20" used to be very rare and is now much more common. That makes a huge difference with 6"-10/12" blocks we had a few years ago!

Not only do backgrounds disappear, borders too are much less dominant. Most modern quilts have the blocks ending close to the edge with maybe a little repeating sashing. The white is pushed out! If you want to make big quilts and leave out the background, you either have to make more blocks or bigger ones. The choice of most designers is to go bold and big. Fabric companies are embracing this as it means they can probably sell more fabric. If we need 5 yards for a background, we buy 5 or 5.5 yard for the background. If we need 10 half yards for a background, we probably buy many more, because we are not sure which ones to use.... So colors for a quilt have become harder, just as hard as colors for a wall. Instead of having a white background that gave us the contrast, we need to find a palette, a grouping of colors that create a design with a contrast.

There are many other reasons why we see these bigger blocks showing up: one important reason is that many newer quilters are really learning the art of piecing. Correct piecing. Those who started being at home making masks during the pandemic and continued to keep sewing, needed first beginner patterns and learning the world of piecing. The last Market had so much piecing in it. And what is the first pattern you learn when piecing a quilt? A star! We see tons of star patterns at the moment. 

So we are seeing bigger and bolder blocks with maybe white as an accent color but definitely not in the main role. White at the moment is group 4. And even when there is room for some white... this white is very often replaced with ......more another time.