How to make scrappy quilts look awesome

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How o make scrappy Quilts look awesome

In my previous post, I talked about projects to use your scrappy crumb and orphan blocks in, but I will be the first to admit that not everyone likes the crazy look of complete randomness. so the question becomes, are there ways to make them look more cohesive? You've seen pictures of "scrappy" quilts and they look good, and you think yours look messy? There are a few techniques you can use. You'll still want something to be unifying this quilt together. That could be a color palette, a block, or borders/sashing.

Color Palettes

One of the easiest ways to make your scrappy quilts look better is by selecting a color palette of colors. Don't just use ALL your scraps. Choose a color palette and go with scraps of those colors. One of the most popular scrap quilt patterns that I've seen is a Duckworth pattern. Developed by JoAnn Duckworth and posted in Scrap Quilt Enthusiasts on Facebook, this pattern is a basic wonky log cabin block that uses a specific color scheme to unify the quilt. You can find the pattern in the files of that group on Facebook. The first two pics below are from members of that group. The blue and black carpenter's wheel quilt is one I did last year. It uses a variety of dark greys for the background and bright aqua and pale blues for the rest. There's about 30 different fabrics used. The first quilt on the bottom row is another one I did many years ago. It was a mystery quilt from Meadow Mist Designs. I chose to use one single solid white fabric and one single solid tan fabric, but the reds and greens were scrappy. In many places, I even started sewing smaller scraps together to make. Then we've got one from Bonnie Hunter that uses a variety of blues. Lastly, we've got my newest pattern in warm reds, yellows, and oranges with dark grey and black accenting. Each of these quilts use up some stash, some scraps, but they have a unifying color scheme.

Block Design​

Another way you can get your scrappy quilts to look more unified is by using the same block over and over again. You can use scrappy crumb blocks, as shown in the butterflies below, or a set colors (as shown in Bonnie Hunter's photo below). In the two Ohio Star examples below, each block is it's own unique set of colors, but they are all the same star pattern; and that unifies them. Then there's my scrappy star quilt. It's the same Irish chain blocks and wonky stars, in a wide variety of scraps. Finally, Jen Kingwell. She does this a lot. The image I show here is her Glitter pattern.

Block Setting/Sashing

I wasn't really sure what to call this one. You can still use a variety of blocks or colors in this one, but what unifies the quilt is what you do to each block. In the examples below, the same thing was done to each of the scrappy blocks to help unify them and make them look like they go together. This is done with sashing, borders, and size or shape.

Cory Yoder does this very well. She's got a lot of patterns that use a variety of different blocks in the same setting. This unifies the blocks, but gives interest to the quilt overall. These images below from Coriander Quilts are not scrappy, but they could be done scrappy and still look great. Cory's current Quilt-a-long seems to be doing this. Each flower below has a different center, but the petals and leaves are similar. The barns all have different siding, but again, it's the same barn, and the red blocks each have something different inside them, but they are still unified by the setting.

Queen of Scraps- Bonnie Hunter

And of course, no post about Scrappy Quilts is complete without Bonnie Hunter. I mentioned her quilts before in some of the techniques above, but she combines many different elements to make gorgeous scrappy quilts.