Fabric Education Modern Tone-on-Tone Fabric

One of the jobs we take seriously is educating our membership and our community about what modern quilting is.  Along with design elements, modern quilting is all about the fabric.  We don't use any old fabric.

We use (and are excited to talk about) the latest designer lines that can be found in our local quilt shops or online.  

Designer names roll of our tongues as easily as waves lap at our shores.  Names like Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Carolyn Friedlander, Tula Pink, Vanessa Christensen, Alison Glass, Lizzy House, Bonnie and Camille, Brigitte Heitland, Lotta Jansdotter, Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, Parson Gray, Elizabeth Hartman, Amy Sinibaldi, the ladies of Cotton + Steel, and the list goes on.  

The block lottery for May, Tidal Pool, is good jumping off point for a discussion of modern tone-on-tone prints because they are integral to your modern fabric collection.  

In preparation for this blog post, a quick Google search using that phrase "modern tone-on-tone fabric" was uninspiring and not at all representative of the beauty and variety of what is available.  Come on internet, you can do better!

With the increase in our membership, and the fact that many of our sewists are either just beginning their quilting journey, or are coming from the traditional quilting world, we knew we'd have to show examples of what modern tone-on-tone prints are.

Defining tone-on-tone is easy - blue on blue, purple on purple, yellow on yellow, etc.  Tone-on-tone prints are important to quilters because they are blenders, helping tie together some of the busier, multicolored prints in a fabric designer's collection or between several collections.  They add visual texture and depth.

Each designer approaches tone-on-tone prints differently.  Some are bolder than others.  Some are easily more subtle.  

Some are layered with several hues of the same color.  Some use simple graphic shapes.  Others use a motif that is easily identifiable and as unique as a fingerprint, meaning you know when you see it, whatever color or whichever line, you know immediately who the designer is.

Some use text prints.  Some use simple lines and repetitive shapes.  The one thing they have in common is they are meant to add depth to your projects.

Visit your LQS and ask them to show you what modern tone-on-tone prints they carry.  They should not take you to the Fairy Frost fabrics!  If they do, politely tell them "that's not modern", and ask to see something else.  Ask them to order a specific line, whether it's L's Modern Basics, or Pearl Bracelets, Sketch, Grunge, Oval Elements, etc.  Local quilt stores want your business.  

The next time you're out fabric shopping, add a piece or two of modern tone-on-tone prints to your stash.  You won't be sorry.