Textures: Can you resist the urge to touch?

There's something about fabric that draws us closer and begs to be felt. Whether its the smooth, shiny, soft, pebbled or ribbed fabrics, the threads, stitching, or added embellishments, it is the textures of quilts that are temptation to the fingers as well as the eye.

"Texture," one of the Elements of Design, was the topic of the March Inspirational Quilting program. Examples of actual textures (rough, smooth, bumpy, shiny, woven, plush) and visual textures, created by prints and patterns on fabrics, illustrated how the use of texture can add interest, movement and contrast to a quilt's design.

Hand-dyed fabrics give the illusion of soft brushed cottons or suede.

Balance and Symmetry

A critique of the Continuing Education exercises on balance and symmetry was conducted. Guild members used different mediums—fabric, pencil, quilting software and rubber stamps—to create their compositions to illustrate these Principles of Design.

Radial Symmetry (left) and Rotational Symmetry (right).

Asymmetrical Balance (left) and Radial Symmetry (right).

Crystallographic Balance (left) and Shifted Row Symmetry (right).

Show and Tell

What's the Number 1 Rule at quilt shows? "Don't touch the quilts."

What's the biggest impulse at every quilt show? "I want to touch that."

It's all about the Texture.

Texture, Harmony and Variety

Raise your Quilting IQ at the March 21 meeting of the Choo Choo Quilters. The program will cover more Elements and Principles of Design. A re-cap of previous topics from the Inspiration Quilting program, along with Continuing Education Exercises (homework), can be found by clicking the Inspirational Quilting tab at the top of the page.

For Monday's meeting, bring your homework exercises on Balance and Symmetry, your sketchpad and pencil.

Choo Choo Quilters membership dues are $20 for the year.