Color Fun: New Essence Quilt Pattern

I don’t know if it’s an official term, but I was told once that when an artist does something outside of their usual, recognized style, it’s called a “departure”. I kind of like the idea of taking a departure – in art, life, wherever you can!

I feel my newest quilt pattern, Essence, represents a Departure for me as a quilter and designer. The idea for this design was conceived from my wanting to do something with the concept of transparency using color in a quilt. I’ve seen a few designers in the Modern Quilting world do really interesting things with solid color fabrics – creating 3-dimensional illusions or shapes that seem to overlap – and I thought it looked like a fun challenge. My final quilt ended up utilizing a single color in a range of tints and shades to create a blended look that kind of glows and creates interesting movement.

Do you think I succeeded?

<<get Essence pattern here>>

The challenge for me with this idea was using only one essential color for an entire quilt! I really had to reign in my scrappy instincts and maintain the commitment to a minimalist palette. The second challenge? choosing fabric colors with the right saturation and hue to capture the gradient look. Of course we are limited to what we can find in a store, so I was lucky to find the colors I used at Sewtopia shop in Salt Lake City when I was there visiting last summer.  You definitely need to find a shop with a good range of solids to choose from.

If you want to make yours like mine, the fabrics are all Kona Cotton in these colors: sea mist, Aruba, pool, jade green, glacier.

Of course, you should choose your favorite color – this quilt can be all about you! You just need 5 fabrics in gradient shades from lightest to darkest in your favorite color. Will this be a challenge for you, too? Or are you pretty good at using a minimalist palette?

The Essence quilt pattern includes three size options and can easily be adapted to preference by making more or fewer blocks and arranging them as desired. I did experiment with several layouts for my blocks before settling on the final design. I like that it imitates the traditional apple core quilt design and, the way the colors are placed, you get a good radiating effect.

One of the alternate layouts is shown here in the pink color option – this is made with blocks the same as instructed in the pattern, you simply rotate them to create the linear layout of color instead of the apple core design. Try playing with some graph paper and color pencils to see what you can do with your Essence quilt.

Pattern is now available in the Color Girl web shop, HERE. My blue sample was quilted by Michele of Quilts Made With Love. This pattern does require the Classic Curves PLUS ruler to cut the curve shapes. All the curves are cut with the same ruler – no need to copy and cut out or buy multiple templates! easy-peasy.

<<click here>> for Essence pattern

<<click here>> for Classic Curves Plus ruler.

have fun with this one!