Solid Backgrounds: Anything but Plain

Diamond in a Square, Lancaster County, PA, c. 1925. Gift of Irene L. Walsh.

We've spent over a week looking at backgrounds.

 It's worth saying that a quilt is all in a whole. 





An amazing piece of piecing with wild prints has it's own drama. No matter how you quilt it, the piecing and the fabric take the show.


If you treasure the quilting part of quilting, a solid fabric makes a much better surface.

Amish square

The Amish people have given us a huge legacy of some of the most beautiful and unique quilts to come out of  America.

Amish, Lancaster Co., PA | DIAMOND IN THE SQUARE QUILT (detail) | c.1930 | pieced wools | On loan from Keny Galleries -

^{Amish quilting reflects the simplicity and plain design of the Amish life style. The quilts are solid, plain patterns, sometimes in bright colors. But they quilt. Boy, do they quilt. All of these simple squares or squares on point quilts are encrusted with quilting, of every kind. Some are just simple grid stitching. Others are masterful feathers, curves, clam shells, and stars.} 

http://www.hqnawinterfest.com/darci-amish/

^{Although Amish quilting is part of their unique lifestyle, they're quilts have affected how we all see pattern and design. These plain, solid squares are a canvas for the design of the stitching.}

Nestlings Ellen Anne Eddy

^{Here is a contemporary Amish that was pieced and quilted by machine, Like most things borrowed by popular culture, we've taken the idea and as quilters, run with it. The colors are brighter, the stitching is by machine, but at heart, it's a lovely blank place to quilts.}

Nestlings detail

<sup>And in the world of long arms, so much more quilting is possible.





If you're getting ready to quilt your masterpiece, you might want to think about solids as a way to showcase your stitching.

If you'd like more information about the Amish, you can start at Wikipedia. Here's a bit from their article about Amish people.
The Amish (/ˈɑːmɪʃ/ ah-mish; Pennsylvania Dutch: Amisch, German: Amische) are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships, closely related to but distinct from Mennonite churches, with whom they share Swiss Anabaptist origins. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann.[2] Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.[3] From Wikipedia</sup>