Almost Solid: The Prints that Don't Look Like Prints

So much fabric is about the prints. And there are mountains of them. Some sophisticated, some Juvenal, something for everyone you might ever want to quilt for. We all have our collections of prints that simple pleased us for the graphics or the subject matter.

But as people get more serious about their quilting, they often want something more versatile and with less cute factor. Today we're going to look at the almost solids.

One of the trends in the art world is to use your own fabric. Did you dye it? Marbelize it? Rust it? Run it through the printer? Have your own design printed? The list seems endless. It's a lot of fun but it's also fairly exhausting. If you don't do those things on a regular basis, you probably don't have the setup, patience and time to produce your own fabric in quantity. It's really out of reach for most quilters.

But with that said, they are pretty. Very pretty. And it's a great look. 

They also tend to cost the earth. They're hand crafted and they take a lot of time and costly materials.





Enter the almost solid prints.
These are the prints that mimic hand crafted fabric. They can be very sophisticated and very versatile. But since they're commercially made, they cost pretty much what ordinary quilt fabrics cost. And they do give you the designer look. Often they are designed by quilt artists as part of their fabric lines.

Solid fabrics are a great choice when

• You want to make a bold statement
• You want the block pattern to show strongly
• You want lots of room to show off your quilting

Almost solids are a great choice when

• You want a designer look to your fabric.
• You want some odd/interesting colors.
• You want a textured feel to your fabric.

Try  some almost solids in your next quilt and see how sophisticated and mod they make your quilting. And you don't have to take them down to the river and beat them on a rock to create that look.