I rarely use white. I am not fond of high contrast quilts. But when I Angie and I designed our Maple and Eucalyptus quilt, we needed that super-white to make the blocks pop. It turned out so lovely that I might have to rethink my relationship with white fabrics 😎 Visit birchliving.com/quilts to get 20% off your Birch mattress, plus two free pillows. If you’re looking for a mattress for your little ones, also check out the new Birch Kids line!
I’ve got the same problem. My kitchen/dining room is my sewing/craft room and many other things including kid’s painting area too. I dream of being able to have a room I could keep clean just for my sewing/crafts that I could keep set up ready but till then I will make do. Also keeping a wipeable PVC table cloth on the dining table means I can take it off when I have time to sew and whip it back on for feeding time at the zoo.
I have a 36" high custom cutting table made years ago when I had a sewing room. Now I have to sew on my kitchen table but I still have the cutting table. Now we eat in the living room in front of tv. I'm not moving my machine & ironing board just to eat.
One of our family jokes is the "500 shades of white" ! Years ago my then, very young adult son, asked my home remodeler neighbor if he could get a couple 5 gallon buckets of white paint on his tax free order. The contractor said "sure" and brought out a HUGE set of large paint sample squares, on a ring and asked which one he wanted ! ! From "pure" white to yellow, cream, pink, blue, green, violet, grey shades, the "500 shades of white" ! Confused kid said "Rental Property", friend said, "whatever is heavy duty and on sale" -OK ? Now it is a joke, "what is on sale" for rentals and "match the white to the customer's furnishings" for jobs.
Back in the 1950's, when I was a School girl, I had only white blouses. All the girls, and women, wore white blouses with their (well below the knees) skirts. Those white blouses were 100% cotton; and, they were not see through. We would have been sent home from school if those blouses could be seen through. Why are solid, 100% cotton, fabrics so thin today? Why don't more quilt shops carry solid fabrics? I don't like to use solid white fabric in my quilts; because, I may never be able to find that same shade of white again (should I run out and need more).
I find it very handy to by my whites by the bolt. Most fabric shops will give a very generous discount when order or purchase this amount. I love knowing I have it in my stash. I have saved as much as $30.00 which IMO is a great buy. My favorite solids to buy is Moda. Hope this is helpful. Happy stitching..😊
When I need to use solid white, I use only Kona white. It's consistently the same shade of white, has a nice heft, and it's easy to work with. It's available everywhere. I buy at least 5 yards at a time.
Very good subject matter and well covered. A use for your "shaded" whites; if you want a white that really pops, use a cold shade against a warm color and a warm white against a cold color. They will inhance each other. The same goes if you want to reduce the contrast, go with the same temperature.
The same principle applies not only to whites to all colors. More info for the nerds ( which I am, sorry): Same temp will harmonize themselves while different temp will enhance their contrast and brighten their hue. In color theories, it is called "simultanious contrast". It's a visual phenomenom. Easy to understand and fun to apply , at least to me.
@Helene Desmarais this is very interesting to me because most of what I know about colour theory comes from seasonal colour theory for personal style. I was draped as a bright winter in the Sci/ART scheme which uses Munsell colour theory. Eg My skin undertones are mostly cool with a hint of warmth (cool yellow) and the colours of bright winter, that best smoothed out my skin and enhanced my features, were each mostly cool and intense with a slight hint of warmth. With personal style you want the person to pop rather than the colours--i.e. you want to see the person first. So one half of the equation is enhanced more than the other. To do this you would not put a warm white against my face, I would just look sallow and drained and a bit dirty. But in quilting it sounds like it has the opposite effect on colours... if you know or can guess why I'd love to hear it!
@@schoo9256 It HAS the same effect. We are saying the same thing. You say " put a warm white against my face, I would just look sallow and drained" your skin is warm next to a warm color, it washes it out specially 2 light tones. Put a cold blue or teal against your warm skin and you will look naturally more alive. Color principles are applicable on everything in the same way. Gardening, interior design, art, quilting, make-up...
Great comment. I would add a cautionary: a warm neutral (white/gray) against a cool color may make the neutral look dingy in comparison. Of course it depends on the fabrics which is why careful evaluation prior to use/cutting is necessary.
Before the pandemic, I'd purchased some white-on-white fabric in several patterns thinking to make some small quilted pieces with them--little gift items that are nice to have at the ready. I know-know-know that colors just aren't what they seem. I found that out many years ago when I'd gotten a navy blue wool jacket and then thought it would be nice to have a matching skirt; yeah, that never happened because there was never another navy blue like that either in ready made or in the fabric store and in the end the jacket paired nicely with a couple of dresses. Now, seeing your quilt challenge results, I'm encouraged to find a way to use my bag of whites much more creatively or make a nice summer top. Reds are infamous for their bleeding. I like red in quilting and clothing. I also know that the fabric needs several washes all by itself in lots of water for the best chance of avoiding problems. Other dark colors can bleed but red has historically been the worst offender. For anyone considering crazy quilt stitches using embroidery thread, the DMC and Anchor brands can generally be counted on as colorfast whereas some of the over-dyed threads, lovely as they are, can be problematic so test them with a light rinse then laid upon white paper towel to see the result. I'd stay away from any off brands--you know the 50 in a bag for a buck--because they are generally unreliable for projects intended to last a long time but fine for children's projects.
I get so much out of your videos. I've been quilting for some time now. However you make me think before I do. Saves time, and tragic mistakes that many times you can't fix. Love your top of Maple and Eucalyptus.
I pre-wash every single yard of fabric that comes into my house, including Kona white. If I think it's going to bleed, I throw four or five sheets of Color Catcher into the machine. If the sheets come out quite saturated with color, I wash again. Sometimes I wash the fabric again just because that fabric is giving me a bad vibe. From time to time, I still get some bleeding into an adjacent white or lighter colored piece. First I say a naughty word. Then I look for my toothpicks and I proceed with extreme caution. Believe it or not, I start off with a whitening toothpaste. Then I go up the ladder using detergent, oxy-clean, maybe Shout, and finally a very very weak bleach solution, 1 part bleach to 8 or 9 parts water. Sometimes I use a toothbrush, gently and carefully. I use a tiny amount and dab, dab, dab, then blot, blot, blot, and rinse rinse rinse. I don't let the solution get immediately adjacent to the offending color or print since the solution has a tendency to, you know, bleed. Sometimes if oxyclean seems to be working, but slowly, I let it sit for a day or two. I have never failed to remove a food stain, a bleed, my own blood from a boo-boo, dirt from a paw print, or anything else. Slow and steady wins the race.
I just made two quilts with large areas of white. The other colours were a dark blue Batik, a red and several different blues and Grey's. I washed all the fabrics with colour catchers and that picked up all the excess dye Accept the dark blue Batik. After 4 washes it was still shedding lots of dye. So I rehashed it using a dye fixative. This was the only thing that stopped the dye from shedding. It takes more time to wash your fabrics to test for colour fastness but saves you anguish and difficulties trying to get that out of your fabric. All the fabrics were from good quality manufacturers and were for quilting.
No white here, partly due to three dogs. I use a lot of beige. I have the same problem with those tones as you mentioned for white. What my monitor shows is NOT what shows up in the mail. Beiges can be greenish, pinkish, or (worse) yellowish. None of them look good together. Small town, so if I want the quilting fabric quality that I like, it has to be ordered. Good video. Thanks!
Thanks for the tip about angle trimming your seam allowance when you have to press a dark fabric toward a white. Congratulations! You are looking good. I can tell your change in meal portions is really working for you. Sandra from Tennessee
I use just-off-whites for backgrounds when needed--one on the cool side, and one on the warm side--because it seems to look less dirty for longer quickly.
How exquisitely sensible! I asked for half a metre of cream on cream fabric for my birthday and got all sorts of prints that can easily be combined or added to. I especially like the tip with the crochet hook!👍
Great tips Karen. I love very high contrast therefore use white quite a lot - my quilt shop is used to me taking fabric to the door to see what sort of ‘white’ it is. 😂
Great info as always. I use lots of white--and buy by the bolt. The undertones of white, and truly that of any color, are so variable that one must make same considerations for choices for fabric pairing as with paint. That is to evaluate by using the eye doctor approach (or know it when you see it approach): determine your accompanying fabrics and then evaluate (with mid morning natural light) some white samples against them. (And if you like white, choose samples of mftr's you like and keep a sample book with your sample large enough to serve as an evaluation for a future project). Regarding bleeding. I have never had a problem bleeding--even with batik, black, red pairings with white, and I never prewash. (That's not to say that a disaster is not in my future). I do use Color Catchers (5x) and now most recently Synthrapol. Synthrapol has an advantage over Color Catchers in that is removes the excess dye on the wash in addition to keeping it in suspension. I always prewash my quilts before gifting (I have pets; I glue baste; and I don't want to transfer the risk of improper washing to the recipient).
Good Afternoon Karen, I thought that the time for your cruise is growing closer. 👏🥰 I’m so happy that you and your family along with Angie and her family (&many others) are going along on this cruise. I am so excited about Angie and your new pattern. I am thinking there will be lots and lots of laughter and a super fun time! Take Care and God Bless, 🥰👍👏 Chris
Have you ever seen bright sunlight and you can see all the minute particles floating in the air? Those particles include fabric shreds that our clothes give off during normal movements. Those particles can land on white objects including white fabrics and, believe it or not…edible white food products including fondant and gum paste which are used in cake products. That’s why you see bakers wear white jackets to limit the amount of colored particles that show on the fondant, gum paste and icings. I had a custom cake business for 15 years and always kept a straight pin on my jacket to lift any colored particles that would land on white fondant when I was rolling it out and applying it to the cakes and decorations. Doesn’t mean that our areas aren’t clean, but lots of things in our lives produce these fine minute particles and they land everywhere.
There's also a brand of color-catchers at walmart called "Color Grabbers". I use 4 or 5 in the first wash! Once my friend washed a bright red Kitchen Rug in with the baby blue and white quilt I had made for her. Why? Oh why? Just not in the habit of separating bright colors and darks, etc. She soaked the quilt in cold water with vinegar and then again, and did not have any color grabbers. I think it took her four or five more soaks and washes to get out most of the red/hot pink dye. The baby quilt was mostly flannel. It has some fraying now but is super soft from all that! And well, she remembers to wash the quilt separately. And Now I give a whole box of color grabbers away with each quilt. My seams were a lot narrower back then too. I was a newbie. I plan to just sew big patches over top of all the popped seams and it will be even cuter! There's a hot pink, black, and white quilt that I made..with the hot pink mostly from batiques... I often wonder about that quilt?!? After gifting it, I soaked a piece in cold water to see what would happen... uh oh... pink for days. Awaiting the call. I won't buy darkly hued batiques again. Live n learn 🥰
No two whites, and no two blacks. But, surprisingly, almost forty years after it was made, and nearly twenty since it got damaged, I found a blue that perfectly matched my first quilt, and last week, I repaired it. I'm so happy. Whites, however. . . I was making a petticoat with ruffles, and I ran out of white -- twice. All three whites were different. Since it was a gift, I finally broke down and bought a bolt of white just so it would be the same all the way through. Good video.
Hallo, i love your content , i learn a lot. I would like to share, i was a strong fun of those color catchers, but I found out they contain enzymes, they breaks the color out . I never have issues with Kona cotton, add a collorcatcher and you will see what they do. They make sense only if you allready have a color bleeding issue. 😘
I use quite a bit of white with few disasters, but recently I had a beautiful white, black and red quilt bleed on me. It was the red dotted flannel backing. Despite having prewashed everything, it still bled. The Dawn trick worked wonders and I used some Resolve dye fixer to seal the deal. Phew.
My quilt that I’m currently working on has three different shades of white, one for the Centre medallion which is a creamy white, one within the row panels that is a white with tiny blue flowers and the balance framing is done with a tone on tone white/creamy white. I’m absolutely pleased with the look. I’m one of those people who steers away from black and white isn’t a big drawing card either. Thanks Karen for sharing. 👍❤️😊
I machine quilt for others and I agree with all of your tips. I make sure everything is clean and I wear quilting gloves when handling a lot of white. Reminding quilt makers to use color catchers in laundry is really important, especially if fabrics aren't prewashed. I often use a light to medium gray thread for quilting when I'm doing an allover design. White stands out so much on the darker fabrics
Just pinned up my white and purple quilt yesterday.... looks like I might be taking it apart tonight...didn't think about trimming my threads short. D'oh.
I found this video a few days after I got my QuiltCon Judge's Comments where the BIG negative was the shadowing of dark fabrics. I am sure going to add the trimming step to my future quilts. THANKS!!!
GLAD you are back ... love your videos ...look forward to them .... AS for using white ... I have stopped doing that ... still have half a bolt left over but now tend to use dark colors or black as background. White in my house always ends up dingy and discolored thru use. I wash my quilts regularly when being used but the white still ends up looking bad. So for my quilts now have dark backgrounds so I can actually use them.
well done. I'm planning on giving friends who get my quilts a baggie of color catchers with instructions for them too keep in their laundry room for future use. I'm that paranoid.
That quilt is beautiful. TY for great advice that I would never have thought of. I also love a comment below that recommends the "temperature" of the color be considered.
Great tips Karen. Always pulling a stray thread out of quilts . One always sneaks in even after brushing everything down 🤣. Your Maple and Eucalyptus top looks great. Surprised to see it done in all solids. I have ordered a hard copy pattern from Angie and can't wait for its arrival but I might have to re-think my planned fabrics.💗🇦🇺
So I'm watching this from "I always use white" and my "out of the box" is to try colors like black as a background. I've never had an issue with fabrics bleeding and I don't prewash. I definitely use lots of color catchers though just in case (use a laundry bag so your washer doesn't suck them up!). I don't worry about white showing dirt unless I'm unfortunate enough to use white as my backing (which has happened). It looks stunning as a backing but still makes me nervous. Whites being different colors is definitely an issue. I longarm and I love to play with threads. Doing the strand test is definitely the way to go. Never thought about batting and hadn't noticed a difference aside from warmth/drape.
I discovered the "joys" of using white fabric with one of the first quilts I made. Ran out of the original white which was a white on white print which I hadn't seen it was at the time of purchase and couldn't find it because it was 3 or 4 seasons old. I learned my lesson, now I I buy by the bolt at Dharma trading and get their Kona 60" and 118" cotton which makes me a happy high contrast quilter :)
Wonderful video, but I seldom use white as my quilt tops go to charities then folks who may not have easy access to laundry facilities. This is where print/novelty fabrics come in handy. Its also an opportunity to make colours pop without white.
Thanks so much Karen for your great videos, tips and tricks! Have just used white/off whites in two quilts for the first time…will need to gift colour catchers with these quilts and hope they don’t bleed. 🤦♀️🇦🇺 Annette
Thanks for this Karen. Pure white horrifies me. Unless I want a particular part of a block to pop or sparkle, I opt to use a variety of near-whites, white print on white, and creams all mixed and interspersed in keeping with a more scrappy look.
This year I bought a 10 yard bolt of Kona Snow online, on sale. Other times I buy a couple yards here and there when on sale. I do use color- catcher sheets when washing.
I just want to say how much I have enjoyed watching your videos. I am still a beginner with sewing but I am most definitely getting great ideas in my small scale projects until my confidence level builds up to doing something larger. I am wanting to make my daughter-in-love and granddaughter reading quilts for Christmas. Slow progress is better than no progress, right? :D Thank you for making things so easy to follow!
Wow Karen, what a great video, I use loads of off white as I like how it makes the patterns pop, what a great tip to angle 45 degrees the rotary cutter, I'll try this and see if my results are as good as yours. Also good tip is to try and hook the pesky darker threads that show through with a fine crochet hook, I've learnt to live with the odd thread that's showing but I'm definitely looking through my crochet hooks to see what's the finest one I have, thanks for this ❤
I am hand sewing and hand quilting a queen sized quilt for my son. I asked him what he wanted for his main colour. He said he wanted cream with olive green borders. I said “what kind of African are you to want cream!” because I was already preparing for the earthy colours. I’ve started the big stitch quilting and I’m constantly dusting because of the cream front.
@@JustGetitDoneQuilts yes he did. He lives in Europe and he sent a photo of the cream and green together. I intend to break the large cream section with photos and stories of his childhood/family as well as his career. I bought the cream fabric and, due to my inexperience, bought calico, so I had to buy new fabric. I couldn’t get the same colour as a wide backing so I bought an expensive wide fabric “Sahara” which I thought was beautiful because it had a cream background with waves of light brown and green. He came for a visit and didn’t like it so back to all the shops we went. He liked the calico seed colour which I could only get in 112 cm width. I bought it and pieced it width wise together in waves. I have already started big stitching it. Btw the backing is made up of all his “gangsta” hoodies from his youth. Yes, I am constantly dusting and removing fluff from the cream fabric.
I'm more of a garment and costume sewist than a quilter, but the only time I buy white is when I intend to dye it. I'm patient and have gotten some really beautiful results. I just don't like white: it's hard to keep clean, and it's just not worth it to me.
I dislike white. Clothes. Quilts. And so on. Love a vibrant contrasting background or black. And we have dogs so there’s another reason to avoid white lol
I'm making a blue and "white" postage stamp quilt using scraps. The blues float, so the ratio of blue to white is 1 to 3. I'm using white, white-on-white, cream and cream-on-cream, light beiges, ecrus, and very light prints in all colors. The only color I'm avoiding is gray.
I rarely use white. I am not fond of high contrast quilts. But when I Angie and I designed our Maple and Eucalyptus quilt, we needed that super-white to make the blocks pop. It turned out so lovely that I might have to rethink my relationship with white fabrics 😎 Visit birchliving.com/quilts to get 20% off your Birch mattress, plus two free pillows. If you’re looking for a mattress for your little ones, also check out the new Birch Kids line!
Don't eat in your sewing room. My sewing room IS my kitchen/dining room table and a 5' folding table.😂😂
My sewing room is now both eating & sewing too, due to downsizing at 81,
@@barbaralindeman1820 I too at 83 have been downsizing for years but somehow things keep multiplying, especially my fabric stash.
I’ve got the same problem. My kitchen/dining room is my sewing/craft room and many other things including kid’s painting area too. I dream of being able to have a room I could keep clean just for my sewing/crafts that I could keep set up ready but till then I will make do. Also keeping a wipeable PVC table cloth on the dining table means I can take it off when I have time to sew and whip it back on for feeding time at the zoo.
Same but use the kitchen island to cut. Small and only counter space I have. But I clean before I cut. Lol.
I have a 36" high custom cutting table made years ago when I had a sewing room. Now I have to sew on my kitchen table but I still have the cutting table. Now we eat in the living room in front of tv. I'm not moving my machine & ironing board just to eat.
One of our family jokes is the "500 shades of white" ! Years ago my then, very young adult son, asked my home remodeler neighbor if he could get a couple 5 gallon buckets of white paint on his tax free order. The contractor said "sure" and brought out a HUGE set of large paint sample squares, on a ring and asked which one he wanted ! ! From "pure" white to yellow, cream, pink, blue, green, violet, grey shades, the "500 shades of white" ! Confused kid said "Rental Property", friend said, "whatever is heavy duty and on sale" -OK ? Now it is a joke, "what is on sale" for rentals and "match the white to the customer's furnishings" for jobs.
Back in the 1950's, when I was a School girl, I had only white blouses. All the girls, and women, wore white blouses with their (well below the knees) skirts. Those white blouses were 100% cotton; and, they were not see through. We would have been sent home from school if those blouses could be seen through. Why are solid, 100% cotton, fabrics so thin today? Why don't more quilt shops carry solid fabrics? I don't like to use solid white fabric in my quilts; because, I may never be able to find that same shade of white again (should I run out and need more).
I have yet to go the bed sheet way to buy fabric. I have a bolt so my mind never thinks that way. Must make a note to future self. 😊
I use Kona, quality may not be as good as some fabric, it does fray a lot, but youcan get more of it in same white which I like.
I find it very handy to by my whites by the bolt. Most fabric shops will give a very generous discount when order or purchase this amount. I love knowing I have it in my stash. I have saved as much as $30.00 which IMO is a great buy. My favorite solids to buy is Moda. Hope this is helpful. Happy stitching..😊
When I need to use solid white, I use only Kona white. It's consistently the same shade of white, has a nice heft, and it's easy to work with. It's available everywhere. I buy at least 5 yards at a time.
my sewing room is my best dieting spot! nothing but water allowed in there , no food, no tea, no cocoa, just water lol
Karen you are looking radiant! I think you said on a previous video you were eating healthy, and you are glowing with health here! X
Is there anything Dawn can't do? I am amazed at how often Dawn is the solution to a problem.
Enjoyed your video.
Very good subject matter and well covered.
A use for your "shaded" whites; if you want a white that really pops, use a cold shade against a warm color and a warm white against a cold color. They will inhance each other. The same goes if you want to reduce the contrast, go with the same temperature.
That sounds so obvious but I NEVER would have thought of it.
The same principle applies not only to whites to all colors. More info for the nerds ( which I am, sorry): Same temp will harmonize themselves while different temp will enhance their contrast and brighten their hue. In color theories, it is called "simultanious contrast". It's a visual phenomenom. Easy to understand and fun to apply , at least to me.
@Helene Desmarais this is very interesting to me because most of what I know about colour theory comes from seasonal colour theory for personal style. I was draped as a bright winter in the Sci/ART scheme which uses Munsell colour theory.
Eg My skin undertones are mostly cool with a hint of warmth (cool yellow) and the colours of bright winter, that best smoothed out my skin and enhanced my features, were each mostly cool and intense with a slight hint of warmth.
With personal style you want the person to pop rather than the colours--i.e. you want to see the person first. So one half of the equation is enhanced more than the other. To do this you would not put a warm white against my face, I would just look sallow and drained and a bit dirty.
But in quilting it sounds like it has the opposite effect on colours... if you know or can guess why I'd love to hear it!
@@schoo9256 It HAS the same effect. We are saying the same thing. You say " put a warm white against my face, I would just look sallow and drained" your skin is warm next to a warm color, it washes it out specially 2 light tones. Put a cold blue or teal against your warm skin and you will look naturally more alive. Color principles are applicable on everything in the same way. Gardening, interior design, art, quilting, make-up...
Great comment. I would add a cautionary: a warm neutral (white/gray) against a cool color may make the neutral look dingy in comparison. Of course it depends on the fabrics which is why careful evaluation prior to use/cutting is necessary.
Before the pandemic, I'd purchased some white-on-white fabric in several patterns thinking to make some small quilted pieces with them--little gift items that are nice to have at the ready. I know-know-know that colors just aren't what they seem. I found that out many years ago when I'd gotten a navy blue wool jacket and then thought it would be nice to have a matching skirt; yeah, that never happened because there was never another navy blue like that either in ready made or in the fabric store and in the end the jacket paired nicely with a couple of dresses. Now, seeing your quilt challenge results, I'm encouraged to find a way to use my bag of whites much more creatively or make a nice summer top.
Reds are infamous for their bleeding. I like red in quilting and clothing. I also know that the fabric needs several washes all by itself in lots of water for the best chance of avoiding problems. Other dark colors can bleed but red has historically been the worst offender. For anyone considering crazy quilt stitches using embroidery thread, the DMC and Anchor brands can generally be counted on as colorfast whereas some of the over-dyed threads, lovely as they are, can be problematic so test them with a light rinse then laid upon white paper towel to see the result. I'd stay away from any off brands--you know the 50 in a bag for a buck--because they are generally unreliable for projects intended to last a long time but fine for children's projects.
You also have to check your batting for stray threads before basting. Great tips.
So true, my batting just attracts the odd stray darker thread as I'm doing the sandwiching on the floor! 😊
Great tip! Especially if you are splicing batting sscraps together to make a quilt
I get so much out of your videos. I've been quilting for some time now. However you make me think before I do. Saves time, and tragic mistakes that many times you can't fix. Love your top of Maple and Eucalyptus.
I pre-wash every single yard of fabric that comes into my house, including Kona white. If I think it's going to bleed, I throw four or five sheets of Color Catcher into the machine. If the sheets come out quite saturated with color, I wash again. Sometimes I wash the fabric again just because that fabric is giving me a bad vibe. From time to time, I still get some bleeding into an adjacent white or lighter colored piece. First I say a naughty word. Then I look for my toothpicks and I proceed with extreme caution. Believe it or not, I start off with a whitening toothpaste. Then I go up the ladder using detergent, oxy-clean, maybe Shout, and finally a very very weak bleach solution, 1 part bleach to 8 or 9 parts water. Sometimes I use a toothbrush, gently and carefully. I use a tiny amount and dab, dab, dab, then blot, blot, blot, and rinse rinse rinse. I don't let the solution get immediately adjacent to the offending color or print since the solution has a tendency to, you know, bleed. Sometimes if oxyclean seems to be working, but slowly, I let it sit for a day or two. I have never failed to remove a food stain, a bleed, my own blood from a boo-boo, dirt from a paw print, or anything else. Slow and steady wins the race.
I LOVE white and use some in pretty much every quilt! Great tips here ❤
I just made two quilts with large areas of white. The other colours were a dark blue Batik, a red and several different blues and Grey's. I washed all the fabrics with colour catchers and that picked up all the excess dye Accept the dark blue Batik. After 4 washes it was still shedding lots of dye. So I rehashed it using a dye fixative. This was the only thing that stopped the dye from shedding. It takes more time to wash your fabrics to test for colour fastness but saves you anguish and difficulties trying to get that out of your fabric. All the fabrics were from good quality manufacturers and were for quilting.
Maybe you and I could do a bleeding fabric video 😎
@@JustGetitDoneQuilts that could be a plan.
No white here, partly due to three dogs. I use a lot of beige. I have the same problem with those tones as you mentioned for white. What my monitor shows is NOT what shows up in the mail. Beiges can be greenish, pinkish, or (worse) yellowish. None of them look good together. Small town, so if I want the quilting fabric quality that I like, it has to be ordered.
Good video. Thanks!
So good to see you, I was getting worried that Quiltcon had killed you. That project is fabulous.
So glad to see your video show up today. I missed your videos since you came back from Atlanta!
Hello 👋 how are you doing today??
Thanks for the tip about angle trimming your seam allowance when you have to press a dark fabric toward a white.
Congratulations! You are looking good. I can tell your change in meal portions is really working for you. Sandra from Tennessee
I use just-off-whites for backgrounds when needed--one on the cool side, and one on the warm side--because it seems to look less dirty for longer quickly.
How exquisitely sensible! I asked for half a metre of cream on cream fabric for my birthday and got all sorts of prints that can easily be combined or added to. I especially like the tip with the crochet hook!👍
Great tips Karen. I love very high contrast therefore use white quite a lot - my quilt shop is used to me taking fabric to the door to see what sort of ‘white’ it is. 😂
Hello 👋 how are you doing today??
Great info as always. I use lots of white--and buy by the bolt. The undertones of white, and truly that of any color, are so variable that one must make same considerations for choices for fabric pairing as with paint. That is to evaluate by using the eye doctor approach (or know it when you see it approach): determine your accompanying fabrics and then evaluate (with mid morning natural light) some white samples against them. (And if you like white, choose samples of mftr's you like and keep a sample book with your sample large enough to serve as an evaluation for a future project).
Regarding bleeding. I have never had a problem bleeding--even with batik, black, red pairings with white, and I never prewash. (That's not to say that a disaster is not in my future). I do use Color Catchers (5x) and now most recently Synthrapol. Synthrapol has an advantage over Color Catchers in that is removes the excess dye on the wash in addition to keeping it in suspension. I always prewash my quilts before gifting (I have pets; I glue baste; and I don't want to transfer the risk of improper washing to the recipient).
I love white so these were excellent tips, especially as I am just get started in my quilting adventures!
I use white all the time. I wash all quilts with some color catchers.
Good Afternoon Karen, I thought that the time for your cruise is growing closer. 👏🥰 I’m so happy that you and your family along with Angie and her family (&many others) are going along on this cruise. I am so excited about Angie and your new pattern. I am thinking there will be lots and lots of laughter and a super fun time! Take Care and God Bless, 🥰👍👏 Chris
Have you ever seen bright sunlight and you can see all the minute particles floating in the air? Those particles include fabric shreds that our clothes give off during normal movements. Those particles can land on white objects including white fabrics and, believe it or not…edible white food products including fondant and gum paste which are used in cake products. That’s why you see bakers wear white jackets to limit the amount of colored particles that show on the fondant, gum paste and icings. I had a custom cake business for 15 years and always kept a straight pin on my jacket to lift any colored particles that would land on white fondant when I was rolling it out and applying it to the cakes and decorations. Doesn’t mean that our areas aren’t clean, but lots of things in our lives produce these fine minute particles and they land everywhere.
Thanks for sharing. Food for thought...pardon the pun
Lol... love it.
There's also a brand of color-catchers at walmart called "Color Grabbers". I use 4 or 5 in the first wash! Once my friend washed a bright red Kitchen Rug in with the baby blue and white quilt I had made for her. Why? Oh why? Just not in the habit of separating bright colors and darks, etc. She soaked the quilt in cold water with vinegar and then again, and did not have any color grabbers. I think it took her four or five more soaks and washes to get out most of the red/hot pink dye. The baby quilt was mostly flannel. It has some fraying now but is super soft from all that! And well, she remembers to wash the quilt separately. And Now I give a whole box of color grabbers away with each quilt. My seams were a lot narrower back then too. I was a newbie. I plan to just sew big patches over top of all the popped seams and it will be even cuter! There's a hot pink, black, and white quilt that I made..with the hot pink mostly from batiques... I often wonder about that quilt?!? After gifting it, I soaked a piece in cold water to see what would happen... uh oh... pink for days. Awaiting the call. I won't buy darkly hued batiques again. Live n learn 🥰
No two whites, and no two blacks.
But, surprisingly, almost forty years after it was made, and nearly twenty since it got damaged, I found a blue that perfectly matched my first quilt, and last week, I repaired it. I'm so happy.
Whites, however. . . I was making a petticoat with ruffles, and I ran out of white -- twice. All three whites were different. Since it was a gift, I finally broke down and bought a bolt of white just so it would be the same all the way through.
Good video.
Thank you
Seeing your Maple and Eucalyptus Quilt has gotten me so excited for 100 days!!!
Maple and Eucalyptus ! Wow ! Thanks for sharing a sneek peek :) Looking forward to it !
This was an excellent video even for us non-quilters. Thank you.
The colours in that quilt are soooo pretty!!!!! 😍😍
Good useful tips, as always. Must remember to trim my threads closer from now on!
Is that what she is doing at 7:00. To prevent shadowing.
Hallo, i love your content , i learn a lot. I would like to share, i was a strong fun of those color catchers, but I found out they contain enzymes, they breaks the color out . I never have issues with Kona cotton, add a collorcatcher and you will see what they do. They make sense only if you allready have a color bleeding issue. 😘
Love the tip about holding rotary blade at 45 degrees to trim seams! Thank you - watch all your videos here in Cornwall, England x
Aww, beautiful Cornwall, I watch Karen from Yorkshire ❤, isn't it wonderful?
Good to see you back doing quilting videos. I thought we had lost you on a cruise.
I use quite a bit of white with few disasters, but recently I had a beautiful white, black and red quilt bleed on me. It was the red dotted flannel backing. Despite having prewashed everything, it still bled. The Dawn trick worked wonders and I used some Resolve dye fixer to seal the deal. Phew.
I’m always surprised that it works so well. Thanks for sharing
Thx for the tips. Love your glasses and you are looking great.
My quilt that I’m currently working on has three different shades of white, one for the Centre medallion which is a creamy white, one within the row panels that is a white with tiny blue flowers and the balance framing is done with a tone on tone white/creamy white. I’m absolutely pleased with the look. I’m one of those people who steers away from black and white isn’t a big drawing card either. Thanks Karen for sharing. 👍❤️😊
I (LOVE) using white in my quilts! Currently waiting til payday for more white before I can quilt again.
I use white all the time! Love it ❤
I love using white, I would say black comes in more variety than white and harder to match
Super helpful!! And a GORGEOUS quilt😍
I work at a fabric store and the white-on-white prints usually come in with a grayish smudge
Such great information. This is a video every quilter should watch. Thank you.
Reminds me of the 70’s Canadian show The Trouble With Tracey haha😂…I like white and how it ages over time. But you make good points.
Another video, lots more great advice. Thank you, Karen!
Hello 👋 how are you doing today??
I machine quilt for others and I agree with all of your tips. I make sure everything is clean and I wear quilting gloves when handling a lot of white. Reminding quilt makers to use color catchers in laundry is really important, especially if fabrics aren't prewashed. I often use a light to medium gray thread for quilting when I'm doing an allover design. White stands out so much on the darker fabrics
Your sampler quilt is beautiful!!
Thank you so much! It's called Maple and Eucalyptus
Just pinned up my white and purple quilt yesterday.... looks like I might be taking it apart tonight...didn't think about trimming my threads short. D'oh.
Your 100 days quilt back(side) was beautiful!
Great hints…thanks Karen. 🇦🇺
I found this video a few days after I got my QuiltCon Judge's Comments where the BIG negative was the shadowing of dark fabrics. I am sure going to add the trimming step to my future quilts. THANKS!!!
WOW!! Number 6 just blew me away! Brilliant!!
Thanks so much for sharing your tips on white fabrics. My last quilt (on my bed) has s lot of white (more than I've ever used) wish me luck!!!
GLAD you are back ... love your videos ...look forward to them .... AS for using white ... I have stopped doing that ... still have half a bolt left over but now tend to use dark colors or black as background. White in my house always ends up dingy and discolored thru use. I wash my quilts regularly when being used but the white still ends up looking bad. So for my quilts now have dark backgrounds so I can actually use them.
Great advice, I am not a fan of white use a lot of cream/light beige for background. Black is another tricky “color” not a fan of it either.
Hello 👋 how are you doing today?
well done. I'm planning on giving friends who get my quilts a baggie of color catchers with instructions for them too keep in their laundry room for future use. I'm that paranoid.
Great tips Karen, thank you! I rarely use white because of all the issues you mentioned, but I may try again after watching this video.
Glad it was helpful!
Magnificent!
That quilt is beautiful. TY for great advice that I would never have thought of. I also love a comment below that recommends the "temperature" of the color be considered.
Great tips Karen. Always pulling a stray thread out of quilts . One always sneaks in even after brushing everything down 🤣.
Your Maple and Eucalyptus top looks great. Surprised to see it done in all solids. I have ordered a hard copy pattern from Angie and can't wait for its arrival but I might have to re-think my planned fabrics.💗🇦🇺
Angie is working on another version with prints too
So I'm watching this from "I always use white" and my "out of the box" is to try colors like black as a background. I've never had an issue with fabrics bleeding and I don't prewash. I definitely use lots of color catchers though just in case (use a laundry bag so your washer doesn't suck them up!). I don't worry about white showing dirt unless I'm unfortunate enough to use white as my backing (which has happened). It looks stunning as a backing but still makes me nervous. Whites being different colors is definitely an issue. I longarm and I love to play with threads. Doing the strand test is definitely the way to go. Never thought about batting and hadn't noticed a difference aside from warmth/drape.
This week I am in the Slough of Despond without my glasses… I can’t thread a needle! Hmmm!
I have a ridiculous amount of readers all over the house so I always have a pair
I discovered the "joys" of using white fabric with one of the first quilts I made. Ran out of the original white which was a white on white print which I hadn't seen it was at the time of purchase and couldn't find it because it was 3 or 4 seasons old. I learned my lesson, now I I buy by the bolt at Dharma trading and get their Kona 60" and 118" cotton which makes me a happy high contrast quilter :)
Those cookies looked pretty darn tasty!☺️
Beautiful quilt and great tips!
Wonderful video, but I seldom use white as my quilt tops go to charities then folks who may not have easy access to laundry facilities. This is where print/novelty fabrics come in handy. Its also an opportunity to make colours pop without white.
Thanks so much Karen for your great videos, tips and tricks! Have just used white/off whites in two quilts for the first time…will need to gift colour catchers with these quilts and hope they don’t bleed. 🤦♀️🇦🇺 Annette
The quality of greige goods varies a lot. I have found high-quality bleached muslin to be a nice white very informative. I enjoy your videos.
Thanks for this Karen. Pure white horrifies me. Unless I want a particular part of a block to pop or sparkle, I opt to use a variety of near-whites, white print on white, and creams all mixed and interspersed in keeping with a more scrappy look.
This year I bought a 10 yard bolt of Kona Snow online, on sale. Other times I buy a couple yards here and there when on sale. I do use color- catcher sheets when washing.
I like to buy white by the bolt as I use them often.
I just want to say how much I have enjoyed watching your videos. I am still a beginner with sewing but I am most definitely getting great ideas in my small scale projects until my confidence level builds up to doing something larger. I am wanting to make my daughter-in-love and granddaughter reading quilts for Christmas. Slow progress is better than no progress, right? :D Thank you for making things so easy to follow!
You are so welcome!
Thank you for the recommendation of Birch beds!
Wow Karen, what a great video, I use loads of off white as I like how it makes the patterns pop, what a great tip to angle 45 degrees the rotary cutter, I'll try this and see if my results are as good as yours. Also good tip is to try and hook the pesky darker threads that show through with a fine crochet hook, I've learnt to live with the odd thread that's showing but I'm definitely looking through my crochet hooks to see what's the finest one I have, thanks for this ❤
This just happened to me! Two different shades of white. Proved that I definitely need better lighting in my studio...
Tons of good info as usual 😊
Love your maple eucalyptus quilt. Beautiful ❤
Thanks for the advice👍👏🥰🤍🇦🇺
Thank you- I was really missing this style of video
This was very instructive, thank you!
I use Kona Snow or Kona White mostly. I have other odd yards of fabric in the white/cream family that I use for scrappy backgrounds.
Snow is my normal choice for whites. But with these stunning colours in Andover Century Solids the brighter white really made them shine
Good info! Thanks. Luv the colors of the quilt!
Thanks for all the great tips about whites! Your new quilt is absolutely gorgeous!
I am hand sewing and hand quilting a queen sized quilt for my son. I asked him what he wanted for his main colour. He said he wanted cream with olive green borders. I said “what kind of African are you to want cream!” because I was already preparing for the earthy colours. I’ve started the big stitch quilting and I’m constantly dusting because of the cream front.
Did he actually say ‘cream’
@@JustGetitDoneQuilts yes he did. He lives in Europe and he sent a photo of the cream and green together. I intend to break the large cream section with photos and stories of his childhood/family as well as his career. I bought the cream fabric and, due to my inexperience, bought calico, so I had to buy new fabric. I couldn’t get the same colour as a wide backing so I bought an expensive wide fabric “Sahara” which I thought was beautiful because it had a cream background with waves of light brown and green. He came for a visit and didn’t like it so back to all the shops we went. He liked the calico seed colour which I could only get in 112 cm width. I bought it and pieced it width wise together in waves. I have already started big stitching it. Btw the backing is made up of all his “gangsta” hoodies from his youth. Yes, I am constantly dusting and removing fluff from the cream fabric.
Beautiful quilt!!
Thank you, great advice. Your so knowledgeable.
Hello 👋 how are you doing today??
Thank you for the great tips!
What is the pattern of the 1st quilt in the video. It is georgious. Wonderful video.
Yes, you needed to say don't eat in your sewing room!
Hello 👋 how are you doing today??
@@Scott_Alex11 I'm doing great, how are you?
@@janepols9215 Good thanks. Nice to meet you here
@@janepols9215 My name Scott I’m originally from Texas. You?
@@Scott_Alex11 Do you quilt?
Thx again!!
I'm more of a garment and costume sewist than a quilter, but the only time I buy white is when I intend to dye it. I'm patient and have gotten some really beautiful results. I just don't like white: it's hard to keep clean, and it's just not worth it to me.
Literally just bought a bolt of pure white fabric this morning for the first time. 😢
I dislike white. Clothes. Quilts. And so on. Love a vibrant contrasting background or black. And we have dogs so there’s another reason to avoid white lol
I rarely use it. I normally use a cream if white is called for
One time my white fabric discolored when I ironed fabric on my dirty ironing board cover (not as bad as yours). Lesson learned. 😢
I need to change my cover
I'm making a blue and "white" postage stamp quilt using scraps. The blues float, so the ratio of blue to white is 1 to 3. I'm using white, white-on-white, cream and cream-on-cream, light beiges, ecrus, and very light prints in all colors. The only color I'm avoiding is gray.
That was really helpful. Thanks so much Karen. Your advice is always so practical.
Color catchers eork great
Nice video…looking for the sequels on using blacks, greys and beiges.
Oooh I so WISH I could join you!! Will Maple and Eucalyptus ever become available to those of us who can't do the trip?I'd love to add it to my wips!😍
It's available on the website now shopau.gnomeangel.com/?ref=CCbn6sN_XWhVRm
Great tip to use a tiny crochet hook!