As I said in an earlier post, primary colors are not my favorite colors. And yet here I am making quilts for a primary colors challenge. When I first read about the Canadian Quilters Try-A-Triad Challenge, my first thought was how I could make my entry look like the colors were different than all the other entries.
I have recently been reading about optical illusions, including the Bezold effect and the Munker-White illusion. If you search for images based on these words, you’ll find many examples. Most of the websites have lots of advertising (which irritates me, so I’m not going to link to them!) but here’s one website that explains the effects and shows a really good example. Edited to add: here’s another great website, and there are many more optical illusions to entertain you.
I wanted to try this with the primary color fabrics, but first I experimented using Excel and the Fill Color tool. On the left, the 2 squares are the same red, although they look different depending on what color stripes are adjacent to the red. In the middle, the 2 yellow squares are the same yellow. On the right, you can see the 2 red columns are actually the same red.
After spending way too much time experimenting with Excel, I constructed a small quilt using the interweave technique. First, I made two 20″ x 20″ blocks, each with a yellow circle. I cut each block into 1″ strips and pinned them on the design wall alternating the strips from each block.
The last time I used this technique, my seams weren’t as straight as I would have liked, so this time I fused some Pellon 820 Quilter’s Grid interfacing onto the batting. The grid lines really helped me to keep my sewing lines straight.
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Below is my finished quilt. I’m calling it ‘Don’t Believe Your Eyes’. The size is 18″ x 17″.
And even though these aren’t my favorite colors, while I was working on this one, I was thinking of how else I could manipulate these fabrics to look like different colors, so now I’m starting on another one!
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Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
- Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? by Confessions of a Fabric Addict
I love both this effect and that you used Excel to explore this topic! I would never have thought of this use for Excel, but of course it works. Cool.
WOW! Awesome!
You had fun with this and it shows!! I really like what you created and appreciate how you walked us through your creative process!!
Fascinating color study; thank you! And I like your finished piece.
The interweave technique is such an easy way to create complex-looking quilts. Your use of these solids demonstrates that so clearly.
I wanted to let you know that Lorrie Cranor made a good tutorial on this technique here http://lorrie.cranor.org/blog/2014/01/19/how-to-make-an-interleave-quilt/.
She also designed a quarter-inch grid fabric that is available on Spoonflower here https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/2046219-quarter-inch-grid-by-lorrietweet. The grid fabric ensures that the seams are accurate and the design stays properly aligned, just as the Pellon you used.
Thanks again for your inspiring posts. Take care, Rosemarie.
Thanks for you comments. Yes, when I made my first interweave mini in August last year, I looked at Lorrie’s tutorial, as well as several others. I read about her grid fabric, but ordering from Spoonflower is slow and expensive from Canada. The Pellon Grid seemed a better solution, especially as I had some in my stash.
I love these! Very “eye-catching”!