Create Transparency in a Quilt

Written by Diane Harris on May 29, 2017. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

Transparency is a great trick, and it’s especially effective in quilt design. My recent X Marks the Spot for McCall’s Quick Quilts makes good use of transparency to create interest in an otherwise ordinary design.

X Marks the Spot appears in McCall’s Quick Quilts June/July ’17. Photo by Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.

The effect of transparency is created by arranging patchwork to suggest that shapes overlap one another. Using darker values in the areas that are “layered” helps create this effect.

In this block, it looks like a square is layered over the top of a big pink plus sign. The square seems to be transparent because you can see the plus sign right “through” the square. The darker values that form a small plus sign suggest this transparency, above.

I created another block in EQ7 quilt design software to help you see it again. Here the purple square seems to be under the blue photo corners. Isn’t that cool?

Here I took it a step further by putting two squares in the center space, and turning the blue one on point. You can see that transparency comes in handy when you need to add some interest!

Now that summer is officially here, I thought it would be fun to turn X Marks the Spot into a patriotic quilt. Wouldn’t this make a great Quilt of Valor? I’m writing this on Memorial Day, when I’m especially mindful of all those who served our country but did not come home.

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