World Wide Quilting Page

Question of the Week

Question for the week of October 12, 1998:

Our question this week comes from Melissa

What is the difference between a blender fabric and a focal fabric?

Bonnie Cain, Ohio :
Lay the fabrics out side by side. Stand on the other side of the room.
As you look at the fabric, a blender fabric will
not draw your eye to it. It will look like a pleasing
combintion with the other fabrics. The focal fabric should be the first
one you see and the one that your eye goes back to.
The one that you will remember longest. I
leave my fabrics displayed for a few days.
Sometimes one does not seem to look p;easing with the others.

Or two of them my too much alike. too strong a contrast in bright colors.

When I am satisfied with all this. Then I arrange just the ones I am sure I will use.
After another day, if I still like it a lot. I Cut.
Now I know I will love the quilt forever. How does one write in this little moving box?????

Kathy :
I think the focal fabric is the key fabric in the quilt - maybe not the brightest, or the boldest fabric in the quilt, but the one that holds it all together (probably the one that made you decide to make the quilt in the first place!).

To me, the blender fabric, or fabrics, are those you select to tie the other fabrics together. It may be a neutral, but not necessarily; it just complements the others - lets them stand out.

yoderl2 :
blender fabric is a smaller print that blends with other prints like small print calico. Focal would be a larger print that you woud use as a focal print and then use solids or smaller blending type fabric pulling the color from your focal fabric. I hope that helps you. good luck!

amie :
A focal fabric is the fabric that you would be using the most (have the most focus on) and where you'd get a lot of the color ideas from. A blender fabric would be a fabric (I believe) that would be used to 'blend' from, say, the focal fabric to another color.

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