toogie

Hello Quilters! My question is about colored background fabric. I am drawn to white as the background, because I like how it makes colors usually pop, but I have seen old quilts with colored backgrounds. I like the vintage look of some of them. What color backgrounds do you use, if you don't use white? Can I see?

Iceblossom

Hey Toogie, I use a lot of black or at least super dark backgrounds (midnight blue, midnight purple). For vintage solids there is pink, and creamy yellow, and "that 30s green" among others. On my recent Bunny Star, I decided white was too stark with the other fabrics and used a light blue instead. And then there is off-white to decidedly beige.

I've been working on updating my albums here, if you click on my name and then profile I have my current unfinished tops and am working on finding/getting pictures of some of my older projects.

Tartan

I am loving the look of the lighter Grunge line fabrics for background.

Rhonda K

I like textured or grunge type fabrics for backgrounds. I seldom use white or fabrics that have to be marked to tell the front/back.

GEMRM

Dark brown is a new favourite for me - I had a lovely mystery quilt that required two fabrics, a background and a feature fabric. I had a beautiful mottled feature fabric and would typically use a black as the background. I was wanting to change it up and my friend suggested a very dark brown - it was the perfect suggestion!

wesing

I have been admiring the vintage quilts lately with their background colors. I have decided I want to do one with a turquoise or green background. Sorry no picture; it hasn’t made it out of my head yet. Pink, yellow, and baby blue are also good background colors.

So this post just reminded me I have the quilt that my grandmother used on her bed. I have removed the backing because it was worn out and the batting was bunching and shifting. They are Dutch dolls with a baby blue background. Now I need to find it and see what I’m going to do about a new back for it! Someday I will post a picture of it.

toogie

wesing, I look forward to seeing your grandmothers Dutch Doll quilt. No one is showing pictures but I was thinking of green or gray for a quilt. Like you I have a lot 'in my head' that I want to do.

joe'smom

I used very subdued light blue textured prints as background once, and didn't like it. It felt chilly.

Snooze2978

BLacks, dark greys and have used a dark green for the background of a triple irish chain. Used lighter greens for the chains.

juliasb

I use a lot of white on white as well as solid whites however I also use a great deal of jewel tones and prints depending on the quilt. I also like a good solid black. I don't confine myself to a single color. White is what I use most frequently but I try to stay prepared for what ever hits my fancy depending on the quilt.