White.... What is there to say about white? Well, at the moment white is extremely interesting. I will share some thoughts over 2 blogs as it will otherwise be quite long. One before, one after Christmas... maybe we will get in between a White Christmas?

Nothing seems to be as basic as white. While in the world of paints white has many, many different colors due to the use of certain undertones, in the fabric world, white is in general much more simple: white is white. The most important distinction in white fabric is not the color, but the design. 

I'm not saying anything new here, but to make my point really clear later, white can be roughly categorized in the following 4 groups:

1. Solid white.

2. Tone on tone white, which are white fabrics with a little white design in it.

3. Low volume whites

4. White with (larger) colored designs.

I could easily make exactly the same categories for every other color. The reason to focus so much on white is because it is the most used color in fabric, especially in backgrounds. Not every project needs a background, but when it does, the extremes in color - black and white - are selected most of the time, with white being much more popular than black. These 4 groups say something about an important function of the white: will it work for a background? As always, these are not rules that have to be followed. I'm talking "in general". 

Solid white is being made by almost every company. The fabric has no design to it and it is the hand/feel/price of the fabric that determines one's preference. There are many differences here! The weight of the fabric, the softness of the fabric, the fraying of the fabric, how it accepts dyes....Granted, even in these solids there are some brighter and some softer whites, but for most people that will be really hard to see unless they put them next to each other. It is being produced over and over again, hardly without any thinking. I have seen many quilts where customers thought they could use just any white fabric, later realizing that that base fabric is not up to quality. Instead of thinking that white is just white, I would suggest you buy the best possible white you can find/afford for a project. It is probably an important piece of the total, maybe even the most used one. Very often it "carries" all the other ones. Nothing is so frustrating as seeing beautiful workmanship with lousy fabrics or a white fabric that is so thin that you can see the individual fibers.

The group of solid white creates the highest contrast in lights and the lack of design makes it sharp. There is nothing that can distract the eye in the fabric, an extra reason to stay away from poor quality fabrics with very little fiber. The clean look of a solid white is an important reason why quilters like to use it: it opens up room to really show off and create quilting designs. 

The second group are the tone on tone whites. They are still just as white as a solid white, but the little design on the fabric softens the look. It's less harsh, outspoken, less clean than a solid white and the contrast with other fabrics will be less than a solid white. White tone on tone is the most used fabric in the general quilting population. Whether someone is a traditional quilter or the most modern one, sooner or later he/she will pick up a piece of white on white for background or as one of the other colors in a project. One would expect that for that reason companies are making many whites on whites, but that is totally not the case. Yes, most of the big lines of basics have a white in it, but one would be surprised to see how often it is left out. I'm not sure that is a good thing. In comparison with other colors white sells and more often and in higher quantities, which means that shops are always in need of good whites.

Good whites on whites can be found as part of a fabric collection, where it is one of the supporting coordinating prints. The collection for instance has a big flower prints as its main focus and "happens" to print a white on white with it.  The Buttercup & Slate collection by Moda is a good sample of this. The picture focuses on the colored prints and the whites are just there for their function in the total. They are already just supportive.

Often a good white on white can also be found in black and white collections where they add some tone on tone prints as well to give the eye a place to rest in the entire grouping of busy 2 color prints. 

From time to time, companies release an all white collection like Windham just did (November delivery to shops) with the Crystal collection, a collection that has 25 white on white prints. There is one company standing out here: P&B Textiles has a collection called Ramblings and has been making this since the 90's. A history of 30 years is quite an accomplishment. Ramblings number 13 came out a few weeks ago, in October. Yes, it is number 13, so that confirms how important this basic is. There are not many other collections seeing 13 versions to keep the designs fresh.

Since the design is what makes this fabric special, a whole range of styles can be found in these fabrics. Ramblings 13 has some more traditional prints, modern prints and some in betweens. Smart! Now it can cater to every quilter. Since the whites have the exact same tone, one can easily mix the print to add extra interest to the project.

The third group of whites, the Low Volume whites are whites with a little bit of color. When low volume became very popular (2014-2018), the little colored print was sprinkled randomly on the fabric. Low volume is not a white with a little colored dot that is evenly placed on the fabric. The randomness is like a surprise, a cute little whimsy, almost like a tattoo on the fabric. It can be anything, from a little ladybug to a worm. A triangle or a little square. As long as it is little, random and keeping the white the dominant color in the fabric. The fabric is mainly white.

Over the past few years, the term "low volume" has expanded to other lighter colors as well. It is no longer unique for white, but I am mentioning it here as it is such an important group of whites. These days, low volume is also light grey, taupe, dirty white. The little colored accent is still its signature. A good sample is the Little Whispers collection of Windham that came out this Summer. This collection has some true low volume fabrics (but not all) and a mix of lighter colors. 

In quilts, low volume whites make great backgrounds as long as they are used sparsely. The element of whimsy is taken away when all the fabrics have an accent color, especially when it is all the same accent. Low volume fabric needs to be used in little bits. In general, one would not need 3 yards of one fabric, but rather collect 12 fat quarters (or more!). Used well, they invite the viewer to take a closer look at what this bit of color is. 

White with colored prints. This category covers a very large area. White is still the dominant color here, but it is much less dominant. It has competition from another color or another colors in the design.. It's no longer so much about the white itself. The color is added to the print making the white mainly to make the print stand out. The goal of the white here is not the contrast with other fabrics (outside contrast), but much more the contrast with the colored design in the fabric (inside contrast). It can be a traditional shirting fabric, a classic flower, multi colored star prints for children up to a very contemporary whites with a bold graphic. Most white fabrics fall in this category. Whites here can sometimes still be used for backgrounds, but could just as easily be used anywhere else, using another fabric for the background. Whatever can be said about this white, can also be said about any other color.

What is going on with white? The next blog will give you some broad lines of what is going on. Several guilds and shops have invited me to give a lecture about "trends in color and design" and I hope by looking at everything from different angles, that I can give you a better sense of what's going on in our fabric world. It's all connected, but at the same time can be dissected in some topics. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!