Friday, January 16, 2009

A thought on patchwork quilts

In these winter months, there's nothing like going to bed under a home-made quilt. Except I live in LA, and it is unseasonably warm here. But those of you fortunate enough to not live in LA get to have nice quilts. But don't quite rush out and buy just any quilt, because some of them are uglier than others. Today, the topic is patchwork quilts.
Now wait a second, you say you openly admit that your favored style is modern, sometimes modern of the mid-century variety. How can you reconcile a quilt with that? Aren't you going to pick on all of them?
Yes, I like MCM and modern design. But I'm not picking on these quilts (or any design things) because they aren't compatible with my favorite styles. I pick on them because they're intrinsically ugly. As in, it doesn't matter how you use them, there is little good about them.
Come on, how bad could some of them be?


Okay, you win


There's nothing wrong with a patchwork quilt. However, these quilts are only as good as the patches they're made of. There are some fabrics which ought never have been made. If the quilt contains any of them, it's not a good quilt.

This (above) is a good quilt. It may be a bit lacking in the color and overall impact department, but it's simple. The 'cabin' quilt from LL Bean (link below) has more color and presence, but I'm not nearly as big a fan of the pattern.

My thoughts?
Keep the colors in harmony. If you simply MUST have big and bold patterns, keep everything else restrained. You can always use pillows to accent.


Quilts from Anthropologie , L L bean

1 comment:

  1. Your photo--it is REALLY holding you back.

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