What are low volumes in the quilting world?

Low volumes have been popular for many years now. But what is a low volume precisely? A low volume is a fabric that is light, like white, eggshell, or linen, and has a slight texture on top. Think of dots, a grid, or lines. They serve as background fabrics to add some interest to a quilt.

When you, let say make something with bright colorful fabrics, like a block or a star and you want to enhance it by giving it a light color background. However, using a plain solid for your background can make it a little bit “naked”. When you use a low volume, this will add a bit of interest. Now you know exactly what low volumes are.

Zen Chic’s earlier low volume collections

Zen Chic released her first group of low volumes in the year 2015 and called it Paper. This was such a popular fabric collection and a real hit so Moda added this group of basic standard fabrics to their assortment and Paper is still available after all these years.

Of course, after a while, quilters and sewers wish for new patterns in your low volume collection and so it was obvious I had to create another sequel. More Paper was born. This collection was released in 2018, did very well, and is now too added to the basic fabrics.

The third line of low volumes

When I was developing my next upcoming fabric line, I noticed that those fabrics would also work very well as low volume. I created a third sequel for Paper and called it Even More Paper. Who knows, maybe someday, I'll have a fourth sequel out and I will call it Ultimately More Paper!

Let’s have a look at the fabrics and quilting patterns I’ve made for this collection Even More Paper.

What else do you need for a fabulous quilt?

So if you only make a quilt with just the low volume fabrics, it would look a bit too dull. There’s nothing that catches your eye. You need to add contrasting fabrics obviously. You can go with color or stick with a black-and-white scheme.

Enfold - a black-and-white graphic design

I started with the black and white theme and created a so-called pineapple block. It’s very modern, very graphic and I see a lot of quilters responding very well to this trendy black-and-white design. This quilt pattern is called Enfold.

Paper Beauty - more colorful and modern

Next, I needed a little bit more color, so I created another cool stylish block. I went with a modern version of the double wedding ring block and made these beautiful rounded shapes. I introduce the quilt pattern Paper Beauty.

Bauhaus - with primary colors and a touch of black

The last pattern is for the Bauhaus quilt. Bauhaus is inspired by the Berlin movement of the 1920s when this Bauhaus style was very popular. They used primary colors like red, blue, and yellow and black.

Therefore, these colors are also the main colors in my quilting pattern Bauhaus. A quilt that is very simple, formed by huge building blocks.

The Bauhaus quilt will be the centerpiece of our next Quilt Along, starting at the beginning of 2022. So sign up now!

Buy the Even More Paper collection!

As expected, you will find all the new fabrics in most shops online. We have a handy list of stockists for the Zen Chic collections. Take a look and find your favorite retailer. And of course, Fat Quarter Shop will ship the Even More Paper fabrics right to your home.

P.S. our winner of last week’s giveaway!

The winner of the PDF of the Buttercup case is Marthe Sneijers. Congratulations! We have reached out to you to send you your prizes. Thanks for participating everyone!!