While quilting may remind you of oldish traditions and creaky wooden cabins, there are countless contemporary quilts out there that boast of modern designs and colors. There is no reason for you to imagine that quilting is old-fashioned – it can totally be fresh and exciting too!
Just these 10 contemporary quilts are enough to pique your interest and add more modern flavor to quilting.
You can go minimalist with a generous use of negative space, use lively colors and broken patterns, or use nature and the world around you as inspiration! The world of quilt design is as varied as the fabrics used to make them.
Modern Birch Trees
This modern quilt used asymmetrical pieces and pebble free motion quilting for the negative spaces.
Garden Quilt
The Garden Quilt is a softer, more organic version of The Gears Quilt. Miniature pinwheels are used as the background, layered on with some killer floral applique, and finished off with free-motion quilting. This garden quilt is bold and modern, and it’s a cinch to put together.
Via Man Sewing
Almost Purr-fect
Michael Miller's Cattitude fabric was the inspiration for this 18-degree wedge mini quilt. The whiskered cats were chosen as the focal point of the design. Varying widths of Cattitude prints and Michael Miller solids were cut and sewed back together. An 18-degree template was also used to cut out the wedges.
Via Modern Quilt Guild
Fractal Radiance
This quilt pattern design was borne out of a pillow the designer made for a friend which she enlarged into a small quilt and by coming up with a cool method was able to enlarge the triangles so that it all works well together. The design is simple yet dynamic, and because there aren’t a lot of pieces, it goes together fairly quick.
Via kcmqg
Cruella Deville
This quilt is composed of several very skinny – just under an inch wide strips, sewn together in a transition from light to dark. This quilt totally looks like Cruella Deville – not only is the front half black and half white – like Cruella’s hair, but the backing material almost looks like a Dalmatian dog print – it was perfect!!
Via Modern Handcraft
Molehills
The beauty of this quilt pattern is that it allows you to really customize it and make it your own. There are pieced fans, paper pieced arcs sewn into fans and the most recent addition is the template for full fans! These can all be interchanged and mixed.
Via Latifah Saafir
Vinyle
Using a combination of crosscut blocks and plain blocks with light and dark colors, this gorgeous modern quilt was pieced together and sewn using a spiral quilting design.
Via Luna Lovequilts
Range
The Range Quilt design is focused on solid fabrics and negative space. Range, can mean a mountain range in the distance or a range of complementary colors.
Via Modern Handcraft
Improv
As a way to practice improvisational muscles, this quilt is built with nine different shapes and techniques – a slab each of “improv” patchwork. The quilting on this added further to the overall look.
World of Goo
This quilt is constructed with wonky log cabin blocks. It's such a great block because no two will ever look the same. So named as it looked similar to the video game World of Goo.
These contemporary quilts are meant to open your eyes to near limitless possibilities in designing your very own quilts. Do you have a contemporary or modern quilt design in mind? We’d love to see it!
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