One of the newest trends at Fall  2023 Houston Market was the abundance of tiny prints. Tiny is the new "in". I will try to explain.

In quilting, it is about the relation between fabrics and what is being done with these fabrics. Fabrics can have designs and with these fabrics, new designs are created. So two designs are playing together: fabric and pattern. You have pattern designers and fabric designers, sometimes a person can do both. Certainly, I can make the case that we have three design elements as the art of quilting has become so important these last 10 years.

There is nothing tiny in patterns. The patterns, what you make with the fabric designs, are often big blocks with especially curves and stars taking the spotlight.
Big blocks became new last year, when suddenly all the blocks blew up in size, some even up to 20". This created room for more fancy quilting designs and helped push out borders and white backgrounds. That continues to be the case, (it would even be impossible to change so quickly again). The fabrics used last year were solids, fabrics with no design at all. Solids have been in contemporary quilting extremely dominant, almost since the beginning of modern quilting. Look for instance at the work of Nancy Crow, without any doubt the founding queen of modern quilting.

Every company makes solids, some for years, some are relatively young, thinking they couldn't stay behind. Companies have expanded and expanded the colors as the demand was so big, but.... they are also making so many other gorgeous fabrics! I think it is quite amazing that last QuiltCon was showing so many quilts entirely made out of solids.... still modern? After all these years? It is almost like saying that Kaffe is modern because of the bright colors he creates (Kaffe makes beautiful browns and blacks as well!).
"Modern" in the meaning of contemporary, would be using the latest of the latest fabrics and incorporating these in new and original work. Fabric companies would love that! "Modern" could come to stand for a phase in the quilting world when solids were dominant, but in that case, the word modern has a different meaning. It becomes a style of quilting. What I have seen so far being accepted for QuiltCon 2024 is again mostly created with solids. The focus is still overwhelmingly on the pattern design and the (ruler)quilting, without much thinking about fabric. Don't get me wrong: I see stunning quilts! But...wouldn't you think a quilt made out of, for instance, Anna Maria Horner fabrics could be more new? Modern fabrics in modern patterns and with modern quilting.... that is a challenge!

A crack in the use of solids seems to start happening. At this last Market, many pattern designers didn't use the solids any longer. They are using new tiny prints. From a distance they look like solids, but closer by these fabrics have designs. All this fits in the bigger trend towards maximalism. Bringing design back. By no means are we there yet, but it is safe to say we have left minimalism. More minimal than solid is not possible. I predict that we are going to leave solids and that they are on their way out!! Really. Yes. Slowly. That doesn't mean you won't see new patterns with solids. It means you will see new patterns not using solids. More patterns with less solids. It is a gliding scale. I saw an ad for felt wall tiles: "Got naked walls?" The word "naked" was used to describe a solid wall in mostly white. That same wall was just a few years ago during covid "uncluttered, clean", hotter than hot.  Now it is "naked" and white went from positive to negative. It is changing pretty fast!
Ten years or so from now, Modern can indeed be described as the period we used solids, negative space, etc....like calico prints belonging to the 1930s. The latest of the latest will be something different and it could maybe be called something different than modern. Maybe "new age" or "library quilting", I don't believe there is a new word yet.
 All this is a to-be-expected path as we recognize the art of quilting. Years ago, quilts were only used as a warm blanket for a bed.  I remember a discussion with a friend who said a real quilt is for on the bed.... as you can imagine, I disagreed and these days it is widely accepted that wall hangings are real quilts too! We have come a long way: As quilting grew into an art form as well, it is not a surprise there are several directions, "schools", that focus on a specific style in this art form. The modern quilter, the improv quilter, the mixed media artist, the collage quilter.....they can all be in harmony just as impressionists and cubist painters can be appreciated equally for their role in the art of painting and different style composers have explored the sound of music. Every time has its form of creativity, almost like a flavor, thank goodness.

I am not sure if this is true, but I believe it was Tula Pink who called these little prints "tiny prints". Did she give it this name? The word is for sure not blenders because these tiny prints are not being used to connect/blend bigger scale prints. These are stand-alone fabrics, big enough in their tininess to face the world without bigger-scale prints. They are indeed used (at this moment) in the same way as solids. They are not blenders, they are not basics, but they are tiny and that is new! Fun, not?

Several collections made me think of this. The best sample: Field Cloth designed by Sew Kind of Wonderful for FreeSpirit and coming out in May. This design team is spot on on the trends: big block patterns, with stars and curves, but now also tiny prints. When you look at their patterns, you can see how the design world is evolving.
These tiny prints can but they usually don't come in collections of 24-30 the same prints. It is really about a mix of prints that you can collect, just as we collected low volume a few years ago.
The Modern Quilt Studio by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle is coming out with a collection of tiny prints, called Transparency, and starts a BOM this month. Always interesting. Ruby Star Society showed a quilt with stars at Market using the lightest little stars for the more background-like blocks. Figo will have a fabulous collection coming out in August, called Stash, and this collection was presented as "minimal" prints. Minimal, tiny, it is all meant as an effort to find an alternative for solids. Of course, the prints are non-directional to make the step away from solids as easy as possible. It seems like an unimportant change, but it is very new and refreshing. A true trend, because it is happening right in front of our eyes with most unaware that it is happening. I hope the best contemporary and innovative quilters will start using these!