QuiltCon 2023 | Trends in Modern Quilting

I was so happy to see the color back at QuiltCon this year! In 2022 one of the trends I noticed was a lot of neutral quilts and dark, monochromatic quilts. You can read more about my thoughts on QuiltCon 2022 HERE. I shared a lot of colorful quilts in my QuiltCon 2023 review post HERE. Beyond the fact that the quilts were just more colorful and used more saturated colors, I noticed a trend towards using reds and bright pinks. I personally use a lot of pink in my own quilts so I didn’t notice this until reviewing photos I had taken. I did notice all the red quilts while I was at the show. Here are a few examples of quilts that embraced red and/or saturated pink.

Beyond the abundance of red in quilts this year, there were a lot of quilts that used a primary color harmony; red, yellow, and blue. It is interesting to see this shift back to a basic color scheme. I wish I knew the true reason why this trend is happening. My theory is that the world has become neutral, stripped of a lot of color, and going back to the simplest color harmony, primary colors, is a response to begin bringing colors back.

Another trend I noticed was circles. Circles, circles everywhere! I think there were circles featured in the designs of the quilts in every single category. There were even circles in the log cabin challenge category. The following quilts are just a small sample of the quilts with circles in the design.

The final trend I want to mention is the strong influence of the prominent modern quilter, Irene Roderick. Irene has had her award-winning quilts at QuiltCon for many years. Since she started teaching, her style has influenced many beautiful pieces. She recently authored a book and has increase her workshop offerings which has allowed her design influence to reach many more students and quilters. If you have a chance to take a class with Irene, go for it. She is a wonderful quilter and great person. Her design influence is strong and happened in multiple categories, not just improv, what she’s know for. However, there is nothing quite like and Irene original. I love the way her current work is growing and she is an inspiration to continue to push forward in my own work.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the trends I saw at QuiltCon 2023. Of course there are many more trends like handwork and facing that have been showing up and growing consistently over the past several years. What trends did you notice?