Have you heard of Notan? I know it as a Japanese paper cutting art form where the positive and negative space, or the light and dark aspects mirror each other. There are more in depth or different interpretations but they all come down to the interplay between the light and dark. I love it all.
In the early spring I’d finished two scrap quilts full of riotous colour. I decided I NEEDED to try out an idea that popped in my head. Just a couple of blocks, no expectations. Some hand applique, creative cutting, and only black and white fabric. I was thinking about Notan and how the concepts could be applied to fabric. So I grabbed two rectangles of fabric, one black and one white, and I cut them. And immediately I knew my idea did not work. At least not without some additional layers for success.
In the Notan of my inspiration you take one piece of paper, the black, let’s say. And you cut it. You then get the design of the black ON the white, with the white showcasing the design. On one side it will look like a white design with a black background and the other side will look like a black design on a white background, but the designs are the same/mirrored. And you only cut one of the papers, the light or the dark. This concept is absolutely doable in fabric too - with one cut only - provided you either have raw edges or do not factor in seam allowances.
In my interpretation I cut through the black and white fabrics at the same time. This is because if I only did one cut and then tried to mirror the pieces with applique the seam allowances would change things enough that it wouldn’t look like a mirror. In more detail, let’s say I cut a triangle from a rectangle of black. I appliqué the triangle itself on another white rectangle. The triangle gets smaller because I’ve turned under the edges for the needle turn applique. But I want a mirror piece so I then take the remaining square of black that has the triangle cut out of it and applique it on another square of white (one with the same outside dimensions as the square of black). Now the opening of the cut triangle becomes bigger because, again, seam allowances. So the two white triangles do not end up the same size. In the end, then, I would cut through a black and white fabric at the same time, plus cut additional background fabrics (two white and two black) so that I ended up with four blocks, or two mirrored sets. The way that I solved the problem of the different seam allowances was that I mirrored the blocks that had the center portions of the cut blocks in one set and mirrored the background appliqués in the other set.
This is the background cut piece (the white) appliquéd on to a piece of black. Think of it like reverse applique.
This is the coordinating cut center from the above white appliquéd on to a piece of black.
So these two blocks would NOT be paired together because the seam allowances would distort the Notan effect. I paired them with their coordinating cut with the black appliqués.
Clear as mud?
After I made my realizations and made the first sets of blocks it was clear that I wanted to make more. And more. It took a little planning to make the sizes work because I had cut my first blocks in a rather random and odd size (12.5” x 20.5”). To be honest, it took a lot more planning than I am used to! In the end, however, it came together with just the right amount of fabric before I ran out.
It is not a representation of the art of Notan, but I think the inspiration definitely shows. Now to figure out how I want to quilt it.
