Start with 1 fabric you absolutely LOVE!
You know you have them in your stash
– those fabrics that you just had to buy,
but had no project in mind. Well, here’s
your chance – grab one of those favorite
fabrics and let’s find some others to go
with it!!
Here’s one of my favorites from my stash.
I have always loved Laurel Burch fabrics
and over the years I have acquired a little
collection of them. I thought that this
cute elephant fabric would be a great
place to start for my summer project.
Pick out fabrics that are the same colors
as the print in your fabric
Next, pull out some fabrics in the same
colors as the print in your fabric.
“Audition” them by laying them down
on top of your main fabric to see if they
“work”. Don’t stress about everything
being “matchy-matchy” but try to keep
the colors the same vibrancy. Usually
you would keep clear, bright hues
together or dusty, muted hues together.
Stand back as you add each fabric and
evaluate it. If you don’t like it, don’t use
it! Here are some of the fabrics that I
auditioned for my project.
Contrast between the fabrics
When you’re picking fabrics, you want to
make sure that there is enough contrast
between the fabrics so that you’ll
be able to see the piecing when it’s
completed. Although these two fabrics
matched my elephants, they were too
close in color and didn’t provide enough
contrast to the main fabric.
Making the final selection
Once you found a bunch of fabrics that
will work, you’ll probably need to take
out a few so that the number of fabrics
you’re working with is more manageable.
Determine the “feeling” of your quilt
For my table runner, I decided on a ‘more
modern’ feeling. In order to accomplish
this, I selected hand dyed fabrics by
fellow quilter Elaine Quehl. I’ve been
saving these for a special art quilt project,
but since I’ll only need a little strip from
each, I’m going to use them for my
table runner. If I wanted a more playful
feeling, I would have used the selection
of fabrics in the above picture. If I had
wanted a more traditional, or country
feeling I would have selected fabrics
with a more dusty or muted hues.
Still struggling? Try pre-cuts!
If you’re still struggling with fabric
selection, why not try one of the many
pre-cuts that are now available? Precuts come in a variety of sizes and
contain a whole collection of fabric cut
by machine, stacked into piles or rolled
up, and tied together. The fabrics are all
co-ordinated and are ready to be pieced
into a quilt. There are also many patterns
available to use pre-cuts. Here are the
main pre-cuts available:
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A perfect match for the purple elephant!
A b VWF