Fabric & Pattern Selection Process

Choosing fabric for a project can be pretty intuitive or difficult for some. Sometimes I fall in love with a quilt pattern and then take my time hunting down the perfect fabric. Some patterns just scream modern to me and I want to get bright, bold colors. Take Anna Marie Horner's Good Folks line, perfect for a fresh modern pattern.

These are some cuts I ordered that just arrived on Monday from the wonderful Sew Fabulous Quilt Store .

(I have to say Jenny did a fabulous job getting them to me FAST, I placed my order on Saturday and they arrived Monday!)

I saw a quilt pattern consisting of diamonds featuring Tula Pink's original Flutterby collection and just had to get some cuts from that line because the bright pinks, yellows, green, blues and reds all blended beautifully:

I know that diamond pattern I saw will look great in any color scheme, but now I can't imagine using my Flutterby fabric for any other pattern :)


I love sampler quilts. I love how different block patterns and block sizes play off of each other. I like that you can decide to add a few blocks with embroidery or don't have any at all. Sampler quilts can be adapted to each persons desired look and ability. I have found many civil war samplers I admire and I want the one I make to employ neutral prints with subtle color tones. I chose William Morris Workshop because of it's range of Indigo blues, rusty reds, gray-greens and light blues.
I think designer Heather Ross is a happy medium of modern and vintage; her fabric lines usually feature bright colors with small, delicate prints that encapsulate a modern color with a vintage feel.

Some prints from Heather Ross "Far, Far Away" collection:



Many times I just fall in love with fabric lines, buy them and decide to use the line as I go . . . like the Henry Glass "Shade Garden" line by Michelle Engel Bencsko :
Here are a few of the cuts I ordered from his line...




But mainly I just like to mix lines together. No one says you have to use all fabrics of the same line in one project. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for Moda and other Designer's precut strips, FQ's and layer cakes. Sometimes I will use just one designer line in a quilt, tote or project.

For example, my Moda "Mill House Inn" Layer Cake duvet cover:


But the "scrappy" effect allows me to achieve the perfect medium of colors for most patterns.

I (like many other fabric obsessed sewers) have some bold, unique or out-of-print fabrics that so far I haven't been able to make myself cut into them. LOL they can sit in my fabric bins until I can bear it.

I think doing your own thing and loving your results is the best part of sewing and creating stuff. You can use the same pattern numerous times but get different results every time just by using different color schemes and using the same fabric's in different quilt patterns can result in truly unique quilts. Have fun!