Designing a Quilt
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I picked up some amazing fabrics last weekend, knowing that I wanted to make a quilt with them, but having no idea what I wanted that quilt to look like. Why do I do this to myself? Because I had a gift card for the store and everything was 15% off, that’s why. The fabric I picked up was all from the Windham Fabrics Collage line.
The first print I decided on was the bird border print. I knew I had to make something with it. My store had the print in purple, cream, and tan. I ended up decided that I liked the tan the most.
From there, I started pulling other fabrics from the line. They were all amazing, but I eventually edited myself down to pulling only the other neutral prints. I’m still not sure what design this quilt will take on, but I love the idea of having a neutral quilt, with the only pops of color coming from the bird print.
And yes, I do have lots of neutrals already in my stash. I’m hoping to be able to incorporate a few of those into the quilt design, as well.
For now, I have 2 ideas about how the quilt might work.
- I could fussy cut the bird print for some sort of block centers, like with funky log cabins or economy blocks; or
- I could run the birds in one solid strip across the quilt (I have a yard and a half to work with).
I’m currently leaning toward that second concept. I just can’t decide if I do that, what type of design the rest of the quilt will take on. I suppose that means it’s time to head to Pinterest for a little inspiration, and to ask you for your ideas. What would you do with these fabrics?
Sharing over at: Work in Progress Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced
I don’t know what I’d do, but I love your fabric choices! I’m leaning towards your second option though. I like that bird panel a lot.
Love your second idea for your design. Those are some great colours you chose for the birds and I like how this is coming together! I wanted to invite you to join in the new linky at Sew Fresh Quilts. Come on over and join in the party! http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2014/01/lets-bee-social-5.html
Hi Andrea, what cute fabrics! I’m sorry I didn’t find those sooner. I’m with Lorna above…your second idea, so that you keep that fabric together, rather than chop it up. But honestly, I can’t tell how big the piece and motifs really are. You could do a diagonal line through the quilt using that fabric as wide as you like. Then you could take some parts of it that are leftover & make blocks. Did you get the coffee mug fabs too? Dropping by from WIP: Julie @ RunngingHen.blogspot.com
Julie, I decided to skip the coffee mugs, as my local store didn’t have them with a neutral background. The birds are a pretty decent size. I can cut a nice 12.5″ strip out and have only about 1.5″ at the top and bottom of the design.