Q101: Choosing your Fabric
Choosing the right fabrics for your purpose and design is the first crucial step in the quilting process. I thought it was so fun to walk through the fabric store and pick out fabrics. Now I am also slightly OCD which makes the overwhelming amount of fabrics at JoAnn's drive my brain a little crazy. I loved this part because you are dreaming up what you think your quilt will look like. Now for some people they might want a design that is more geometric, so that each row has the same squares in a similar fashion. I didn't want this so I chose a lot of fabrics that I loved and matched them to the main fabric that I wanted to be the center star for my quilt. It was a pink floral fabric with some gold throughout. I cut out a lot from this particular fabric.
It had a lot of pink, gold, blue, green colors all throughout so I choose fabrics that matched at least something in that particular print. I also wanted a lot of black/gold/mint to be brought out and so I chose fabrics that reflected that!
I had a total of 11 fabrics for the front of my quilt. I then bought batting for the middle, a soft mint mink fabric for the back, and a black and white polka dot fabric for the binding. Each of the front fabrics I purchased anywhere from a fat quarter (which they sell already cut), to 3/8 of a yard. Remember I had chosen 11 fabrics and so this gave me plenty of choices and I didn't have to buy much of any one fabric. You could probably get away with buying 1/4 of a yard of that many fabrics and have plenty of squares. I bought anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8 of each kind.
Main fabric is pink floral: (Far left)
Backing is Mint Mink and Binding is black and white polka dot:
All other fabrics lined up:
Main Fabric: 1/2 yard
Other choices: 1/4 yard
Backing: 2 yards
Batting: Crib Size amount or whatever size you want your quilt to be
Binding: 1/2 a yard
I had enough fabric left over to make another baby quilt. This will give you plenty of options if you decided to do 2 quilts or even if you wanted to make a larger version of the one that I did. I didn't have enough batting or backing fabric but for the front you will have plenty left over.
Other than the fabrics I do suggest purchasing enough thread for your quilting adventure, a good needle to bind with, pins with the ball head, and some good coffee to accompany you throughout your adventure!!
These were my main cutting tools:
Now you can start cutting your squares. I cut about 40 or more from the main fabric, and then I cut about 20-25 of each particular print or solid that I chose. This is fun to do right in front of your favorite tv program after the little ones are in bed, during nap time, or when you get a few free moments alone from all your chaos. I had them cut in just a few days and mainly because I was so excited to get this process started!
To follow more on the process look for the next blog post Q101: How to Sew Your Squares!
It had a lot of pink, gold, blue, green colors all throughout so I choose fabrics that matched at least something in that particular print. I also wanted a lot of black/gold/mint to be brought out and so I chose fabrics that reflected that!
I had a total of 11 fabrics for the front of my quilt. I then bought batting for the middle, a soft mint mink fabric for the back, and a black and white polka dot fabric for the binding. Each of the front fabrics I purchased anywhere from a fat quarter (which they sell already cut), to 3/8 of a yard. Remember I had chosen 11 fabrics and so this gave me plenty of choices and I didn't have to buy much of any one fabric. You could probably get away with buying 1/4 of a yard of that many fabrics and have plenty of squares. I bought anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8 of each kind.
Main fabric is pink floral: (Far left)
Backing is Mint Mink and Binding is black and white polka dot:
All other fabrics lined up:
Main Fabric: 1/2 yard
Other choices: 1/4 yard
Backing: 2 yards
Batting: Crib Size amount or whatever size you want your quilt to be
Binding: 1/2 a yard
I had enough fabric left over to make another baby quilt. This will give you plenty of options if you decided to do 2 quilts or even if you wanted to make a larger version of the one that I did. I didn't have enough batting or backing fabric but for the front you will have plenty left over.
Other than the fabrics I do suggest purchasing enough thread for your quilting adventure, a good needle to bind with, pins with the ball head, and some good coffee to accompany you throughout your adventure!!
These were my main cutting tools:
Now you can start cutting your squares. I cut about 40 or more from the main fabric, and then I cut about 20-25 of each particular print or solid that I chose. This is fun to do right in front of your favorite tv program after the little ones are in bed, during nap time, or when you get a few free moments alone from all your chaos. I had them cut in just a few days and mainly because I was so excited to get this process started!
To follow more on the process look for the next blog post Q101: How to Sew Your Squares!
Comments
Post a Comment