Fabric selection ~ the quilter’s nemesis. Most of us feel some lack of confidence and unease when it comes to selecting fabric for our next quilting project. In fact, it can cause us to stop in our tracks. We purchase pretty new patterns and quilting books, and then they stockpile in our sewing rooms until we muster up some fabric-picking gumption. This is probably why so many of us love to purchase kits. Someone else has done the hard work for us!
When I am designing a new pattern, I try to make this process easier by doing two things: focusing on precuts and utilizing fabric designers with a proven track record. A quilt pattern built off of a precut (charm pack, layer cake, fat quarter bundle, jelly roll, etc.) gives quilters a big head start in fabric selection. Once we purchase the main item, let’s say a layer cake, we are often only required to purchase a neutral and maybe one or two coordinating prints. That’s not nearly as daunting as a pattern that requires us to purchase several prints in varying yardage.
Naturally, the other great thing about precuts is that they contain prints from an entire fabric collection. Everything is coordinated by color, scale and artistic theme. And the best fabric designers have a special knack for giving us fresh new collections each year that also blend beautifully with their past collections. That’s why I tend to gravitate toward a few favorite designers. When I have designed a new pattern that features a past collection by Fig Tree & Company, it’s easy to visualize how it might look in their new or upcoming collection. That’s a bonus for me as a pattern designer and as a quilter.
So why have I been talking your ear off about this today? Well, I wanted to give you a little gentle nudge to dust off some of those patterns you have stock piled but not yet sewn! I also wanted to highlight some beautiful new fabric collections from various Moda designers that would work well with my past patterns. Time to start planning for some springtime sewing!
Designer: Brenda Riddle
Collections: Finnegan and Bramble Cottage (in stores now)
Here is a layer cake pattern, Gumdrops, which I designed two years ago using a Brenda Riddle collection called Fleurs. I think you can easily see how Brenda’s current collections would be perfect for this pattern, which calls for fabrics that are sweet and soothing.
Designer: Corey Yoder
Collection: Sugar Creek (in stores now)
Collection: Canning Day (in stores February 2020)
Three years ago I released this fun charm pack table runner pattern called Diamond Trail, which featured Corey Yoder’s Sundrops collection.
I also made a second sample of my Perky Posies pillow pattern using a bright and cheery 2018 Corey Yoder collection called Sunnyside Up. Don’t those colors just pop off of that charcoal background fabric? You could achieve the same effect with Corey’s newest collections! Perky Posies is a charm pack pattern.
Designer: Fig Tree & Company
Collection: Catalina (in stores April 2020)
The upcoming Catalina collection by Fig Tree & Company has a wonderful spring-into-summer feeling, with warm yellows, three shades of blue, grounding greens and their signature red. Catalina is a delicious return to everything we loved about Fig Tree’s 2017 collection called Coney Island. I used that collection to design two patterns in 2017: Purely Petals and Wall Flowers. Both patterns are charm pack friendly.
Designer: Lella Boutique
Collection: Bloomington (in stores April 2020)
Back in 2016, Lella Boutique released one of my all-time favorite collections, Olive’s Flower Market. It was a gorgeous collection of carnation pinks, soft chalkboard blacks, neutral-loving taupes and leafy greens. I designed a fun layer cake pattern called Window Garden which really allowed this collection to shine. In April, Lella Boutique will release her Bloomington collection, which is quite similar, but adds in a wonderful bit of teal blue. I would love to see my Window Garden quilt recreated with touches of blue!
If your local quilt shop does not carry these fabric collections, please visit my blog sponsors by clicking their logos on the left-hand side of this website. Most of them carry my favorite Moda designers.
I hope today’s post provided you with the inspiration you need to plan your springtime sewing. Go and get carried away quilting, my friends!
~Taunja
So Beautiful! Brenda Riddle's Collections are always gorgeous! Thanks for sharing again !
You are welcome! I agree. Brenda's collections are always beautiful! So soft and pretty!
The vast majority of patterns I choose to buy, I choose because they are written for precuts. It makes it so much easier to pick out the fabrics. Thank you for writing your patterns this way! Love the Window Garden pattern. 😊
Goodness, so much beauty and inspiration. Taunja, thank you for sharing all of this tempting fabric and patterns
Thanks Amy! Precut patterns are so fun . . . and collecting precuts can be a fun hobby too. ha!
Thanks so much, Rosemary! I hope you have a great weekend!
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