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: PurelyPetals 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