Picking a quilt pattern for specific fabric
Sometimes you just want to start with the fabric.
Have you had this happen?
You’ve found some fabric you really like, and you want to make a quilt based on it, but you don’t know what pattern to use. I’ve got a simple two part tip:
1) Figure out what size square makes the fabric sparkle
I lay out the fabric on a table and use four pieces of paper to block off a section – so only a small square of the fabric is visible. Then I slide the pieces of paper until I like what’s visible in that square. Measure to see how big a square that is!
I made a TikTok to show you 🙂
Be sure slide the square around on the fabric to make sure that no matter how you cut it, you will like what’s there. If you are wanting to use just a particular motif centered in your square, you may have to ‘fussy cut’ it.
Fussy cut = to cut specific sections out of fabric to get specific designs
2) Look for quilt patterns that uses that size square
Now I know that’s a tall order.
But if you know you would really like your special fabric to be cut no smaller than and 6″ square to make it really stand out, you should be looking for patterns that have some large shapes that can showcase your fabric – maybe like an Irish Chain or this Tile Style or this Rick Rack.
If it sparkles at a 2″ square you can look for patterns that use large amounts of the same fabric in small squares – like this Jacob’s Ladder or this Double Nine Patch or this Bow Tie Party (these quilts use basically two colors, you don’t have to make them scrappy).
Defining what kind of pattern you are looking for will make it a whole lot easier to scan through all the patterns out there.
And of course, don’t be afraid to check out individual blocks and design your own quilt! I’d be happy to check your math if you are delving into designing your own for the first time and don’t believe you can do it – I believe you can 🙂
It can be pretty simple, I promise!
