Fabric Selection and Preparation
Welcome to the first week of Our Sunshine QAL! This journey starts with one of the most exciting and important steps—choosing and preparing your fabric. This week, we’ll explore how to curate a beautiful palette using SKY Ombrés and or patterned fabrics, like Denyse's Pretty Things.
Take your time to enjoy the creative process of fabric selection—after all, this is where the magic begins!
Take your time to enjoy the creative process of fabric selection—after all, this is where the magic begins!
Learn with Jennifer
Week 1: Part 1
Week 1: Part 2
Learn with Denyse
Hello Sunshine QAL-ers!
Denyse here, with my two cents about fabric selection and preparation for the My Sunshine quilt pattern you're using for this Quilt Along. Print out the provided coloring sheet below to help you try out ideas!
Most of the quilts I've created with this pattern were designed to showcase precut 10-inch charms of my licensed print collections—most recently my Pretty Things fabrics, along with my Darling and Five + Ten collections, all from Windham Fabrics. I always combined the collections with an off-white neutral for the background, allowing the foreground diamonds—made with prints of varying color, value, and density—to still appear cohesive by contrast.
Denyse here, with my two cents about fabric selection and preparation for the My Sunshine quilt pattern you're using for this Quilt Along. Print out the provided coloring sheet below to help you try out ideas!
Most of the quilts I've created with this pattern were designed to showcase precut 10-inch charms of my licensed print collections—most recently my Pretty Things fabrics, along with my Darling and Five + Ten collections, all from Windham Fabrics. I always combined the collections with an off-white neutral for the background, allowing the foreground diamonds—made with prints of varying color, value, and density—to still appear cohesive by contrast.
My Sunshine Quilt in Pretty Things
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Pretty Things Fabrics
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The added benefit of using precut 10-inch charms of course is that there is a lot less cutting involved in your preparation! If you choose to use any precuts, be sure to first lay one out on your cutting mat to check the size. Most are cut so the inner valley of the pinked edge is 10 inches. Make any adjustments needed if yours are slightly smaller or larger.
I think this pattern would be stunning in a limited palette of two strong colors or prints, or an overall spare palette. You could choose two colors close in value and hue like the turquoise/green drawing for a saturated wow effect, or create a single hue gradation effect like the yellow/ochre drawing. I also tried one that made each quadrant a different fabric like the one featuring my Patchwork Panel 7 prints—why not?
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Like any quilt pattern, the options are infinite! Knowing that can make the process of choosing fabric for any project overwhelming, so try to start with thinking about the effect you want to create, or maybe the person you are creating the quilt for. Starting with an intention—of feeling, personality, or even something practical (like, I need to use my stash!) can provide helpful guidance on the choices you make. A go-to aid I sometimes use is tossing a scrap of your options into a small paper bag and blindly pulling out two swatches—let chance be your guide! This technique can provide opportunities to stretch and grow beyond your habitual choices, too.
I first created this pattern to showcase my (out of print) Modern Solids collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics. That version used all 70 colors in the 10-inch pre-cut bundle (or most of them), and the look of my Modern Solids version feels more aligned with Jennifer's beautiful ombré rendition, with subtle and sophisticated shifts of hue and value. This creates a very different effect, more of an overall patterning with an illusion of shifting depth, rather than the graphic effect of concentric diamonds.
Whichever way you decide to go with your Sunshine quilt, there is no wrong answer! Choose what feels right to you. I can't wait to see what you make!
PS: Try out your color ideas with the My Sunshine coloring sheet
I first created this pattern to showcase my (out of print) Modern Solids collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics. That version used all 70 colors in the 10-inch pre-cut bundle (or most of them), and the look of my Modern Solids version feels more aligned with Jennifer's beautiful ombré rendition, with subtle and sophisticated shifts of hue and value. This creates a very different effect, more of an overall patterning with an illusion of shifting depth, rather than the graphic effect of concentric diamonds.
Whichever way you decide to go with your Sunshine quilt, there is no wrong answer! Choose what feels right to you. I can't wait to see what you make!
PS: Try out your color ideas with the My Sunshine coloring sheet
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Take your time, play with fabric, ponder options and settle in. This is just the beginning and it's good to be open to new ideas and not necessarily know the outcome. The creative process is about discovery.
Share your work on The Pou Crew and Denyse's Facebook. We will chime in, help one another and give support here too. Let the Sunshine IN! Have a wonderful week everybody. See you next time at WEEK 2 on March 11 when we begin to cut and play with layout options! Cheers ;) - Jennifer and Denyse |