The Quilter's Bible. Linda
by side colours with a complementary – Choose three colours next to each other in the wheel and then choose a fourth colour that is complementary to one of the three, often called an accent colour. You could extend this to five colours and an accent.
Complementary colours – Choose a colour and find its opposite colour in the colour wheel. Rather than having equal amounts of both colours, try having a ‘major’ colour, which occurs the most, and a ‘minor’ complementary colour that occurs less.
Triangle colours – Choose three colours equal distances apart in the colour wheel, often called a triad, to create a harmonious mix with a modern twist.
Bright Idea
To help make decisions about colour and block design make a sample block using colours and fabrics you think might work well.
Multiple colours – Choose a colour from each segment of the wheel, varying the tints, tones and shades to create a multi-hued scheme. Scrap quilts often use this scheme successfully.
Neutral colours – These are colours that work well with many other colours. Black, white, grey, ivory, cream, beige and brown are all neutrals.
Bright Idea
The selvedge might be a bit of a nuisance at times but it includes useful printed information about the fabric and the colours used. If you keep these information strips you can use them later not just to identify the fabric you have used but also as a way of creating attractive colour combinations.
Buying and Storing Fabric
Fabric isn’t just available by the yard or metre but in a sometimes bewildering array of pre-cut sizes. You can buy fat quarters, thin quarters, fat eighths, thin eighths, 5in (12.7cm) squares, 10in (25.4cm) squares, strips in different widths, triangles, rectangles and more, not to mention large-scene panels. These pre-cuts can save you time in measuring and cutting and many quilt patterns have been devised using them. Indeed, whole books have been written about the many uses of these handy pre-cuts (see Further Reading).
Fat Quarters
A quilt design usually requires small quantities of several fabrics and for most quilters fat quarters are a convenient and affordable way to buy fabric for a design.
A fat quarter is half a yard or metre of fabric cut in half across the width, yielding a piece that is normally 18in x 22in (46 x 56cm), which is much more useful and versatile than a thin quarter, which is approximately 9in x 42in (23cm x 106cm). Fat eighths are also more useful than thin eighths. For the number of squares yielded from a fat quarter see Useful Information.
Commonly Available Pre-Cuts
Squares – Squares are readily available in a 5in (12.7cm) size, often called charm squares, and in a larger 10in (25.4cm) size (called Layer Cakes™ by Moda). These squares are usually a selection of twenty or forty different fabrics from one collection. They can be used as squares or to create other units, such as half-square and quarter-square triangles.
Strips – Pre-cut strips are popular and are commonly available 21⁄2in (6.3cm) wide x 44in (112cm) long. Strips this size may be called ‘roll-ups’. Moda call these strips Jelly Rolls™. Narrower strips 11⁄2in (3.8cm) wide x 44in (112cm) long are also available (Moda call theirs Honey Buns™). Pre-cut strips are usually twenty to forty-two fabrics from a single collection. They can be used to piece many units and blocks and one roll of forty-two 21⁄2in (6.3cm) wide strips is usually sufficient for a single bed-sized quilt, depending on how the strips are pieced.
Triangles – Pre-cut triangles may be offered by some fabric manufacturers, usually eighty 6in (15.2cm) half-square triangles, with two triangles each of forty different fabrics from the same collection. Moda call their pre-cut triangles Turnovers™.
Panels – Panels, sometimes called cheater cloths, are available in various sizes printed with a scene or other pictorial element. They can be a quick way to create a quilt or wall hanging such as the one that illustrates the Foreword.
Kits – There are many quilt patterns available as kits complete with instructions, patterns and fabrics.
Storing Fabrics
Those of us addicted to fabric often find it hard to organize our stash, especially after a marathon auditioning session where failed candidates are strewn all over the bed or sofa. Storage really depends on the size of your stash and space available. Fabrics need to be stored out of direct sunlight and kept safe from insects so plastic or canvas boxes with lids are a good idea, especially if they can be kept under a bed. Keeping fabric pieces folded neatly will take up the least space and allow you to quickly see the colour and pattern. Storage can be by colour, by fabric type or pattern (for example, batiks, florals, polka dots) or by tone.
Estimating Fabric Requirements
If you are creating designs of your own or making a sampler quilt from different blocks you will need to be able to estimate fabric amounts – there’s nothing worse than running out of a crucial fabric before a project is completed. If you are making a project from a book or magazine, the fabric requirements are usually provided, although some lists may be very general. Making a sketch of the overall quilt design and the block designs (see diagrams A and B) is a good starting point as you can then list the separate elements that will need fabric, including those needed for blocks, sashing, borders, backing and edging. Estimates need to be generous to allow for seams, fabric grain and mistakes.
Overall quilt size – The finished size of a quilt depends on the bed it needs to fit and whether you wish it to just drape over the top or reach the floor on all sides. There are tables of standard bed sizes (see Useful Information) and wadding (batting) is also sold in these standard sizes. For a customized fit, measure the bed the quilt is needed for.
Blocks – Make a sketch of the block you want to make, labelling each part that will use a different fabric (B). Make a list of the total number of pieces needed in each colour for the block and multiply this by the total number of those blocks in the quilt. Make another sketch to estimate how many pieces can be cut from a yard, half yard or fat quarter. Do this for each different block.
Sashing