Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Spangled Stars QAL Fabric Choices

Today, it's all about fabric. I love fabric. Any style, any color, any age, doesn't matter. I'm not particular. Every piece gives me more options when it's time to choose colors and patterns for my next quilt. That's the beauty of a stash.

But the problem that comes with loving fabric, is having too much fabric. Sometimes I feel like I'm a hoarder, but if there's a great fabric at great deal, I can't pass it up! That being said, it also means I have to use it.

Which brings me to fabric selection for my Spangled Stars QAL. The quilt pattern was designed with a patriotic theme,

which is what I'll be showcasing. And because I have an extensive stash, and I like multiple fabrics of one hue in quilts to add interest, I've shopped the stash to arrive at these.


Option 1

Option 2
The first grouping is the very traditional red, white, and blue colors. The second group is darker, with beige instead of white. And notice the three values of blue for the stars.

For this project, I'll be making the twin size, with group 2 of the darker reds, blues, and the beige. But then I thought, what about also making it in another color scheme?

To help with that, I pulled out my latest toy, the 3 in 1 Color Tool (affiliate link) by Joen Wolfrom.
I so like this tool better than a traditional color wheel! With each color, there are color variations on each card that can be placed next to fabric to figure out what color family it's from. Awesome!

So, for this second quilt, I'm wanting something more feminine. My first choice is Aqua Blue as my background. But what goes with Aqua Blue? See down at the bottom of the card, where it says triadic?

The other color families that play nice with Aqua Blue are Fuchsia, and Golden Yellow. Taking a look at the Fuchsia card, at the top, is it's compliment, Spring Green.



And popping over to the Spring Green card,


down at the bottom is another triad, which includes Blue-Violet. Going through the stash, I've pulled these fabric choices
Aqua Blue for the background; Blue-Violet for the bars; Spring Green for the chains; Fuchsia, in three values, for the stars; and a bit of Golden Yellow for the star centers. The only thing that may make these fabric choices a bit boring, is the lack of variety in scale. But, there's so much going on in the quilt, and there's such an opportunity for quilting, that I'm not that worried.

I'm happy with this, as the stars look more like flowers, which is what I'm aiming for. 

So, head to your stash! Start pulling colors, be inspired, and make it your own. Remember, anything you create is going to look wonderful!

Have a great day Quilting!

2 comments:

  1. It looks like the pattern pieces run rather small, so having large scale prints might not work anyway. I like your color choices for both quilts.

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  2. That color tool is pretty awesome Susan. Both of your choices for the spangled star looked great. Mostly I love that you use your stash to create a scrappy look, even though they aren't technically scraps.

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