Thursday, September 30, 2010

Fabric shopping or stash busting?

Need some good reasons to go fabric shopping?
Reason #1...... I need fabric to join in on Stitch-a-long with Linda.
Reason #2 ...... because it's Friday (fill in the day of your choice)
Reason #3 ...... I heard there was a sale (there's always a sale somewhere)
Reason #4....... the fabric I have doesn't fit anymore
Reason #5........ I need one more fabric to go with the others I'm using in the Stitch-a-long with Linda
Reason # 6....... to help stimulate the economy
Reason # 7 ...... because it's there
Reason #8 ....... I don't have enough fabric (only if you can say this with a straight face)
Reason #9 ....... I need to go buy some thread, so while I'm there.....
Reason # 10...... I better stock up now while the weather is good
Reason # 11.... there's some great links posted here.......
Fat Quarter Shoppe, Stitchin' heavenSuzannes quilts, Ericas, Country Crossroads,
Cotton Patch quilt shop, Quilt Lovers Hangout, Sew Studio, My Quilt shop, quiltshops.com
Jo-Ann's fabrics, pink chalk fabrics, glorious color.
That should get you started......
If those reasons don't help, you can also dig into your fabric "stash" a.k.a. "collection".
The quilt top that we'll be making in the Stitch-a-long is going to finish around 40" x 60" and it uses at least 7 fabrics so it doesn't take a whole bunch of any one fabric. It's an easy to make design and so it's a good project for beginners or a stress free, quick project for more experienced quilters. The yardage you'll need is listed below. To help get you started I'll show you the fabrics I'm using from my "collection" and why I chose them.
I chose this print "focus" fabric because it has a good variety of colors in the print.
We'll be making two sizes of 4-patch units in the quilt and so I chose a light and a dark to go with the larger print.....




We'll also be making some strip pieced units and I chose another 4 fabrics for those. I like to vary the scale and visual textures in my fabric choices to add interest. I also like to add a very light fabric and a dark fabric instead of using all mid-tone value fabrics....



So here are the fabrics I'm going to use..... I'm not sure which one I'll use for the binding yet.

Here is another "collection" I pulled together out of my stash that I may use when I make this quilt again.
 I hope that gives you some inspiration to begin gathering or buying your fabrics for the Stitch-a-long!

Here's the yardage you'll need for the Stitch-a-long with Linda quilt top. Have fun shopping!
*yardage is based on 44" fabric width

1-1/4 yards of a print focus fabric 
1/2 yard of a dark (I'm using the red)
1/4 yard of a light (I'm using the pink & white check)
1/4 yard EACH of 4 other fabrics  (I'm using an orange print, 2 greens prints and a pink dot)
Buy another 1/3 yard of one of the fabrics for your binding.
 Fabric needed for the backing is 1-3/4 yards
*There is also an optional step in this Stitch -a-long that will require another fabric that will contrast somewhat with the rest. You'll need about 3/4 yard.



2 comments:

Kathleen said...

Great reasons to shop. I love your fabric selections. I'm in on the stitch-a-long... off to browse my stash and see what is lacking so I can head to the quilt shop!

Linda/Thistledown and Co. said...

Have fun shopping for fabric and I'm glad you're going to stitch-a-long with me.