Fabric Selection
Here are some general notes. Read this page in conjunction with the Yardage page.
Tone/Value
The tone of fabrics (light, dark, medium) is way more important than the colour in this quilt. You need to get a tones that range from nearly black through to nearly white to clearly delineate the internal borders of the quilt.
I will only specify the tone of the fabric in your instructions; and all the drawings will be in monotone. Some of the quilt blocks actually use tone for their effect. For example:
A note on lights: You will need several very light fabrics to cope with the subtlety of the inner borders. For example, this border uses a background and three very light fabrics:
Colour
Please select colours and fabrics you like. After all, you will be working with them for a whole year! Check out the Galleries for Colour Inspiration.
One way to approach the fabric is to choose a MAIN colour and an ADDITIONAL colour. Other Yardage Hints and Tips are discussed later.
I used red as my ‘additional colour’
1. Consider adding your additional colour to every second block, rather than every block. This way the quilt will primarily read as the main colour.
2. Always use your main colour as the background for the block.
3. Use the additional colour as the highlight, or the feature. This is useful if there is a larger patch, say in the centre of the block.
4. Use your “Crossover Fabrics” (fabrics with your main colour and additional colour) to provide a link between your main colour and additional colour within your block.
5. The additional colour is useful to give tonal contrast if you have a limited range of tones of the main colour.
My most valuable advice is:
Trust your artistic instincts!
Your ability to choose fabrics will improve with practice. This quilt uses many, many blocks. A few blocks with which you are not happy will be lost in the overall effect. Just go for it!
There are a few bonus blocks along the way, too. So if there are one or two you can’t stand … you can substitute.
Variety
Even if you’re not a scrap-aholic like me, it’s a good idea several fabrics of similar tone and colour, so that individual blocks don’t ‘run into’ each other when they’re side-by-side. In my opinion, it’s always better to have two fat-eights than a fat-quarter.
Pattern
There are lots of small pieces in the quilt (I promise that nothing is smaller than ¼”), so fabrics with large patterns will be wasted in all but a few blocks.