how to choose fabrics
Picking fabric is one of my absolute favorite steps in quilting: the sky's the limit, the canvas is blank and it’s just waiting for you to dive in. Every so often, I know the exact fabrics I want to use for a new project at the get-go and it’s like I’m a homing pigeon on a mission.
But more often than not, I honestly don’t know where to start. I get easily overwhelmed by all the choices, all the different potential combinations of fabrics in my stash and all the fabric that’s available online with just a click of a button.
So, when I’m really stuck and just spinning my wheels I’ve got a couple tricks to help jumpstart the process. For those of you out there that sometimes get overwhelmed like me, I thought I’d share three of my “tips + tricks”: minimizing your color palette to just two colors; building a color palette from a favorite print; and a inspiration “habit” to put into practice to draw on the next time you’re scrambling to come up with a color palette!
Tip #1: Simplify with Just Two Colors
Let’s start with minimizing your color palette. One of the things I absolutely love about quilting is that often quilt pattern designs can easily be modified to use more colors or fewer than the pattern calls for. And I’d go one step further and argue that a number of patterns can easily be transformed into a two-fabric design (not all, mind you, but a fair number).
So, if you’re stuck picking fabrics and want to know whether the pattern you’re about to tackle might be a contender for the two-color treatment there is a quick and easy way to check if you’re in doubt. Grab a printout of the pattern (or the coloring sheet if it’s included in a pattern). Then roughly color in all the accent fabrics with a marker or a sharpie. You’ll quickly be able to tell if the design of the quilt lends itself to just two colors.
If you’re looking for some easy free patterns that would work well with just two colors, check out my screenshotable patterns saved in my Story Highlights over at Broadcloth Studio on Instagram!
There’s no wrong way to pick two colors: you can mix and match two prints, or two solids, or a solid and a print. You can pick two fabrics that have a high contrast to make the patchwork of the pattern really pop or you can go with two fabrics that are similar and kind of melt into each other. Personally, when I’m working with two colors, I almost always like to go with a high contrast fabric pull while pairing one solid and one print. This is for one simple reason: I love patchwork and I want the patchwork to take center stage in my quilts. There are dozens of different ways to do this, but the way I personally love to do so is to use fabrics that pop against each other.
In order to find fabrics that pop against each other but don’t clash, I’ve found myself applying the same set of steps over and over again. Typically it starts with me falling in love with a print. It can be a small print, a big print, a busy print, or even a blender print that might as well be a solid. Once I’ve got my print, I stare at it for a bit, kinda like a magic eye. As I do, my eye is invariably drawn towards one or two colors within the print: I ask myself what colors is my eye bouncing between? More often than not, the colors that my eye is most drawn to is going to be my final secondary fabric print.
You might be thinking, “well that’s great, Amanda, but how do I pick the exact right tones?” If you have the fabric on hand, there are two options. First, pull out the fabric from your stash that is anywhere near this and “audition” your fabrics. Of course this is assuming you have the right fabrics in your stash, which isn't always realistic (I, for one, have very few yellows or pale pinks and almost zero purples). If I don’t have the right colors in my stash, my next step is to grab my fabric swatch chips and audition the solids against the print.
But, what if you don’t have the fabric in front of you yet and don’t want to invest in yardage that you’re not confident is going to work together? Another quick and easy trick is to upload a swatch into a quilt design program like PreQuilt (they already have all the Kona and Art Gallery Fabric solids preloaded): it’s not a sure bet because fabrics always look different in person than on the screen, but it’s as close to failproof as I’ve been able to get. Or head to the fabric manufacturer’s website: some manufacturers (like Art Gallery Fabrics) provide the corresponding solids that go with the collection.
So to recap this first fabric picking tip, when you’re in the mood to make a two-color quilt by using one print and one solid fabric, the steps are simple:
Step 1: double check that the quilt pattern will work with just two colors with your coloring sheet and a sharpie
Step 2: find a print you love and stare deeply at it, “magic eye” style
Step 3: observe which colors your eye is drawn to
Step 4: audition those colors with the print using your stash, fabric swatch cards, or the computer program/online tool of your choice
Step 5: go for it!
Tip #2: Put Your Fabrics to Work
Now, let’s say that the quilt pattern design you’re about to tackle doesn’t pass the two-color “test.” Or perhaps you’re not in the mood for a two-color quilt, but you have found a print and fallen in love with it. Enter my second trick to pulling fabrics, the “put a print you love to work” trick (very catchy name, I know).
This is something I do all the time. My rationale goes something like since: since I don’t have any formal art or design training, I should rely on the experts whenever I can. And who better to help than the fabric designers themselves? They’ve put a lot of thought into finding colors that work together, so why not pull a color palette from the fabric itself?!
When I have a print like this that I love, I take some time to look at it and do a little analysis by determining all the colors within the print. If you’ve got your fabric swatches handy, this is a great opportunity to use them (or you can use fabrics from your stash that match). Once you’ve listed all the fabrics that are captured within the print, take another look and think through what the proportions are of each color? This will help you think through which fabric should be the background, which is the dominant accent fabric, and so on.
Now, if you’re overwhelmed by this process, there are some free online tools that will analyze images and give the breakdown of colors for you: you can save fabric swatch images and just upload them and the programs will analyze the photos for free!
Once you’ve got your colors identified, go back to the quilt pattern you’re about to tackle and give a think as to which fabrics you want to use. Maybe you like blues better than pinks: you can lean into that. Or maybe you only need three instead of all the colors that are captured in the fabric. Weigh your different options! Remember, even if the quilt pattern only calls for five accent fabrics, you can always sneak in a hint of a sixth color to add an unexpected pop of color to the mix.
So, the next time you’re frozen at the sheer staggering number of fabrics that are out there, take a deep breath and try playing with just two fabrics or find a fabric you like and do a little analysis.
Tip #3: Keep an Inspiration “File”
Let’s say you’ve got a new quilt pattern you’re ready to dive in on but you are not feeling inspired by your stash AT ALL. And you’re feeling super overwhelmed looking at fabrics online. At this point, I tend to waste time dumping my stash out on the floor only to then tidy it up and put it away again, with no inspiration to show for it. In order to combat the fabric doldrums, I’ve turned towards a broader, more generic, and less fabric-centric approach to finding inspiration.
Step 1: put your fabric away. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, my fabric stash and all the different tabs of different options that are open on my computer don’t help. So, clean up your fabric stash (or hide it in the closet under the bed wherever) and close all your browser tabs (bookmark them into a folder called “wishlist” or something if you don’t want to lose them).
Step 2: jot down some ideas of what kind of color palette you want to use. This could be as generic as “fresh” or more specific like “nautical”.
Step 3: go to Pinterest or Adobe’s free color tool. Try searching for different color palettes with the keywords you just generated (I literally just searched for “fresh color palettes” on Pinterest last week). Save your pins or bookmark the different color palettes.
If you’re more of an analog person, I love flipping through books, magazines, saved postcards to look for different color palettes and combinations I love. Even if you’re a digital fiend, I’d suggest adding this routine. Make a folder or take photos on your phone of different color combos you come across, not just when you’re actively looking for inspiration but throughout the year. That way, when you’re seeking out a new color palette you have a stack of inspiration on hand to flip through!
Step 4: Give it a day. Let all that inspiration sit while giving your eyes a break.
Step 5: return to your findings. What color palette jumps out at you? Go with the one that makes you smile, the one that makes your heart flutter, the one that you mentally rub your hands together Mr Burns style in excitement.
Step 6: find the corresponding fabric. Go through your stash: which fabrics do you already own that would work (and that you have enough yardage of)? Maybe you don’t have enough yardage of one color, but you have two fabrics that are pretty close: you can group fabrics for a more mix-and-match look! Once I’ve exhausted my stash search, I take my search online: I will often pull out my fabric swatches to better hone in on what fabric I’m looking for (since I often use solids, this does make this step easier). You can narrow your search for fabrics using the filters for colors to find your missing colors in the color palette. At this stage, it’s a bit more of an art than a science. In order to buy with confidence, I like to check the fabric manufacturer’s website to make sure the colors work together, or I give it a google image search to get a sense of the actual color by looking at a range of images taken by different people and companies (I also sometimes double check this on my phone as the color display is different between my computer and phone). Once I feel satisfied that I’ve researched this as much as I can, then it’s on to
Step 7: place your order and wait for your fabric to arrive!
Wrapping things Up
So, the next time you’re frozen at the sheer staggering number of fabrics, take a deep breath and try playing with just two fabrics, find a fabric you like and do a little analysis, or head to your folder of color palettes you love (or head online to look for a new source of color palette inspiration). And if all else fails, one of the best tricks up your sleeve it to take a picture of your options and ask the #quilterverse on social media: I’m always astounded by the insight and thoughtfulness of the quilting community.
