Scrap Lab Formula to Create a Stunning Scrappy Quilt
Do you know how to create a custom bundle from your fabric stash to make a cozy scrappy quilt? Dream of a scrappy quilt draped across the couch, keeping everyone cozy during family movie night. A cozy quilt to curl up under on a rainy day while reading with a cup of coffee in hand. That dream is possible, with the right fabrics.
Before I took a hiatus in quilting, custom curated bundles were not something I was aware of. Pre-cut fabrics bundled by fabric designers were readily available. Bundles of fabric from a designer line assembled by the manufacturer provided instant coordination. The colors and prints coordinated, sometimes too perfectly, and followed the theme of the bundle. It was also an affordable way to get every fabric in a design line.
Custom curated bundles of fabrics from different fabric lines were not sold as an item, but assembled by each quilter. A custom bundle to create a story through your color choices and textures can be curated from your fabric stash to make your scrappy quilt stunning and beautiful. Using what we have in a our fabric bins from past quilts, adding only a piece or two, is part of the joy of creating a stunning quilt. Those left over pieces tell part of the story.
DREAM BIG, THEN SEW BIG WITH A CLEAR PLAN
The depth of color is crucial when creating a color palette for any quilt. Depth of color is key to the scrappy formula that makes a quilt beautiful and cozy. A quilt will feel flat if all the colors fall into the same value range. The eye reads how grey a fabric appears as a color value. A little grey, the fabric reads light. Fabric reads dark if it has a lot of grey. Knowing how to balance the lights and darks and in-betweens is key to create a stunning scrappy quilt.
5 steps to planning a color palette for a scrappy quilt:
Step 1: Consider your quilt pattern. The pattern is your constant – it’s what determines the color palette. Is the pattern simple or complex? Are there a few blocks or many? What size is the largest piece? Is it suitable for a two-color classic quilt or a scrappy quilt? Could a single color fabric square be used to break up the scrappy blocks? Does the pattern have sashing? Could sashing be added to break up the quilt? Both of the quilts below are made of nine-patch blocks. One quilt with plain background squares and one with sashing. The same base nine-patch blocks has two very different looks thanks to the pattern.
Step 2: Choose a main color – one that will make up more than 50% of the design. Even a scrappy quilt has a dominant color, sometimes in the background, other times throughout the blocks.
Step 3: Add complexity with more color to create contrast. Accent colors tie the palette together. Many colors, so long as they harmonize, add depth to a color palette. Harmony is not the same as matching. It’s placing colors side by side despite their differences to create something pleasing to the eye. Harmony is found in the contrast. 3 fabrics are hard to coordinate together. 10 fabrics are a little easier. 110 fabrics are much easier to work into a quilt. Clashing colors will always clash, but if those clashing colors have 12 complementary fabrics between them, the clash will be softened.
Step 4: Repetition and variation of the main color. Repeat the main color in varying values of light, medium, and dark. Many variations of the main color, each adding texture and depth, will add visual interest with contrast. Contrast keeps the eye moving and makes the quilt a joy to look at. Even in a low volume quilt, crisp white to pale linen with accents of blues, greens, golds, and pinks will add cohesion and warmth. A bright quilt can be varied by keeping the color value the same, but varying the amount of white in each print.
Step 5: Complexity over simplicity. The key here is still using colors that complement. Too many different colors create chaos. The more values you layer of the same color family, the richer the result. When the colors connect, the quilt feels cohesive. The eye moves across a quilt as the complexity of many variations of the same color adds depth to a color palette. It is what gives a quilt that cozy yet beautiful look.
YOU DO NOT NEED EXPENSIVE OR FANCY FABRIC TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL QUILT
Use your scraps. Use fabric you like to look at. Whether it is the color of the background or the color of the prints, it’s the color and how you arrange the fabric that make a quilt beautiful.
How to balance color?
Color is a key component. A good rule of thumb is to pick one color to be a neutral and then build from there. This is usually the background color. Consider, also, the contrast of the colors. Sometimes a small accent of a contrasting color, a little out of order, is good. Adding a pop of color to the center of each block adds a layer of complexity to keep the eye moving. The eye also needs a place to rest, though. Neutrals are the calm to the storm and give the eye a place to rest.
There is a place for low volume quilts, similar to a white kitchen. The key is accent colors, even in a low volume bundle. Adding beige, tan, and grey to a white low volume background gives depth to the color palette and keeps the quilt from appearing flat or plain. Variations of white, each adding texture and depth, keep the eye moving around the quilt – keeping the eye moving is what makes a color palette complement the quilt design.
How to balance prints?
Scale of the print is a key component. Yet it is very dependent on the scale of the block size. A large scale print fabric, one with a large print or large design, can hide in a small block piece. Conversely, a small scale print fabric can be viewed as a solid in a large block piece. Limit busy prints, prints that seem visually overwhelming, to the same or similar scale if the print has a large variety of colors.
You need fabric that tells a story.
Use your scraps. Ultimately, you can pick any fabric you want to have in your quilt, especially if the fabric means something to you. You get to tell the story of your quilt.
If you don’t have scraps or you don’t have many, begin with a curated bundle. Add solids and other prints from your stash. Choose colors that are similar but not in the same value range.
One way to see the value range of your fabrics is to take a black and white photo. You can quickly see the how similar in value the blues and greens are. The old adage ‘blue and green should not be seen without a color in between’ holds true here. Because blue and green are next to each other on the color wheel, the eye views them as the same. You can quickly pick out the darks-mediums-lights from this photo, but not necessarily the blues from the greens. Grey is a neutral — the value is also viewed as the same. The gold though is so much lighter than the dark and medium blues and greens. The gold will make a great fabric ‘in between’ the greys, blues, and greens. It will provide the contrast to keep the eye moving. The variety of patterns and scale of patterns will also give the eye something to search for. The solids will give the eye a place to rest. Therefore, this custom bundle created from my fabric stash with a few new fabrics added will create a stunning scrap quilt.
Closely look at the quilts you love. Notice the use of color and prints. The best way to train your eye is to study what attracts your eye. Then imitate it. I am always learning, along with everyone else. There will always be someone who does it better.