The Mini Plaid-ish Quiltalong - Fabric Selection

The first week of the Mini Plaid-ish Quiltalong! In this post we are going to talk about fabric selection so if you have no idea which fabrics you are using (I don't!) you have all week to figure out what you want to use from your scraps or stash or order fabric. This quiltalong is meant to be fun and creative, not stressful!

Two reminders before we get started.

1. If you want to simplify the fabric selection process, there are several shops that are offering super fun kits. 
2. If you do not already have the pattern, you can still get it and it is free. Use the form below to sign up for my email list and you will get an email that has the download for both the non-rainbow and rainbow versions of the pattern. If you don't see it in your inbox, check your spam folder. 

You have tons of options for fabric selection, but I am going to talk about 3 different avenues that work well: yardage, rainbow, and scrappy. 

Some Preliminary Info About Value

One important skill for all versions of this quilt is being able to determine value. You will need dark, mid, and light valued fabrics. You can decide how dark/light you want your darks/lights to be and the quilt can still work within a more narrow range of values BUT there needs to be a distinct difference between the dark, mid, and light values. You do not want a mid-valued fabric to look too close to a dark-valued fabrics, etc. 

The easiest way that I have found to tell the difference is to take a black and white photo of my fabrics. Sometimes you can just eyeball how light/dark the value of a fabric is, but sometimes it is trickier. For example, I have found that green fabrics are darker valued than I expect them to be and yellow fabrics are lighter valued. 

As you can see in the photo above, some darks are more dark and some lights are more light. You can be as strict as you would like about the categories — as long as there is a distinction between the values, the pattern will work.

Tip: If you are unsure about fabric choices, I highly recommend looking through the #plaidishquilt hashtag on Instagram. Find some quilts that you really like, take a screen shot, and convert them to black and white in your photo app. That will give you a good goal to aim for with your own quilt. 

Yardage

If you would like to use yardage, you will need 1 1/4 yards of a dark fabric, 1 7/8 yards of a mid-valued fabric, and 5/8 yard of a light fabric. Here are a couple of examples that I really like using yardage.

Vintage Garden

Dusk Fusion

You can use fabrics from a single collection or from different collections, a mix of solids and prints, pretty much whatever you want. I am a big fan of the monochrome versions that use a single color in different values.

Rainbow

You guys know I love a rainbow which is why I included separate instructions for making a rainbow version of this pattern. If you are not experienced with picking your own fabrics, I highly recommend picking up a quilt kit of rainbow fabrics for your quilt. Having to balance both color and value can be a little tricky!

Sewfinity — Kona, Dark Grunge, and Light Grunge

Stash Fabrics — AGF Pure Solids

Web Fabrics — Kona and Cotton Couture

Woodbury Way — Pastel Rainbow

If you are planning on tackling this project from your stash, this is so much fun! I will definitely be making a rainbow quilt, but I haven't decided if I am going to use FQers from my stash or go scrappy.

Here are some things to keep in mind: 

• There is more than one way to do a rainbow — it can be muted or bright, prints or solids, and you don't necessarily have to include all of the colors. You also don't have to start with red/pink and end with purple. 
• Lean into the colors that you prefer. Do you have a lot of greens and blues in your stash but not much purple? Instead of going straight from green to blue, you can do a blue-ish green row and a green-ish blue row and leave out the purple all together. 
• Value still matters, but is more important within a row. Take a look at the image below. This is the yellow (top row) and green (bottom row) from the Pure Solids mock-up. The dark yellow fabric is similar in value to the mid valued green fabric. The quilt still works because the dark yellow is distinctly darker than the mid-yellow.

Scrappy

Scraps are such a satisfying way to make a quilt. They are leftovers, but they are also a new project. The best.

This will be the most time consuming way to make the quilt since cutting will take longer. If you are a slow fabric cutter, I recommend that you start cutting pieces this week so you don't get overwhelmed next week.

This is how I approach making a scrappy version of this pattern:

1. Sort through your scraps and identify pieces that are large enough to use in your quilt. 
2. Separate these pieces by value: one pile for dark, one pile for mid, and one pile for light.
3. Now take your phone and open the camera app and put it into black and white mode. Look through your piles and pull out anything that doesn't work. 
4. Now (important!) press your fabric. Unless you are a much neater quilter than I am and your fabrics are already nice and flat, mine tend to be a jumbled mess. Cutting will be much easier if your fabrics have been pressed.

I always make adjustments later in the cutting and piecing phases so don't be afraid to add more fabrics or take some away if they just aren't working.

The most important rule of a scrap quilt is that if you don't like the fabric before you put it in a quilt, you won't like it in a scrap quilt so don't use it! Scrap quilts are most successful when they are full of fabrics that you love.

Phew, that was a lot of information! Since I am still deciding which fabrics I want to use for my quilt, I am planning on doing a video this week where I discuss my fabric choices and I will post it on YouTube. Once that is ready, I will put the video here and share about it on Instagram.

Just remember that you even if your values aren't perfect (notice in the photo above that mine are not!) your quilt will turn out great. I like to prioritize using my scraps over a perfect quilt, but do what works best for you.

Don't forget to post a photo on IG this week using the #miniplaidishqal hashtag so we can all see your fabrics!