Hi everyone, it’s your host Pat Sloan here today talking about fabric styles.
When I made my ‘first first quilt’ I did not have many fabric options. Calicos, Calicos, Calicos, and solids. By the time I made my official first quilt the variety of fabrics had greatly increased, let’s do a big cheer for THAT!
Quilters now have so much variety of fabric it is wonderful, but it could be a tad confusing. When you hear someone describe a ‘style’ of fabric what do they really mean?
The other day I did a very scientific study of quilt styles when my friends showed up for sewing night. I asked the first three who arrived their thoughts on quilt Styles (well we DID have a very thorough discussion on it…. Wink!)
These are my thoughts on style, and I’m sure I’ve missed one or you will have your own take on it.. that is what our comment section is for!
Fat Quarter Shop has been super generous and allowed me to share photos from their store.. and.. hold on.. you are NOT going to believe this.. Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring this post with a FQ bundle give-away. Which FQ bundle? Well the winner can pick the Moda bundle they want.. be still my heart!! exciting eh? See the end for how to enter.
My first observation about style is that color matters. Take the paisley above. This is a very traditional if not leaning towards civil war type print. This is a Jo Morton paisley that she is famous for.
This is NOT traditional by anyone’s terms. BUT it does have a paisley in it. Interesting eh? (I say eh to fit in with Michele.. she is Canadian ya know). And scale. Look how much larger this paisley is.. and more playful. This is what I’d call a contemporary fabric, from Heather Bailey
So let’s look at some BROAD categories (remember the comment section down there!)
Traditional
In this group you will tend to find lots of warm toasty colors, some call them muddy fabric (wink!). There are really a lot of styles within the traditional category.
Civil war prints are loved by many. They are reproductions of fabrics from the civil war era and use the same colors and patterns. The photo above is classic from Judie Rothermel.
People who love and use civil war fabrics are often recreating quilts from that time period. Historian Barbara Brackman has a blog about civil war quilts… check it out to learn more!
Calicos are generally small prints… a bit harder to find in this day and age as we tend to want more from our fabric! But Calico’s are fantastic blenders.. as is shown by this piece in Prairie Paisley II from Minnick/Simpson.
I feel like a country style fabric is cozy. It does not need to be ‘brown’ but it should be warm, toasty and full of the feeling of a farm house or your grandma’s kitchen. This line from The Quilt Patch feels country to me.
Americana and patriotic, whether in a traditional design or a contemporary, is classic! This line from My Mind’s Eye is bright and fun and waves the stars and stripes proudly! Great for solider quilts and decorating for 4th of July!
The 1930s prints are like civil war, they are reproductions of a time period of fabrics. They tend to be pastels with some reds and blacks. Lots of small prints. This is a new favorite of mine from my friend Darlene Zimmerman. And this line is called Adventures with Alice… I LOVE Alice in Wonderland!
Not Traditional
There are so many fabrics that fall into what I call “Contemporary” fabrics. This line called Candid Paparazzi from Red Rooster fits the contemporary class for me. Clean shapes, clear colors, and big bold sweeps of shapes.
Fresh Cuts from Heather Bailey is a classic Contemporary fabric. So much so this is a repeat of the line loved by many! (me included!)
I asked my good friend, and 3 time winner of the Modern Quilt Guild challenge, what she thought a current modern style fabric is. Heather Jones of olive & ollie said:
John Adams, QuiltDad, is not only a modern style quilt maker, but one of the editors of the online quilt magazine FatQuarterly. I asked John what he considered some of the current Modern style fabrics on the market. John said …
- Echo by Lotta Jansdotter
- Curious Nature by David Butler
- Anything by Pat Bravo
- Hello Luscious by Basic Grey
- Lark by Amy Butler
- Grunge solids
- Hello Pilgrim by Lizzy House
- Anything by Kaffe or Brandon Mably
- Tilly by Daisy Janie
I also think that Miscellany and Cut Out & Keep by Cloud 9 Fabrics are great examples, too. – Thank you John!
Wow oh wow are Batik fabrics POP-U-Lar!! Serious.. do you have a piece in your collection? How many… wink! Many companies produce batiks. I feel the draw of a batik is the often subtle color changes and the tone on tone ‘feel’ with more pizzazz! This is a selection from Hoffman. Fat Quarter Shop has a whole category for batiks on their left side bar.. go cruise!
Asian Style Traditional or Modern? This classic piece of Asian style fabric is from Kona Bay. They really do a wonderful job with this style. From a focus piece like this one to blenders and overall florals. Visit their web site for loads of inspiration!
Good Fortune by Kate Spain is a contemporary take on Asian fabric and I love it.. I even used it in a quilt for my latest book!
Other
“Other” is a lovely category. A place to slot solids, Novelty prints and seasonal.. which are a form of novelty but I think they deserve their own category!
Bella Solids by Moda are so darn popular you can even get a color card!
Also Michael Miller solids.
and Robert Kaufman solids.. oh yeah!
Going Coastal by Emily Herrick is a perfect example of a novelty print. Who uses bottle caps with seaside images.. umm…err… I do!
Or Peace Love and Rock and Roll man.. yep… any fabric with funky fun images is good to be called a novelty
one more!! Space fabric from Andover.. gotta love it!
Seasonal for me are those Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick’s day, Easter or any other fabric that is very focused on the season. I tend to make quilts using them that stay within that theme. And these tend to lean heavy towards a novelty print feel. Like this Halloween print from Teresa Kogut.
And the Fat Quarter shop loves Christmas fabrics ALMOST as much as I do.. wink! They love it so much they put them ALL in one place for us Christmas crazy collectors! I’m loving this Basic Grey line.. all for that snowman!
Kathy Miller of Michael Miller fabrics does a fantastic job on the company blog with fabric inspiration boards. I am currently obsessed with Gray and Yellow combinations, so I really loved this board she did called Citron Gray.
Cruise the fabric company blogs and web sites for great fabric selections.. here are just a few of the many fabric companies out there today:
- Moda Fabrics
- Robert Kaufman
- FreeSpirit
- TimeLess Treasure
- Riley Blake
- Andover
- P&B Textiles
and I could go ON and ON and ON! Love a company? Put their name in Google and see what you find!
A few weeks ago I interviewed 4 fabric designers on January 30th including Kathy Miller of Michael Miller fabrics. And I interviewed Kimberley Jolly of the Fabulous Fat Quarter shop too!
Give-Away
Enter to win a Moda fat quarter bundle of your choice from the Fat Quarter Shop! Tell me below in the comments What is YOUR favorite Fabric Style?
One winner will be randomly selected next Wednesday, March 21, 2012.
Winner announced: Congratulations to #573 Renate. Check your email for a message.
Pat Sloan is owner and founder of the quilting design and publishing company Pat Sloan & Co. She has published over 25 books, more than 100 patterns, nearly 10 fabric lines, and has had her work featured in all the major Quilt magazines. In January 2010, Pat started hosting her weekly Internet Radio show called Creative Talk Radio.
Find Pat here:
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My current fabric favorites are all Contemporary. I love the bright, bold colors.
Thanks for the explanation of all the fabric styles.
And thanks to the FQS for hosting the great giveaway!
Thanks for the rundown, but your question is too hard! I think that I like contemporary fabrics best, but much of my stash and past projects would argue with that. I like clear colours and interesting prints- and I’m trying to use more solids and a better light/dark balance in my projects.
Thanks,
Sarah
if it were that easy to chose a favourite style – it always depends on what you make and who you make it for – I wouldn’t use novelty for my grandma, she would like the traditional prints – my sisters on the other hand would most likely prefer a novelty print and bright colours. For myself, well I guess I would prefer a mixture of solids and small prints (Calicos). And then there is the problem that I often see the fabric I use at the moment as my all time favourite until I start the next project. So there is no definite answer. But it was nice thinkig about it.
(And thanks for all the terminology – being not a native English speaker and not having a quilting dictionary gets me occasionally in trouble)
I am a huge fan of Contemporary fabrics but I LOVE mixing it up. Kaffe Fassett designs drew me into to quilting and I enjoy combining batiks with his saturated colors. I like putting unexpected things together, but it’s always about the color.
My favorite fabric style is Asian. I love the florals, the emphasis on nature, and the (mostly) off-center placement of the designs. By that I mean that most Asian non-geometric designs are not symmetrical. They give the eye more chance to wander.
A favorite style! That’s like picking your favorite child! Right now, I’m into more of a 1930’s collection shopping spree. In my fabric cabinet, there is a little of everything. Mostly Kansas Troubles fabrics. I don’t think I’ll ever be bored with those deep colors.
I love them all as my stash will tell you. Recently though, I’ve been drawn to the brights. I adore Moda fabrics so I would really love to win the giveaway.
I have a hard time picking a favorite, but I am always collecting batiks, so I guess that’s it. I love Modern floral prints and Asian as well.
I don’t know how I could possibly pick one favorite, but at the moment I’m drawn to batiks. Have a super day!
I love batiks – have started to mix them in with other fabrics in my projects and they fit in perfectly.
Also like bold colours.
The Ocean Waves Batik has just become my current favourite on seeing them above.
Nice!
Cheers
D.
My favorite is whatever style I’m working with at the moment. I love Civil War, and 30’s reproductions. I also love ‘blenders’ fabrics, since you can do so much with them. I’m working with batiks for the first time. Such luscious colors and patterns. Aren’t we lucky we don’t have to pick just one.
I love fabric. All kind of. But I realize that I tend to make projects with countrystyle feeling and so contrystyle fabrics are mostly found in my stash. I admire all those quilts in contemporary fabrics, but never did one ….till now.
I think I really need to get some good fortune. Just love this!
I tend to choose contemporary and other only if I am making quilts my way. I do work with others if I am making a quilt for a specific person (got one coming up this way!). If provided with more traditional fabrics I will definitely use them though! I’m in a guild so those quilt usually get donated for compassion quilts.
I have two favorites. I use civil war prints for most everything that I make for my house, but I absolutely love contemporary fabrics.
Not Traditional – anything under that category :)
I like lots of styles but it’s the batiks that get most of my attention. Love playing with them at the beginning of a project, selecting just the right cuts. And then putting them together – they just make me happy (especially Hoffman 1895 #360)!
Thanks for this blog on fabric styles; quite good. Once I found batiks I have had a hard time looking at anything else. But now that batiks are branching out into more of a ‘print’ design I am backing off.
If I have to choose a favorite, I’ll go with contemporary. But really, I just buy whatever catches my eye at the time. :)
I guess my favourites are mostly contemporary – Love Kate Spain, The Quilted Fish, Figtree & Co, Bonnie & Camille to name a few!
But I also love Minick and Simpson and French General.
I’ve always loved the country style – guess it’s because of the fabrics my grandmother used! But looking around my sewing room, batiks, blenders and contemporary are definitely in there too! A contemporary black, white and red quilt is in progress! Supposed to be a wedding gift, but might have to make a keeper too!
My current favourite is solids, but I’d love to try more of the modern fabrics. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love all the fabrics described, but my favorite is batiks, at least this week.
I just wait for the fabric to ‘speak’ to me…most of my selections are bright, vibrant prints (my mother would call them ‘obnoxious’. So I guess my style is bright and obnoxious…like me!
I truly love traditional country cozy fabrics. My stash is full of them! I am starting to branch out however and have a small collection of contemporary fabrics, some bolder prints with brighter colors, anything MODA really!
wow, this was really interesting to read! i’m a straight-up contemporary girl, although i could definitely see myself working with batiks in my future. i’m definitely drawn to them, but haven’t tried them yet!
Thank you so much for providing me with a structure for my fabric love. I now realise that I am drawn to Modern Contemporary while my second love is the moody blues of Civil War fabric.
I can now look at my fabric with different eyes.
I prefer modern prints and fresh colours, but I love the neutrals and some traditional flower fabrics also.
I love contemporary fabrics, especially florals. Large blossoms with foliage in traditional colors abound in my stash. However, I also have some rustic prints, too. I have a fondness for those more traditional fabrics because they remind me of when we used to live in a log cabin in the woods.
Oh wow! Decisions, decisions, decisions. Since I’m fairly new to the quilting world I play it pretty safe when picking out fabric. Nothing too bold or that has “interesting” color combinations. I guess right now I’m pretty much a “traditional” kind of gal. I also make a lot of baby and toddler quits for my grandkids (they don’t seem to mind that I “practice” on their quilts!) so I use novelty prints as well! Thanks for the opportunity to win such a great giveaway!!! :)
Fantastic post, thank you. I use all different types of fabrics but I am most drawn to the colours of “Country Style”. Thanks for the chance in the giveaway.
Hi. I think that I choose in the Contemporary fabrics. Even I have my favourite designers which are Mr. Fassett and Hoffman Fabrics. They designs fabrics absolutly amazing ..more than beautifuls…
I’m really drawn more and more to the Civil War types of fabrics, and I’m crazy for the “Collection for…” fabrics that Moda offers. Many people are drawn toward more traditional quilts. I will say tho, that I have collected fabrics in many, many styles and agree with others that the type of fabric depends on who the quilt is intended for! Thanks for the opportunity to win something!
Isn’t fabric fun?? I am a traditionalist. I love the Civil War fabrics, but also love the French General lines too. I have started quilting with modern fabrics because they are so fun, but for my own home I love TRADITION!!
ONE? We only get one???? Then I will pick batiks. They are so varied and beautiful who could resist them? Not me. Second? Nautical or novelty I guess they too are varied. I guess variety is my key.
I love all fabrics, but lately I’m really drawn to bright fabrics and kid novelty prints. My obsession started with an I Spy quilt years ago, and hasn’t stopped yet!
I guess my favorite is Traditional – but the darker tones. Then again I do like the Asian fabrics and 30’s prints and Batiks… and …. Maybe I should tell what don’t like?? ☺
My favorite fabric style is sort of eclectic. I like a little contemporary, some calico, a little bit modern, but mostly batiks, solids, and traditional. It sort of depends on what I’m working on at the time. Thanks for the opportunity to enter your wonderful giveaway!
I think it depends what mood I am in. I live Civil War fabrics and country style, I also love Fig Tree and French General.
I definitely like contemporary fabrics, especially bright colors! Thanks for the great information and the giveaway!
I love the traditional fabrics, and the Civil War. But really, I love all of them. The modern/contemporary fabrics are my least favorite.
Thank you so much for putting all the different fabrics into groups. I suppose my latest favorite is solids but I love contemporary with bold colors too. I like almost everything to be honest.
I love all things fabric but do have to say that I LOVE color, all color! I tend to lean to the more Contemporary fabrics… Not to say I don’t use them all but, well, there you go…
I guess I need to say novelty. Most of my quilts start out with something cowboy/western as the focus fabric, then I build from there. I love the Bonnie and Camille lines, I made a quilt out of Ruby and one of Bliss and waiting anxiously for the Vintage Modern, (contemporary right ?) 1930 fabric is pulling at my heart strings right now and I do love a Christmas print. Maybe I should say.. if it has cotton in it…it’s my favorite !
I love batiks. We’re lucky to have a local quilt shop that has over 1,000 batiks. I didn’t like the modern/contemporary fabric at all when it first came out, but it’s growing on me and I’ll probably end up doing something with it in the near future.
Wow, I don’t think i have a favorite style…I love clean lines, bold (brights, darks, whatever) colors. Not a huge fan of washed out looking fabrics, but can and do use them. If I could only pick one it would probably have to be (is it fair to say “cotton”? LOL) OK, ok…probably contemporary…I think. Thanks for the opportunity!!
I think I lean more towards the contemporary fabrics these days. Which is a bit sad because my stash is filled with more traditional fabric pieces. No wonder I have a stash! My taste keeps changing!
I like most fabrics but at the moment am drawn towards the contemporary designs
Favorite style? Uh, all of them! Seriously, I drool over civil war and buy them when I find them. Not too available in my area. I just finished a quilt with Good Fortune. It was a have to have! I buy all stripes that I find. I think I’m more drawn to color. I’ll buy any style of fabric if the color catches my eye and draws me to the bolt!
I love Civil war – like Jo or Julie and country fabrics from Kansas trouble. It’s so much fun to have such amazing variety and choice.