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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Mine is comtemporary!! I just bought Hello Luscious…now to get busy and make something.
I don’t have a defined “style” because I LOVE everybody’s scraps! Novelty fabrics tend to grab my attention and then I work the scraps around them. Some of my quilts are “planned and coordinated” scrap quilts and some are random-anything goes. Interesting how all the fabrics play together so well!
I can’t choose. I sort of let the quilt dictate the fabrics. I love a cozy homespun look in a prim quilt, and novelties for baby quilts. I am using civil war types for my Farmers Wife quilt. I also did a lovely wall hanging with batiks. I haven’t used much modern type fabrics yet but I bought some and am just trying to figure out the right pattern for them. Fun topic.
I’d say I’m not traditional. I also LOVE solids and batiks.
Well Pat I have to tell you that I love Jan Patek, Sue Spargo, Jo Morton they are my traditional types of fabrics and prints but here in the last year or so I can see some lovely Batiks, and Amy butlers and even Pat Sloans fabrics ringing in my ears so I am saying that I am and probably always will be a fabriholic for all types of Fabric. I am not into too much solids though I like movement and bright colors at the moment. See I cannot say because I like them all….
I absolutely love all country fabric from Kansas Troubles to Thimbleberries and back. Every quilt I’ve made with these “gray” tones has been wonderful – and I’ve made a lot of them! The best part is having scraps that beautifully coordinate for little quilts and table toppers.
I love “modern” fabrics but don’t find them really easy to find great patterns for. Traditional fabrics, tone on tone and those types of fabrics are often my choices.
I love the non traditional fabrics…the modern fabrics that are nothing like the fabrics of days gone past. I seem to be attracted to blues and purples, but I adore the citron gray series by Michael Miller.
I like the modern fabrics. :)
I love bold bright colours, particular in the jewel colours but I tend to make quilts to suit who will be the eventual recipient. Sometimes batiks, sometimes Asian fabrics, all sorts really (except for country style and the 30’s prints, they don’t really appeal to me! Thanks for the opportunity!
I tend to prefer modern fabric styles.
I am a modern girl with a strong proclivity to blue and purple colors. Love those jewel tones.
I like them all – depending on my mood, where the quilt will live and who it is for… I am using a French General range in my current project and I am cutting batiks for the next one!
I love them all ! I am attracted by the colors used in the prints.
Definitely modern- leaning towards distinctive prints like ECHO!
I am definitely a Traditional kind of girl……but really love all fabric styles!
Definitely modern and solids. Loving Aqua, tangerine and coal in combination at the moment!
My favourite style changes with the type of quilt I make….I tended to start out fairly country styled but I’ve moved on and a-d-o-r-e Kate Spain’s Good Fortune….there was a time I’d NEVER use orange or purple…..now, there’s no stopping me!!!!! I still have a soft spot for Country though……must be the farm girl in me!!!
I love them all! I am especially drawn to the traditional, country and 30’s reproduction prints, but the modern prints and solids are fun too! Thanks for the lesson!
I can see the appeal of most fabrics. I do love pastels and ‘spring’ colors, although have been using some fun bright fabrics lately. Heather Bailey’s Fresh Cuts is beautiful….
My favorite fabric style is always the one I’m using at the moment. Right now it’s reds from my stash and white — for my red & white pineapple quilt!!
I am drawn to contemporary styles of fabric – thanks!!
Well Pat…since I work (volunteer) in a quilt shop (spend more than I make!) its so hard because of ALL the fabric my shop carries, but I guess I would have to say more of the modern lines or non traditional lines like Citron by Michael Miller or Kate Spain’s Terrain.. Lots of big funky patterns with bold colors! I also love the seasonal with a special love for the Halloween prints!! But overall I love them all!!
I tend to lean toward Civil War OR Jo Morton fabric lines.
I like non traditional – modern fabrics. I really liked the good fortune you had featured.
That’s easy, I started quilting in order to finish a feedsack top that had been saved and handed down, so I’d have to say 30’s reproductions. But I’m inching toward the moderns too,and itching to try a “rainbow” quilt top.
Right now my fabric fav’s are red, white and blue. But that will change to whatever hits my fancy. Prior to the current patriotic fabrics I was into novelty – cats.
I think I am just starting to find myself. I like some older fabrics but mixed with new bigger bolder prints and solids. I am gravitating towards grays and other colors like tangerine and aqua/turquoise right now but I love blacks and whites and nature greens and browns. Oh I guess I have not found myself yet. I need more fabric to narrow it all down. :)
I love all of the contemporary fabric you have pictured. I like the prints on the fabric, but I think the real attraction for me is the color. I’ve never liked the more traditional darks. I have exactly one brown fabric in my stash and I don’t know where it came from.
My favorite fabric style these days is 30s reproductions. I’m in an online swap for half-square triangles made with 30s fabrics and have been daydreaming about the quilt I’m going to make. Thanks for the giveaway!
I don’t think I have a particular style other than certain geometric patterns will catch my eye. The main thing for me when I go for my “Fabric Fix” is color and pattern. I can’t resist a juicy color or an interesting print. I also love a fun novelty fabric. I LOVE FABRIC period. :-)
Are you kidding me? As a confirmed (and unashamed) fabricaholic, I can say without reserve, “I LOVE FABRIC!!! As a traveling hospice nurse, I quite frequently have groups of my fabric RIDE with me in my car to give me JOY and COMFORT in my work! I find that I am very traditional in my choices of both fabrics and patterns but have been known to use some Amy Butler fabrics. Overall though I LOVE everything MODA!!!
It keeps changing, but right now I always look for 1930s fabric. Thanks for the chance!
It’s easier to tell you the styles that are definitely not my favorite – these are traditional, civil war, 30’s, americana & courntry! So I guess the Not Traditional style would be my favorite although there is so much variety there I’d have to still pick & choose! BUT if Batiks are a style, it wins hands down!!! I love my batiks & yes my stash is full of them! Great questions & great giveaway. Thanks for the chance to win a bundle!
I love so many of the new fabrics. Right now I’m looking at Good fortune by Kate Spain. I love the combination of all the colors with this group. Thanks for a the chance to win.
I would have to say that Modern is my favorite style, but I have a soft spot in my heart for 30’s repros, too. Thanks so much for a fascinating article!!
I have mostly traditional/civil war in my stash but lately I have been buying( and using up) more of the modern prints.
I am leaning toward loving Modern fabric right now, but generally have a hard time knowing how to use them since my style is more traditional. Color is generally more important to me when buying fabric.
I am in the “Not Traditional” camp with a strong leaning toward batiks. That said, there are all kinds of fabric in my stash.
I guess I am a country girl at heart so I like the Shasta by quilt pach. I also like the 1930’s prints too. I have been working on my stach and doing a lot of scrapy quilts so I realy haven’t bought any material in a while. Good choices to pick from.
I definitely use more batiks and traditional fabric in my quilts.
I love all fabrics, but if I have to pick one, I’d say the country color fabrics are my starting place. Then batiks, then look out cash register, here I come with my pile with a little bit of everything!
I waver – I find I’m repeatedly drawn to the warm country colours -the reds and ivories with some brown in particular – as long as they aren’t muddy. But then I really love some of the modern prints – Hello Luscious for example. Gorgeous! And I’ve got quite a good selection of batiks! So maybe not really any given style, just the individual fabrics.
I really like novelty and calicos. You can do so much with any one of the combinations. I don’t usually follow a certain designer, just find things I like, and at least one or two other pieces that will go with it, so the least thing you can make out of it is a table runner, or pillow case. Thanks for the giveaway.
I love 30’s fabrics, and anything by Sweetwater, and anything masculine – really loving the new Curious Nature line by Parson Gray. :) Thanks for an awesome giveaway!
Beautiful selections but to just pick one of my favorites it would be the Batik bundle Ocean Waves.
I would have to say Country Cozy but I really also love any Batiks!!!
I love bright fabrics and it does not matter what kind..really like greens, yellows and pinks!!
thanks Pat
I love almost any Christmas Fabric. I use to love all the Aunt Gracies but lately have gone toward themed fabrics. I guess it is because my resolution for this year is to get some UFOs done and they happen to be in fall and Christmas themes. I have one Snowman wall hanging UFO that I just completed and a fall table runner that just needs to be bound (no fabric for it yet) and am working on a Christmas table runner.
I’m a long time lover of Batiks but Solids are really growing on me these days- I know they’re kinda the opposite ends of the spectrum but they’re both so much fun!