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 favorite fabrics are 1930 reproductions.
Wow! Choose a FQ bundle — a dream come true! I checked my stash to see what type of fabric I seem to buy the most of — and it’s novelty prints! Is that odd?
It´s hard to choose one, hmmm…… OK, now I know! Good Fortune by Kate Spain. I think it is very beautiful. I like the small printed pattern. The colours are light and that is nice, I think.
Gun, Sweden
I love Bright Prints, being that I have three boys it’s kind hard to find male prints suitable for toddlers :-)
I like traditional and Civil War reproductions. I love calicos, small prints and just love fabric!
Wonderful article! I started quilting about seven years ago….then took a six year hiatus. Grad school, teaching, etc took up any spare time. Now, coming back to it, I was sorting my fat quarters. (I am thankful that is all I bought back then–because most are calicos, “muddy colors” etc….SOOOO not what inspires me now!)
I am trying to work with them when I can,
but I really love the 1930’s prints and the more modern designs now. I do think that the several years I have spent scrapbooking have really helped me develop my color sense and risk taking with patterns. It is a lot easier to play with a 12×12 piece of paper. Now, coming back to quilting, I want to translate those designs and color combos into quilts!
I’m farily new to quilting and have yet to find A style. I have done a country quilt, a reprodution quilt and am working on a contempoary wall hanging. I’m an equal opportunity quilter! Thanks for the chance at your giveaway.
My favorite is the Candid Paparazzi. What fun this would be to sew. What would I sew???? Exciting thinking about it.
My favorite style? Hard to pick just one but….I DO love the 30s prints. Thanks for a chance to win!
It’s so hard to choose just one:) I tend to like rich colors. If I have to choose one category, it would be reproduction. Thanks for this informative article!
I really like non-traditional stuff or “other.” I love seasonal stuff and wild colors!
I not sure but I loved bright color fabric in 1930’s print.
I’d have to say that I like classic contemporary.
-debby
Chester, NY
crowefan0517@yahoo.com
I love dots and swirls in bright, clear colors.
Right now I’m loving the ‘Modern Style’. Basic Gray being my favorite. But my tastes change depending on new things I see. Like that board with the ‘Citron Gray’. Two of my favorite colors.
Civil War, hands down! Thanks for the chance to win a fabric bundle.
I really like the Ocean wave batiks, It reminds me of living in the caribbean. I like the blues and teals in it.
I am definitely drawn to contemporary fabric collections. I love bold bright colours and modern design elements!
I am not sure I can pick just one sytle. I love novelty prints and seasonal…but I also love country and basic grey. So many choices….not enough time to quilt.
I love fabrics with cute designs on them. I love the rockets, robots and fairies. I also love owls, hedgehogs and rabbits.
Just not in pink!
One style? If I had to pick one, it would be Civil war prints. Thanks!
I’m not sure what my style is. I like bright prints, but with a vintage feel, like Lori Holt’s Sew Cherry or Pam Kitty Morning. That’s what I find myself reaching for again and again.
Pat,
I have a lot of batiks in my collection but I also have seasonal fabrics and speciality fabrics like stars and sunflowers. I have some 30’s fabrics and lots of florals . What I don’t have are much civil war fabrics – I love color and textured design so I also do not have much solid fabric. It is just not my style…
I have quilted steadily for the past 15 years so my stash has continued to grow. My tastes have changed some but I still love color, tone on tone fabrics for background neutrals and dark rather than light backgrounds. Thanks for hosting such a nice giveaway and participating in the bloghop. Thanks to the fat quartershop for their generous giveaway prize.
Regards from western Canada,
Anna
Laurel Burch style… bright,bold.whimsical and Twirl by Me and my sisters. Not sure what catagory they are in but I love them!
My favorite fabric style is currently Modern. So many great lines available, it’s hard to choose…and the colors being used now are fabulous.
I don’t know how to categorize it, but I love color. Bright, saturated, riotous color. In my house I use it straight, in my quilts I often tone it down with neutrals.
I’m a modern style kind of gal!
WOW, Civil War is beautiful!
I’m definitely a modern/contemporary kind of girl, although I do love the 1930’s reproduction fabrics and some country styles too! I’m loving the new Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket line–that’s the bundle I’d choose!
That’s a tough choice to narrow my fabric choices down to one but I’m a big fan of civil war fabrics. And I love 30s, and I love the bright colors that seem to be so popular now. I recently discovered Dandelion Daydream II and fell in LOVE! I’m making two baby quilts out of the line for my two granddaughters born 2 days apart in October. Can’t wait to get them completed.
And how FUN it would be to choose ANY fat quarter bundle from Fat Quarter Shop? I just love the site and go window shopping frequently.
Hmm. I have to say my taste runs more to contemporary/modern. If it has bright colors and bold prints, I’m in.
Love the 1930’s repo.
Just can’t resist novelty prints – maybe I’m just a great big kid still!!
If I had to choose a favourite fabric it would probably be bold, bright and beautiful. I like to mix large prints with bright or light solid colours. Maybe, it is time to experiment next time :-)
I tend to gravitate to non-traditional and retro prints, like the Fresh Cuts, but I love bright colors (reds, yellows, turquoise, etc). Thanks for a chance at this awesome giveaway! Have a great day and a happy heart! :-)
I love modern fabrics in partiicular, but I use a bit of everything, just love fabrics in general!!!!. Thanks for the chance!
I love the batik’s — Thanks
Aww man, I pretty new to the quilting and fabric world. I don’t really know if I have a style yet, but I’m definitely non-traditional. I guess I’m more on the side of whimsical modern.
I love all fabric, especially floral ones with roses.
Happy days.
I loved the christmas fabric! Realy love it!
This is the hardest thing for me because I love all colors and styles…but the one that I really really liked was the Candid Paparazzi….
I seem to have a little bit of everything in my stash- but right now I am very into the modern quilts and fabrics!
I love reproductions, but lately I’m drawn to red-black-whites, so I love ‘candid paparazzi’.
Thank you for organising the blog hop and this fabulous chance to win some great fabrics.
I guess it would have to be comtemporary since I have been drooling over the Papparazzi line since I first saw it a few weeks ago.
NON TRADITIONAL. My style is ANYthing batik followed by BRIGHT plaids, bold ginghams, tiny and huge, DOTS DOTS DOTS, most orange or turquoise, 40’s and 50’s retro and then, almost anything especially if it is high quality fabric and definitely if it is on sale!
Does that mean my style is eclectic?
It’s hard for me to say what is my favorite I have very eclectic taste. I love color so many of the modern lines are right up my alley but I also love the country feel. I make quite a few baby quilts do novelty prints and my two current obsession are Halloween and Christmas. Oh and solids can’t forget those!
My fabric style changes with the wind. It seems to change with the project I’m on. I always pick what catches my eye.
It varies a lot, especially with the seasons, for example in the fall I tend to go traditional and kind of old fashioned, but in spring I really like the bright modern/contemporary trends, like Kate Spain’s FQ shown. I am also digging the new solid trends.
I love 30’s prints, maybe because the first quilt I fell in love with was from the 30’s–a sunbonnet sue made for my mom. Thanks for the overview on styles!
I switch around alot, but I tend towards the classic contemporary. Depends who I am sewing for I guess!