Choose your background and border fabrics first.
Having worked in a quilt store, I know that I'm not the only one who first dives in and finds all of the fabrics for my blocks first. Only later, do I worry about finding the right sashing or borders to tie them together. From my brief experience in selling fabric and talking to my patchwork friends, it seems to be quite a common practice.
The problem is that it's hard to find fabrics that tie things together after the fact. If a particular fabric worked well with my prints, I'd have already used it in the blocks. On top of that, background fabric generally owns the most real estate. By that I mean that the background, borders and sashing often cover the most surface area. It's not unusual for them to be the largest pieces in the quilt top.
That got me thinking... what if I did things differently? What if I picked my border first?
The proof is in the pudding, of course, and I haven't tested my theory yet. How about you? Do you pick our your block prints first and then decide on the background? Have you worked the other way around? What do you think? Could I be on to something?
I try to think of the whole concept before starting anything. Also, I like the idea of using patterns instead of solids, for my It's a Hoot I have chosen a print from the blocks to use as a border (ie my It's a Hoot quilt).
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you've posted that just when I've been thinking along the same lines - Linda Rotz Miller recently recommended a borders book - it's a fabulous book and talks about choosing and planning the border as part of the initial planning process whereas I had always thought of the border as an afterthought - I'd be interested to hear what Linda RM has to hear about your theory as I suspect she works in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteI tend to have a vision for borders and sashing before I make a start. But not always.
ReplyDeleteHelpful? Not! Sorry ;)
Back when I thought borders were an important part of the quilt, I often started there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/aviva_hadas/379120866/in/set-72157625595799959
There is no way that I would have chosen those prints without having had the borders chosen previously... As on example.
These days, I am embracing "no borders" more fully.
I like it! It's kinda like picking the hat before the dress and shoes for the wedding / races which I used to do all the time!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I start with the border fabric, sometimes not. Depends on how the quilt started and progressed or got changed along the way. Or whether it even needs a border!
ReplyDeleteI have started with border fabric, chosen fabrics to coordinate with that, made my blocks, sewn them together and then put a completely different border on the quilt. The inspiration fabric didn't end up anywhere in the quilt!
I like stripy binding, and was asking Kellie from "Don't Look Now!" how she finds stripes to match her fabrics, and she told me that you do it the other way around. Such a great tip, and of course it gives me license to buy stripy fabric when-ever I see some that I like ;)
ReplyDeleteIT does help sometimes especially if your quilt is all planed from the beginning. I do have one quilt sitting there because I can't find "the" fabric to finish it. But I also quilt a lot with no plan in mind as to what the quilt will even look like at the end, so that would be impossible for me to pick the borders first. As for the back, I use all the scraps from the front as to not add to my scrap baskets, and then fill in the rest with fabric that blends in. But when you do have a plan, your quilt top does look more together when you choose the fabrics for the quilt body from the colors in the border.
ReplyDeleteI often choose a focal fabric as my starting point and move from there...
ReplyDeletebut not always! :)
For my last quilt, I chose the backing for my quilt along with all of my other fabrics. I actually happen to dislike borders most of the time, so I don't even bother choosing fabric for them!
ReplyDeleteGood point!
ReplyDeleteI try to pick it all out together, with the emphasis on the borders/sashings.
And if something just doesn't seem to work on the back...I consider it for the backing.
counter point:
ReplyDeleteI purchased 4 yards for the border of a future quilt - decided to use it as backing in the mean time... Not quite enough, but easy enough to remedy. (I buy 3 for borders, but wanted extra to use in a different manner.)
Also I buy 1 yard pieces for binding - enough for any size quilt.
I still haven't figured out how much to buy for backgrounds, but in general I prefer scrappy backgrounds...
My "one" quilt with 1 background - I had 2.5xWOF left over - to tight for me. When I go scrappy, if I run out of print A, I use more of B, etc.
I tend to buy 1 or 2 extra prints or almost solids to work with. So if something wants to be a border or part of the background it can.
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time, I was a no border person. Then 1 day a quilt needed to be bigger. How, what was in my stash? Lo & behold, we pulled together a border. And we loved it. Now they are a staple to be considered at the time of designing.
Hope this helps.
I go another route and often times pick out the backing and binding first. Then I pick everything else out to coordinate with those. That's not always the case, but how I frequently do it. I sometimes wish I could back a quilt with a contrasting non-matching fabric, but I just can't bring myself to do that! I also don't tend to use a lot of borders, so don't have that problEm often
ReplyDelete