Create a cohesive scrappy quilt with ease!

Hello, 

Today I am here to talk about how to create a cohesive scrappy quilt. 

How to bust that stash and pull your fabrics together to create a quilt that is scrappy but still looks coordinated. 

Sometimes you may want a quilt that looks completely scrappy and random.

But it's also ok to want to create a scrappy quilt that looks a little more, curated. 

 

If you struggle with choosing fabrics, then taking on a cohesive scrappy quilt can be daunting.

In this post I will talk you through some strategies for how to pull fabrics that look good together. As with a lot of things in life, the more you take the plunge and do it, the better you get, so once you’ve read this post grab those fabrics and start putting some of these strategy into action!

Let’s create a gorgeous fabric pull (and don’t forget to actually make those quilts!)

Strategy 1: Use a hero print.

Have a look through your stash a choose a multi colour print that you love. Have a look at the colours that are in that print, if you love it then they are most likely a collection of colours that go well together. Use this collection of colours and match your stash to them. Do this the best you can and don't worry if the colours aren't an exact match!

Here's a quick fabric pull I made using the print on the left as my hero print.

Here, I only matched 1 fabric, per colour in the hero print, but if I wanted to add more variation in, I could add in extra prints of the same colour group, so a few mustards, a few bright teals etc. 

Got a few scraps left from a fabric collection but not enough for a quilt? Similar to the first strategy, use the main colours used within this collection and add some blenders or solids in.

This quilt used my leftover scraps of the Oracle collection. There were not enough prints however, to make a quilt. I matched up the solids in my stash to the colours in the collection. Not all match exactly, but there are close enough that they still work well together. 

Strategy 3: Follow a colour palette.

If you want to start from scratch but need a jumping off board try using a colour palette and matching the fabrics in your stash to the colours.

I have a Pinterest board of colour inspiration here. 

 

 

 

You can add some variation by adding in different shades of the same colour (light, medium and dark mustards) in or multiple different prints of the same colour (different mustard prints).

This quilt just uses 3 main colour groups; pinks, greys and creams and uses a variety of different shades and prints within those groups:

Strategy 3(b): If in doubt, using all the colours is always a winner! 

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Strategy 4: Get it all out!

This one can be fun but overwhelming if you aren’t used to it. Go through your fabrics and start off by pulling out all the fabrics you love and put them together.

How does it look? Does it feel good looking at them? Try adding some more colours in, does it look better? Worse? Keep adding in/ taking away until it just feels good. I find it sometimes helps to take a picture on my phone and look at the picture to help me decide if something fits or not. Sometimes something sticks out more in the picture than when it's right in front of you. 

Another tip is converting that picture to black and white. Have a look at the image in B&W do any stick out?

 

Ok, so you have tried all the above and nothing is feeling right. Don’t force it, you can still get the scrappy look with new fabrics.

Choose a fabric collection you like and get each print but in a small cut (fat eights or pre-cuts are great for this) and if it's a small collection or you want an even scrappier look, use the manufacturer’s suggested coordinating basics to add fabrics in. Some shops also put their own scrappy bundles together so keep a look out for those.  

This quilt used a layer cake, so all the prints from this collection were included giving it a scrappier look. 

 

Ready to jump into scrappy quilts? Here’s some of my patterns that are perfect for scraps: