Beginner's Guide to Quilting - UK (2020-02)

Pattern choices
Having chosen the colours you want to
work with, you’ll need to decide on the
sort of patterns that will be appropriate
for your project. Sometimes this will be
dictated by the size of the patchwork
pieces that you’ll be using. If your quilt
top consists of lots of very small shapes
then large prints are best avoided (unless
you’re able to fussy cut around motifs).
For projects with bigger patchworked
pieces, large-scale prints are ideal but
they’re best alternated with some more
delicate prints (fine polka dots, for
instance) or plain coloured fabric to
stop the finished item looking a bit
overwhelming! Plain fabrics can help
focus the eye on the patterned areas,
making sure that prints don’t get lost
within each other. As with choosing
colours, if you’re in any doubt about
whether certain combinations will work,
just lay your fabrics out next to each other
and move them around until they ‘click’.
If something isn’t working, take it out and
have a rethink. The process might seem
tricky, but playing around with different
combinations is all part of the fun!

Colour choices

They are too cool

SORTED! Add a

warm beige, yellow

or cream into

the mix when

choosing fabric

SORTED! Separate

colours with neutral

tones such as white

or grey when

arranging your

patchwork

SORTED! Add in

a cool blue or

grey to balance

things up when

choosing fabric

The colours I like work

well together without

bringing anything else

to the palette

SORTED! Find fabrics

in your chosen

contrasting palette to

create your patchwork

They are too warm

SORTED! Take that

colour and choose fabrics

in different shades of

it to create

a harmonious quilt

The colours I like

don’t look great

together

They are

clashing

I like one particular

colour only

START HERE!

Think about the

COLOUR of your

inspiration image

I like two or more

colours equally

colour

wheel

I LIKE... BEST FABRICS...

(^) order and symmetry (^) stripes, polka dots, checks
(^) straight lines stripes, checks, geometrics
(^) masculine shapes (^) geometrics, wax prints
(^) big and bold wax prints, large-print florals
(^) delicate and subtle (^) 1930s prints, small-print florals
(^) curves florals, polka dots
Feel inspired by an
image but finding it
hard to translate it into
a palette? Use this
chart to work out the
colour inspiration and
you’re halfway there!
YOUR PATTERN PERSONALITY