Quilting Fabrics
There are many different types of supplies that go into quilt making, and the most important is the fabric that you use. Quilts can tell a story, whether they are made to celebrate a family history, holiday or an experience, quilts are something that people put many hours and planning into to create a beautiful piece of art. Generally, when selecting quilting fabric you want all pieces to coordinate into the same colour scheme or family. At time you may want a pop of colour, but overall the colours in your fabric choices should be similar. Additionally, you should keep in mind that you will be cutting smaller pieces of fabric to create your quilting pattern, thus using fabric that has a large print on it wouldn’t transfer into the small pieces you cut. Fabric that has a small pattern or print works much better for quilting purposes as you can capture more of the print in one small space.
Jelly Rolls and BundlesSometimes choosing an array of quilting fabrics can be overwhelming, which is why opting to buy quilting bundles or jelly rolls strips is an easy solution. Jelly rolls are rolls of quartered out fabric in an array of colours and patterns that you can make into a quilt. Some rolls are simply of plain colour swatches while others are a combination of plain and pattern fabric. The rolls come in a variety of sizes however the larger sizes should be enough fabric to make an entire quilt, depending upon the size of the blanket. For beginners, jelly rolls are a great idea, as it takes a lot of the thinking and planning out of the equation and you can jump right in to planning out your quilt.
Types of Quilting FabricThere are a few different types of fabric that are popular to use when planning out your quilt. The most popular being cotton quilting fabric, which is a heavier weight 100 percent cotton. This has little shrinkage but holds up well. Other fabrics include home decor cotton fabric, which has a little more sheen to it but still has the heavyweight, voile that is lightweight and a bit sheer, Essex linen that is a natural fibre blend of linen and cotton, and quilter’s linen, which is all cotton but has the look and feel of linen. Often combining a few of these fabrics provides a nice texture and depth to your quilt.