Beautiful winter scene - for a quilted project?

[Sewbee]

http://www.fabricfocus.co.uk/product/woodland-friends-gathering/

This is gorgeous! I wasn't looking for quilt fabric but came across it. It's at the shop I am visiting tomorrow if I can still leave the house without coughing my head off!  I am going to get Patterns and some fabric to make done tops but after seeing this I am sure I will look at quilt fabrics, too.

What could I quilt with this fabric, for example - keeping in mind I'm a beginner at the 5 inch square stage! Would I add another fabric to it? How much would I buy?

I think I know how to sew nine squares together to form a large square and perhaps even to slice and turn some of those squares and sew them together again but that's the e tend of what I think I can do at this point. But anyway, if I see quilt fabric I like, what is a good amount to buy?

I think I'd like a small wall hanging. I don't need a bed-size quilt, at least not now. I am more ready for smaller projects.

This is so cute, too - and Felix would love it!

http://www.fabricfocus.co.uk/product/crafty-cats-panel/

[BrendaP]

Facrics like that are not meant for cutting up - you would loose the impact.

Instead, I whould aim to buy a piece big enough to have a full repeat of the pattern and then make a pieced border to surround it using plain or plainish fabrics in a variety of browns, tans, greys and other colours to match those in the print would work well.

The pieced border doean't have to be very eleaborate; a couple of rows of squares would be enough, or maybe 'piano key' rectangles instead.  A narrow border (black?) between the panel and the pieced border would set it off nicely.

[Sewbee]

Facrics like that are not meant for cutting up - you would loose the impact.

Instead, I whould aim to buy a piece big enough to have a full repeat of the pattern and then make a pieced border to surround it using plain or plainish fabrics in a variety of browns, tans, greys and other colours to match those in the print would work well.

The pieced border doean't have to be very eleaborate; a couple of rows of squares would be enough, or maybe 'piano key' rectangles instead.  A narrow border (black?) between the panel and the pieced border would set it off nicely.

Do you mean the winter scene one or the cat one?

[Iminei]

The trouble with the first fabric, beautiful as it is .......



is that its very monochromatic with the exception of the brown; so turning it into any type of Patchwork project would mean having a huge variety of very pale fabrics ... which are hard to find.

If you did want to make any size pieced project from this I would ....

Fussy cut the pictorial elements into largeish squares (dictated by the size of said pictorial scenes) adding 1/4" all round your squares.

Look on the selvage for the colour printed dots and select some blender type fabrics in those colours.

These would then surround the pictorial squares.

This fabric however ...



is all set for that treatment and has the added bonus of having ail the colours under the sun to choose to accompany it (though I would stick to one family of colours; pastels or brights, warms or cools etc)

May I suggest you take a quick look at this tut ...

http://thesewingplace.org.uk/index.php/topic,1574.0.html

and adjust the size to your liking (wall hanging)

[Sewbee]

Thank you so much, Imi! I see what you mean about the winter scene fabric. The cat fabric is ever so cute so it'll probable be that one. It would make a Great Wall hanging for the sewing room which is also the cats too - so he thinks!!

I've noted that terrific tutorial, too, because I could never do it without one!

[BrendaP]

From the overall size of the cats panel, 60cm x 112cm, I reckon that the individual squares are about 10" x 10".   

Add borders all around and they would make cushions.

Or alternate them with pieced blocks of the same size, sashing between them, and you could have something rather like this.

[Sewbee]

From the overall size of the cats panel, 60cm x 112cm, I reckon that the individual squares are about 10" x 10".   

Add borders all around and they would make cushions.

Or alternate them with pieced blocks of the same size, sashing between them, and you could have something rather like this.

Thanks Brenda. I DO like that quilt and I think the cat pattern would be great in that design.

[Sewbee]

Not a totally fruitless visit to Fabric Focus and the Cloth Shop in Edinburgh but could have been better.

I went to Fabric Focus first and was surprised how small it was; nevertheless, I found a nice fabric in navy for the Stylearc Barb trousers and a coordinating top. I haven't quite decided which top to make yet. I should have written down the fabric content because I can't quite remember now. I think the navy for the trousers is cotton/elastene and maybe Lycra with it and the patterned fabric for the top is viscose/elastene. Nothing has polyester in it.

Fabric Focus has a sale on the main pattern companies patterns - buy two, get one free. I could only find two and was even pushed to find the second one, never mind a third. I asked what happens if you only want two. The woman said "No deal." With a straight face so I passed on the patterns - with a straight face. She was most unhelpful.

Then I asked about the crafty cat quilt panel and she said, "Not from here. Never heard of it." So I gave up on that, too and to be polite even conceded that perhaps I had them confused with the Cloth Shop.

Then I asked about quilting rulers. Nope! Only got weird shapes in stock.

At least I bought some very nice fabric. I must admit most of their fabric is lovely but customer service is not.

Then I toddled of to Cloth Shop. I asked about the crafty cat panel. No, not there either.

Apart from their Liberty fabrics, there's not much else there of quality or at least I couldn't find it. Their selection of knit fabrics for trousers was almost zero and they had only two bolts of viscose/elastene for tops, neither of which I liked.

Cloth Shop didn't have quilt rulers either. I'll buy online.

I just finished writing to Fabric Focus seeking an explanation as to why their assistant had never heard of the crafty cats panel even though it's on their website - and it is. I checked when I got home.

It was a nice trip, though, and I like the fabric that I bought. I hope the fabric for the pants works out okay. I haven't sewn trousers in a long time and therefore haven't chosen fabric for them in a long time.

[Iminei]

Online is  good SB, especially with all the Dreary Friday deals around at the moment or maybe ask Father Christmas (Mr SB ?) for some very specific goodies or a voucher.

Sorry you had such awful service, how do these shops think they are going to survive giving out snooty service, when you get great service from the online boys as well as good prices ... Im thinking here of Empress Mills and Doughtys who I know own Bricks and Mortar shops but knock themselves out trying to find the right thing for you via the telephone/email as well.

Minimum requirements for quilting ....

Cutting mat
Rotary cutter
6 x 24" ruler

then progress to a

12 1/2" sq ruler
6 1/2" sq ruler

and I find the lil 6 x 12" ruler I snapped up in our For Sale, wanted and Free section a joy to use, no more knocking things off the table when I had to use the big ruler for lil jobs.

Remember to use the colour dots on the selvage to chose your complimentary coloured fabrics, its a neat trick if you are in any doubt.

I will be looking forward to seeing your cat wall hanging, do post a thread with lots of pics showing your progress!

[Sewbee]

Thanks, Imi. I love online shopping here - far better than face to face shopping. The only thing actually going to a shop has going for it is that you can feel the fabric and that's an advantage for me until I find my favorites - but it is a long way to go to do that. I was lucky to find  two really nice quality pieces. I'm still not familiar with what's a good price and what's not but I think I did well. The trouser fabric was £14 a meter and it's really lovely. The fabric for the top was £9 a metre.

My problem with the rulers is trying to find the 6 1/2 x 24 and 6.5 x 6.5 Creative Grid rulers in the same online store - cuts down on shipping. Cottonpatch had them and I put them in my shopping cart but they disappeared the next morning. Now I can't find them on their site at all. I think they took them off for Black Friday so they could do a sale on Westlee (think that's the name) rulers which are now everywhere on their site.

I've even tried to find Omnigrip rulers - no luck. I'll find them somewhere though. I think Black Friday sales just need to go away.

Going to order the crazy cat panel today. I just love it! It's Felix all the way and it's sewing all the way, too - and Felix loves that sewing room - lots of things to get on the floor to roll around!

[Iminei]

My first ruler was a creative crafts 12" sq ...which unfortunately had red markings, which I found very hard to see so I have donated it to a friend and am now a devotee of Omnigrid.

Nice clear acid yellow marks and add a pack of sandpaper dots and they are just as good as the Omnigrip ones.