I have been told by a number of people (quilters and quilt professionals) that I have a great eye for color and fabric choices for quilts.  I am a bit modest and do not take it to heart, but it is one of the funnest things about planning a quilt I am designing.

I have had some good folks around me to help along the way.  First, my aunt who finished raising me, took an interior design adult ed class when I was in high school.  She painted at the time and the course not only helped her in her decorating decisions for their homes but also in her choice of painting colors.  My mother-in-law was also a 25-year veteran as a custom decorator (draperies) for JCPenney’s.  She has helped me with some great inspiration and advice on colors as it pertains to what makes a pleasing presentation in a room or house.  I also have a degree in cosmetology, where hair color and pigments where in-depth color analysis was so very important in choosing colors for folks’ hair.

Of course, the schools of thought from professional quilt designers are sometimes quite different to my education and experience – but, there is that creativity that peaks out with each person who designs a quilt. 

In most quilts I have seen, the fabric can “make” a quilt design more than the design itself.  There are exceptions to this rule, especially when there are only a couple of fabric colors used in a quilt.  There is also the option of tone-on-tone quilting, which I find lovely (especially a white and beige combination, but I am reserving that design for a very special quilt to make for my family to eventually have a final, tangible memory of me).  There are just too many wonderful choices of fabric for quilts – and if you are making a scrappy quilt, the more color the better!

I make a lot of quilts out of one full colorway from a fabric designer.  This is a bit more challenging, as not all designers add complimentary and/or light vs. dark fabrics in their colorways. 

And of course, there are always the quilts that are made with specific colors that people make – for sport’s teams, school colors, etc.  Again, these are special quilts and most folks who make them have a specific color goal in mind and many are very lovely.

For a quilter who thinks they do not have the experience or an eye for color, please keep these suggestions in mind if you need assistance to choose your fabrics for a quilt:

• Choose a focus fabric for your quilt and add the rest of the fabric colors that compliment that focus fabric.  I usually like to get a focus fabric that has a big print in it so it stands out from all of the others.
• Do NOT use brown in a quilt unless it is the main fabric of the quilt or it is in small amounts.  Brown can “steal” the colors from the rest of your quilt, where all of the rest of the quilt will take on a brown hue.  In the art world, brown is the presence of all colors (i.e when you mix all colors together, you get brown and not black as most of us were taught in school) and it draws the eye away from the rest of your fabric colors.
• All fabrics have a green or a red basis.  Be sure you look at your fabric choices in “natural” light – not flourescent lighting (which casts a green hue).  I have been known to pick up the bolts that I’m interested in and take them outside of the store just so I could see their hues in a natural light.
• If you do not want to use a focus fabric, choose three major colors for your quilt.  Again, I usually pick out these fabrics with big patterns and great colors in them.  Then, can accent each fabric with compatibles.
• Buy 1/4 to 1/2 yard of extra fabric when you buy your fabrics.  You should have leftover fabrics that you can use as the backing on the quilt, but since the fabric manufacturers cannot guarantee that you will get exactly the same fabrics because of different dye lots – you should have enough extra fabric just in case the pattern is incorrect or you make a mistake.  SO much easier to re-do a block than rip it all out and sew it back together again.  Also, once the quilt is done and you still have extra fabric, you can make accent pillows or pillow cases/shams out of the unused fabrics!
• Try to choose fabrics with varying degrees of the size of the patterns on the fabrics.  If I use a focus fabric with a large design, my secondary fabrics have a smaller pattern or just blender fabrics.
• If you are making a quilt for a man, be sure you do not use too many florals unless the recipient is comfortable with florals.  Many quilt fabric manufacturers are (finally) offering fabrics that are specifically for men’s quilts.
• Do NOT buy all of your fabrics without some “plain” blenders.
• Watch for light, medium and dark fabrics to give your quilt depth and contrast. 
• For baby quilts, research indicates they can see red, black and white first.  Even though there are adorable baby quilts that are made, I prefer keep the baby and their abilities in mind.
• A quilt that is too busy with fabrics is a no-no.  You truly need to add complimentary fabrics to your quilts, to break the space of the blocks and show off the block designs easier.  When you use busy fabrics throughout your quilt, it is very difficult to see the design of the quilt because your eyes cannot distinguish between the fabrics if they are all too busy and close together.
• Take the time to look up what colors mean.  For instance, the traditional Log Cabin block is supposed to have a red center; historically, it was an invitation to people entering the home with red symbolizing the hearth of the home.

Choosing fabrics is one of the most enjoyable parts of planning a quilt – and your choices can make or break a lovely quilt design.  A good example I use is to pick up paint chip cards (free) at the local hardware stores.  These come in very handy because they show you what fabrics will go together and the various hues of each color.  I poke a hole in the corner of my paint chip collection and put all of the cards on a ring so they are organized by shades and easy to transport to a quilt shop.  If you use Electic Quilt for your designs, you can also scan in the paint chips individually as images and import them into your software, to plug right into your quilt design to make sure it is appealing to the eyes before buying the fabrics you want.

Do not be intimidated by fabrics.  One of the easiest things you can do is to purchase fat quarters to try out various fabrics and their patterns before you purchase a large amount of fabric for a quilt.  ENJOY picking out the fabrics – it will make your piecing process much for fun!