Posted by Cathy Cooper

How to Choose the Best Fabric for a Quilt

 

The fabric is the base of your quilt, it’s what gives it makes up the bulk of your quilt’s appearance. Choosing the fabric for quilts is one of the most exciting and fun parts of the whole process. The only challenge is that there are hundreds of options to choose from!

It’s easy to become overwhelmed and indecisive when choosing fabric for your quilt, but it should be an enjoyable experience! Here are some of our top tips for how to choose fabric for a quilt. 

Quality 

The last thing you want to do is finally find the fabric that looks how you want just to realize it’s not of the right quality. Start your search with quality. It’s often best to purchase high-quality quilting cotton. 

Colours

Colour is one of the main aspects of the aesthetic of your quilt.  When choosing fabric for quilts, think about colour! Plan out the general colours you want with your quilt. Once you find one fabric you love, you should use that as the starting point for your colour schemes. How you pair colours is up to you, but you can consider monochromatic colours (various shades of 1 colour, contrasting colours, complementary colours, etc. 

Background Fabric 

Your quilt has two sides, so of course, you’ll need background fabric. In general, it’s best to choose “low volume” fabrics for the back, or fabrics with little visual impact. Most quilters stick with a white, black, grey, or plain coloured fabric, possible with simple monochromatic designs. Your feature fabrics, or fabrics on the front of the quilt, should be saturated and stand out compared to the back. 

How Much Fabric to Buy 

Now hold on, before you go buying bundles of fabric, think about how much you really need. Generally, you’ll only need a few fat quarters for most blocks. Depending on the size of your quilt, you usually only need 2-3 yards per colour. Many quilters buy as they go for the more colourful parts of the blocks. For simplicity, you can also choose a fat quarter bundle which is a colour-coordinated quarter yard of fabric. 

Choosing Fabric for a Quilt 

Runaway Quilting makes it easier than ever to choose fabric for your quilt. We offer a wide range of precut fabric including strips, squares, fat quarter bundles, fat eighth bundles, specialty fabrics, and meter cuts. Whether you know what you’re looking for or want a simple bundle, we have it all. Choose the fabrics you want for your quilt without leaving your home by visiting our online store and choosing fabric for your quilts!