Playing with Prints

It’s an interesting juxtaposition. There are thousands of beautiful fabric prints out there in the quilting world, and I’ll bet you’ve got plenty of them in your stash. But there’s also a trend towards patterns being released using solid fabrics. For designers, solids are timeless, but what about all those gorgeous prints just waiting to be used? Let’s take a look at some ways you can become more confident with print play.

An important note: Quilting is not brain surgery or rocket science. It’s not life or death. When it comes to fabric selection, don’t be afraid to try. The very worst-case scenario is you waste a bit of time and fabric (but you’ll probably find it can be put back in the stash or scrap bin for another project). Don’t be afraid to fail, because this is how we learn what does and doesn’t work. Learning how to successfully choose fabrics takes time and practice.

If you’re new to working with prints, start safe with a fat quarter bundle. Fabric designers put so much thought into colour and scale, making sure their collections coordinate perfectly. This makes them an ideal foundation for a quilt. Pair your bundle with a coordinating neutral and you’ll have a foolproof start. And remember, you don’t have to stick to just that bundle. You can extend your range by pulling fabrics from your stash that echo the same colours or tones, instantly giving yourself more yardage and variety.

Colour is another key consideration. Adapting a solid-based quilt pattern into prints is often as simple as sticking with the colour scheme. Lay out fabrics in your chosen palette, making sure you have a good mix of light, medium, and dark values to add contrast and interest. Prints allow you to play more freely, so experiment with rainbow brights, subtle pastels, or rich jewel tones to see what speaks to you.

Sometimes, it only takes one hero print to build a quilt around. If you fall in love with a print, let it guide your entire pull. The coordinating colours in a selvedge are a great tool for choosing supporting fabrics, and they can push you toward colour combinations you might never have considered otherwise. That one stand-out fabric can be used throughout your quilt top, in borders, or even just on the back to create the “wow” factor.

Often, a multicoloured print fabric will lead you to explore colour combos you’d never have otherwise considered. For example, I like the vintage feel of this button fabric, below. The fabrics I pulled to coordinate with it aren’t a combination I’d normally use, but with this fabric pulling it all together, they
work.

Once you choose lots of coordinates for a support print, you then need to decide how to use the main print. It could become a repeating element across all blocks, such as the centre of a log cabin or a star block. Or you could use it in sashings or borders. Maybe you don’t want it in the quilt top at all, because it doesn’t quite work with the design of your quilt. That’s okay – you’re just going to have the best quilt back ever!

And don’t forget about novelty prints. These often benefit from fussy cutting to highlight motifs, making them ideal for borders, sashings, or playful touches in your blocks. Treat novelty prints like large-scale hero fabrics, and they’ll bring charm and whimsy to your quilt without overwhelming your design.

When it comes to prints, scale and direction also matter. Large-scale prints shine in big blocks or borders but can lose impact when cut into small pieces. Smaller-scale prints are great for patchwork but can overwhelm if used too much in large areas. Directional prints add personality, but they need careful planning—especially if you want stripes or motifs to line up consistently across your quilt.

The more you experiment, the more confident you’ll get with prints. Don’t be afraid to try, fail, and learn as you go. It’s how your fabric style develops. Next time you plan a new quilt, think about how you can use prints to add variety, texture, and personality. After all, this is one time when more is definitely more.

This is an edited excerpt from Jane Kelly’s original piece Playing with Prints. Read the full article in Make Modern Issue #53.

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