I enjoy sharing my process of quilt making so that you can have more success when you make your own quilts. Over the next 4 blog posts, I’ll share my process for making Bling – one of my newest patterns featuring my 4th fabric collection – Geo Pop for Benartex/Contempo. Of course it would look great in any fabrics, which is what today’s topic is all about.

• Click here to get the paper version of Bling pattern mailed to you.
• Click here to get the digital version of Bling instantly as a PDF download.

I love this design for Bling, and especially enjoy making fat quarter friendly quilts. When choosing fabrics, the easiest way to choose colors for a successful quilt is to pick a whole bunch of fabrics that you like with the same theme or color scheme, then pair them up with a highly contrasting background fabric.

Geo Pop fat quarters for Bling.

For example, I knew I wanted to use as many fabrics as I could in the line and most are all very bright. So bright, bold, and geometric was my fabric “theme” for this quilt.

Because there’s a lot going on with the fabrics themselves, I paired them up with the lightest fabric in the line and the darkest fabric in the line to ensure there was contrast between the main fabrics and the background. I honestly couldn’t decide which I liked better, so I decided to make both quilts!

I used Tiny Hex black for the darker background and Op Squares white for the lighter one.

For me, fabric selection really is that easy. I don’t get hung up too much on color theory; rather I just go with my gut feeling. After all, most of us are pretty successful choosing what to wear each day, so choosing the colors our quilts will wear isn’t that much different, right?

Geo Pop – 20 Colors for Bling.
Click here to get the kit of 20 FQ’s plus background fabric.

My Bling quilt pattern calls for 20 fat quarters + 4 yards of background fabric for the Twin size that I’m making. Geo Pop has 25 prints in the line including several light and dark grays. To ensure I had the most contrast possible, I pulled out the 5 light and dark grays and just use the more colorful prints. I’ll plan to use the leftovers in another project, or add them to my stash.

I pulled these grays out of the bundle and will use them in another project.
You could also piece them into the back of the quilt.

For the white version, I’m using some of the leftovers to make a scrappy binding that frames the quilt. For binding on the black version, I’ll use the same fabric as the background so that the the negative space goes all the way to the edges – two slightly different looks for two great quilts!

Geo Pop full collection – 25 colorful prints!

The first step after choosing fabrics is to prewash and starch. I always prewash any fabric that’s a fat quarter or larger. My favorite starch is inexpensive Faultless premium starch from the grocery store. To prevent flaking, I spray starch on one side of the fabric, and then iron it from the opposite side, then repeat for both sides of the fabric.

In the next post, I’ll show you these lovelies all cut and ready to piece, so stay tuned!

Relevant Links:

• Click here to purchase Bling quilt pattern – print version
• Click here to purchase Bling quilt pattern – PDF version
• Click here to purchase the Geo Pop fat quarter bundle
• Click here to purchase the Bling Quilt Kit in black or white

***Thanks for your purchase – your support of our mom and pop shop makes my day!!***