Our newest pattern Color Parade is available now!
Today I am sharing how the Color Parade pattern came to be and a deeper look at how color placement and material choices can affect the final Color Parade design.
Would you be shocked to know I first played with this block idea back in 2017?! NINE years ago! That is how long some ideas stay in the vault. I remember back in 2017, I hadn't even released a single pattern yet but I was playing around with lots of different construction techniques. I have always loved visual movement in my designs so it's no wonder that this idea was one of the first I played around with. But, because I hadn't written or released a pattern yet, I wasn't confident enough to move forward with making this come to life.
Here are images of some of the blocks I made using Caroline Friedlander fabrics back in 2017.
I believe I only made these three blocks and decided it was really fun but I moved on. Earlier this year, I was writing a newsletter about the Inside Out Star Quilt pattern that was my first pattern ever released in February 2017. I had to scroll back through images and found these. I showed Alysson and Christy these photos and said "look at this fun block!" Christy exclaimed I had better make it a pattern STAT. And so, that is how I found my way back to this design.
These were some of the first mock ups I made playing with the idea. I pretty quickly decided I wanted the material requirements to be simple. And I wanted the entire structure of the pattern to be just two parts - Fabric A and Fabric B. As much as I love playing with color and designing patterns that have very specific color gradients, movements, placements, I wanted this design to be a bit more "throw it on the wall and see if it sticks" spaghetti style. The idea is, if you love the fabrics, you'll love the quilt. You *can* be intentional but you can also just have lots of fun and not stress too much.
Here are the two mock ups I made when trying to decide on the cover quilt palette. I decided to go with the second one, it felt a bit more lively, and a bit more me.
Before we jump into more examples, let's look at the material requirements!
As you can see, the Color Parade pattern has four main sizes - Small Throw, Large Throw, Small Bed, Large Bed. Within each size, there is a square and a rectangle option, making it eight total sizes.
The pattern is divided into two main fabric sections - A and B. It is up to you to decide what material requirement combination you want to use for your specific quilt. For example, you could use FQs for Fabric A and yardage for Fabric B. You could use scraps for Fabric A and Half Yards for Fabric B. But you only need ONE of those options per fabric section.
Okay, let's show you what I mean about being intentional with color or being more free with it. All of these mock ups and examples are shown in the Large Throw size of 64" x 80".
First up, we have the FQ option for BOTH Fabric A and Fabric B.
For this specific example, the Fabric A section uses a variety of yellow FQs that play with tone and gradients. Fabric B does the same but with pinks. Now, I'm going to show you what happens when you just switch Fabric A for Fabric B.
See how in the first option the yellows are the outside of the Color Parade block and sort of frames the entire quilt around the edges? Now in the second, it's inverted and now pink does that. It becomes a bit more noticeable as you use yardage or scraps or a stricter color palette.
Next up we have an example using Half Yards for BOTH Fabric A and Fabric B.
And here you can see the difference in the inversion as well by switching what color family belongs to A or B fabric sections.
Next, here is an example of mixing the material requirements more. We have Fabric A as FQs in pinks and Fabric B as yardage in a white. The inversion is way more obvious is this version and provides a more clean and striking visual for Color Parade.
Next we have Fabric A in Half Yards and Fabric B in a Citron yardage. In the inversion the "frame" aspect of making the Fabric A option the bolder or darker color choice is really highlighted. Isn't it so fun?!
Lastly, let's look at what using yardage for BOTH Fabric A and B can look like.
Here are some tips for picking colors and material requirements for your Color Parade:
MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS:
- FQs will provide the most variety in your quilt top. You can add more depth to the overall palette using FQs by using a wider selection of fabrics.
- HYs will create a more streamlined palette while still playing with color variance. HYs will have you repeating the fabrics 2x more than FQs in the overall quilt.
- Yardage can make the design look more traditional and more bold with negative space if desired.
- Scraps can be used in place of any of the above options. Scrap charts are included throughout the pattern.
COLOR CHOICES:
- The more cohesive your fabric choices are within Fabric A and B, the more obvious the pinwheel design will become.
- If you want to use scraps, the same rule applies: the more alike your scraps are, the more bold and obvious the two sections of the quilt become.
- Feel free to mix prints and solids. DO NOT use directional fabric if having them all face the same way is very important to you. These blocks do rotate when constructed.
We made three samples of our Color Parade. Each sample will get its own blogpost but let's do sneak peeks for now!
Our first sample we made is our Cover Quilt! Usually the cover quilt is my last sample but this one, I just fully committed! We chose to make the Large Throw 64" x 80" with FQs for BOTH Fabric A and Fabric B in Ruby + Bee Solids. We currently have a kit for this sample too.
The second sample is called Indian Block Prints Cottage and is also the Large Throw size! We started with a FQ bundle of the Fableism line called Indian Block Prints: Cottage and choose 14 of our favorite FQs and made them Fabric B. We then went through my personal stash and chose another 14 FQs for make up Block A! Just wait until you see this quilting.
The third sample we made is our Scrappy Yellow + White Color Parade! We went 100% scrappy and used low volume white fabrics for Color A and then a variety of yellows for Fabric B. Every single block has at least 16 different yellows and at least 10 different whites! It makes for a stunning, happy, joyful quilt. And of course we had it quilted with neon thread!
We also have uploaded this design into Prequilt for all of your inspiration needs! Not every single material requirement combination is available but we have 4 different options for the two main throw sizes and 2 options for all the bed sizes. Happy coloring!
I'm excited to share more about each individual quilt sample, be back soon!
Grab the Color Parade Quilt Pattern available now in the shop!
