fabric Archives - By the Yard

How to Quilt… for Free!

A new sewing project for me typically starts at the local quilt shop, but with the cost of high-quality quilting cottons reaching $12-13 per yard, lately I’ve been shifting my focus to more of a “make do” approach.

The concept of “making do” is not a new one. During the Great Depression, from 1930-1940, quilt making became a popular and affordable way to keep warm. Sewing enthusiasts made quilts from scraps of old clothing, grain sacks and other materials. During this time, a popular flour company, the Kansas Wheat Company, even started printing floral designs on their flour sacks so that the fabric could be reused for quilts and even clothing.

During World War II, from 1939-1945, wartime shortages and rationing made obtaining new fabric difficult. “Make do and mend” became a popular mantra. Once again, the citizenry was called upon to repair and reuse textiles, including for the making of quilts.

I am fortunate to not have lived during such difficult times, and I am blessed with a fairly impressive stash at this point in my quilting career. I have found that I can find just about anything I need in those sacred bins. If I can’t find what I was originally thinking of, I can always find something else that would still be a great fit. Many times, it’s more fun to work with the challenge of finding something that fits. Technically, the fabric is not “Free” as I paid for it at some point, but the price I paid was likely far cheaper than the going rates. As I now like to say, “It’s free to me!”.

That’s Not Really a Lot of Fabric

My comic strip By the Yard® is about a quilt-loving girl and her model-train-building hubby. Other than the fact we are not actually married, much of my comic is based on real life. Back when we first met some nine years ago, I was designing sewing patterns. Although I did have a previous long-running comic strip, it was at that time on hiatus. I took Train Guy with me to the fabric shop to get some fabric for the backs of some holiday pillows I was working on. At that time, good quality quilting fabric was $10 or more dollars per yard. I was trying to figure out the smallest amount of fabric I could buy in order to do the job. I was going to buy 2 yards. He was standing there with me in the cutting line, goading me to “buy at least 4 yards”. When I declined, he upped the ante and suggested I buy the rest of the bolt. This exchange was the basis for the very first By the Yard® comic.

I’m not sure if he understood how expensive fabric was at the time, but now that he does, he still encourages me to buy way more fabric than I need. Apparently, as a hobbyist himself (he builds model trains), he says it really frustrates him when he runs out of a needed supply. Thus, the encouragement to always buy more. I now have far too much fabric and a very small number of finished quilts to show for it. My endless quests for new fabric have resulted in more fabric that I don’t really need, but the happy side effect is inspiration for many more fun By the Yard® comics.

A Red by Any Other Name

For me, the hardest part of making a quilt is selecting the colors. The color choices dictate the feel of a quilt. Do you want something calm and soothing, or something fun and vibrant? If the quilt is to be a gift, the tastes or preferences of the intended recipient should also be considered. There are many different color schemes that you can use to select your quilt colors. Some of them are:

Monochromatic – Different shades and tints of one color. Various shades of one color can make a soothing baby quilt, either in traditional pinks and blues or more modern takes such as gray or other neutrals.
Analogous – Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, for example: shades of blue, green, and yellow. This is a good scheme for someone who has a well-known favorite color.
Complementary – Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, for example, red/green or blue/orange. Complementary colors are a good scheme if you are going for a bright, vivid quilt.
Triadic – Three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel. A triadic color scheme is a good way to give your quilt visual balance.
Focus Fabric – Not actually a color scheme but rather a technique, select a print fabric that you love as a starting point. Then pull out colors from that print to inform your companion fabrics.

As you are trying out different options, be sure to take a picture of each scheme you consider so that you can later make side-by-side comparisons.

Choosing your colors is probably the single most important decision you can make when starting a new quilt. Although it may seem daunting at first, it can also be a lot of fun!

The Myth of Fabric Storage

I never set out to accumulate countless yards of fabric, but here we are. For a while, I was designing quilting patterns so for that I bought A LOT more fabric than any mere mortal should have. Not only does quilt pattern development require experimenting with the design, but in order to create a pattern that is likely to sell, you also need to replicate the quilt in a variety of colorways. Even more fabric! I’ve since migrated away from quilt designing because creating this comic about quilting takes up so much time, but I’m left with all those skeletons of partially completely or somewhat abandoned quilting efforts.

If Pinterest had its way, I’d build an entire wall of storage for that. I’m not saying that I haven’t sort of done that already but allow me to venture the opinion that if you aren’t using something then you shouldn’t hang on to it for an eternity in the off chance you might use it someday. Don’t throw it away but find someone else who will use it because storing something in a pretty cabinet isn’t going to increase the odds of you using it.

Fortunately for me, a family friend has just taken up quilting and, behold, she lives in an area where quilt shops are scarce. I packed up an entire USPS Large Flat Rate box for her, as much as the box could hold. I was sure to send her The Best Stuff. If I’m not going to get around to using some of my favorite fabrics, then someone else will! I also sent her a sewing machine. The 23 vintage sewing machines I still have is a story for another day.

Another friend has a particular interest in landscape quilts. Years ago, I designed a “Row by Row” block for my local quilt shop and went with a covered bridge theme, homage to my New England heritage. I bought all kinds of “rock” fabrics to get just the right look. Plus, water, wood, etc. Due to a happy conversation about all the fabric I had, I’ve re-homed another pile to someone who I know is going to use it.

I still have a long way to go, but I feel like finding people and organizations that can use this fabric is a better use of time, space and resources than creating even more storage solutions, no matter how cool they may be.