If you want to make patchwork but feel daunted, frustrated, confused, or overwhelmed deciding which prints and colors to use together, this post is for you!
Below are six strategies you can use to make choices and take away--or at least minimize--the second guessing and self-doubt.
First a couple things about this post & patchwork in general:
Colors
When we are talking about colors here, I mean colors you already have in your fabric stash or scrap collection. Unless you need to get fabric, try to use some of what you have first. While it doesn't have to be the main point, patchwork is at least partially about "making do" and busting your fabric and scrap stash for those of you on the has-too-much-fabric side of the fabric stash spectrum.
At the same time, if you see a print with a number of the colors you already have in your fabric stash, get some because it can make patchwork so much easier if you have a print that consistently bring things together in your patchwork.
In the photo for the Multi-Color section below the stripe (Riley Blake) and the heart print (Stoff) are two of the fabrics I've collected that fill this function for me. Both have 4 or more colors in my stash and these prints show up over and over in my patchwork because they are so useful.
If you are the rare fabric minimalist, you'll need to go get some fabric, and I'd suggest going directly to the Multi-Color Prints section and then getting a few things that work with your multi-color print.
Types of Prints
With the exception of the Print Theme covered below, my basic formula for patchwork prints is this mix: florals + polka dots + stripe (or other textured print). Stripes aren't that plentiful in my stash, so sometimes it's just florals + polka dots, which works just fine too.
Layout
The classic log cabin block is my go to layout for almost all patchwork. It's simple and there are quite a few easy variations, as well as room for improvising. Take a look at my Log Cabin pinterest board to see examples of this block.
The Patchwork Coasters pattern is intended to help people get started with patchwork and uses this classic block layout. Coasters are good to start with because they are quick and easy and even the ones you don't love are still useful. This pattern is on sale this weekend for $4.50, so if you don't already have it, you might to consider adding it to your pattern collection.
Intuition
Patchwork is partly intuition and maybe I'll talk about ways to increase your intuition in another post, but for now patchwork is a great sewing intuition exercise! So give it a try.
Secondly, if you want to make a little pile of your pieces instead of just jumping right in, collect a few you think you want to use together and leave them out to sit somewhere you can see them as you go about your day. The ones that "don't work" will show themselves to you. Pull them out and add in some new ones until you feel like you have a good mix.
Ok, here are the strategies:
Kind of (or Totally) Random
When you first start out, you might want to skip the choices and just get right to it and make a couple pieces of patchwork using whatever you come across in your scrap bin. Just get started and if you catch yourself spending time trying to pick prints, force yourself to grab something and get on with it.
If you need some parameters, go with a floral, dot, stripe or other texture sequence and then keep repeating it until you're done. Don't worry about colors and stick to the sequence.
The good news is many of these random ones work out great! Others you might not be sure about at first, and a few will be totally awful.
The awful ones are another reason I recommend starting with coasters. Even the ugliest ones can be used in out of sight places like under oils in your kitchen cupboards. You'll still have a useful coaster, so it won't feel like it was a waste of time to make it, and yet you may never have to actually look directly at it again.
The ones you aren't so sure about at first will often grow on you later. Tuck them away or set them aside and come back to them in six months or so and you'll probably be delighted to see them. I've had a bunch of these that turned into personal favorites later.
Another benefit of being random is it can help you identify your own personal preferences for patchwork.
For example, I like learned from early patchwork pieces that for the most part, I like to keep prints with a white or light background in the center of the patchwork, and darker/more saturated colors around the lighter pieces along the sides and bottom to provide a frame and keep everything contained. But if the light piece is next to the zipper there's some contrast and the zipper provides a colorful border, so I don't mind it at the top. The other exception to this is if the patchwork pieces are mostly light colors. The pouch at the top is a good example of this--most of the prints have light colored backgrounds.
I also like to either begin my block with a piece of red and white polka dot print, or work it in pretty quickly. The traditional center of a log cabin block is red as it represents the hearth of the home and I happen to have a lot of red polka dot scraps!
Multi-Color Prints
In an ideal world you'd have a print with 5-7 colors (remember colors = colors in your stash). This type of print make patchwork SO much easier. But what's more common is to have a print with only 2 or 3 colors, and that often means you're going to hit a wall and run out of choices. But that's ok, because I'm going to show you what to do when this happens!
Using the photo above as the example, my multi-color print is the small floral in the center. It has two shades of blue, red, orange, and green. These colors are all in my stash in varying quantities, but such small amounts of fabric are needed that I'll be just fine.
Since red is part of the scheme the next block is the red polka dot, which is also one of my personal preferences (see section above).
Then I go to the green polka dot, but now I'm already feeling like I want pink because there's a lot of pink in my stash and I don't want to get too heavy with the red here.
So now it's time for a bridge piece, which would be a print that has at least one of the multi-print colors, but also a new color(s) to add to the mix. The stripe print has red, orange, teal and also the pink. This stripe is also a best case scenario--it's more common that you have a print with one of your colors + a new one.
Because the stripe print has a white background, I want it in the center (another personal preference from the section above). Those of you familiar with the log cabin block will notice now this piece is out of order (but still totally fine) in the traditional layout so it can be in the center.
Then the pink is added, another red up the side, the hearts along the top and another piece of the red polka dot. Repeats aren't that common in my patchwork, but I do it here and there and in this case the red at the side balances out with the other red pieces.
Color Themes
Classic color themes like pink and black, black and red, or pink and brown can be easy choices. Don't worry about varying shades of the colors too much. I've made a number of pink and black ones with many shades of pink in them.
Color Palettes
There are lots of color palette images floating around pinterest--see my board of them here. This quilt was based on a color palette and it turned out great. It's unlikely I would have mixed these colors together on my own.
The nice thing about color palettes is they are often color combos you wouldn't think to put together, and yet somehow they all work together and the interesting mix of colors makes for some unique patchwork pieces.
To use them, browse until you find one that appeals to you and has colors similar to your stash. Unless you want to go fabric shopping, use a palette as a general guideline so you don't back yourself into a corner and feel like you need to go buy prints that match. For the quilt, you can see quite a few liberties were taken with the colors in order to make it work with my fabrics.
Print Theme
If you have a lot of dotty scraps, a polka dot theme piece of patchwork can be delightful. Vary the dot sizes and color of the pieces, but don't worry too much about the colors--throw everything in and maybe edit out a couple pieces.
The image above is one of my favorite coasters. The black zigzag was experimental and at first I was iffy on this coaster, but it really grew on me over time.
Other themes could be a similar style or size of floral prints, black and white prints, stripes, animals, or...? Leave a suggestion if you have one.
One Color
Finally, one color schemes can be very interesting. I've only done a few of these intentionally, but have also had many patchwork pieces with a lot of shades of one color. One of my one color patchwork projects was this Boro style patchwork Grocery Bag. Basically, anything blue was game and it worked out much better than I originally thought it would.
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