Need pattern suggestions
 

After seeing my last quilt my little brother asked if he would be getting a quilt, lol. I took that a s a huge compliment and would like to try and make one for his 22nd birthday next month. We found a fabric he likes and I ordered some but he doesn't want me to cut it. He wants me to leave it in a large piece and design around that. I cannot think of what to do with it except keep adding borders to get it to lap size. Any suggestions?
I will try to attache picture of the fabric.

you could make blocks to go around it like a border- - then maybe piano keys ?

My DH has always liked Route 66 so I bought some fabric with that theme and used a pattern called Easy Breezy that uses the fabric in one entire piece for the center and then a piano key border. This would leave the fabric whole. The piano keys could be made from the different colors in the fabric. The pattern was made by Sandy Brawner who is the owner of Quilt Country here is Lewisville, Tx. They have a website and you might be able to see a picture of the pattern. Good luck.

mltquilt

if he dosen't want you to cut it, I'd just add borders, pick up the colors of the stairs and maybe make a border that mimics that! Beautiful fabric Good luck

I think he's right.

I can see why he don't want it cut up. I'd start with a nice black 3" border, well thats as far as I got so far, LOL
This is something I'd have to study for a few days. Good luck.

Yea...I would have a hard time working on that one! Sorry...just not my style.

i would leave it whole, that's what he wants, and then get some solids/texturals that match and make 9 patches from them...then use some of the same to do his borders with... the 9 patch isn't feminine at all and i think the linear quality would look nice with the stairs... then just quilt around the largest of the features, moving out into swirls (again from the center design) into the 9 patches and the borders.

First, how much of that material did you get? Just the one panel or more? If only the one panel, I would find some "Day of the Dead" fabrics...Joann's in our part of California has a good selection, or some solids which reflect the colors in the print; or some complimentary Southwestern themed fabrics.

Make a 3" border of black to surround the full panel. Around the full panel, with the next panel or with the other Day of the Dead fabrics, fussy cut some of the characters out and make star blocks of them or just basic smaller squares..... whatever works till you get to about the size you want. Finish with another border of black or grey to calm down the effect of the print so that the overall quilt isn't quite so busy.

Good luck! Show us what you do with the print.

Do you have enough to make a stack & whack out of it then add larger borders to showcase the fabric you used. You could even do a large panel of the fabric in the center add a small stop border then make stack & whack blocks to go around the outside of the center panel. That's just my thought. Be sure to post pictures when you get it done I would love to see what you come up with.