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.

Well personally I would chop it up as small as possible, but I can appreciate that this is for a 22-year-old male. And the fabric actually is pretty neat. It would make an interesting OBW with whole parts for some of the blocks and the border. Or if you have a lot of it, use it for the border and backing and make something using those colors for the front. Be sure to show us what you did, because whatever you do it will be interesting.

Even at my ripe ol' age of 73 I can see why he doesn't want the fabric cut. I'm anxious to know the size of it also. I will be anxiously waiting to see how you make it into a quilt for him, but I totallly agree, that is too spectacular to cut up.

I can see why he doesn't want it cut. While the subject is not appealing to me, it has beautiful colors. I have no suggestions, but I like the ones so far, especially the 9 patch. Thanks for starting this thread, I was going to ask the same question about a floral panel I have. I got floral fabric to make different borders and then decided it needs something besides borders. I think I will go with 9 patch.

piano keys in picked out brights----black borders with applique sculls /writing etc but do not cut it up as requested -- outline quilt it -- it will annimate it

I love the fabric myself and do understand not cutting it up but I just felt so limited when he said to use it as a huge center piece. I kind of went blank other than several borders which sounded so boring. Thanks for the suggestions...I like the 9 patch idea but how many colors/fabrics would you use for that? I will look up the stack and whack because I do not know what that is. I like the star idea too.
Oh yeah, I bought 3.5 yards of it.

this is a MUST for the BQ2 pattern! scroll down near the bottom of this page and you can see it!
http://www.mapleislandquilts.com/quiltpatterns.asp

I had a fabric I couldn't cut either, and I think it ended up looking very good with borders. I will try to attach a picture or two. If he doesn't want the fabric cut, I sure wouldn't cut it.

Dina

There is a book called, Just Can't This by Pamela Mostek which has some beautiful quilts and patterns.

Stunning fabric....Dina, yours is just beautiful too, and very nicely put together. Some great ideas from everyone...I personally like the idea of using plains/tonals in a nine patch around a plain border....please do show us what you come up with.

I agree. I wouldn't cut it. I usually try to comply with someones wishes unless I know it absolutely won't look good. BTW I really like the fabric!

it doesn't matter how many colors you put in your 9patches...there are so many in the panel...just take it to your stash and the store and try to see what matches nicely... I would eliminate the black as you might want that as you binding AND blacks are really hard to match... tho you could luck out... but the red, greens, yellows, golds, oranges, turquoise, and purples are so vibrant...and the print will make them all go together, so i would start with the ones that i could find that matched really well and go from there... you don't have to use all of them... but an assortment would follow more the style of the color use in the panel... it is so dominant, you just want 5 or 7 colors all mixed up in randomly colored 9 patches to look like they belong with what the fabric designer did... and at the same time, be bold enough to hold their own...if you cut 2.5 strips which finish at 2"....which means a 6" block... that's an extra foot on the quilt before you get to the borders.... then maybe do another 2.5 strip for the first border and some wider choices outside that...the same size strip border as the squares in the 9 patch is another unifying item... they did all the work for you...now you just have to go thru your stash and find something that compliments the drawing and the colors... if he loved it...let it be what he liked...

PS...if you decide to do a block all round for size adjustment, do a row of the blocks for sides, top and bottom and then trim the panel in unobtrusive places to make it fit perfectly rather than the other way round... as most prints are 18, 24, 30 and 36 inch repeats, this shouldn't be difficult to do... this print reminds me of Frida Kahlo's work... both in design and colors... good luck and let us see what you did...if you post the result here on this thread, then all of us who followed it will be sure to see it....

Maybe put a black edge, then fussy cut some squares ?3 inch/4 inch? of the fabrics, and the equivalent of these in black, then go around the edge again with that(like a weave). Then another plain black border. Then edge it in a red red fabric.
Love the fabric.

http://www.juliebdesigns.com/blog/20...-bright-quilt/
like this?
How lovely of you to do this for him.

a window frame around it then peiced blocks or segments of the pictorial elements in surrounding windows would be FABULOUS!
look up the book Attic Windows- for some inspiration...they work wonderfully for fabrics you want to use whole!

I would frame it with a thin strip of red material and then a wide black border. I can see why he doesn't want it cut.

I like this idea.

I've seen red roses and skull fabric that would look cool with that. I think I would do some blocks that would mimic some of the things in the fabric, ex. Courthouse steps could look like pyramid steps, hourglass block using gold in top part with skulls in bottom. I would also off-set the large fabric (maybe in bottom left corner) to give top a more planned layout. Hope this helps!

Good Idea...

Here is a quilt that I did with space fabric and offset stars as a border. Just an idea. Spotlight is also a great pattern for using panels or whole cloth.