I have always wanted to do a scrappy quilt. Just how do you decide how to start it? I have seen some gorgeous quilts and want to use half triangles. Do you start with a theme of color or just sew it up until it's done and see what you get? I don't know why i am having such trouble getting started with this. I have the scraps but no pattern ideas. Any advise?

Try this site for inspiration: http://quiltville.com/

Bonnie has tons of free patterns on the right hand side.

Get some graph paper and some colored pencils and experiment until you are happy with what you want.

I would pair a random light with a random dark and make a ton of HSTs. Then play with a design to use them!! Before you know it you will have enough to make something.

My first scrappy quilt was a chunky churn dash. You can see it in one of my picture postings.

I start with the pattern, then pull ALL my bins of scraps out, ( I think I love looking at the bins as much as the finished quilt) each block is made from how ever many monochromatic fabrics required to complete it. Then I end up with blocks from the whole palette... So I guess I like a planned scrappy.

Ive been cutting up scraps and making HST to someday make a quilt with them.
They did one on Fons and Porter and it was beautiful.
It takes alot of different fabrics and they did it as a swap with others,looked like a lot of fun.

It's up to you really, some people want a "controlled" scrappy and others do "every color" scrappy. You don't have to do a certain block though.

I like the controlled scrappy look, like the one in my avatar. It's got all whites and blacks in the pinwheels and brighter mediums everywhere else. (Bonnie Hunter's Patches and Pinwheels pattern, free from her www.quiltville.com website.)

I usually start by finding a pattern that I like. Then I decide on what sort of feel I want the quilt to have. Do I want a bright happy kid quilt? Or a dark masculine quilt? Or a vibrant autumnal quilt?

When I decide on that, then I can go and choose scraps and FQs and strips that fit the theme. (I have some precut strips --2 inch and 2 1/2 and 3 inch strips--, so I have a good start on cutting. That helps move the process along.)

I pull a lot of different prints. Like a couple hundred. Most of my quilts have more than 200 different fabrics in them. I just like seeing how the fabrics play nicely together. My avatar quilt has modern Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabrics, reproduction prints, kid novelty prints, Asian fabric, food fabrics like cherries and berries, batiks, you name it--it's in there.

To me, more is more. And it's so much easier if you have many different prints, because it's less likely that you'll end up with patches of the same fabric in blocks right next to each other!


Good luck. Please post when you finish. I love to see scrappy quilts!

I just start sewing and see what I have when it done. I make 8x8 blocks of strips and them cut into triangles and sew back together again. love it most of the time.

I think I have a very weird method , but it may work for you.
I first seperate lights darks and mediums. Then I toss all of the darks on the floors so they are only a few deep. I toss to one pile all those that just can't blend looking at the pile from about 5 ft away. There will be some that just jump out screamming " Get me out of here" those get tossed in a seperate pile . I do the same for the mediums.
I then have my group to work with. Whats intereseting is the one that will not mix and get tossed out end up being a great group ...typically.
If I am not sure if a fabric is medium or dark I toss it in the next group , it will tell you at the end of the sort if it really belongs there.
I discovered this toss it all on the floor method when some shelves gave way in my sewing room . All the fabric laid in a pile , as I was picking them up I was so surprised what went with what , combinations I never would have put together had they not fallen on the floor.
Once I have piles , I pick my pattern based on quantites in each.

Here is one like StitchinJoy's that just uses oranges and greens. My inspiration was our pumpkin patch. Also a controlled scrappy. I just made sure I always attached a green to an orange and had a nice selection of darks and lights scattered throughout.

[IMG]http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...andgreen-2.jpg[/IMG]

I like matchy, matchy quilts but, I have made scrappy, not too good at that, always try matching. My oldest Daughter has made lots of scrappies and they turn out very pretty.

I recently made a scrappy wallhanging for my living room to add some color. I took about 11 of my favorite fabrics and put them together as randomly as I could. It was fun. Here's a picture.

DebraK, your pumpkin patch quilt is FANTASTIC!!! Controlled scrappy at its finest!

I'm enjoying seeing how others decide on their scrappy.

I guess, before you start decide on a couple rules to live by: like, if you want it warm - what constitutes warm? Red, orange yellow? Or, if you wanna say "no white" you gotta decide what that means for your lights...is it on the yellow side, or is it on the vanilly-tan side?

You could also make a rule of "all HST" or "all churn dash" or "All square-in-a-square" to give you some sense of order, kwim?

I can't wait to see what comes up!

ETA: I'm currently in love with this scrappy, By Izy. SHe has hints and instructions on pg 23...

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-152842-1.htm

there's a myriad of patterns that work well with hst's. and i love scrappy, too. the quilt in your avatar is pretty.

oh yes, I love that one too!



"ETA: I'm currently in love with this scrappy, By Izy. SHe has hints and instructions on pg 23..."

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-152842-1.htm

Betty, did you make your avatar quilt by pairing light and dark half square triangles? It's stunning.

Wow, Debra, that's a pretty Patches n Pinwheels quilt. Good job!

Thank you, Joy. I know you know what a fun pattern this is to do ;-) It works up so fast.

I have a controlled scrappy black & bright Jewel Box. We swapped Black & Bright HST's on one of my quilting groups several years ago and then we had another swap of Black & Bright Jewel Box blocks. I set mine on diagonally with sashing. I don't have a picture yet as it still needs some quilting in the sashing. It was very simple to sit and sew the blocks, though. You might want to check out Pinwheel Star, Barbara Fritchie Star and many others that use lots HST's. Another idea is sort of faux flying geese with them.

I just did a scrapy quilt named FEED SACKS. The only way you can mess it up is to over plan your fabric placement or selection. The tendency is to make every block beautiful but in the end the individual blocks don't seen to matter. After I finished all the blocks I just moved them around to distribute the most outstanding colors. Pattern is in a Patchwork Place book named SCRAP-BASKET SURPRISES by Kim Brackett.

I love scrappy quilts too, but tend to do it in an 'organized' way. I tend to love particular fabric designers (Kansas Troubles, Jo Morton, Judie Rothermel) so I know if I am using fabrics from the same designer, even if they come from different fabric lines, they will all "play well" together. I guess that is my way of making it somewhat organized.

Suzanne

I'm a free form type of gal and don't use any type blocks. I just take scraps and start sewing and make it as large as I want to.

At least that is how I did the first three tops.

Now I still free form sew pieces of fabrics together and than take my Go and Studio dies and cut those into shapes like squares, rectangles and such to create yet another one of a kind type quilt, rag quilt, whatever.

I've been more successful with it than I ever thought I would so much so that I've been asked to teach a class on it with two different guilds in the area.

I see alot of folks do what you are thinking of doing and they also turn out wonderful scrappy's. I think there can be no such thing as a bad looking scrappy no matter how you decide to do it.

Look for a pattern first, that will help you with the fabric choice and placement of the pieces.

I have always been interested in Stained Glass, but have never actually taking a class. I found a "quilting book" on stained glass patterns. Got so excited; and, am in the process of doing a Cat wall hanging for my elderly aunt who had to give up her cats. Anyway, I started looking at stained glass patterns on-line. There are 1000's - and, you can change the size.

This is a great way to get unusual designs for quilts. Thought I might try a scrappy quilt this way. Has anyone ever used one of these patterns to make a quilt?

I love scrappy, the more fabrics used, the happier I am. But it has to be an organized scrappy with a pattern and a neutral color to pull it together.

I save 2.5" x 4.5" scraps in a bag. Then when I have time I use white 2.5" squares and make a Bright Hopes pattern. Sometimes it gets sashed with the neutral color. Makes a quick charity quilt.

I LOVE scrappy quilts and make more scrappy quilts than themed ones. One of my favorite and easy to make with HST's is the Depression block. It is easy because I put a light fabric against a dark fabric for the HST's, then I fill a paper bag that I can't see through and pull out the HST's randomally to make each block. Here is the pattern site. http://www.quilterscache.com/D/DepressionBlock.html This is a free pattern and a great way to use up bunches of scraps.
Julia

I started scrappy quilting this summer and my first was just 2 inch squares, random colors and order and it came out much better than I expected. It's not an impressive quilt, but I feel I can use it as a utility quilt. It is riding around in my car for emergencies, cold days at an outdoor event or heaven forbid, stalled in a snow storm.

My other scrappy quilts were more planned but not much more. I guess I need to post some photos but.....I haven't taken any of them yet. (Four tops finished but not quilted)

I have seen some exquisite scrappy quilts on this site. You just would never have guessed that they were made from the odds and ends of other work.

Bottom line, as we often hear on this site... "It is your quilt, do what pleases YOU." Have fun with your planning and I look forward to seeing your efforts some time soon.

I think mine must fall into the "controlled" scrappy group--I don't really intend it that way, but when my strip piecing is done, there is usually a dominant color scheme.

or scrappy 9 patches and snowballs...or scrappy 9 patches you can turn into Disappearing 9 patches...

My sister and I each made a "string quilt" with our scraps. Turned out great! :D

Some people put all scraps in a bag and sew by pulling scraps out randomly. I sit down, empty my scraps and FQ and pull out the color groups or by theme like 1930 I want to use. So mine are controlled scrappies. Once I have a good amount of scrappies gathered I spread them out and squint to see if any pop in a bad way or if it looks like it will give the result I am looking for.

I do like scrappy quilts. I make both controlled scrappies and random scrappies. They all have turned out nice. Sometimes I use a certain pattern and make all of the blocks a different color or sometimes it is just random.
Scrappy quilts is a great way to use up scraps, but they seem to multiply like crazy!

I love the scrappy quilt photos that have been posted.

Beautiful!

Those are the kind I like, an organized scrappy. The ones I dont like are those that are just helter skelter and look like a dark mess.

LOVE THIS SITE !!!! I have found out that I have fallen in love with SCRAPPY QUILTS !!

The new Fons & Porter has a wonderful 1/2 square scrappy that I want to do!

I love scrappy quilts and I have this one in progress. It's the same design as Patches and Pinwheels from quiltville.com but in a bigger size. Same as the one DebraK posted but in more muted colors. I'm using my stash for everything except borders.

I have a book by Lynn Roddy Brown called Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts and I have found it helpful in learning to rely on value rather than color for a scrappy quilt. The one in the photo is from her book. This is about half of it...will be queen size when it gets borders, etc. It's been fun to piece but I used the Triangulations pdf file for the half-square triangles as those are always a challenge for me.

I too am a controller. I have a simple quilt up on the design wall and I can't get the pinks to quit gathering in one place. I get so frustrated when it isn't balance. I wish I wasn't but we have to go with what God gave us......

Well, Thanks CHELE--
That is one fun webiste--- holy cow!! kinda got lost there for awhile :}