Originally Posted by Marcy J.
I have searched for the answer to this for a long time. The design of the quilt is made by the placement of the colors. How do I figure which color to place where. Ex. four or nine patch. If you want the dark or predominate color to flow and make a diagonal design, how does one decide which color goes where and how much fabric to buy Hope I am making myself clear.
When you have an odd number of blocks you want the darker fabric in the most blocks. As in a nine patch you have 5 outer blocks(4 corners and the center block) and 4 in the middle. So your Dark color should be in the 5 and your lighter color in the 4 blocks.
But you can reverse them and get another differant look. It is all in how you want it to look and the best way to decide that is to play with the colors and blocks.
You can use graph paper and colored pencils to see the effect your placement will have.
Or you can use a comp program such as EQ or
You can use colored paper and cut out your blocks as if they were fabric and move them around to see the effect you get if you use a particular color in a particular arrangement.
Start with the 5 dark and 4 light and then turn them and move them to see what other options you have. Or play with 3 colors - 4 corner blocks dark 4 middle blocks light and the center one medium color.
Experimenting with color and placement is fun. Try it and see what you can come up with.