Originally Posted by Shelbie

You need to have some neutrals and blenders to make your collection work. When I first started quilting, I bought lots of interesting bright focus type prints. Of course nothing went together. Once I had some tone on tone neutrals (off white, tan, cream, gray, black) and some small prints that "read as solid", I was good to go. I could then pick my focus print from my stash, choose a neutral for the background and use a couple of the small print solids to complement my focus. It worked for me really well. I had always considered neutral and small boring prints unexciting to buy and didn't realize how valuable and necessary they really were. If your chosen fabric has some of those little coloured dots on the selvedge, that will help you choose your solid looking prints.