Fabric ideas for Baltimore blocks?
 

I am looking for ideas for fabrics useful for Baltimore blocks. Have been looking at fabrics online for this. No LQS where I live.:)

kona or bella solids are nice choices. both are reasonably priced, great color selections, retain their colors and are very nice to work with. fabric.com has a nice selection of solids- and free shipping at the $35 price point.

Anything can be used!! The hard part for me is to decide what color wave I want to use! That is the reason I haven't started on the Dear Jane yet - have seen some beautiful quilts in so many great colors!! Same with Baltimores - have seen them with solids, florals and civil war prints - so many choices! Many have used batiks too.

If I were starting a Baltimore Album, I would probably start with a Kona Cottons color card and go from there. Readily available online at several retailers, I know Hancock's of Paducah has over 200 solid colors and offers the card for @ $20. Be sure to buy plenty of background fabric, Those can take years and years to complete. With the color card, you can gather the fabrics from several sources and keep the same quality level.

Have you thought about batiks instead of solids? Batiks don't fray like a Kona cotton does plus you'll get a depth of color a solid just can't deliver.

The solids are great, but I would add lots of blenders to match. Remember what you see in nature. The flowers are not all solid. You need to have shadows to help add movement. That being said I like Moda solids and all the Moda marbles, stars and swirls. Also all the fabric Moda makes matches their marbles and solids. I also like Robert Kaufman fabrics. Batiks are nice but a little harder on my hands for applique. It will be a lot of applique. I have used Fabric.com a lot. Most times I am very happy with my selections. Colors can vary on line with your monitor. Enjoy the process.

I think batiks make the most beautiful applique, because of the color variation. And the denser weave means less chance to fray.

Another fabric I love for applique, especially flowers and leaves and vines are the Fossil Ferns. They are beautiful and you get lots of colors and shading. Even if your pieces that you are appliqueing are very small. I think the Cotton Club carries a large variety of them.

I used Moda Marbles in mine. Lots of depth with the color variations in each fabric.