Help!! I need Pattern Idea for these fabric (One Quilt)
 

See the pictures of the fabric for my nephew's best friend passed his bar exam. so we want to let him know how proud we are of him by making him a quilt - have no idea on what pattern to use. Please Help!!
Thanks
Normabeth

What size do you have in mind? Wall quilt, throw, bed size?

Do you know anything about him other than he passed the bar?

I think what I would do would be to use one of those lovely book fabrics as a backing and pull textured solid colors from that fabric to make a very classic, geometric and simple pieced front. Maybe something like a modern take on Flying Geese, or large half square triangles in a medallion arrangement.

To my eye, those fabrics, while very nice, are just graphically too much when put together, and to cut and piece them would not add to their strength-- which is in whole cloth state.

With those fabrics I would use one of the BQ patterns from Maple Island Quilts. Here's a link to their BQ gallery:

http://mapleislandquilts.com/gallery/bq-nation

I also thought of the BQ pattern by Maple Island! It is great for a focus fabric and you could use maroon and black for the background. Love the law fabric, where did you get it??

I found the law fabric at: https://www.fabric.com/buy/0385533/k...metallic-multi

I too thought of the BQ patterns. My friend just put the binding on a BQ pattern and it is beautiful. It is big blocks (which would be great for your fabric) and sashing which you could pull one of the colors out of the fabric you have. Good Luck and share with us your finished project.

I would do something different. I would make an Irish chain front with blue & red & use the law book fabric for the back. I'd save the bottom fabric for someting else.

What's really funny is I'm a paralegal & nobody uses law books anymore. Everything is online. When my old office moved we tried to give our law library away and couldn't even get anyone to take it. We threw all the books away. Sad, huh?

I would use the fabric as a panel and add some matching borders to make a throw

I think the pens & shelved books would be cute fussy cut as borders. I actually thought of a basic Irish Chain, too ... but was thinking you could use really basic solids for piecing the chain & use the law books as the feature fabric for the center of each block.

+I would make a book library quilt.

https://www.pinterest.com/jdqltr/bookshelf-quilts/

How about a cathedral window with the fabric fussy cut.

I think RST is right, keep the book fabric as one massive piece and extract design elements from it.

A great fabric but a little overpowering. How much fabric do you have? I
would fancy cut the law fabric and add other fabrics that compliment it. The book fabric you could perhaps use in some fashion in the backing. I would not use it on the front.

What about a windowpane quilt? It would involve cutting the panel into pieces, but it would be so cute!

What about the pattern used in the quilt thread entitled "Les Grues"? It would really showcast the fabric.

All these creative ideas! I love how different people see all different ways of using an inspiration fabric. I would do a Warm Wishes pattern with cream and burgundy on the front, and a navy solid on the back. I'd use the second fabric some other place because, for me, the combination would be too busy.

I would use the law fabric uncut in the center, put a sashing of burgundy around it finishing about 1 to 1 1/2 inches then fussy cut the pens and the open book pages around the sides and possibly top and botton with sashing of black then add a final sashing of burgundy, about 3 inches. You could cut the law fabric to make the finished size what you want and you could alternate the black fabric to where the burgundy fabric and visa versa.

We have a young man in the family, who at 12 has already shown us he will be a brilliant man. This is what I made for him. I based the front colors on the book fabric which is the back and border.
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BQ and BQ2 are great patterns to use with a large print but so is a popular charity quilt called Warm Wishes. I make the center block large to 8" finished when making a quilt for an adult. Pattern is free on the internet.

The BQ pattern is on a Nancy Zieman video and looks easy, and your could alternate the book fabrics on front and use left over on back so it is kind of reversible, depending on how much material you have.

Okay now that I've ordered two yards of each of the book fabric I will give you the benefit of my two cents worth. The mapleislandquilts,com just became one of my new favorites and the BQ series of patterns lends itself perfectly to your, and now my, fabric. I can picture it in my head and love the image. Agree, I'm a retired paralegal and law books are just not used that much anymore. But, books are things of beauty regardless their subject and the fabric you have is beautiful. So I would strongly urge you to look at the BQ patterns and picture what you can use to frame the books. Thank you for turning me on to the fabric and to member sync for the mapleislandquilts site. Now if I purchase the pattern I will have spent almost sixty dollars and it isn't even noon yet. Shhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell my DHL

AZ Jane has used the fabric brilliantly. Just a quick note, to use the fabric to make the book shelf quilt would be, IMHO, a waste of the brilliance of the fabric. The book shelf pattern is one which I love and will definitely make, but I believe I will use the tons of selveges I have to do that. There is a lady in the Netherlands who made her own pattern and designed a quilt that is beautiful; oh I wish I could do that.

My GS is studying law and about to graduate; a quilt with those fabrics would make a wonderful gift. I would probably make a bookcase to show them all off.

First, I LOVE all your fabrics! And they are perfect for a new young lawyer!

Having said that, I have no suggestions, other than to use some solids to reduce the "busyness" and combine them in a way that best shows off the great prints. I often have the same problem you do here; it's always a struggle for me.
I hope you get some terrific suggestions on how best to make these work in what I know will be a beautiful quilt!

That is sad. I was a legal secretary and I loved the law library....merely a room lined with shelves of books. We were always behind in inserting the supplements from the publisher, but when we did have time to catch up, I loved sitting at the library table surrounded by all those tomes, inserting the new and discarding the old supplements. Online has to be easier but I bet many old school lawyers still miss holding those great books in their hands, reading up on case law.

Just can't envisions a bookcase quilt, showing off the fabrics? OK, sometimes I have no vision. Can you show an example? Unless the fabric is used for the back of the bookcase? I'm confused but I do visit there often LOL Do you cut out the books from the fabric, individually??

That looks great, Martina. Even better than the WW I had in mind. The three colors you chose are perfect.

Imagine you are peeking through the windows of a big house or a castle, and inside is the library and the Lawyer's office. These fabrics would be what you see inside. Add another room where you can see toys, or a kitchen, and a porch lit to show Halloween decor, or a rocking chair. Elements of a landscape could show a sunset, trees, a fencerow, bushes or maybe a clothesline with garments hanging down. These fabrics give an olde-tyme feeling, like the home of a grandparent or a character from a Storybook. Love to see what you make with them. Please do show a photo of your creation.

I like this pattern, where can I get it for free?
Thanks
Normabeth

I would fussy cut the books and make a bookcase library quilt with " for law exams" cut out of letters and put them on a sign on top of the case.CMARAS1234