How do you decide
 

I'm curious. I just received back issues of Block magazine. Beautiful! There are several I want to make. What grabs your eye first...the colors, the pattern, what? I usually gravitate to the pattern, but then have trouble choosing colors that go together. I need someone to be a professional fabric buyer for me!

I have been wanting to make the Falling Charm quilt with a bunch of orange/pink fabric I have been collecting but there hasn't been a chance to start it yet. I usually see a pattern that has good bone structure and then start pulling the fabric from my stash.

I made the Falling Charm table runner with both fall and Christmas colors. Don't wait......!!!! You will love it!

I have asked family what their favorite colors are then try to choose a pattern to fit their personality. Trying to find some reds and blacks for youngest son and may throw some dark greys in. Oldest likes mossy oak and is a hunter (easy). 4 different ages in girls and very different personalities! Have made small file with ideas for each of them.

I'm usually attracted to color combinations first. My tastes range from loud brights to soft florals, so if I can have a quilt to look at to guide my own combinations I feel more confident.

I look at the pattern first, then Start the hunt for the right fabrics for that pattern. When I buy fabrics just because I like them, I find it much harder to find the pattern to fit those fabrics and the yardage I bought.

The pattern.
I struggle with matching up colors, too. What I finally found that seems to work is to keep the selvedges (the part with the colored dots, anyways) and use that as an idiot-proof color palate. If I don't have one that works, I will try to find a couple nice prints that have a least one color I like in them at my LQS and check the selvedges on those... and try to snap a quick pic on the DL if necessary. I also try to limit use of fabrics that have a whole bunch of those colored dots listed. I like to mostly pick fabrics with only 1-3 colors/tones with a couple that incorporate a wide range of colors. To make things even easier, I used to pick all from a single fabric line since the designer has created those colors to go together. I'm sure over time I will get better at matching things up, but for now this works. I do think I'm getting a little better at it as I see more and more color combinations that work nicely together. I actually did a mix-n-match with Moda & Robert Kaufman fabrics the other day and got a ton of compliments on the color scheme (teals, pale yellow & dark schoolhouse red). Yea for progress! lol. Guess everyone can't be good at everything right off the bat.

A colorblind friend of mine uses an app that suggests coordinating colors (ColorSutra, I think) after he snaps a picture of the first fabric he likes. I might try that out at some point.

I mostly find it's the colours that attract me first. As for choosing fabrics, I try to select, say a floral, then look for other fabrics with the same colours, be they plain or patterned.

For me, it is both. I am attracted to the colors used, then look at the pattern. The original BQ is a prime example of a pattern that did nothing for me until I saw it made in brights. Then I loved it. I have made that pattern several times. Plus, it can be a 3 fabric quilt. Even I can pick out a focus fabric and two coordinates. I do like borders, so added a couple on this quilt for a friend.