Jelly rolls, layer cakes, guy themed
 

Why on earth don't designers/manufactures design with a guy in mind? I'm not talking camo fabric here, but senseable fabric for a preteen on up. No baby prints or cartoon characters. The majority of charity quilts that I make are floral themed for girls and young ladies. I feel the guys are being left out more and more, as I find it very difficult to find jelly rolls or layer cakes that would appeal to a young boy/man. Do you know of a line of fabric that would appeal to them? If so, please share with me.

For me I stick with colors more than specific manufacturers. I also know lots of men that like florals and bright colors but it can be more difficult when doing Charity quilts. You can’t go wrong with Grunge or Batiks and lots of subdued colors and prints in the Reproduction lines as well.

Keep looking, I've seen sports theme, tools, fishing, firemen, policeman, hunting, also a lot of browns, greens, beige, etc. Civil War fabrics may also work. There are also animal fabrics with cats, dogs, bears, alligators, you name it, it's out there. One of my favorite places to order from on line is Quilted Twins in Dade City, FL. Look around on their website, it might give you some ideas and they have very fast shipping.

Tim Holtz designs manly fabrics. I'll bet you could find pre-cuts of his fabrics.

I often use civil war reproduction type colors and prints for men as well as blues, black and white, greens, and the grunge type lines. I agree there are many pre-cuts that seem to be juvenile or feminine but there are plenty of other options for the men folk. You are gathering lots of options here. Good question to ask.

I find that batiks are perfect for men. They tend to read as tone on tones. Whether it's a flower, leaf, geometric doesn't really stand out. I think one of the mistakes made is sticking to dark colors, blues, browns, blacks. Men like color too.

Grunge is a great choice for guys. I don't care for novelty fabrics; I prefer to let the design of the quilt do the talking. If I'd made a quilt for my preteen boys based on their interests, I would have been making a new quilt for them every 6 months or so. Grunge is perfect because it comes in so many colors, it's not flat, and it doesn't have vines, flowers, paisley, or anything else that seems girly.

I am making one using a layer cake called lakeside story by Moda. My husband is happy with it!

I made a couple of donation quilts for older (teen) boys using fabrics in the colors of the local sport teams (navy, orange, and white for the Chicago Bears; red and black for the Chicago Blackhawks). Because the fabrics didn't specifically have sports icons on them, they were cheaper than buying the licensed fabrics. I also made a quilt using a fox panel and one using a deer print fabric. Any brown, blue fabrics (including some batiks) can be used for a more masculine quilt too.

As long as you stay away from pastels, especially pink.