need some advice on background fabric and sashing option
 

Hi, ladies:

I am in the processing of making a college quilt for my son. He recently graduated and moved to CA. He is an organic synthesis chemist.

I have two questions. First, if I only use one fabric as background/sashing, which one do you prefer ( the top one or the bottom one)? You might have to look more closely. some of the blocks are just color paper copies and I am going to have them print on fabrics. At this stage, I just need something to look at to see the overall effect and determine the size of each image to fit for the design.

Second, would it be better instead of using one fabric, I make some quilt pattern to fill up between the images like the second quilt picture (which I copied from this website and I hope the owner won't blame me for using it without permition)? My concern is that if I make some patterns as sashing/filling, it will be too busy and all the images won't stand out. My current background is more of a red color. I am trying to stay close to Harvard school color - crimson. If I make different quilt patterns as sashing, the whole background color will change, too. I am not sure if that's what I want to see.

My current layout is more like a picture album page, not much quilt component in it. I made one high school graduation T-shirt quilt for my son before. That was my first quilt.

I came from China 26 yrs ago. That's why you see some Chinese in the design. I started learning quilt making three years ago. I leaned so much from this forum and enjoyed making quilts very much.

Thanks for any input. :)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Your son will love it, no matter what choice you make. I like your layout best of all three - it is "organic".

I see two areas toward the bottom that have large blank areas compared to the rest of the layout that is filled evenly. Can you add a family picture or two to make it even more personal for him? As for the fabrics: I like both reds - they play nicely together. If you use the patterned one, the blocks will appear more subtle. If you use the solid, the blocks will pop more.

I see a small stripe of an ochre-yellow under the black block in the upper center. I really like that with the reds. That color is repeated throughout some of the blocks and it would go good as a frame.

Hope that helps.

I'd go with the solid background fabric. The other one might distract the eye from the blocks. I wouldn't fill in with quilted blocks either. But I would probably play with the arrangement a little and put the largest one in the center and the others surrounding it. You could always use that 1st background fabric as a border. Maybe put a narrow black border, then the print.

Personally, I like the single red fabric, the bottom one. I do like the second quilt, but also agree that the pieced blocks overpower the others, and WOW, Harvard!!!! I'd want that to stand out! I like the staggered layout on the top one also.

Thanks Martina. Yes, I will have something for the blank spots, maybe some family pictures. :)

Thanks for your advice.

Tartan: Thanks for the advice for test the fabric before proceed too far. That's something I didn't know before. :)

I like the solid red color and the layout of the first one. I think they would look nice with less sashing between the pictures and inner borders of the yellow and black and an outer border of the red.

I like the bottom red fabric and layout. It allows the eye to travel to each item.

I like the subtle red print fabric the best. It will add a little pattern to the quilt without overwhelming the pictures.